When my son was little, we started going to The Farm At Swan’s Trail every October for pumpkins. That’s the first time I noticed the name Ebey, namely Ebey Island. Then on Whidbey Island earlier this summer, I noticed Ebey Landing and Fort Ebey parks. Ok, now I’m intrigued. Who or what was all this named after? Well, folks, the chap is an early western settler by the name of Isaac Ebey.
Clearly a luminary as he has his own Wikipedia page. Plenty of detail there, so I won’t recount too much, but here are the basics. He’s one of the early settlers of Whidbey Island, and managed to get himself well connected enough to have some solid influence on the early history of Washington State. He was also related (by marriage) to Phoebe Judson, who founded Lynden and WWU, amongst other things. The other major event of his life for this post: being executed by a raiding/vengeance party of aboriginals.
Our region has many interesting characters and a rich history that’s a delight to explore. Check out HistoryLink.org for all kinds of great research resources. It’s my first stop for all these sorts of things.
