by
GARY W. EDDEY
This biographical sketch of George Washington
Eddey and the History of the Block Island Weather Station was
contributed by Mr. Gary W. Eddey, grandson of George Washington
Eddey, a Weather Bureau Observer who had the longest tenure
of all Block Island weather observers . These histories were
constructed from records in the National Archives, historical
records on Block Island, family records, and reference to Gustavus
A. Weber’s The Weather Bureau Its History, Activities
and Organization , Appleton and Company, New York, 1922.
George
Washington Eddey was born on February 22, 1863, in Greenpoint,
Brooklyn, and died October 13, 1928, on Block Island, Rhode
Island, where he is buried. He grew up at 63 Huron Street in
Greenpoint, eight blocks from the Continental shipyard where
his father, Carnes, was a ship carpenter. One year before he
was born, the Continental Works Shipyard had launched the first
of many Ironclad Monitors which his father had helped build.
New York Harbor and the great wooden and iron ships built in
the New York and Brooklyn shipyards provided an introduction
to the sea and the maritime industry for young Eddey.
When George was a young adult the shipbuilding
industry in New York had diminished in size considerably. He
sought out a different career path than his father and found
one that involved the sea but in a different way than could
have been conceived of by his father. Paralleling the changes
in American society, he became one of the many workers who made
the transformation from a manufacturing to a service career.
In 1887, at the age of 24, George W. Eddey began working for
the Weather Bureau at Block Island under Observer Sgt. P.J.
Cahill, U. S. Signal Service. The Signal Service had opened
a station on Block Island in 1880 when the first telegraph cable
was laid between Pt. Judith and Block Island. In January 1888
his formal evaluation for the U.S. Signal Service lists him
as 25 years old and unmarried. He was also issued his first
uniform from the Signal Service at this time. In May 1888 he
was reassigned as assistant Observer at the Oswego, NY, weather
station. Official records of the War Department Signal Service
state, “21 May, 1888, Private George W. Eddey, Signal
Corps, left (BI) station this morning at 0830 a.m. by steamer,
the George. W. Danielson, pursuant to SO No. 32 dated Washington,
D.C. April 30, 1888.
In July 1889 Geo. W. Eddey was transferred
back to Block Island under Observer Sgt. William Davis. In May
1890 he was transferred to and put in charge of the Titusville,
Florida, station. In May 1891, he was transferred to the Jupiter,
Florida, station. It was at this time that the Weather Bureau
was transferred to the Department of Agriculture on July 1,
1891. Eddey hung up his uniform shortly afterwards and remained
with the Weather Bureau as a civilian. In September 1891, he
was back on Block Island with William Davis. In November 1892
he was transferred to the Wilmington, NC, weather bureau office
as the Assistant Weather Observer. In September 1893 he was
again transferred back to the Block Island station as an Assistant
Weather Observer. He again worked with Davis, the veteran Weather
Observer. In September 1895, while still assigned to Block Island,
he was promoted to Head Weather Observer and received a salary
of $1,100. In November 1895 he was transferred to the Duluth,
Minnesota, Weather Station as the Head Observer. Documents from
the national archives suggest that he was transferred to Duluth
to fix internal problems at that station. In February 1896 he
was given authority to make local forecasts. Soon after, in
August 1896, he was transferred to the Green Bay, Wisconsin,
station as the Head Observer. He remained at Green Bay until
his wife became terminally ill, and he then requested a transfer
to a warmer and more “healthy” climate. Concerning
this period and his former role at Block Island, the following
information was chronicled in one of Block Island’s early
weekly newspapers, “The Mid-Ocean”, in two articles
published in the July and August 1896 editions:
“Mr. Geo. W. Eddey (is) pleasantly remembered
by many visitors and islanders as the assistant observer and
telegrapher at the local weather bureau and cable office here....
His wife (Nellie) is the daughter of Leander A. Ball, Esq.,
proprietor of the Union House Hotel. Mr. Eddey had many warm
friends here and his departure from Block Island was regretted
by all.”
In November 1899 he was transferred to the
Abilene, TX, weather station as the Head Observer. His wife
Nellie died in Abilene in April 1902. He stayed there until
1912 when he was transferred back to Block Island. He remained
there until his retirement in 1926. He remarried -- to his wife’s
sister, Lillie, who is buried with him on Block Island. He died
in 1928 and was buried in the Block Island Cemetery. This cemetery
has a caretaker and is a beautiful spot to visit on any day,
regardless of the weather.
George W. Eddey worked his entire adult life
for the United States Weather Bureau and had the distinction
of serving longer than any other Weather Observer at the Block
Island Weather station. He began and ended his career on the
island and spent approximately 16 years, including his last
14 years in the Weather Bureau, living in the Weather Bureau
House on Beach Avenue. Like an earlier Observer, Walcott Day,
he was related to settlers on the island. From his burial site
in the Block Island Cemetery can be seen the beautiful Georgian
style Weather House that he called home for many of his years
on the island. The Weather House was sold by the Government
in the early 1950's and named to the National Register of Historic
Places in September 1983. The building is still referred to
as the Weather House and is now a bed and breakfast. The memory
of George W. Eddey is memorialized in a stained glass window
in the Primitive Methodist Episcopal Church near the old town
center (now also a Bed and Breakfast).
Written and compiled by Gary E. Eddey
30 Edgehill Ave
Morristown, NJ 07960
Special thanks to Rob Downie, Wynn Eddey, and
Captain Skip Theberge, NOAA Corps (ret.)
