-------------------------------
biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
CAPT. THOMAS EBEY, carpenter and joiner, at Oskaloosa, was born in Indiana County, Pa. Sept. 11, 1829, and is the son of Jacob and Mary (Morrison) Ebey, who were the parents of five children, three of whom are living: Thomas, John and Jacob. John enlisted in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry, and was shot through the legs, having one of them amputated, and went through the operation three times, twice in field hospital. Thomas, with the assistance of his brother, took him to Philadelphia, where they employed the most skilled surgeons of Pennsylvania Hospital, and by great care and at an expense of nearly $2,000, saved his life. He was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy at Libby and Belle Isle. He is at present residing in Indiana County, Pa., where the people have favored him by electing him to the office of County Treasurer twelve successive years. Jacob is a farmer residing in the same county. John, the father of Thomas Ebey, died at the age of thirty-two, but his mother lived to attain the age of eighty-six years, and died July 3, 1886. The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm until he was twenty years old, when he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was apprenticed for three years to the trade of carpenter and joiner. Having lost only a few days of time during his apprenticeship his employer generously gave him a complete set of tools and a scholarship in Beacon Commercial College, which he attended, and there graduated with honor. In 1853 he returned to Pennsylvania, and April 13, 1854, was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Bryan. In 1858 he removed to Indiana, settling in Rush County, where he embarked in the lumber trade and as contractor and builder. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. K, 37th Ind. Vol. Inf., which he organized and of which he was commissioned Captain. He participated in the following engagements with his command, viz: Stone River, Chickamauga, Buzzard's Roost, Lookout Mountain, and all intermediate battles and skirmishes up to the siege of Atlanta. His regiment was under command of Gen. Thomas, who was left to look after Hood while Sherman pursued his march to the sea. During the second day's fight on Missionary Ridge, while a charge was being made, a hand-to-hand fight occurred, in which the Captain was struck on the shoulder with a musket, which drove the elbow bone down through the flesh of the arn. The Captain made two resolves when he entered the service, one of which was never to go into a hospital, and the other, not to be taken a prisoner, so he resigned his commission and returned to Indiana, where he engaged in farming for a short time. In 1865 Capt. Ebey removed to Clinton County, Iowa, settling at De Witt, and in 1868 came to Oskaloosa, where he has since resided, following his occupation as builder and contractor. He was a member of the G. A. R. in Indianapolis, Sons of Columbia, which is composed of commissioned officers and is also a member of the Order of the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Mr. and Mrs. Ebey became the parents of ten children, nine yet living, viz: Mary E., Sarah R, Annie L., John F., Samuel M., Flora Alice, Charles T., Elmer H. and Lena M. Mr. and Mrs. Ebey are acceptable members of the Presbyterian Church. Politically Mr. Ebey is a Republican, and has been since the organization of that party. He is a man who enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens; is of positive convictions, casts the weight of his influence on the side of good morals, and is as public spirited and patriotic now as when the war clouds hovered over the land. Mary M. Ebey, the mother of our subject, was a cultured lady, a fluent speaker and a public debater during the days of the anti-slavery agitation before the war. Her home was a station on the underground railroad, and many an escaped slave has received aid and comfort at her generous hand and full directions to aid him in escaping from the thraldom of slavery.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy