Early years

Israel was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo, Michigan

The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...

 on July 1, 1859. He was the son of Mannes and Tillie Israel, the first Jews to settle in Kalamazoo. After graduating from the Kalamazoo Public School System

Kalamazoo Public Schools

Kalamazoo Public Schools are located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Graduates of the district are eligible to receive scholarships through the Kalamazoo Promise, a program launched in 2005 and funded by anonymous donors....

, Israel went to the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, where he studied astronomy.

Just before his graduation in 1881, one of Israel's professors nominated him to serve as the astronomer on an official US expedition to the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

. After graduation, Israel briefly returned to Kalamazoo to visit his family.

The Polar Expedition

Israel left for Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 on April 28, 1881 to join the Lady Franklin Bay Polar Expedition

Lady Franklin Bay Expedition

The 1881-1884 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition into the Canadian Arctic was led by Lt. Adolphus Greely and was promoted by the United States Army Signal Corps. Its purpose was threefold: to establish a meteorological-observation station as part of the First International Polar Year, to collect...

 with 23 other men under the leadership of Adolphus Greely

Adolphus Greely

Adolphus Washington Greely , was an American Polar explorer, a United States Army officer and a recipient of the Medal of Honor.-Early military career:...

. The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition was commissioned by the US government to collect scientific information about the polar regions. Israel received the assignment of collecting astronomical, magnetic and meteorological data.

The ill-fated expedition left Washington on June 9, 1881, reaching Newfoundland later in the month. From there, the crew boarded a special polar-equipped ship and went to Lady Franklin Bay

Lady Franklin Bay

Lady Franklin Bay is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. The bay is located in Nares Strait and is an inlet into the northeastern shore of Ellesmere Island....

, to a site far above the Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....

. Israel and the rest of the crew spent two years at a camp they called Fort Conger

Fort Conger

Fort Conger is a former settlement, military fortification, and scientific research post in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. It was established in 1881 as an Arctic exploration camp, notable as the site of the first major northern polar region scientific expedition, part of the US government's...

.

In 1882, the annual supply ship did not arrive, and by August 1883, the expedition ran out of supplies. They took off trying to find the ship, guided only by Israel's astronomical data. When the expedition reached Cape Sabine

Cape Sabine

right|thumb|300px|Pim Island to the memory of dead men from the expedition of [[Adolphus Greely]]. Photographed in 2005Cape Sabine is a land point on Pim Island, in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada.-History:...

, it was found that their supply ship had hit ice and sunk.

The expedition members had to struggle through the winter of 1883 with virtually no supplies. Three weeks before the crew of the expedition was rescued by the US Navy, Israel died. Too weak and ill to bury Israel (or other dead expedition members), the remaining members of the crew returned Israel's body to Kalamazoo on August 11, 1884.

Burial Place

Edward Israel was given full honors from the city of Kalamazoo upon the return of his body. His body is buried in the Jewish cemetery next to Mountain Home Cemetery. In 1972, the state of Michigan erected an historical marker commemorating Israel at the site of his grave.

External links

"Edward Israel: Arctic Explorer 1859-1884", Kalamazoo Public Library Local History, http://www.kpl.gov/collections/LocalHistory/AllAbout/biography/Israel.aspx

"Edward Israel: Arctic Explorer" Michigan State Historical Marker, http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=L0203.htm