Rucker, Edward A.

Edward A. Rucker Soundex Code R260

Edward A. Rucker (1822-1872) Pioneered title indexing; firm was forerunner of Chicago Title & Trust.

The year was 1847; Chicago was booming. Almost 17,000 persons called it home... and new pioneers were streaming in steadily to grasp the opportunities for independence, which the rich prairie soil promised.

An obscure young law clerk, Edward A. Rucker, devised a system of keeping track of every recorded instrument and legal proceeding affecting real estate titles. This saved attorneys the laborious task of searching official records in connection with transfers of real property. It was a valuable service that was welcomed.

Rucker hung out his shingle in the Saloon Building... then, later that year, joined with James H. Rees in the Merchants' Exchange.

In the 1850s, he partnered with Allan Pinkerton in forming the North-Western Police Agency, later known as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency and still in existence as Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations, a subsidiary of AB.