Marguerite Elliott Eddy graduated from Vassar in 1914. After doing graduate work in bacteriology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, New York University Medical School, Brown University, and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, she worked as a bacteriologist at Wasserman State Laboratory and, from 1921 to 1956, at the Newport Health Department. Soon after moving to Newport, she met William Eddy, the divorced father of singer Nelson Eddy, at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Newport where they both sang in the choir. They were married in June 1923 and settled in Jamestown.
Eddy soon became involved in Jamestown’s political and social life. She organized and served as regent of the John Eldred Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and held many state DAR offices. As Jamestown Health Officer from 1931 to 1937, she was responsible for assessing and documenting health risks to the town’s population. She was secretary on the 1952 Jamestown Charter Commission, which recommended that the charter be changed to allow a professional Town Manager to be hired. She was elected to the Jamestown School Committee, and in 1958, she made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Jamestown Town Council, the first woman to run for Town Council. The same year, she served as parade adjutant in Jamestown’s tercentenary parade.
Biography and image provided by Rosemary Enright, Jamestown Historical Society
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