William Allen Jones

William Allen Jones (c. 1831 – 1897) was a Canadian dentist and miner. He was the first practicing dentist in British Columbia under the British Columbia Dental Act.^[1]

William Allen Jones
Born	William Allen Jones c. 1831 Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Died	1897 Barkerville, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	American, Canadian
Alma mater	Oberlin College
Occupation	Dentist

Early life and education

Jones was born in 1831 in Raleigh, North Carolina to Allen Jones and Temperance Jones. He had five siblings: James Munroe, John Craven, Elias Toussaint, Sophia, and another sibling whose name is unknown.^[2] William's father, Allen Jones, bought his family's freedom in North Carolina for five-thousand dollars.^[3] Allen attempted to establish a school for Black children, however it was burned down repeatedly by local white residents.^[4] The family moved to Oberlin, Ohio afterwards.^[5] Jones graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1857.^[6]

Career and later life

William moved to California after graduation, along with his brother Elias and John who also graduated from Oberlin College.^[5] However, the Jones brothers soon moved to Salt Spring Island, Colony of Vancouver Island in 1859^[7] along with many other African-Americans under the increasing threat of California becoming a slave state.^[8] William and Elias soon headed for Barkerville and participated in the Cariboo Gold Rush^[5] as miners while John Craven remained on Salt Spring island as a teacher.^[9] Jones returned to the United States with Elias after the American Civil War ended in 1865 to continue his dental studies at Oberlin College. Elias opted to stay in the United States, but William soon returned to Barkerville.^[2]

Jones began practicing dentistry after returning to Bakerville, opening a dental practice in 1876. He became known as the "Barkerville Dentist", earning the nickname "Painless Jones".^[2] He advertised his dental services in the Cariboo Sentinel as "painless dentistry", and used medicines to make the process less painful for his clients.^[3] No license was required to practice at this time,^[5] so Jones continued to practice until 1886 when the British Columbia Government introduced a new Dental Act. Jones quickly obtained his license to practice dentistry under the new Act on June 26, 1886, making him the first person to be granted license to practice dentistry under British Columbia's first iteration of dental profession regulations.^[2][10]

Jones died of pneumonia in 1897 and is buried in the Williams Creek Cemetery.^[6] Barkerville has since been restored as a National Historic Site of Canada. Jones's dental office is now featured on Barkerville's main street, with chair and instruments on display.^[11][3] Jones's dental office completed reconstruction in 1961, with the British Columbia Dental Association being involved in reconstruction through the donation of equipment and assistance in exhibition development.^[8]

References

1. Samba, Mugoli (February 11, 2020). "Activists, educators, parents looking to create black history curriculum for B.C. schools | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
2. "William Allen Jones – BC Black History Awareness Society". bcblackhistory.ca. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
3. "'Painless Jones': B.C.'s first dentist was a Black miner from Barkerville". Prince George Citizen. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
4. Crawford, Kilian (2021). GO DO SOME GREAT THING : the black pioneers of british columbia. HARBOUR PUBLISHING. pp. 133–134. ISBN 978-1-55017-948-4. OCLC 1202751418.
5. Wright, Richard Thomas (2013). Barkerville and the Cariboo goldfields. Heritage House Publishing. pp. 199–200. ISBN 978-1-927527-08-5. OCLC 1053791260.
6. ""Painless Jones" - The Barkerville Dentist". British Columbia’s Black Pioneers. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
7. "Wells artist prints portrait of B.C.'s first dentist". Quesnel Cariboo Observer. 2020-10-17. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
8. "A Traveller's Guide to the Buildings of Barkerville". Issuu. April 5, 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
9. "John Craven Jones – BC Black History Awareness Society". bcblackhistory.ca. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
10. Gullett, Donald W. (1971-01-01). A History of Dentistry in Canada. Vol. 37. University of Toronto Press. pp. 136–149. doi:10.3138/9781487596361. ISBN 978-1-4875-9636-1. PMID 5282630. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
11. Bouchar, Danette. "Search Results for "william allen jones" – Barkerville Historic Town & Park". Retrieved 2021-02-05.