[Isaac] Ebey, the island’s first justice of the peace, conducted an inquest May 23 [of 1853] at Oak Harbor.
Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own. Exodus 21:36 KJV
The first recorded death was noted on May 22, 1853, when settlers discovered the body of Judah Church in the woods of his claim near Oak Harbor. A coroner’s inquest was hastily convened at the site—official verdict, “unknown”—and the sixty-three-year-old native of Michigan was buried where he was found.