Ebey, Winfield Scott, 1831-1865

The Ebeys were early white settlers on Whidbey Island in Washington state.

Isaac Ebey took out a claim on Whidbey Island, Washington in 1850, becoming the first permanent white settler there. The rest of the Ebey family made the overland journey from Missouri to Washington to join him there in 1854, including his wife and children, his parents, and his brother Winfield. He was elected to the Oregon territorial legislature in 1852, and drafted the bill that established King, Pierce, Jefferson, and Island counties. In 1854 he was appointed Collector of Customs on Puget Sound. The next year, he, Winfield, and their cousin George volunteered for the Indian War, and erected a fort on the Snohomish River to prevent hostile Indians from entering the Puget Sound region. When white sailors fired on the Haida Indians at Fort Gamble, the Indians vowed revenge, and in 1857 they killed the most powerful man in Whidbey Island - Isaac Ebey. Winfield Scott Ebey served as deputy collector of Customs at Port Townsend, deputy marshall of Washington Territory, was a delegate to the 1855 Democratic Territorial Convention, farmed on Whidbey Island, and prospected for gold in the Powder and John Day River mining districts in 1862 and '63. Isaac's son Eason also served in the territorial legislature, and thereafter managed the family farmland.

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