Isaac Ebey was born in 1818 in Ohio. He grew to follow his father's habit of continually moving west. Isaac received legal training in Missouri, where he and Rebecca Davis were married in 1843. They had two sons, Eason and Ellison. Isaac was a man who was very loyal to the idea of duty and responsibility. He believed that the noblest aspiration of men was "to improve their condition in life."

In 1848, Isaac, leaving his family in good care with relatives, headed out to the West Coast. After trying his luck in the California gold rush, he headed for the Puget Sound area. He explored Whidbey Island as a possible settling place for him and his family. Ebey fell in love with the area and decided to build his home there and bring his family out. On October 15, 1850, he entered a claim for 640 acres of the rich black loam land which now bears his name, Ebey's Prairie. In April of 1851, Isaac wrote a letter to his brother, Winfield Ebey:

Olympia, Oregon

April 25, 1851

".... Whidby's Island (the large island that blocks up and terminates the Straits of Fuca on the east) which is almost a paradise of nature. Good land for cultivation is abundant on this island.

I have taken my claim on it and am now living on the same in order to avail myself of the provisions of the Donation law. If Rebecca, the children and you all were here, I think I could live and die here content.

At the time Isaac wrote that letter, Olympia was part of the state of Oregon. Ebey was instrumental in making Oregon and Washington two separate states.



Isaac's wife Rebecca, their two sons, her three brothers and their friends, the Crockett family, came out and they all settled in early 1852 on the island paradise. Isaac's father, mother and his brother, Winfield, joined them not long after this and claimed land that overlooked Isaac's. Isaac built a blockhouse next to his father's home as possible protection against the Haida Indians from the north.

Isaac's farm was on land that was some of the most productive in the Pacific Northwest. The news of the land and Ebey's good fortune quickly brought a rush of other families. In 1860, W. B. Sinclair built a ferry house, which also served as an inn, warehouse, and postal station.