The Joining of The Point

The last post introduced Milton and E. Agnes McMillin as the next owners of the West Parcel of The Point, which at that time was just the lakeside tip of a larger property described as Lot 3 and the SE4 of the SE4 of Township 37, Section 35. According to the deed records, the McMillins purchased the property from William and Ida Jenkins on July 13, 1935 for one dollar "and other considerations":

Deed from William and Ida Jenkins to Milton and Agnes McMillin, July 1935 (Washington State Archives)

(Note that the deed records seem to conflict with the 1934 map posted here, which indicated that E. Erickson owned the West Parcel of The Point at that time. Deed records show that Erickson did not purchase the land until 1945.)

Originally from Oklahoma, Milton McMillin's occupation is given as mill labourer in the 1940 census, in which he, Agnes (originally from England), and their seventeen-year-old son, Robert, are enumerated as residing on a farm in Crescent Township, then the name for the Lake Samish area. The McMillin farm is seen on this 1942 map:

Lake Samish, 1942 (Metsker's Atlas of Whatcom County)

What this map also shows, though, is that Lot 3 and the SE4 of the SE4 is no longer whole by 1942. The McMillins began subdividing Lot 3 within a few months of purchasing it, selling pieces to various individuals named Curry, Hunt, Davis, and Russell. And it was the Curry sale that carved off the exact property boundaries that now comprise the West Parcel of The Point and joined it with the East Parcel.

H.C. Curry: The First Owner of the Whole Point

In September 1935, Harry C. Curry, a salesman in a power and light company in Burlington, Skagit County, Washington, purchased the West Parcel from the McMillins -- once again for that infamous "one dollar and other good and valuable consideration." At the same time, he purchased Lots 12 through 15 (i.e., the East Parcel) of Bloedel Donovan's recently divided Shallow Shores plat, making him the first owner of the whole Point property as it exists today.

At some point in the next few years, Curry must have transferred the property into his wife Mary's name, because after Mary died in 1939 in Skagit County, her estate included the Lake Samish property. As her executor, Harry sold the property in January 1940 to Peter and Wygerdina (or Wyendena) Best for $3,000. The next post will pick up the story with the Bests.