| Summary: | Anna Marie Goodell, wife of William Bird Goodell, writes to Mary Ebey Bozarth to explain her planned departure to Ohio and to share her happiness that Mary has offered for Elizabeth Austin Roeder ("Libby") to come live with her and her family. Anna comments that Elizabeth has been sick and would appreciate the company of Mary and Mrs. Lysle. Anna describes life in Whatcom County as dull and writes that it offers only "fir trees and Indians and mosquitoes." She also writes that she has recently left Port Townsend for Whatcom and will soon sail to San Francisco, though she is nervous about the trip. From there she will sail to the east coast and head to Ohio where her parents await her. She alludes to the sudden death of her husband, William Bird Goodell. She mentions that she had hoped to see Mary and the rest of the Ebeys after coming to live in the Puget Sound two years ago but notes there had never been an opportunity. She states news from her sister-in-law, Phoebe Judson, regarding another sister, Emeline, who has been ill in her pregnancy. Anna then writes that she recently read a letter from Mary's daughter, Almira, and wishes her well. She asks that Mary and Almira write to Libby. She adds her hope that Libby and her husband will leave Whatcom this coming autumn. She closes the letter by wishing better health to Mary's brother, Winfield Scott Ebey, and asking Mary to send her regards to her husband, Urban Bozarth. Mary Ebey Bozarth was born in 1817 in Illinois and later moved with her family to Adair County, Missouri. She was one of five children to Jacob B. Ebey (1793-1862) and Sarah Blue (1796-1859). Her younger brothers include Isaac Neff Ebey and Winfield Scott Ebey, both important figures in the early days of Washington Territory. Mary married Thomas Wright (1812-1863) and they had two children, Almira Neff Wright (1843-1909) and James Polk Wright (1845-74). Meanwhile, Isaac left Missouri in 1849 to make a life for the Ebey family. He made a large land claim near Port Townsend in1850 and wrote home to his family members to join him. In 1854, Mary left her husband and traveled along the Oregon Trail to Washington Territory with her children, her brother Winfield, her deaf-mute sister Elizabeth Ruth, and her parents. Anna M. Goodell and Elizabeth Austin Roeder had also traveled across the country with their company. The women had become good friends of the Ebeys during the trip. Once in Washington Territory, however, the company broke up. The Ebeys, including Mary, went to their brother Isaac near Port Townsend at Ebey’s Landing. Anna joined her husband’s family at Great Mound, south of Olympia. Elizabeth married her husband, Henry Roeder, and lived with him in Bellingham. In 1857, Mary officially divorced her husband, Thomas. That same year, a group of Haida Native Americans beheaded Isaac as an act of revenge for the death of a tribal leader the year before. In 1858, Mary married Urban E. Bozarth, a family friend from Missouri who had also made the long trek to Washington Territory. In 1859, Mary’s daughter, Almira, married Mary’s cousin, George Wesley Beam (1831-66), another person who traveled from Missouri to Washington Territory with the Ebeys. Mary’s husband, Urban, accompanied Winfield in mining ventures at the Powder River gold mines in eastern Oregon in 1862. In 1864, Winfield’s tuberculosis was particularly severe, explaining why Anna refers to his health in this letter. He died of tuberculosis in 1865. Mary died in 1869.
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