John McNeil Eddings

John McNeil Eddings (c. 1830–1896) was the military storekeeper at Fort Vancouver, and a prominent civic leader of Clark County in what was then the Washington Territory.

Early years Born in Ballintry, Antrim County, Ireland (near Belfast), in 1830, Eddings immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1841. They lived in New York initially, then moved to St. Louis, Missouri. John Eddings enlisted on July 17, 1851, in the U.S. Army Infantry, Fourth Regiment, at Fort Gratiot, Michigan. As a first sergeant he came with that regiment to Vancouver Barracks by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1851. On that journey were also Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Bonneville, Henry C. Hodges, and Louis Sohns From 1855 to 1856, Eddings fought in the Rogue River Wars in Southern Oregon Territory. Mrs. Mary Nicholas, a daughter of John Eddings, gave this account to Clark Brown in his Columbian newspaper column Visiting Around: I told you my father was a man who loved adventure, and he found plenty in the Indian wars. My father had fiery red hair. He went to the Rogue River Indian War and when he came back his hair was snowy white. The scalping, the dead soldiers, and their lack of equipment was just too much for him. Eddings served in this position for thirty years.

In November, 1865, Eddings was elected to the Vancouver City Council, serving for two years. Near the end of the term, it is indicated that he was appointed to the Committee for Cemetery Improvements, serving with Joseph M. Fletcher and G. W. Durgin, with the committee putting a picket fence around the city cemetery.

In September, 1866, a volunteer fire company was organized in Vancouver, its first, and Eddings was among the officers and founders, along with other leaders in the community. There had been a recent fire in downtown Vancouver, which consumed a number of businesses and residences, due in part to the lack of fire services in the city. On May 11, 1867, the City Council, with Eddings a member, created a Fire Department of the City of Vancouver.

In July, 1875, Eddings also took on the job of Postmaster for Vancouver, serving for the next eleven years in addition to his other military and civic duties. Edding’s daughter, Mrs. Mary Nichols, has provided an insight into living in this period in Vancouver, Washington: The incoming mail came by carriers. There were no trains at that time. We knew by the whistle of the steam boat when the mail came by river. It also came by stage and on horseback carriers. It was a little uncertain just when it would come. People would come for a long way to get their mail, and mother always had coffee for the people who came after it, a treat they all relished.

John Eddings and his large family were active members of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Eddings was one of the founders at its consecration in 1860, and served for twelve years in the church leadership, working with two of the church’s priests, John D. McCarty and Albert S. Nicholson.

When Grant came to Vancouver in 1879, the former president visited with both Louis Sohns and John Eddings. When Eddings died on March 31, 1896, his was one of the most highly attended funerals in the history of Vancouver. The 14th Infantry Band led a procession stretching nearly a half mile in addition to a large contingent of carriages with relatives and friends.