A Legal Battle Over Property Rights in Seattle
A widow seeks to reclaim ownership of multiple real estate blocks in Salmon Bay and Seattle, arguing they were purchased with her separate inheritance funds.
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.
Botha A. McKelvey filed a complaint in superior court yesterday against L. T. Turner, administrator of the estate of her late husband, Hugh A. McKelvey, and her four children. The plaintiff alleges that prior to her husband’s death in New York, she had acquired significant funds from the estate of B. B. Hotchkiss, which became her sole and separate property. She used these funds to purchase various real estate, including blocks in the Woodland addition to Salmon Bay and properties in the Northern and Porterfield additions to Seattle. The widow is now suing to clear the title, alleging that her children, residents of Connecticut, are incorrectly claiming these properties as part of their father’s intestate estate.
“The plaintiff alleges that a long time prior to the death of her husband she acquired, by inheritance from the estate of one B. B. Hotchkiss, moneys and funds which became her sole and separate property.”
This case underscores the complexity of property law in the 1890s, particularly for women managing assets separate from their husbands. The struggle to maintain clear title to Seattle property remains a perennial issue in a city defined by land speculation.
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