Vandevert Ranch Title History

This history of the ownership of Vandevert Ranch, still a work in progress, derives from documents that Grace Vandevert McNellis kept for many years and which will be entrusted to the Deschutes County Historical Society in the summer of 2016.  The most comprehensive documents are Abstracts of Titles #3305, #1558, and #5488 of the Deschutes County Abstract Company.
Vandevert Ranch is at the intersection of Sections 17, 18, 19, and 20 in Township 20S, Range 11, East of the Willamette Meridian.
The 400 acres of Vandevert Ranch were assembled in three blocks to form a western-facing “L” as shown below.

These locations can be located on Google Earth through the web site http://www.earthpoint.us/TownshipsSearchByDescription.aspx

For the purposes of this Title History, the three blocks are referred to as follows:

• The Eastern 160 Acre Block today comprises the Schoolhouse, Rainbow Lake, the main gate, the south access gate, and most of the land east of the Little Deschutes River.
• The Western 160 Acre Block today comprises most of the riparian area on the ranch, the bridge, and most of the road to the barn.  The original 1892 Homestead is in this block in spite of being on the east side of the river.
• The Western 80 Acre Addition today comprises the barn and the pasture.  

Chronology of Ownership

October 25, 1888 - Jury Verdict (Crook County Suit 229, transferred to Deschutes County as Suit #317).  $230 (plus $177.66 in costs) awards to John Feldewerd to be paid by W.G. Scoggin and T.G. Scoggin in compensation for taking 25 tons of wild hay, On October 12, 1889, a Writ of Execution is issued by the court directing the sheriff to sell the Scoggins property (the Eastern 160 Acres) to raise cash to satisfy the judgment.  On December 14, 1889 the sheriff sells the 160 acres at auction to W.T. Casey.  But five days earlier, on December 9, 1889, C.T.Scoggin issued a mortgage on the property to W.G. Scoggin.  W.G. Scoggin does not pay the mortgage. C.T. Scoggin takes the property and, exercising a “right of redemption”, reclaims the property, paying W.T. Casey what Casey had paid for it ($250) plus interest and costs ($279.70 total) on February 21, 1891.

Details in Support of the Above Paragraph:

• December 9, 1889 (Date of Record December 9, 1889) – William Scoggin “grants” the Eastern 160 Acres to C.T. Scoggin in security for a mortgage of $283.
• December 27, 1890 (Date of Record December 27, 1890) – W.A. Booth, Sheriff of Crook County (Deschutes County was part of Crook County back then) grants the Eastern 160 Acres to W.T. Casey for $250 ($1.56 per acre) in order to collect cash that W.G. Scoggin and T.G. Scoggin (William’s wife) owed to John Felderwerd (actually for a judgment rendered against them on October 12, 1889). 
• January 13, 1891 (Date of Record January 13, 1891) – W.T. Casey grants the Eastern 160 Acres to J.F. Moore for $250. 
• February 19, 1891 (Date of Record February 21, 1891) – W.G. Scoggin grants the Eastern 160 Acres to C.T. Scoggin for $563 ($3.63 per acre), presumably in payment for the mortgage C.T. Scoggin had given him earlier.

July 29, 1891 (Date of Record August 27, 1910) – The United States grants the Eastern 160 Acres to William G. Scoggin.  (How does the U.S. even have this land to grant to anyone?  Why does it take until 1910 to record it?)

November 27, 1891 (Date of Record January 18, 1892) – C.T. Scoggin and his wife, Mary, grants the Eastern 160 Acres to C.U. Vandevert for $600 ($3.75 per acre).
October 31, 1892 (Date of Record October 31, 1892) – C.U. Vandevert grants the Eastern 160 Acres to William P. Vandevert for $1,000 ($6.25 per acre)
June 10, 1908 (Date of Record June 12, 1908) – William and Sadie Vandevert grant the Eastern 160 Acres and Western 160 Acres to I.W. Ward as security for a mortgage of $850 payable with interest beginning October 1.

March 31, 1910 (Date of Record March 31, 1910) – I.W. Ward grants partial satisfaction of the mortgage in return for a strip of land 100 feet wide through the property for the Oregon Trunk Railway to build a rail line. (The railway was not built across the ranch.  Perhaps this strip of land became South Century Boulevard.)
January 27, 1911 (Filed February 13, 1911) – William P. and Sadie L. Vandevert convey to the State Land Board all 320 acres as a mortgage to secure the payment of $2,000.  Mortgage released (as fully paid) January 17, 1922 (Filed January 28, 1922).

March 17, 1914 (Filed July 9, 1915) – George W. Shriner and Theresa A. Shriner grant the Western 160 Acres to F. Pinne to secure a mortgage of $350.  This mortgage was released on February 18, 1916.  (How could this happen?  The Vandeverts had owned this land for a long time by then.)

January 11, 1922 (Filed January 12, 1911) – William P. and Sadie L. Vandevert convey to the State Land Board all 320 acres as a mortgage to secure the payment of $2,500.  Mortgage released (as fully paid) January 17, 1922 (Filed January 28, 1922). December 15, 1924 (Filed December 18, 1924) – State Land Board issues a Partial Release of Mortgage on Eastern 160 Acres. 

November 10, 1924 (Filed December 18, 1924) – William P. Vandevert, a widower, grants a timber deed to the Shevlin-Hixon company for Eastern 160 Acres only for “$10 and other valuable considerations”.  On September 27, 1928, Shevlin-Hixon provided a quitclaim releasing all rights, titles, and interest in the land back to William P. Vandevert.     

March 30, 1937 – W.P. Vandevert issues a quitclaim to his son and daughter-in-law, Claude C. Vandevert and Pearl M. Vandevert for the whole 320 acres in return for $10 and their assumption of a mortgage due to the State of Oregon for approximately $1,250 ($3.94 per acre).

December 17, 1943 – The Oregon State Land Board acknowledges full payment of a mortgage for $1,250 executed by William P. Vandevert on November 18, 1932. 

1970 - Claude Vandevert sells the 320 acre ranch to Leonard Lundgren with a life estate (the right to live on the property) for himself and his wife, Jean Josey Vandevert. (per family history - yet to be documented by deeds etc.)

June 11, 1982 - The Douglas Cascade Corporation conveys the ranch to brothers Michael W. Stone and John F. Stone for one dollar plus "other value or consideration". It appears that Douglas Cascade Corporation was owned by the Stones and must have bought the ranch from Leonard Lundgren earlier.

1987 - Jim and Carol Gardner buy the ranch out of bankruptcy. They later decide to develop the ranch, selling the first lot in approximately 1993.

  
Transactions on Related Lands:

March 13, 1911 – The U.S. Department of the Interior allows the homestead application of Thomas W. Vandevert (i.e. “Uncle Bill) for the “Western 80 Acre Addition”.  The cost  is $8.00.

March 14, 1892 – Charles Vandevert conveys to his brother, Walter Vandevert, for $1,000, the 160 acres immediately south of the land he sells to his other brother, William.  Walter’s land comprises the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 20 and the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 19.  Today this land includes a fire station, about a mile of the Little Deschutes River, a small portion of Thousand Trails, and some land east of South Century Boulevard.

Questions Still Outstanding:

• There is no record of how W.P. and Sadie acquired the homesteaded land west of the river.  But they must have acquired it before they built the Homestead.
• March 31, 1910 (Date of Record March 31, 1910) – I.W. Ward grants partial satisfaction of the mortgage in return for a strip of land 100 feet wide through the property for the Oregon Trunk Railway to build a rail line. Did this strip of land become South Century Boulevard?
• March 17, 1914 (Filed July 9, 1915) – George W. Shriner and Theresa A. Shriner grant the Western 160 Acres to F. Pinne to secure a mortgage of $350.  This mortgage was released on February 18, 1916.  (How could this happen?  The Vandeverts had owned this land for a long time by then.)
• In the Abstract of Title, did someone transcribe the individual items from the original documents?  Should the originals still be on file somewhere in Deschutes County?
• In 1924 Shevlin-Hixon paid W.P “$10 and other valuable considerations” for the timber rights to the Eastern 160 Acres.  It appears the “other valuable considerations” included paying the mortgage on this property.  Was there any further consideration?
• Later sales of ranch property need to be documented: Claude’s sale of the ranch to Leonard Lundgren in 1970 with a life estate, Lundgren’s sale to two brothers from Salem in the early 80’s, and the purchase of the ranch out of bankruptcy by Jim and Carol Gardner in 1987, and the acquisition of the 80 acre Western Addition by the Gardners.