Heading: (California Real Estate)
Author:
Title: Manuscript Ledger Recording an Abstract Title Search for a Property on Jackson Street in San Francisco
Place Published: San Francisco
Publisher:
Date Published: [1892-1913]
Description: 115 pp. Written almost exclusively on rectos. (Folio) original quarter leather and cloth, string-tied; four printed labels on front cover, some augmented in manuscript.Complete title search for a property near the corner of Mason and Jackson Streets in San Francisco, initiated by the owner, Joseph King. The property is identified as "50 Vara Lot No. 172," and is located just a few doors down from Dore Alley in Chinatown. The property history is traced from 1847 through to 1883. An interesting document, tracing the history of a single piece of property through seventy-five years of its history, from the founding of San Francisco to beyond the Great Earthquake of 1906. A nice example of the work of real estate title companies in the area.

Joseph King purchased the lot from the widow Eliza Lydia Huffner. Previous owners included James Enright, Isaac A. Moody, and Mary C. Leavitt. In 1888, King and his first wife, Mary Anne, filed for divorce. This act seems to have triggered the title history, which includes details of a fraught purchase from the widow Huffner, a declaration of Homestead made by King in May 1888 indicating he has a wife and six children and that the property is estimated to be worth $4000, and a notice of the divorce complaint filed later that year. Tax and assessment information for the property is also included. It is all signed as certified by Simpson & Millar at the end, dated 1892. The title is then continued by a J.S. Rolls "Searcher of Records," and beyond that by the City Abstract and Title Insurance Company, from 1905 to 1913. It includes continued tax and mortgage information for King and his new wife, Ellen.

Joseph King is also identified in the documents as the anglicized name of "Joaquin G. Pedro." The title abstract was begun by Simpson & Millar, and opens with an elaborate calligraphic title and a pen-and-ink drawing of an African-American hobo sitting on some steps, on which is written the firm's information. This first page describes the location of the property, the second contains a map of the lot, and the third leaf is an index.

Spine worn especially at edges, edgeworn; minor wear internally; very good.