Edgar Wilmott Wylie, the third son of Eli Wylie, was born November 29, 1848 at West Port, New York. He attended school here and at the age of 28 he migrated, with the Wylie family, to Wisconsin in or about 1860.
In 1877 he set out with a team of horses and a wagon for Dakota Territory to find a better place to live. Reaching Fargo, he turned west and followed the railroad as far as Bismarck, where he boarded a steamboat for Miles City, Montana. One account states that he reached Great Falls.
In the fall of 1877 he returned to Fargo via the Northern Pacific railroad to spend the winter. Here his brother Willis met him. Edgar had talked with Donald D. McFadgen on the train and had been convinced that the Sheyenne River Valley was the place to settle and he in turn convinced Willis. On April 27, 1878 they shipped their belongings to Worthington (Valley City), riding in the caboose, according to one account.
There being no depot in Worthington at the time, they de-trained about where the Peavey Elevator now stands. According to the account of Willis, there was no hotel as such, so the family walked to the Donald D. McFadgen home, a one story log cabin located just east of the Mercy Hospital by the river. The nearest neighbor was John Morrison, who had a cabin south of the track. West of the Morrison cabin there were two other cabins, one a store, about where the Vogue Cleaners now stands.
The next year Edgar Wylie was elected county assessor and later a deputy sheriff and town Marshall. In 1887 he was appointed the Chief of Police.
The wile of Edgar Wylie was Hattie Chapman and to this union there was born two children, Stella and Emma.
According to the Northern Pacific Times, the first newspaper in Valley City, Edgar Wylie shot 13 deer and antelope, all within 13 miles of Valley City in 1879 and 1880. Also, along with others, Ed was instrumental in promoting the first real 4th of July celebration in Valley City.
Edgar Wilmott Wylie died in 1906 in Reeds Island, British Columbia.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 277