 hicago
Title and Trust Co. dates
back more than 150 years
through the succession of
several firms and
corporations that were
engage in the abstract and
title business in Cook
County, Illinois.
The year was 1847; Chicago
was booming. Almost 17,000
persons called it home...
and new pioneers were
streaming in steadily to
grasp the opportunities for
independence, which the rich
prairie soil promised.
An obscure young law clerk,
Edward A. Rucker, devised a
system of keeping track of
every recorded instrument
and legal proceeding
affecting real estate
titles. This saved attorneys
the laborious task of
searching official records
in connection with transfers
of real property. It was a
valuable service that was
welcomed.
Rucker hung out his shingle
in the Saloon Building...
then, later that year,
joined with James H. Rees in
the Merchants' Exchange.
As the city grew, abstract
indices similar to Rees' and
Rucker's were established by
J. Mason Parker in 1852, and
Fernando Jones in 1863. This
was the foundation of what
was to become Chicago Title
and Trust Co. (CT&T).
Thus, in October 1871, when
the Great Chicago Fire laid
waste a large portion of the
city and destroyed all of
the official Cook County
real estate records stored
in the office of the county
recorder, there were three
abstract firms in business -
Chase Brothers and Co.;
Shortall and Hoard; and
Jones and Sellers.
When the fire spread into
the present Loop district
and consumed the public
buildings and records, three
companies - Shortall and
Hoard, Jones and Sellers and
Chase Brothers and Co. - had
snatched their records from
the inferno. Soon they were
housed together in the
untouched western outskirts
of the city.
Less than three weeks after
the conflagration, the
Chicago Times made the
following editorial
statements:
"There has been absolute
destruction of all legal
evidence of titles to
property in Cook County. The
annoyance, calamity and
actual distress that will
arise from this misfortune
are not yet properly
appreciated. Something equal
to the necessities of the
case must be done quickly."
"We have in Chicago three
firms - Shortall and Hoard,
Jones and Sellers and Chase
Brothers and Co. - who have
saved nearly all of their
papers, including the
indices to every piece of
property in Cook County, and
actual abstracts to a large
proportion of this property.
We have one firm - J.H. Rees
and Co. - who has saved
copies of all the maps and
all the plats ever made of
Cook County property.
"Nobody has hesitated,
heretofore, to accept their
copies of the records as
official - why should not
some equitable plan be
provided now, by which these
copies, carefully compared
and compiled, should become
official?"
Burnt Records Act
Eventually, this
consolidation took place
under the somewhat expanded
title of Chase Brothers,
Jones, Sellers, Shortall and
Hoard. In April 1872, the
Burnt Records Act was passed
by the Illinois Legislature,
and the existing abstract
records of the three
companies were made
admissible as evidence in
all courts of record. These
were part of the framework
on which Chicagoans began to
rebuild a greater Chicago.
The combined books were
moved to a store building on
the north side of Lake
Street between Peoria and
Green streets. After a time,
the old firm turned the
business and a lease of its
books over to the newly
organized firm of Handy,
Simmons, Smith and Stocker.
This firm became Handy,
Simmons and Co., and this
was followed by Handy and
Co., under which the
business was continued until
1887.
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