More house history

You may recall that I shared a photo of the Wickershams of Wickersham, Washington a few months ago. At that time, I knew little else about them. Here is the original Puddle Run post on the subject: http://www.puddlerun.com/2010/04/wickershams-of-wickersham-washington.html. 


As far as placing the Wickershams' hands on our very own acre, we have these records (which relate to our property, Block 3 lots 4 through 10, and our house on lot 5):


The deed history of lots 4, 5, 6, and 7 from 1918 back as indicated in the Auditor’s General Index to Recordings is as follows:

·         11/21/1913 sold by P.S. Haner to J.A. Yorkston

·         9/13/1911 sold by J.R. Crews to P.S. Haner

·         8/1/1911 sold by H.J. Raybourn to J.R. Crews

·         5/22/1905 sold by Noah V. Wickersham to H.J. Raybourn

·         10/24/1892 Block 3 sold by William Wickersham to Noah Wickersham

·         8/3/1892 Plat of the First Addition to Wickersham recorded by William Wickersham

Our tax records date this home as a 1900 model, which points to Noah Wickersham as its original owner. 

Today, I found another brief article on the Wickersham family. Here it is, copied from www.wagenweb.org:

HOW WICKERSHAM GOT IT'S NAME Years ago, in the early 80's, two boys, Noah and Will WICKERSHAM, living in Kansas, got the western fever. They started out, as so many of the young people did in those days, to find a home in the as yet unsettled regions of the West Coast. After some months of travel they reached the town of Whatcom (now Bellingham). Noah had the longing for a ranch and not content with conditions as he found them in the town of Whatcom and he, like Noah of old, decided to build a craft and launch it upon the waters. Instead of an ark, he and a companion named RATHVUN built a raft and launched it upon Lake Whatcom, near what is now Geneva. They drifted or propelled their craft by help of a small sail until they reached the extreme southern end of the lake near what is now a small settlement called Park. They forged ahead going farther inland until they reached the point where the North Fork valley and the Samish valley meet. Here the land forms a three-way water shed between the head waters of the South Fork of the Nooksack, the Samish river and a little stream flowing into Mirror Lake, thence to Lake Whatcom. Here Noah staked a claim and built a cabin. He was later joined by his brother Will. Other settlers soon followed them in and took up claims. In the year 1892-93 the Northern Pacific railway came through and built a depot there. The WICKERSHAM brothers each gave 40 acres to the railroad company for a townsite. The railroad company turned it over to the Virginia Townsite Co. who laid it off in lots and blocks, and named the settlement Wickersham. The valley is a dairy section. A large number of men who now live here are railroad men and loggers in the lumber industry.

From The Deming Prospector, June 30, 1930; copied by Susan Nahas