Darrow in Koochiching County Minnesota?
We’ve been working on more Darrow recently and one Minnesota connection caught our eye!
In 1923 Paul Darrow, Clarence Darrow’s son, came into 640 acres of land in Koochiching County. It was passed to him via Quit Claim Deed from his mother (Clarence’s first wife) Jessie Ohl Darrow. It seems that the reason for the transfer to Paul has to do with the unclear tax arrangements surrounding the original timber contract between a Mr. H.B. Budd of Beltrami County, and Sheldon-Mather Timber Company of Duluth. In the 1907 contract it appears that the responsibility for the taxes of the two half-sections of land falls to the lumber company, but continued attempts by Koochiching Co. Treasurer’s Office to collect taxes from the land owners (which includes Jessie after 1908) infer the lumber company’s non-payment. Clarence seems to think that the matter is worth perusing as he himself had tried to sort it out for Jessie in 1915, and he continued to think so eight years later in 1923, ‘I am quite sure this property will be valuable some time and I think you had better get the title straightened out.’
For more Darrow letters, check out our Darrow website!
