"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 775.
 
GEORGE ECKENBERGER

     whose farm is a mile and a quarter east of Samish, was one of the first
settlers on Samish island, and has experienced all the vicissitudes which come
to the pioneer in the timbered country. He was born in Posey County, Ohio,
December 23, 1843, the third of the six children of Leonard and Henrietta
Eckenberger. The father died when the son was young during the cholera epidemic,
and the mother subsequently married Captain Yocham of the union army. She lived
until 1900. Mr. Eckenberger of this article left his home in 1860 and went to
Alabama to follow steamboating. When the Civil War broke out he came north,
enlisted in the Thirtieth Ohio under Captain Riley and served with that command
at the second battle of Bull Run and in other engagements. He was at home on
sick leave when the war closed, but soon after went to Indiana, and at
Evansville, in that state, he worked twelve years at masonry. He then crossed
the continent by rail to San Francisco and came thence to Seattle, during his
two years' residence in which city he made a trip to Samish island and took up
the land on which he now lives. Mrs. Eckenberger was the first white woman on
the island, and preceded the second one by seven years. She held the place
at intervals while he was in Seattle, and at one time passed eighteen months
without once looking upon the face of a white woman. The claim was under heavy
timber, and thousands of feet of good merchantable trees had to be destroyed to
make way for the clearing and the crops.  The third year that they lived here a
forest fire swept the island, leaving them with only a sack of flour and a
couple of blankets, and things looked so discouraging that Mr. Eckenberger then
offered to sell his place for $300, but could not find a purchaser. Hard times
were experienced until the boom commenced in 1881-2, then Mr. Eckenberger's
knowledge of the country stood him in good stead in locating settlers. Until
recent years he has held all his original land, but now has sold all but sixty
acres. This remnant he devotes to cattle raising, dairying, hay and fruit, seven
acres of it being in orchard of first quality.
     In Evansville, Indiana, June 5, 1865, Mr. Eckenberger married Miss
Elizabeth Garis, who was born July 4, 1842, daughter of Benjamin and
Alice (Haves) Garis, of whom little record exists to-day. Mrs. Eckenberger had
two brothers in the union army. She and Mr. Eckenberger are the parents of eight
children, of whom five are living: Fred C., Mrs. Lucy Rhodes, Mrs. Martha
Hopley, George and John. Mr. Eckenberger is a Democrat in politics, interested
in matters of public concern, as a good citizen should be, but not an office
seeker. He has, however, served as road supervisor and member of the school
board. Though he has passed through the extremes of hard times, he has always
rallied and is now in good financial circumstances. He is respected in his
community as a man of many sterling qualities of character.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in November 2007 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.