Oliver Eaddy, Sr. was born in Williamsburg District, SC on May 28, 1833 and was the son of Edward Drake Eaddy and Mary Bartell.  The family of James Eddy, II. had adopted the name of Eaddy between 1819 and 1848 from Eddy, Edy, Eady, and other variant spellings.

It was reported that Oliver Eaddy married Susanna Carter, daughter of George and Catherine Carter. He became a Methodist minister and with his wife and some 10 children migrated to Florida.  It is apparent that Oliver Eaddy chose the spelling of Eady for his surname upon or before moving to Florida, before 1870.  His descendants have used the Eady version of the name since this time.  This name spelling appears on birth certificates, obituaries, death certificates, grave markers, and in the 1870 Census*.  Ten children were with the full names and dates listed for this family and their descendants were provided by Shirley May (Parker) DeLosie.  This was verified by the 1870 Census for children born before 1870.

*  The 1870 Census of Marion County FL was supposed to have been conducted on June 1, 1870; but, was taken August 3, 1870.  The following were listed in the household:

Eady, Oliver  Age 37, Male, White, Minister, Value of real estate: $200, Value of Personal Property: $400, Place of birth SC, only voter in family
Susana, 35, F, W, Keeping house, SC
Edward, 14, M, W, SC attended school during year, can read and write
Mary, 12, F, W, SC, attended school during year, can read but can't write
Joana, 10, F, W, SC, attended school during year, but cannot read or write
Milton, 8, M, W, SC
Lucy, 6, F, W, SC
Bascom, 4, M, W, SC
Emma, 2, F, W, SC
Minda, 18, F, B, Domestic servant, SC, Cannot read or write, Listed as last name Eady
Place of residence: Camp Izard, FL

Source:  Edythe (Parker) Woodruff, grand daughter of Joanna (Eady) Parker.

Lucy Eady wrote letter from Wildwood, Florida on May 12, 1884 to her cousin she had never seen, Robert James Eaddy, Jr.  In the letter she mentioned the following family members:  Eddie, age 28, and unmarried; Mary and her husband Mr. Hicks; Joanna who was living in Kentucky; Emma,  nearly 16, but small; and Little Oliver, the baby, who was six years old.

Rev. Oliver Eady, a Methodist Minister, ...about the end, or shortly after the end of the Civil War, Rev. Eady was transferred by his Church in South Carolina to Florida, at or near Eureka.  The trip required about 6 weeks by wagon.  Rev. Eady later served at Adamsville Church, east of Coleman, Florida.

BURIAL: "The John Young Hicks' Families of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and possibly Virginia" compiled by Cyril J. Floyd in 1976 states: "Rev. Eady, his wife, Susanna and (some) children are buried at Adamsville Cemetery, east of Coleman, Sumter Co., Fla. ..."

Source:  Shirley May (Parker) DeLosie.

Found in the Library of Virginia in Richmond:  Marriage and Death Notices from Upper SC Newspapers 1843-1865:  "Spartan" Pub. 2/27/1862  Married 2/2/1862 by Rev. Mr. Eady in McDowell Co. NC at the residence of Mr. J. W. Patton, Mr. J. C. Moore of McDowell, to Miss A. Amanda Collins of Spartanburg.

Note: This shows that the Eadys (note variant spelling) were in SC at this time.  Spartanburg is 100 miles from Sumter.

Source:  Edythe (Parker) Woodruff, grand daughter of Joanna (Eady) Parker.

In August, 1978, Gertrude Parker Slaton, known as Aunt Gertie who lived with the family of Oliver Eady, Sr for her last years, told Edythe Parker Woodruff the following story about Rev. Oliver Eady, Sr.  The time was a few years after the Civil War and the place was somewhere in Florida*.  He had preached from the pulpit that the Negroes had souls.  Some in the congregation thought differently.  A group of those parishioners arrived after dark one night and informed Reverend Eady that the family was in mortal danger and that right outside was transportation to take them out of that area.  They left in the carriage that night.

I recall my father, Thomas M. Parker, telling me a story about his mother, Joanna Eady.  She was born in 1860 and was a very young child at the close of the Civil War.  She could recall being in the portion of Georgia that was burned out in "Sherman's March to the Sea".  It is possible that in 1864 they were moving from South Carolina to Florida and crossed that part of Georgia where she experienced the great devastation and famine.

*  Questions have been directed to the place of this incident.  It is likely that this event occurred in South Carolina and could have prompted the name change and sudden movement of his family to Florida.

Eaddy Family Features
James Eaddy Family Tree