 Eddy County namesake, Ezra Booth Eddy, had never resided in the County. Although not documented, the new County was probably named for him as he was a notable citizen of the Dakota Territory and was among the honored pioneers of Fargo being prominently identified with the development and upbuilding of the city and was one of  its most public-spirited and progressive residents. His death also occured just two weeks before the County was established which may have influenced the Legislature. Ezra was widely and favorably known and through his efforts and contributions he made many friends. His unexpected death at age fifty-five was a great loss to the city.
Ezra was born in Ohio on 14 December 1829, a son of Reverand Ira and Nancy Brigden Eddy. He was reared and educated in Ohio and during his youth learned the shoemaker trade which he followed for a few vears. Ezra married Miss Jane Bishop Wilson, a native of Pennsylvania, on 14 December 1850 and to them were born five children; William, who died in infancy; Ernest C, Inez L., Ira T. and Ethelda J.
In 1855 the family is in Plainview, Wabasha County, Minnesota, where Ezra took up government land. He erected the first building on what was called Greenwood prairie and there followed farming until the Civil war. He enlisted as First Lieutenant in Company G, Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. After two years of arduous service he was forced to resign on account of failing health and returned home. He continued farming in Minnesota until 1865, when he met with misfortune in the loss of a hand in a threshing machine. He then engaged in the hardware business at Plainview and later in the insurance and banking business, founding the Plainview Bank, the first bank of Wabasha County.
Disposing of his Plainview interests in 1879, he went to Fargo where he had started the First National Bank in 1878. He served as its first president and continued to fill that position up to the time of his death in 1885. In company with his son, E. C. Eddy, he founded the Fargo Loan Agency under the firm name of E. B. Eddy & Son. In 1879 he platted an addition to the city, known as the Eddy & Fuller outlets and he assisted in starting nearly every enterprise in Fargo at the time. He lost a great deal of property in his endeavor to build up the city, but was instrumental in making it one of the most thriving cities of the Northwest.
He took an active interest in political affairs, but never sought public office. His support was never withheld from any enterprise calculated to prove of public good. He was the founder of the Fargo Library Association, and one of the organizers of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he gave its first organ. Socially he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was a man of prominence and influence in his community.
Ezra died on 12 February 1885 in Fargo and is buried in Riverside Cemetery. Widow Jane remarried in 1893, lived until she was eighty-one (1915), and is buried in the Eddy family plot.
Sources: North Dakota Compendium of History and Biography and research by Mike Peterson |
