A Frontier Homestead Lost to Debt
When a small-scale farm on the outskirts of 1880 Seattle becomes a casualty of high-interest credit, the Sheriff moves in to settle the accounts.
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.
By virtue of an Order of Sale issued out of the District Court for the Third Judicial District of Washington Territory, holding terms at Seattle, King County, on the 7th day of February, 1880, in the case of Henry E. Hathaway, Administrator, with the Will annexed of Polly P. Cohn, deceased, Plaintiff against John Martin and Harriet Martin, Defendants, I will, on Wednesday, March 10th, 1880, at the hour of 10 o'clock A.M., at the Court House door, at Seattle, proceed to sell at Public Auction, for cash, all of Lots Number 13, 14 and 15 of Section 29, North 4 Range 4 East, in King County, Washington Territory, excepting the portions of Lots 13 and 14 conveyed to Martin L. Cavanaugh and Charles Grover before the date of the Mortgage upon which the judgment in this case was obtained. Said premises, containing about forty-one acres, with frame dwelling house, barn, orchard, and other improvements thereon, will be sold for and towards the satisfaction of a Decree and Judgment of said Court in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendants, in the sum of $2,467, with interest at the rate of one and one-half per cent per month from January 25, 1880, with costs and fees amounting to $80.30 and accruing costs.
“Said premises, containing about forty-one acres, with frame dwelling house, barn, orchard, and other improvements thereon, will be sold for and towards the satisfaction of a Decree and Judgment.”
While the scale of modern Seattle real estate has shifted from forty-acre homesteads to high-rise condominiums, the crushing weight of high-interest debt and the displacement of families through foreclosure remains a persistent, painful thread in the city's history. The 18% annual interest rate mentioned in this 1880 notice serves as a grim reminder that predatory lending practices have long been a feature of the Pacific Northwest property market.
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