The Unsettled Estate on the Edge of Lake Union
A legal notice from 1877 reveals the struggle of a widow attempting to settle a deceased spouse's debts by liquidating land near the wild, undeveloped frontier of Seattle's Lake Union.
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.
In the Probate Court of King County, Washington Territory. In the Matter of the Estate of Josiah Gellerson, deceased. William Walker, a creditor of said estate, having on the 22nd day of December, 1877, by his attorney, I. A. Navarro, Esq., filed his petition herein duly verified, praying for an order of sale of certain real estate alleged to belong to said estate for the purposes herein set forth. And this 31st day of December, 1877, having been fixed upon for hearing upon said petition, and said petitioner appearing by James McNaught, Esq., his attorney, and Hannah Gellerson, the widow of said deceased, appearing by W. B. Andrews, Esq., her attorney, and all persons present including the administrator of said estate, consenting that an order to show cause why order of sale of said real estate should not be made. Now, therefore, it is ordered by said Court, that all persons interested in the estate of said deceased appear before the said Probate Court on the 18th day of February, 1878, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, to show cause why an order of sale should not be granted to the said administrator to sell the real estate of said deceased, or so much thereof as shall be necessary.
“It is ordered... that all persons interested in the estate of said deceased, appear before the said Probate Court... to show cause why an order of sale should not be granted.”
This notice reflects the brutal reality of late 19th-century probate, where the death of a property owner often forced widows into immediate financial precarity. Today, Lake Union is one of the most expensive zip codes in the Pacific Northwest, a stark contrast to a time when it was a frontier landscape being carved up to pay off debts.
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