The History of Kankakee County Title Company

The City of Kankakee was incorporated in 1853. At that time, Thomas P. Bonfield, an outstanding lawyer of his day opened the first abstract office in the County.

W. R. Hickox, Sr. purchased the business in 1860 and through succeeding members of his family carried on the business.

Thomas S. Sawyer established an abstract office in 1888 that was thereafter continued by members of his family.

In 1910 the two businesses were merged and became the Kankakee County Title and Trust Company. In 1916 the company purchased the present building. The company expanded its activities in 1950 and became a representative of Chicago Title and Trust Company, making Title Insurance available for this community since that date.

Kankakee Title is the only company having records dating back to the 1850’s, which enables staff to accurately provide title services from its own records. The only other source of title records dating this far back is the collection of records maintained over the years by the County.

Kankakee Title provides numerous services for individuals, attorneys, realtors, and financial organizations. In early years, the vast majority of the work performed by Kankakee Title was in updating abstracts of the history of the title to pieces of property. The abstract of title is the legal history of the land that contains information obtained from the county land records and placed in chronological order.

In recent years the use of abstracts has in most cases been replaced by title insurance policies. Kankakee Title continues to represent and write policies through Chicago Title and Trust Company, the largest insurer throughout the state of Illinois.

Kankakee Developer Michael Pinski purchased Kankakee County Title & Trust Company in an asset sale on September 29, 2006, beginning a new chapter in the company’s long history. As if to recognize this new chapter, the company name was changed to Kankakee County Title Company. The company is also frequently referred to simply as, “Kankakee Title.”

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