Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection, 1846-1985

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Summary

Title:
Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection
Dates:
1846-1985
Creators:
Union Title Insurance and Trust Company.
Abstract:
This collection contains administrative records of the Union Title Insurance and Trust Company, real estate documents, subject files on various topics in San Diego history, and personal papers of the Forward family.
Extent:
11.0 Linear feet (17 boxes)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection, MS 294, San Diego History Center Document Archives, San Diego, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains administrative records of the Union Title Insurance and Trust Company, real estate documents, subject files on various topics in San Diego history, and personal papers of the Forward family.

Administrative documents includes articles of incorporation, by-laws, meeting minutes, financial records, and publications of Union Title Insurance and Trust Insurance Company. Real estate documents include property tax records, abstracts of title, and patents, and include both work by the company as well as a historical collection of abstracts and patents throughout San Diego County. Highlights of the historical collection include abstracts of the early Southern California Ranchos, property records compiled by William Gregg, and assorted stocks and bonds.

The subject files include real estate and business ephemera, files on neighborhood histories, and economics. Finally, the Forward Family papers include files on individual family members, newspaper articles, correspondence, and more historical items collected by the family.

Biographical / historical:

Union Title Insurance and Trust Company had its roots in 1875 when William Gregg founded an abstract business to house indexed records he had researched as San Diego County Recorder.

In 1886, John F. Forward, his wife and five children moved from Pittsburgh to San Diego, where he became the San Diego County Recorder from 1893-1906. Forward purchased the Reed and Burt Title and Abstract firm after William Gregg’s death. In 1903, Forward incorporated his company as Union Title and Trust Company. He began a new method of keeping title records different from the previous method of maintaining chain of ownership “abstracts.” Instead, the company issued a “certificate of title” for property that the title was sound. The “certificate of title” changed to “guarantee of title” and finally to the “policy of title insurance” of today.

John Forward died in 1926 and his son, John F. Forward succeeded him. In 1937, health reasons caused John F. to hand over the presidency and chairmanship to his brother James D. Forward. Another brother, Frank, later took over the presidency, but James retained chairmanship. Union Title and Trust operated until 1957 when the Forward family sold it in exchange for stock to Title Insurance and Trust Company. Eventually, the Los Angeles Company took over and the San Diego office had no president or chairman.

The Forwards were a pioneer family that left a legacy for San Diego. In 1947, Frank Forward began amassing a historical photography collection and in 1979, the Forward Family donated approximately 140,600 images to the San Diego History Center. After World War II, the company began preserving records by microfilming them and storing them in a vault in Imperial Valley. The preservation of records became an extension of the photograph collection. Many of the surviving original and copied documents were also donated to the San Diego History Center.

Processing information:

Collection processed by Valerie Lake in September 2012.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in nine series:

Series I: Administrative Records;

Series II: Financial Papers;

Series III: Ephemera and Publications;

Series IV: Subject Files;

Series V: Property Tax Records;

Series VI: Abstracts of Titles;

Series VII: Stocks and Bonds;

Series VIII: Archival Collection;

Series IX: Forward Family papers.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Samantha Mills
Date Prepared:
May 3, 2017
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2017-05-04T10:55-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.

Preferred citation:

Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection, MS 294, San Diego History Center Document Archives, San Diego, CA.

Location of this collection:
1649 El Prado, Suite 3
San Diego, CA 92101, US
Contact:
(619) 232-6203
Website