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Original 1894 Satisfaction of Mortgage from Mendocino County, California — Harry S. “Uncle Harry” Baechtel to Fred W. Steele. Complete three-part document: printed legal form, notary acknowledgment with embossed seal, and official county recording endorsement. A tangible piece of Willits founding-family history.
The document
This is an original printed “Crocker’s Blank” Satisfaction of Mortgage form (H. S. Crocker & Co., San Francisco & Sacramento, 1890) completed in period ink.
• Original mortgage dated February 6, 1887, made by Fred W. Steele to Harry S. Baechtel
• Recorded February 8, 1887, Book 31 of Mortgages, page 389, Mendocino County
• Satisfaction signed January 2, 1894
• Notarized February 7, 1894 by Gordon Baechtel
• Officially recorded March 8, 1894 at 3:55 p.m. in Volume 7 of Releases of Mortgages, page 23
Witnesses on the face of the document: W. H. Baechtel and Luther S. Baechtel.
Notary: Gordon Baechtel, with his official embossed Mendocino County seal.
County Recorder: Mack Howard; Deputy: Wm. B. Gibson. Filed at the request of S. B. Muir. Recording fee noted as 50 cents.
The three photographed sides travel together as one original instrument (front of the satisfaction, notarial certificate on the reverse, and the outer recording jacket).
Henry S. “Harry” Baechtel (March 30, 1825 – 1914) was one of the first Euro-American settlers of Little Lake Valley. Born in Washington County, Maryland, he sailed for California in 1849. In 1855 he and his brother Samuel drove cattle from Marin County into the valley and stayed. The settlement was first known to newcomers simply as “Baechtels.” It later became Willetsville, then Little Lake, and finally Willits in 1874. Locals called him “Uncle Harry.” He died in Willits at age 89.
The two witnesses were his nephews — sons of Samuel S. Baechtel:
• William Henry Baechtel (born 1866)
• Luther Shelby Baechtel (born 1872)
The notary, Gordon Baechtel (born April 24, 1864), was another of Samuel’s sons. In 1894 the signer, both witnesses, and the notary were all close Baechtel relatives. The document stayed inside one pioneer family.
The Baechtel name is still on the map: Baechtel Creek, Baechtel Road, Baechtel Grove Middle School, and Baechtel Creek Inn in Willits.
Fred W. Steele was the borrower whose 1887 debt was paid off and released by this paper.
The place
Little Lake Valley sits in inland Mendocino County, traditional territory of the Mitom Pomo. The Baechtel brothers’ 1855 arrival with cattle marks the beginning of permanent American settlement there. Early travelers described their log house and stock operation; the valley later became a ranching and timber community. This mortgage release is ordinary 1890s paperwork from that world — a paid-off ranch or farm loan, executed and recorded the way title was actually cleared in frontier California.
Please see photos for details of condition and feel free to make an offer.
