The Sad Passing of Seattle's First Donation Claim Holder
Mrs. Diana Collins, a pioneer who arrived in 1850 and survived the tragedy of the Duwamish River, has passed away.
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.
We learn that Mrs. Diana Collins, of the Duwamish River, died in this city yesterday morning of heart disease. Mrs. Collins was the widow of Luther Collins, who settled in this county in the year 1850. She crossed the plains to Oregon in 1847 and lost her husband, who was drowned in the upper Columbia some 17 years since. Their farm on the Duwamish River, now partly occupied by the Race Track, was the first donation claim taken up in King County. She was a native of New York, aged 56 years, and leaves a son and daughter, Stephen Collins, Esq., and Mrs. Lucinda Fares, who reside in this county. The funeral will probably take place on Saturday.
“Their farm on the Duwamish river, now partly occupied by the Race Track, was the first donation claim taken up in King county.”
The Collins family donation claim was one of the earliest colonial footprints in King County, sitting on the Duwamish River—a site that has seen massive transformation from homestead to industrial and recreation use. Her story highlights how quickly the pioneer era of the 1850s became a fading memory by the time Seattle began its rapid urbanization in the 1870s.
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