A property abstract is a collection of legal documents, deeds, mortgages, wills, litigations and tax sales for a specific property. All essential data pertaining to a property are compiled into one very BIG folder.
They are considered the best place to start researching a property and I was handed that document last Saturday morning.
And here's what I learned:
The Yeomalt Beach Community was established in November, 1905 when a man named H.H. Dingley platted the land previously known as "Lot 1" and "Lot 3." spanning approximately 63 acres. The properties had originally been purchased in 1890 by Renton, Smith and Company (a San Francisco land developer with ties to the Port Blakely Mill) from the United States and sold over a period of years between parties associated with Renton/Smith. Through a series of transactions (37 and counting and includes a law suit) H.H. Dingley acquired what would become Yeomalt Point in July of 1905.
He in turn, sold the lots to a group of Seattle-ites looking for beach property.
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| Lots 9, 10 and 11 are important |
Eileen Gailey's Mother was on the boat in 1906 that came to pick which lot to purchase and folklore has it because she was the only woman on board, she was given first pick of the properties.
And she picked well.
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| Nicely done Mrs. Gailey |
Any information I publish are not necessarily the complete facts and I'm using this blog as a way to keep my research organized. It could/will change as I learn more. The legal-ese of the documents, combined with the language of the time makes it difficult to keep track of every detail. The properties had multiple owners, who were often related and possibly were "flipping" the properties back and forth. I'm still not sure
I think it's time for a spreadsheet.
