Section 6, N.E. 1/4 Annotated Abstract of Title

 

Annotated Summary of the Abstract of Title for a Property in the High Ridge Section of Edgewater
 
 
Examination of Title by the Kennedy & Company, managers of the Abstract Department of Title Guarantee and Trust Company, dated October 4, 1890, for Lot 3 in Block 24, Lots 7 and 8 in Block 25, Lots 7 and 8 in Block 26, Lot 4 in Block 29, all of Blocks 27 and 28 in High Ridge, in Cook County, Illinois. The subdivision was located in the Southwest ¼ of the North East ¼ of Section 6, Township 40 North, Range 14 East of the 3rd Prime Meridian.
 
In this document the property in question was called Becker’s part of High Ridge. Using modern street names, the property was bounded by Norwood and Peterson Avenues on the north and south, the alley west of Ridge on the east, and Damen Avenue on the west. This land constituted the southwestern third of the High Ridge subdivision recorded in 1887, most likely by Michael Weber.
 
The changing names of the minor civil division in which this property was located were the Gross Point District (abt 1835-1849), Ridgeville Township (1849-1857), Lake View Township (1857-1887), and the City of Lake View (1887-1889). In 1889, the area was annexed to the City of Chicago, although it continues to the located in Lakeview (new spelling) Township for the purposes of the Cook County Assessor’s records.
 
  • June 27, 1835 – Jacob Phillips,* residence not stated, purchased from the Chicago office of public lands 159.52 acres for $199.40, representing the northwest quarter of Section 6 of Township 40N, Range 14E. The receipt for the purchase was recorded June 29, 1865 and a U.S. Patent dated October 1, 1839 was also recorded. [The identity of this person is not yet established. There were a number of persons named Jacob Phillips recorded in the 1830 and 1840 censuses, none of whom lived in Cook County].
 
  • June 29, 1835 – Jacob Phillips conveyed by Deed the North ½ of the Northeast ¼ of Section of 6 (80 acres) to Russell Rose, residence not stated. [It is possible that this is the Russell Rose listed in the 1840 census as living in Chicago and also listed in the 1843 and 1844 Chicago Directories, with no occupation or home address given. This Russell Rose may be related to the members of a Rose family from Cayuga County, New York, who lived in Chicago in the 1840s.]
 
  • November 4, 1835 – Jacob Phillips and Russell Rose conveyed in a Warrantee Deed to Richard J. Hamilton and Henry G. Hubbard, both residents of Chicago, the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E containing 159.52 acres for the consideration of $1,600. [Richard Jones Hamilton was a lawyer from Kentucky who came to Chicago in 1831 and was one of the incorporators of the “Town of Chicago” in 1833. He was the first Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court and held many other public offices. Henry George Hubbard came to Chicago from Massachusetts in 1829. Until his death in 1852 he was involved, sometimes with his cousin Gurdon S. Hubbard, in livestock dealing, real estate speculation, freight forwarding, fire insurance, and the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. His sister Harriet was the second wife of Richard J. Hamilton.]
 
  • November 1, 1836 – Henry G. Hubbard, resident of Chicago, conveyed, along with other property, in a Warrantee Deed to George Miles, Jr., of Erie, Pennsylvania, the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E containing about 160 acres for the consideration of $6,720. [George Miles, Jr., was a Connecticut-born sea captain involved in Great Lakes shipping. In the mid-1830s George Miles temporarily lived at the Great Lakes port city of Painesville, Ohio.]
 
  • June 28, 1837 – George Miles, Jr., and his wife Polly of Painesville, Ohio, conveyed in a Warrantee Deed, along with other property, to Hiram Pratt and William F. Porter Taylor, both of Buffalo, New York, the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E containing about 160 acres for the consideration of $5,600. [Vermont-born Hiram Pratt was wealthy merchant and ship builder who served as mayor of Buffalo; he died suddenly in April, 1840.William F. P. Taylor was also involved in Great Lakes shipping and served on the Buffalo Common Council when Hiram Pratt was mayor.]
 
  • October 7, 1840 – Richard J. Hamilton and his wife Harriet L., conveyed to Samuel McKayof Chicago, in a Warrantee Deed, an undivided parcel of 40 acres of the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E containing about 160 acres for the consideration of $250. The 40 acres was taken from the north ½ of the said quarter section of land. [Irish-born Samuel McKay came to Chicago in the 1830s; in the 1840s he operated a grocery business as well as serving as an alderman and with the militia.]
 
February 11, 1842 – Petition filed by Samuel McKay against Richard J. Hamilton and other unknown owners for the partition of the undivided 40 acres he purchased from Richard J. Hamilton, meaning the ¼ part of the west ½ of the south ½ of the said quarter section, with Richard J. Hamilton retaining the ¼ part of the east ½ of the south ½ of the said quarter section.
 
  • December 11, 1843 – Samuel and Susan McKay conveyed by Warrantee Deed to Patrick McKay of Chicago an undivided parcel of 40 acres of the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14 east of the 3rd Meridian for the consideration of $300. [Irish-born Patrick McKay came with his brother Samuel to Chicago in the 1830s; he at first operated a saloon and then a grocery business.]
 
  • November 20, 1844 – Patrick McKay conveyed to David Hood of Chicago the 80 acres in the S ½ of the NW ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E, for a consideration of $550. [David Hood, with his wife Jane and nephew Andrew, emigrated in the late 1830s from Scotland to Chicago, where the two men operated a butcher market. Beginning in 1841, they were active buyers of large tracts of public land – 350 acres in total – in Niles Township and the part of Ridgeville Township that became Rogers Parks. The home of David Hood was one of the few residences along the Green Bay Trail shown as a landmark on the 1851 Ridgeville Township highway map.]
 
  • December 19, 1844 – David Hood obtained through a Tax Sale property owned by the heirs of Hiram Pratt, meaning the W ½ of the NE ¼, Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E and the E ½ of the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E. (160 acres combined). This property had been sold November, 29, 1842, for state and county taxes to J. Y. Scammon, who assigned his Certificates of Purchase to Hood. [Maine-born Jonathan Young Scammon, was an attorney, banker, and newspaper publisher who came to Chicago on the same ship with William B. Ogden; he was a life-long friend and business associate of Ogden.]
 
April 21, 1852 – Bond filed by Jane Hood, resident of Ridgeville and the, widow of David Hood, who died on April 11, 1852, stating her ownership of her husband’s land under the terms of his will: “I give and bequeath until my beloved wife, Jane Hood, the premises on which I now live, consisting of 80 acres, with the buildings thereon, known as the Seven Mile House, north of Chicago. I also give and bequeath to her 80 acres cornering on Farber’s [Faber’s]land on the NW, land of Turner’s on the N, and is situate on the prairie about one mile from the aforesaid Seven Mile House, known by the neighbors as David Hood’s 80 acres of prairie land. I also give and bequeath to my wife the W half of the 40 acres in the SE ¼, NW ¼, Section 28, Town 41, Range 13. I also give to my wife all my household goods, cattle, horses, hogs, and farming utensils. I also give and bequeath to my nephew, Andrew Hood, the W ½ of the above mentioned 40 acres of land.” [This will was filed both in Cook County and in Scotland, a common practice among Scottish immigrants of the time due to complex Scottish laws recognizing the inheritance rights of collateral relatives.)
 
  • 24 November 1853 – Jane Hood conveyed to Eli Chittenden the 80 acres in the S ½ of the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N,, Range 14E for a consideration of $8,500 with the following payment schedule: $500 down; $4,000 on April 1, 1854; $4,000 on April 1, 1855, and 6% interest n $4,000 from April, 1854, to April, 1855, possession to be given on April 1, 1854. [Vermont resident Eli Chittenden, a merchant and banker, lived in Chicago for several years while active in buying land for two investment companies formed to make money from developing properties peripheral to planned railroad stations; he shared offices in downtown Chicago with companies owned by William B. Ogden and Mahlon D. Ogden.]
 
  • April 2, 1855 – Jane Hood conveyed to Eli Chittenden, John Felton, and Reuben E. Demmon, all Trustees of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company, for the consideration of $5,000, the south 40 acres of the S ½ of the NE ¼ of Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E, as join tenants but not as tenants in common. [John Felton, a distiller, and the Vermont-born Reuben Demmon, a provision merchant, were active in the governance of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company while continuing to live in Boston.]
 
  • May 5, 1855 – John Felton and Reuben E. Demmon, as Trustees of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company, gave Power of Attorney to Eli Chittenden to manage, subdivide, and dispose of the land purchased from Jane Hood as part of a group of other tracts of land to be incorporated into the plat of the Town of Chittenden, which was recorded with Cook County on May 18, 1855. [Note: Using modern street names, the portion of the larger Town of Chittenden represented by the above described purchase from Jane Hood was bounded by Ravenswood on the east, Damen Avenue on the west, Granville Avenue on the north, and Peterson Avenue on the south. A station, at first called Chittenden, on what was then known as the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway, was constructed at a location that is now the entrance to Rosehill Cemetery. It is not known whether it was built by the railroad itself or by the land company.]
 
  • September 10, 1855 – Quitclaim Deed made over to Henry Smith, Trustee of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company by Eli Chittenden upon his resignation as a Trustee. The Quitclaim deed applied to all land in the Town of Chittenden “excepting such lots as have already been sold from said land and Deeds or Bonds for Deeds given therefor.” [Henry Smith, born in Connecticut, came to Chicago in the 1830s, where he operated a grocery and dry goods store. By 1855, he was both a vice president of the Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad (after 1855 the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad) and the land agent of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company. He was later a real estate agent, operating both on his own and with the Ogden brothers’ real estate firm of Ogden, Fleetwood & Company.]
 
  • May 1, 1857 – Henry Smith, John Felton, and Reuben E. Demmon, Trustees, represented by Henry Smith, their Attorney in Fact, conveyed to Francis H. Benson 48 Lots in Blocks 24-26 and 38-40 for the a partial consideration of $20,012, which indebtedness is secured with four notes plus interest. [Francis H. Benson was a real estate agent and an “exchange broker” (private banker) who came to Chicago from Cincinnati in 1849. He moved to Evanston in 1854, where he was active in the Methodist Church and a contributor to the founding of Garrett Theological Seminary. In partnership with Harvey Hurd and Andrew J. Brown, he paid for Evanston’s station on the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway when the line was constructed in 1854-1855.]
 
  • October 8, 1857 – Francis H. Benson and Charles A. Kingsbury, partners in the real estate firm of Benson & Kingsbury made a Deed of Assignment to a trust represented by John L. Beveridge and William P. Moss, Jr., for the purpose of converting of assigned lands into money for the purpose of indebtedness which the assignees are unable otherwise to pay. [After purchasing the Town of Chittenden land earlier in 1857 with the intention of developing it as a residential community, Benson became insolvent, and was forced to turn over his assets to receivers to satisfy his creditors. Benson’s partner (for less than a year) was most likely Charles D. Kingsbury of Waterbury, Connecticut, the older brother of Julius J. B. Kingsbury, who was the non-resident owner of over 36 acres north of downtown Chicago, land purchased for $700 when he was a soldier stationed in the city in 1832.]
 
October 8, 1857 – Francis H. Benson and his wife Caroline E. made a Deed of Assignment for a consideration of $1.00 to John L. Beveridge and William P. Moss, Jr., for the purpose of disposing of land in which they have an ownership in order to satisfy debts. [New York State-born John L. Beveridge was an attorney and one of the Methodist founders of Evanston who later became governor of Illinois. William P. Moss, Jr., who in 1856 arrived in Chicago from New York City, where he was born, was a real estate agent and a Methodist layman.]
 
  • April 26, 1859 – John L. Beveridge and William P. Moss, Jr., Assignees, and Francis H. and Caroline E. Benson, conveyed, along with other property, Blocks 25-25 and 38-40 in the Town of Chittenden to the Rose Hill Cemetery Company. [Rose Hill Cemetery Company, chartered in 1859, was the “plan B” development concept for the Town of Chittenden land when it became clear that a residential subdivision would not be successful. Francis H. Benson was the “organizer” (the charter was granted in his name)) and was also a shareholder and the superintendent of the cemetery. The original incorporators were prominent Chicago and Evanston businessmen, including William B. Ogden, Henry Smith, John Evans, and Philo Judson, a founder of Northwestern University and Beveridge’s father-in-law.]
 
  • March 19, 1864 – Henry Smith, John Felton, and Reuben E. Demmon, Trustees of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company, recorded a Release Deed to the Rose Hill Cemetery Company for Blocks 24, 41, 42 plus part of Block 25, and part of Block 40 in the Town of Chittenden
 
  • March 19, 1864 – Rose Hill Cemetery Company conveyed to Michael Weber , for a consideration of $2,000, Blocks 24, 41, and 42, plus part of Blocks 25 and 40, in the Town of Chittenden. [Michael Weber came to Ridgeville Township from Hesse-Darmstadt in 1852, where he lived on a farm which was south of John Bugner’s property on Devon, north of Granville, and bracketed by Clark on the east and Damen on the west.This 1864 purchase of approximately 12-15 acres extended south of the western part of his farm, taking in land bounded by Granville on the north and by about the alley between Norwood and Hood on the south, the railroad tracks on the east, and by Damen on the west.Weber later became an insurance broker, a florist, and residential real estate developer.]
 
September 26, 1867 – Rose Hill Cemetery Company conveyed to Lorenz Becker of Lakeview, Cook County, Blocks 26 and 39 plus part of Blocks 25 and 40 for a consideration of $1,045. [Lorenz Becker and his wife came to Ridgeville Township in 1858, where he operated a market gardening business, originally on rented land. He gradually purchased the property on which his sons were gardening “under glass” in 1900 .]
 
June 25, 1870 – On behalf of the Rose Hill Cemetery Company, J. Woodbridge Smith (treasurer) and James V. Z. Blaney (vice president) affirmed the purchase by Lorenz Becker of Blocks 26 and 39 plus parts of Blocks 25 and 40, including the 10 ½ acre property now occupied by Becker. [John Woodbridge Smith was a Massachusetts-born attorney who arrived in Chicago from New York City in 1857. Delaware-born James Van Zandt Blaney was a physician who in 1843 was among the first group of doctors at the newly founded Rush Medical College. He was also a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University.]
 
  • July 1, 1870 – Lorenz Becker and his wife conveyed to Michael Weber by Quit Claim Deed the north 31 feet of the south 75 feet in each f Lot 1 and 8 in Blocks 25 and 40 in the Village of Chittenden for the consideration of $1.00.
 
  • March 11, 1873 – Reuben E. Demmon, surviving and sole Trustee of the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company, recorded a Release Deed to Francis H. Benson of the Rosehill Cemetery Company which conveyed all interest in the lands previously purchased for the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company.
 
  • February 8, 1884 – Rosehill Cemetery Company conveyed a Quitclaim Deed to Elizabeth Becker, Legatee of Lorenz Becker, for the consideration of $1.00, all right, title, and interest in and to all of Blocks 26 and 39 and South 75 “part” of Lots 1 and 8 in each of Blocks 25 and 40 in the Village of Chittenden, in the SW ¼ of the NE ¼ of Section 6, Township 40N, Range 14E, containing 10½ acres. [The Becker property was bounded by on line on the north about two lots north of Norwood, by Peterson on the south, Wolcott on the east, and Damen on the west.]
 
  • January 25, 1888 – Plat of part of the High Ridge subdivision recorded by owners Michael Weber, John Bairstow, Thomas Flood, William Welter, James H. Anderson, Elizabeth Becker, and Georgiana Terwilliger, as notarized by Henry P. Kransz, Notary Public. The map in the title examination showed the boundaries of the subdivision to be Hood and Peterson on the north and south, and Ridge and Damen on the east and west. The subdivision, as surveyed by M. Van Allen, was described as Becker’s Part of High Ridge, being a Subdivision of Blocks 27, 28, and Lot 4 of Block 29 of High Ridge, in Section 6, Town 40N, Range 14E of the 3rd Prime Meridian. [This plat involved the portion of the High Ridge subdivision west of the railroad tracks and bounded by Norwood and Peterson on the north and south.
 
The named individual owners all except Michael Weber lived in homes within this plat. Weber’s 12-15 acres and the 10½ acre Becker holdings made up the majority of the land in Becker’s part of the High Ridge subdivision. The other owners listed occupied individual house lots just north of Peterson on the west side of the railroad tracts. Presumably these individuals contributed their personal holdings on some agreed upon basis to the overall development of the subdivision.
 
The identity of the property owners in Becker’s addition to High Ridge were: an English-born carpenter and seller of sand (John Bairstow); a teamster and feed store owner from Ireland (Thomas Flood), a farmer from Luxembourg (William Welter), a Scottish-born marble and granite monument manufacturer and dealer (James H. Anderson); the widow of a farmer from Hesse-Darmstadt (Elizabeth Becker), and the wife of a still-living safe manufacturer from upstate New York (Elizabeth Terwilliger).]
 
In March, 1887, Michael Weber lived in what was probably his original residence at the northwest corner of Thome (previously called Weber) Avenue and Ridge Avenue. In 1894 he operated a florist business at Damen and Hood on part of the property he purchased in March, 1864, from the Rosehill Cemetery Company. From about 1891 until his death in 1901 he lived on the east side of Hermitage at the intersection with Thome. These structures have all been demolished.]
 
Additional notes appended to the Examination of Title:
 
  • November 10, 1862 – Bill filed in the Superior Court of Cook County (Nelson K. Hopkins vs. William F. P. Taylor et als.) praying for an accounting of the amount due on a Bond by M. S. Faulkner and W. F. P. Taylor to Hiram Pratt, and that the undivided ½ of the NE ¼ of Section 6 aforesaid and other lands, be subjected to payment of same. In said case the undivided ½ of the NE ¼ of said Section 6 was sold and sale confirmed January 12, 1864.
 
  • November 24 1863 – Certificate of Sale by Master in Chancery in the above case by Nelson K. Hopkins of the undivided half of NE ¼ Section 6 to John Bugner and Margaretha Baer. A Deed from the Master in Chancery in this instance was dated March 10, 1865. The conclusion was that John Bugner and Margaretha Baer appeared to have acquired Title through another chain of Conveyances. [Farmer John Bugner in the late 1840s came from Hess-Darmstadt to what became Ridgeville, serving as one of the first Ridgeville highway commissioners in 1851. The W. L. Flower 1861 Cook County plat map indicates that Bugner owned the 80-acre tract of land lying south of Devon bounded by Clark and Damen on the east and west. The 80 acre tract to his south, which was bounded on the south by Granville is referred to in Andreas’ history as Michael Weber’s farm, but it appears actually to have been owned by Weber’s wife’s mother Margaretha Baer. Already a widow when she came to Ridgeville with her daughter and son-in-law in 1852, she lived in their household until her death in about 1865. The combined Bugner and the Baer properties comprised original tract of High Ridge subdivision recorded in March, 1887, probably by Michael Weber.]
 
 
EHS transcriber note: Based on Andreas’ history, in about 1871 St. Henry’s Church acquired five acres at the southwest corner of Devon and Ridge for the purpose of building a larger church to replace a frame structure on the northwest corner of Devon and Ridge (St. Henry’s school was built on the old site). The new property probably was either purchased from or donated by John Bugner, who was a St. Henry’s member. In 1880 Bugner lived with his adult son Martin on a farm in McHenry County, so the sale or donation may have taken place at the time of his leaving Lake View.
 
Bugner and Margaretha Baer also must have sold, in about 1853-1854, the land for the right of way of the Chicago & Milwaukee Railway, which bisected their properties into pieces of almost 40 acres each.
 
Rascher’s 1887 Real Estate Map of Cook County indicates in Note A on Sheet 48 that High Ridge was “a Sub. of the N. ¼ of the N.E. ¼, Sec. 6, 40, 14. Rec. March 17, 1887. Book 26, P. 7” with the exclusion of the St. Henry’s property. High Ridge was further subdivided into blocks numbered 1 through 18 containing 14 to 16 conventional sized house lots each. The numbering system of the blocks spanned the railroad running north-south in the middle of the approximately 75 acre tract. It appears that Michael Weber may have While Michael Weber is not specifically listed on the 1887 Rascher map (or subsequent real estate maps) as the High Ridge subdivider is logical to assume that he was the recorder of the 1887 plat.
 
The map attached to “Becker’s part of High Ridge” shows without subdivision identification Weber’s 1864 purchase of Chittenden – Blocks 25, 26, and the western part of 24 – as already having lot numbers and street names. This probably means that Weber recorded a previous addition to High Ridge documentation for which has not yet been obtained from the Cook County Record of Deeds.
 
It also is not known if Michael Weber paid for and supervised the construction of the High Ridge Station (after 1908 the Kenmore station), which opened in 1886-1887. Developer donation was the model used to build the Evanston, Ravenswood, and Summerdale stations.
 
 
* This is not the Jacob Phillips, born 1807 in Germany, who came to Ridgeville Township in about 1841 and who in 1842 purchased 50 acres next to Phillip Roger. His farm was located in what became Evanston Township when it was set off from Ridgeville in 1857, and what in 1873 became the Village of Rogers Park.
 
–prepared by Marsha Holland, March 2015