The $5,000 Will Fight Over Two Seattle Lots
McClanahan says Jane Harmon promised him the estate; her sisters' children say the will should not stand.
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.
McClanahan in the premises yesterday filed an answer to the petition of Mary Ann Taylor, Minnie and Catherine Smith, contesting the will of Jane Harmon, deceased, who made McClanahan principal legatee and also executor. After denying the allegations of the petition, he sets out an affirmative defense that all the property devised to him was the property of his deceased wife during her lifetime and property left to Jane Harmon; that his deceased wife contemplated willing it to him, but died in a sudden sickness and failed to carry out her desires. During her lifetime and the lifetime of Jane Harmon he resided upon the property, and greatly improved it, and the understanding was that he was to be given the estate. In 1888 Jane Harmon devised it to him, and the will has never been revoked. The property consists of two lots on Battery and Fourth streets, and is valued at $5,000. The contestants claim through their parents, to whom Jane Harmon was a sister.
“During her lifetime and the lifetime of Jane Harmon he resided upon the property, and greatly improved it, and the understanding was that he was to be given the estate.”
Will contests over Seattle property are a familiar genre, but the stakes have changed: two Belltown lots valued at $5,000 in 1895 would be worth a fortune today. The case shows how quickly real estate became the city's central family asset—and flashpoint.
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