Ebey's Landing Administrative History

Chapter Three:
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CENTRAL WHIDBEY ISLAND

Isaac N. Ebey embodied traits admired by his contemporaries in nineteenth century America. An enterprising man who combined personal industriousness with community obligation, moral authority with political leadership, Ebey rapidly distinguished himself in Washington territorial affairs.

Following the familiar pattern of migration, Isaac's father Jacob had moved his family west in gradual stages. Although he hailed from Pennsylvania, his son Isaac was born in Ohio in 1818 and reached maturity in Missouri. Isaac acquired some legal training in Missouri, and married Rebecca Davis there in 1843, where she bore two sons, Eason and Ellison. Highly conscious of duty and responsibility, Isaac believed that "the noblest aspiration of freemen is to better, to improve their condition in life." Completing the westward trajectory begun by his father, Isaac left his family in 1848 and headed for the West Coast. Like his friend Samuel Crockett he tried his luck in the California gold rush before heading north to Puget Sound. He spent some time in Olympia, which he is credited with naming, before exploring Whidbey Island for himself. Quick to grasp the possibilities of the land, Isaac promptly snapped up the eponymous prairie in October 1850, claiming a square mile for himself and Rebecca. While waiting for Rebecca and the boys to settle their affairs in Missouri, he sent a barrage of letters to relatives, begging them to join him in his paradise while the best lands were still available. Rebecca and the boys arrived in 1852, accompanied by her three brothers and the Crocketts, who returned this time to stay. Isaac's father Jacob eventually joined them, and claimed the land upon the ridge overlooking Ebey's Prairie. Isaac built a blockhouse next to his father's house for protection against the Haida. (W. B. Sinclair added in 1860 what is now the oldest surviving building in the reserve, a ferry house which variously served as warehouse, inn and postal station.) Isaac's land would later prove to be some of the most productive in the entire country, and his good fortune drew other easterners into the region. Early settlers triggered a small rush to the island, which quickly claimed most of the prairies by early 1853. Within five years the best farmlands were claimed. [19]

Like most Euro-American farmers on Whidbey Island, Isaac Ebey grew potatoes ad wheat. He also took advantage of his property's natural landing on the shores of Admiralty Inlet--one of the few good landings on west Whidbey--to build a dock for commercial traffic on the Puget Sound, especially trade from Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. Because most transportation in the area moved by water, Ebey's Landing, on the main Puget Sound shipping route, minimized transportation costs. The landing remained active until a new dock was built at Fort Casey at the turn of the century. [20]

During his nine years in the Pacific Northwest, Ebey played a vital role in territorial affairs. He served as prosecuting attorney for the Whidbey Island community and represented Thurston County in the Oregon Territorial Legislature when that county still stretched to the 49th parallel. He helped persuade the legislature to sign the Monticello Memorial, separating Oregon and Washington Territories in 1853, and assisted in breaking Thurston County into smaller units, among them Island County. Appointed by President Franklin Pierce to be collector for the Puget Sound district and inspector of revenues at the new state capital, Olympia, he relocated his customs office to Port Townsend and made it the official port of entry for Puget Sound. The title of colonel was conferred after Ebey raised a company of volunteers to fight in the mainland Indian wars of 1855-1856. He must have inspired respect, for some men refused to enlist in Island County unless under his command. [21]

Rebecca Ebey was not to live long. She was at times uneasy about encounters with local Indians, and, isolated geographically from other Euro-American farmers, she tended to remain close to home. Rebecca managed the household and battled loneliness during her husband's long absences. She also apparently became weakened from tuberculosis; in 1853 she died following an incomplete recovery from childbirth. Isaac later married Emily Palmer Sconce, a widow with a daughter named Anna.

Isaac Ebey died suddenly and violently at age 39. In 1857 a party of Haida from Canada selected him to be a "chief for a chief," the man who would die in retribution for the murder by whites of one of their chiefs, or "tyee," the previous year. On a summer evening in August a group of Haida knocked on Isaac's door and drew him out of the house. Without warning they shot him, hacked off his head for a trophy, and dumped his body in the front yard. Emily and the children, who had witnessed the killing in horror, fled to the blockhouse on the ridge. The Haida, however, had obtained their revenge, and they did not molest Isaac's family. Unwilling to remain on the farm, Emily abandoned it, leaving with her daughter Anna forever. Isaac's relatives raised Ellison ad Eason, and the two brothers later divided their father's farm between them. [22]