The Indian Wife, the White Widow, and the Skagit Ranch
A Skagit County probate fight asked whether the children of John Wilbur’s Indigenous wife could inherit his ranch—or whether his later white marriage erased them.
Mount Vernon, May 24 — Special. Judge McBride, of probate court, has all this week been hearing evidence in the famous Wilbur case, and an imposing array of legal talent is in the contest. The courtroom is full of interested spectators all day, and at the night sessions also. The case is familiar to all the old settlers. It was tried two years ago in this court on the question of the right of Mrs. Wilbur to ask for the appointment of an administrator. Now it comes up in probate on a question of distribution. The estate is valued at about $10,000, consisting of a fine ranch near Skagit City.
John J. Wilbur, deceased, took up his homestead near Skagit City when there were only a few white settlers on the river. Like many others, he took an Indian woman to live with him about 1870. Her name was Kitty, and she brought several children into the world, who are now seeking to be recognized as Mr. Wilbur’s heirs. Kitty wandered away, or was sent away, after the birth of the children, and later Wilbur married a white woman, who now applies for final distribution of the estate. Wilbur died in 1893. Kitty married John Fallinsbee, a man of mixed heritage, many years ago, and he was her interpreter on the stand this week.
John David Wilbur, aged 23, and Charles A. Wilbur, aged 20, are the Indian children. S. S. Tingley, Otto Klement, O. Kincaid and Kitty Fallinsbee were examined this week upon the customs and habits of the Indians. The tenor of their testimony was that Wilbur and Kitty were regularly married according to Indian fashion and usage. There will probably be five or six witnesses on Mrs. Wilbur’s side before the case is finished.
“Like many others, he took an Indian woman to live with him about 1870. Her name was Kitty, and she brought several children into the world, who are now seeking to be recognized as Mr. Wilbur’s heirs.”
In 1895, Washington courts and society often refused to treat Indigenous marriages as fully legitimate, which could strip children of inheritance and legal standing. The Wilbur case is a reminder that probate and family law were—and remain—sites where racial ideas about kinship decide who counts.
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