Kelloggs Face Foreclosure Sale Over $4,806 Mortgage
In a move that highlights the precarious nature of land ownership in the early Washington Territory, David and Sarah Kellogg of Seattle are facing the auction of their Snohomish County property due to an unpaid mortgage.
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.
Notice of Sale.
Default has been made in the sum of $4,806 for Judgment and Costs which is claimed to be due at the date of this notice on a certain Mortgage bearing date of February 16th, A.D. 1876 executed by David Kellogg and Sarah A. Kellogg his wife, of Seattle, King County, Washington Territory, to James M. Coleman of some place, and recorded in book 20 of Mortgages at page 206 and 207 on the 28th day of February A.D. 1876.
Now, therefore, notice is hereby given that in pursuance of a decree of Foreclosure and Order of Sale issued out of the District Court of the third Judicial District, holding terms at Seattle in and for the counties of King and Kitsap, to me directed and delivered, of the Statutes in such cases made and provided, the premises covered and described in said Mortgage, to wit: lots No. three (3), four (4) and five (5) of section number six in township No. thirty one North, range four East containing eighty six and thirty-one one hundredths acres (excepting two acres situate as follows commencing at a point 200 feet west of the barn, running south to Unta slough, thence west, thence north, thence east, to place of beginning to contain two acres and to be used as a lending) situate in Snohomish County Washington Territory, will be sold at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, gold coin of the United States, at the door of the Auditors office to said county of Snohomish on the 15th day of April A.D. 1877 between one and four o'clock P.M.
Dated at Snohomish City this 15th day of March A.D. 1877. The above sale postponed until the 8th day of June next.
McNaught & Leary Attorneys for plaintiff. BENJ. STRETCH, Sheriff of Snohomish County.
This foreclosure notice from 1877 illustrates how quickly land wealth could evaporate in the early Washington Territory due to high interest rates and legal fees. It mirrors modern housing crises where homeowners in desirable areas like Snohomish can lose their equity through financial overextension, reminding us that property ownership has always been a fragile asset.
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