The Battle for the Nathan Thayer Estate
A high-stakes legal drama unfolds in Prosser as relatives contest the will of a prominent local orchardist, alleging undue influence by his primary beneficiary.
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.
The case of Caleb Thayer, Wm. E. Thayer, and Laura Thayer vs. Dr. Mary D. Hudson, M. M. Moulton, and L. E. Johnson, executors of the will of the late Nathan Thayer, has held the attention of the superior court in Prosser. The case is an action brought by the relatives of Nathan Thayer to have his will set aside, in which Dr. Hudson is named as the sole beneficiary. The contest is based on the allegation that Dr. Hudson exerted an undue influence over Mr. Thayer during the last years of his life. Owing to Mr. Thayer’s prominence in the community and the large number of witnesses called from Kennewick, the case is of widespread interest. The estate involved consists almost entirely of orchard and farm lands on the Highlands and down the valley and Kennewick business property valued at about $75,000.
“The case is of more widespread interest locally than any that has ever been brought to trial in the superior court of this county.”
Conflicts over wills and the accumulation of vast orchard wealth were common in early Kennewick as the town transitioned from raw land to productive agriculture. These probate fights often pitted distant heirs against local caregivers, a recurring tension in wealth transfer that persists in modern estate litigation.
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