Title Insurance Company
In 1891, the Interstate Abstract Company of Mobile reformed to create Southern Abstract Guarantee Company under the direction of Orville Cawton, C. Lawrence Lavretta, Edward S. Barnes, and James R. Glennon.[1] However, it has been stated that Southern Abstract Guarantee Company was doing business long before this. More research is needed in the history of this business’ evolution.
Title Insurance Company, Mobile, Alabama Collection consists of 116 14x17 canvas bound ledger books (of which 4 seem to be missing) along with 77 4-drawer file cabinets filled with title searches of the Mobile area. The title searches appear to begin as early as 1854 under the name of Southern Abstract and Guarantee Company on St. Michael Street with John Sears as Secretary. At some point the name changes to Title Insurance Co., Mobile, Ala. These title searches trace the lands of Mobile and their owners back to the original Spanish land grants of the area. Documented in these records are marriages, deaths, familial relationships, and even states of existence (i.e., destitution, mental status). These records tell the stories of Mobile and its interactions between families and businesses in ways no other records can demonstrate, simply because of the size of the collection and the fact that that all histories of these properties and the people that owned them are compiled for us without having to search for all of the separate documents in the probate court of Mobile County. It is our goal to make these records available to the public via digitization and the internet.
This index references two parts of the collection -- the ledger books and the file cabinets. The file cabinets are not currently accessible. They are being kindly held for us by the Mobile Municipal Archives in their offsite storage facility. We are diligently working to digitize the ledger books and make them accessible to you. Constructed alphabetically, each entry is followed by one or more number sequences. When referring to the ledger books, the number will be hyphenated, indicating the volume and page number. If it is referring to the file cabinets, the number will not be hyphenated and will sometimes end with “1/2”.
[1] Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama. Passed by the Sessions of 1892-1893. Held in the city of Montgomery. Commencing Tuesday November 15, 1892, with a Separate Index to General and Local Laws Montgomery Alabama Brown Printing Co. 1893 https://www.google.com/books/edition/Acts_of_the_General_Assembly_of_the_Stat/Y5A3AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Southern+Abstract+and+guarantee+Mobile&pg=PA1246&printsec=frontcover
Here is a link to the Name only index of the records. After clicking on the link a new page will open. To view the index you will need to download the file.
drive.google.com/file/d/1YMrjjr-g8efs_rLbkM9j3h47CfnEH8A-/view?usp=sharing
Here is a link to the entire index book. After clicking on the link a new page will open. To view
the index you will need to download the file. It is a large file, about 2.5 GB.
Please check back soon as we hope to provide a link to a file that contains a name-only index.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K2YN3Ij7BEQPWgnGDHS1R2Rj7QYrStrr/view?usp=sharing
Here is a link to other Title Insurance Company files.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZRJoq21VpscFpkEkGwmAcntYv3rva1zb
See below for the names of the available files.
In 1891, the Interstate Abstract Company of Mobile reformed to create Southern Abstract Guarantee Company under the direction of Orville Cawton, C. Lawrence Lavretta, Edward S. Barnes, and James R. Glennon.[1] However, it has been stated that Southern Abstract Guarantee Company was doing business long before this. More research is needed in the history of this business’ evolution.
Title Insurance Company, Mobile, Alabama Collection consists of 116 14x17 canvas bound ledger books (of which 4 seem to be missing) along with 77 4-drawer file cabinets filled with title searches of the Mobile area. The title searches appear to begin as early as 1854 under the name of Southern Abstract and Guarantee Company on St. Michael Street with John Sears as Secretary. At some point the name changes to Title Insurance Co., Mobile, Ala. These title searches trace the lands of Mobile and their owners back to the original Spanish land grants of the area. Documented in these records are marriages, deaths, familial relationships, and even states of existence (i.e., destitution, mental status). These records tell the stories of Mobile and its interactions between families and businesses in ways no other records can demonstrate, simply because of the size of the collection and the fact that that all histories of these properties and the people that owned them are compiled for us without having to search for all of the separate documents in the probate court of Mobile County. It is our goal to make these records available to the public via digitization and the internet.
This index references two parts of the collection -- the ledger books and the file cabinets. The file cabinets are not currently accessible. They are being kindly held for us by the Mobile Municipal Archives in their offsite storage facility. We are diligently working to digitize the ledger books and make them accessible to you. Constructed alphabetically, each entry is followed by one or more number sequences. When referring to the ledger books, the number will be hyphenated, indicating the volume and page number. If it is referring to the file cabinets, the number will not be hyphenated and will sometimes end with “1/2”.
[1] Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama. Passed by the Sessions of 1892-1893. Held in the city of Montgomery. Commencing Tuesday November 15, 1892, with a Separate Index to General and Local Laws Montgomery Alabama Brown Printing Co. 1893 https://www.google.com/books/edition/Acts_of_the_General_Assembly_of_the_Stat/Y5A3AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Southern+Abstract+and+guarantee+Mobile&pg=PA1246&printsec=frontcover
Here is a link to the Name only index of the records. After clicking on the link a new page will open. To view the index you will need to download the file.
drive.google.com/file/d/1YMrjjr-g8efs_rLbkM9j3h47CfnEH8A-/view?usp=sharing
Here is a link to the entire index book. After clicking on the link a new page will open. To view
the index you will need to download the file. It is a large file, about 2.5 GB.
Please check back soon as we hope to provide a link to a file that contains a name-only index.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K2YN3Ij7BEQPWgnGDHS1R2Rj7QYrStrr/view?usp=sharing
Here is a link to other Title Insurance Company files.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZRJoq21VpscFpkEkGwmAcntYv3rva1zb
See below for the names of the available files.