At issue is whether a county can seize homeowners' residence for unpaid property taxes and sell the house at auction for less than the homeowners would get if they put their home on the market themselves.

In 1869, the lawyer and future railroad entrepreneur and historian Louis Houck rode the court circuit to Kennett with other lawyers and court officials. Upon reaching a point south of Bloomfield, as he later wrote, “I sat down on a hillside on the left of where Dexter now stands, looking over a vast forest of timber on all sides, greatly impressed; not a single farm in sight or opening in the vast woods except at the foot of the hill, an open place known as Miller’s Farm. Going south for miles we traveled along the edge of what was known as the East Swamp, all covered with heavy timber.”