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Guide to the Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection
MS 294
MS 294
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Table of contents
Title: Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS 294
Contributing Institution:
San Diego History Center Document Collection
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
11.0 Linear feet
(17 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1846-1985
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.
creator:
Union Title Insurance and Trust Company.
Biographical / Historical Notes
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.
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.
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.
Union Title Insurance and Trust Company Collection, MS 294, San Diego History Center Document Archives, San Diego, CA.
This collection is open for research.
The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.
Collection processed by Valerie Lake in September 2012.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Disneyland (Calif.).
Forward Family
Forward, Frank
Forward, James D.
Forward, John F.
Gregg, William
San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company.
Union Title Insurance and Trust Company.
Abstracts of title
Balboa Park (San Diego, Calif.)
Bonds
Coronado (Calif.)
Correspondence
Deeds
Del Mar (Calif.)
Descanso (Calif.)
Economic development
El Cajon (Calif.)
Encinitas (Calif.)
Ephemera
Escondido (Calif.)
Jacumba (Calif.)
Mortgages
Pueblo Lands
Rancho Agua Hedionda
Rancho Bernardo (San Diego, Calif.)
Rancho Buena Vista
Rancho Canada de San Vicente Y Mesa del Padre Barona
Rancho Cuca
Rancho Cuyamaca
Rancho de la Nacion
Rancho Encinitas
Rancho Guajome
Rancho Guejito Y Canada de Palomia
Rancho Jamacha
Rancho Jamul
Rancho Los Penasquitos
Rancho Monserate
Rancho Otay
Rancho Pauma
Rancho Peninsula of San Diego
Rancho Rincon Del Diablo
Rancho San Jose Del Valle
Rancho San Marcos
Rancho Santa Isabel
Rancho Santa Margarita (Calif.)
Rancho Valle de San Felipe
Real property
San Diego (Calif.)
San Diego County (Calif.)
Stock certificates
Tourism
Water