The Search for a Missing Seattle Heir
After twenty-seven years of silence, a missing heir surfaces to claim a $300,000 estate, reuniting a family divided by distance and time.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Benjamin Kenyon, one of the heirs of the estate of J. G. Kenyon, who died at Seattle on December 29, 1890, arrived from Hanover, Ontario, this morning, accompanied by his son, J. J. Kenyon, and Attorney Francis H. Paul. All three will leave for Seattle in the morning to file his claim for a share of the estate. Mr. Kenyon estimated the value of the estate at about $300,000, consisting of funds in banks and lands in Seattle and California. To Benjamin Kenyon were left lands in Seattle appraised at $150,000. J. G. Kenyon formerly lived in Ontario, but left twenty-seven years ago and had not been seen by his heirs since. Benjamin Kenyon had lost all trace of him, and while the sisters were easily located when the will was probated last December, the other heir was only found a short time ago.
“J. G. Kenyon formerly lived in Ontario. He left there twenty-seven years ago and had not been seen again by his heirs during life.”
Probate and estate battles have long been a feature of Seattle's property history. While today's real estate market values are vastly higher than the $300,000 reported in 1891, the struggle to identify rightful heirs amidst a transient, growing population remains a common legal challenge.
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