For as long as she has lived in Coupeville, a retired teacher has been haunted by the name of Colonel Isaac Neff Ebey.

Intrigued by the long lasting impact that Whidbey’s first European settler has had on the island and Washington, Victoria Shea took a deep dive into the mid-1800s, navigating through a myriad of first-person accounts from the time period to write her latest novel, “The Ghosts of Whidbey Island.”

In her third book, which was published in spring, Shea asks the spirits resting at Sunnyside Cemetery to help her understand what life once was. The story then narrates the story of the deeply religious Ebey family and their relationship with their European and Skagit neighbors, opening each chapter with a ghostly quote — some taken from the Ebeys’ journals.

Shea spent a year reading letters and diary entries written by Isaac and Rebecca Ebey and other pioneer families, accessed through the internet, local libraries, the Island County Historical Museum and the University of Washington.

Luckily for her, these documents had already been transcribed, sparing her from the struggle of deciphering the almost-illegible handwriting.

Some took her to the Ebeys’ wedding day in 1843, their travel across the continent along the Oregon Trail and the Pig War in 1859. Others gave her more insight into their religious beliefs.

Following Isaac Ebey’s tragic death in 1857, Winfield wrote that his brother’s spirit was bound to his home, “The Cabins,” a building that was located near the historic Ferry House before it was destroyed in a fire. That was one of a few mentions of spirits that Shea came across during her research.

Standing outside of the Ferry House, built by Winfield Ebey and George Beam in 1860, Shea stared at the crops on the bluff overlooking Ebey’s Landing. She believes there is a possibility that Isaac Ebey’s spirit visits the prairie during a good harvest, though she hopes he moved on and is happy in the afterlife, away from the physical world.

Shea found other interesting details in these accounts. She was particularly surprised to find out how common tuberculosis used to be. At the time, she said, people believed the illness was hereditary and non-contagious, which led to many deaths.

Though there were far less inhabitants on the island, neighbors used to take care of each other, even when they lived miles away from one another. While this allowed for the disease to spread easily, it also shows a kind of solidarity that has been lost over time, Shea said.

Shea was also charmed by the linguistic norms from the time.

For example, people would emphasize words in a sentence by capitalizing the first letter, which Shea finds gives more nuance to their writing.

Whenever Rebecca Ebey would write about her husband, she would refer to him as “Mr. Ebey.” Shea believes she did that when talking to him in public, as well.

Rebecca Ebey’s writing is poetic and conveys her deep Methodist faith, particularly during her husband’s prolonged absences.

She described her husband as a thoughtful and honest man who loved adventures and had a strong sense of justice. In another description written by a character who does not appear in the book, Isaac Ebey was said to have a “stoppage” to his voice, though his kindness and sincerity made that almost unnoticeable.

Shea found Isaac Ebey’s writing to be very persuasive, especially in his letter advocating for the separation of the Oregon Territory and the creation of the Washington Territory.

Isaac Ebey was at odds with Gov. Isaac Stevens, who would intimidate tribes into signing treaties to cede their lands. Unlike the territory’s first governor, Ebey was supportive of Indigenous people and maintained a positive relationship with Chief Snetlum, who led a village in the Snakelum Point area in Penn Cove.

Though she could rely on numerous written sources, Shea found the task of piecing together all the events in an order that made sense was no easy task, as some of the dates were transcribed wrong and some accounts contradicted each other.

For example, some accounts inaccurately report that the Ebeys traveled along the Oregon Trail together, when in reality Rebecca left Missouri at a later date, Shea said. She also found contradicting versions of the Battle of Port Gamble, which was fought between the U.S. Navy and Tlingit warriors who had been raiding the Coast Salish people.

At the time, the original inhabitants of the island once simply known as Tscha-kole-chy were not only dealing with the arrival of white settlers, but also with raids from northern tribes, the author said.

As she wrote the book over the course of a year, Shea had to conduct more follow-up research to be as accurate as possible. Out of the three works of historical fiction she has written, she said, this is the closest to nonfiction as she could get.

Though mere dates and places don’t have much meaning to her, she needed those details in order to write her scenes and dialogues. Had it not been for the personalities behind historical events, she said, she would have no interest in history, a subject she said she “always hated.”

“I just love this Ebey family,” she said. “They’re just fabulous.”

When asked what she would tell Isaac Ebey if she could have a chat with him, Shea said she would ask him how he feels about modern Whidbey. While many things have changed, some will remain the same.

“The tide still rolls, and the fog climbs up from the water and fades, and tomorrow the sun will shine down on his cultivated prairie, as always,” she wrote in an email. “We will forever be good stewards of his land in Ebey’s Reserve, where he is remembered and loved.”

For more information about Shea and her books, visit victoriaventrisshea.com. “The Ghosts of Whidbey Island” can be found at local libraries or purchased on Amazon, The Bookrack in Oak Harbor, the Kingfisher Bookstore or the Cedar & Salt CoffeeHouse in Coupeville.

(Photos by Luisa Loi) Shea holds a copy of her book at the Historic Ferry House.

(Photo by Luisa Loi) Victoria Shea peeks inside the Ferry House, which was once a tavern, a post office and an inn owned by the Ebey family.

(Photo by Luisa Loi) Victoria Shea holds “The Ghosts of Whidbey Island,” a project that took two years of research and writing.

(Photo by Luisa Loi) Shea reads a ghostly quote she included in her book. In a few occasions, the deeply religious Ebeys briefly mentioned the presence “spirits” in their journals.