Ida and the Oil Industry

Ida was raised in a deeply religious family, initially presbyterian but joining a methodist church after they moved. She developed a love of earth science thanks to what she saw in the oil fields and what she learned from her father. This love of science would eventually lead her to question her reli faith as she tried to reconcile what she learned about the earth with what she had been taught about the biblical story of creationAs a child Ida also saw the dangers of the oil industry first hand. On april seventeenth, 18 61, when ida was four, an explosion at a nearby oil well killed 19 people, including the wells owner and tarbell family frind henry