Notice of Sheriff's Sale: Foreclosure

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Dorothea-Lange-Florence-Thompson-and-her-children-in-a-pea-pickers-camp.-
Nipomo-California.-March-1936; courtesy of PBS

Until you begin the hunt, you never know what you'll find. When I began a research report for my great-grandmother, Nancy Jane Booth, (my mother's father's mother) I thought that I knew all about her from previous research. So I was shocked to see a Newspapers.com hint about a Sheriff's sale in Hugoton, Kansas. I knew that they had briefly lived there with their daughter's family, but had no clue they ever owned property there. The text isn't that interesting, but the details matter, so here is a transcription:


(First published June 29, 1917)

Notice of Sheriff's Sale

Notice is hereby given, that in pursuance of an Order of Sale issued out of the District Court of Stevens County, Kansas, on the 13th day of June, 1917, an action wherein J.D. Newcomer Company, a corporation, is plaintiff, and Samuel McBee and Nancy McBee his wife, are defendants, directed by me, the undersigned Sheriff of Stevens County, commanding me to levy upon, and sell the following described property, to wit: Lots 3 and 4, and the east one-half of the southwest quarter of Section seven, township thirty five south in Range thirty-eight west of the 6th Principal Meridian, all in Stevens County, Kansas, to satisfy a judgement and decree of foreclosure in favor of of the said plaintiff against said defendants obtained and made in said Court on the 27th day of September, 1916, for the sun of $496.75, bearing 7 per cent. annual interest, and further sum of $35.25, with interest thereon at 8 per cent. annual interest, from said 27th day of September, 1916, and costs of $17.00, and costs accruing; I will, on the 30th day of July, 1917, at the hour of 2 o'clock P. M., at the front door of the Court House in the City of Hugoton, in said County of Stevens and State of Kansas, offer for sale and sell to the highest bidder for cash, the said property above described, to satisfy said judgement, with interests and costs.

Witness my hand, this 25th day of June, 1917.   S. C. THOMAS,

Sheriff of Stevens County, Kansas. - The Hugoton Hermes, Hugoton, Kansas, Friday 13  July 1917, page 4, column 5 , legal notice of foreclosure & sheriff sale for Samuel and Nancy Booth McBee property; Newspapers.com : accessed 6 July 2026.


The image at the top of this post is what came to mind; my mother-in-law ended up in California because of the dust bowl in Nebraska, and I remember my father-in-law talking about the people around him in California who had fled poverty in the mid-west for the same reason.

"Lots 3 and 4, and the east one-half of the southwest quarter of Section seven, township thirty five south in Range thirty-eight west of the 6th Principal Meridian"

There is no evidence that my great-grandparents ever lived on this property they lost. Of course, as I looked for more evidence, the details left me with more questions. First, I found MaryLynn's handout for her talk "Land of My Own" about researching land in state-land states. The above legal description of the land is what led to more information.

Thanks to that handout, here is some of what I found: 


Where the land is: 

Map generated at BLMGLO site


When they got the lots, & who owned other part:


As usual, when I find out something new, I have new research questions. Who is this  Cleve Higdon, the original buyer of the bulk of the land in the Sheriff's sale? Possibly a connection to Sam and Nancy's son-in-law Charles Higdon. 

More research needed! After a bit of thinking, I wondered if the BLM could help me figure out who Cleve Higdon might be, so I removed the land description from the search form and searched for "higdon" in Stevens County. Results below give me something to chew on!

https://glorecords.blm.gov/ : accessed 11 June 2026.

My takeaways from this excursion into the past:

  • Research reports about people you think you know well: gold
  • Diving into surprise finds: fun
  • Learning new techniques or record types: invaluable
  • Every answer = more questions
  • All of this = deeper understanding of ancestors' lives


Valorie Zimmerman


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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org




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