Cook County Recorder of Deeds

The Cook County Recorder of Deeds was the recorder of deeds of county government in Cook County, Illinois, prior to the position's abolishment in 2020.

Cook County Recorder of Deeds
Term length	4 years (second incarnation)
Inaugural holder	R. J. Hamilton (1st incarnation) James Stewart (2nd incarnation)
Formation	1831 (first incarnation) 1872 (second incarnation)
Final holder	Ed S. Kimberly (first incarnation) Edward Moody (2nd incarnation)
Abolished	1848 (first incarnation) December 7, 2020 (second incarnation)

History of office

An early incarnation of a dedicated county recorder of deeds was established with the creation of Cook County in 1831. In 1848, it was eliminated, being merged into the position of clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County (which was renamed "clerk and recorder").^[1] For decades thereafter, the clerk of the Circuit Court served as the ex-officio county recorder of deeds.^[2]

An independent position of Cook County recorder of deeds was re-created in December 1872.^[2]

On November 8, 2016, Cook County voters approved a binding referendum to eliminate the office, merging its functions into the purview of the Cook County Clerk.^[3] The office formally ceased to exist on December 7, 2020.^[4]

Officeholders

1831–1848

Recorder of Deeds		Term in office	Party	Notes	Cite
	R. J. Hamilton	1831–1839	Democratic		[1]
	Eli R. Williams	1839–1843			[1]
	William A. Eagan	1843–1847			[1]
	Ed S. Kimberly	1847–1848			[1]

1872–2020

Recorder of Deeds		Term in office	Party	Notes	Cite
	James Stewart	1872–1876			[5]
	James W. Brockway	1876–1884	Republican		[5]
	Abel Davis	1904–1912	Republican	Elected in 1904 and 1908	[6]
	Joseph F. Connery	1912–	Democratic		[7]
	Joseph F. Haas				[8]
	Salomea Jaranowski				[8]
	Clayton F. Smith				[8]
	Edward J. Kaindl				[8]
	Victor L. Schlaeger				[8]
	Joseph T. Baran				[8]
	Joseph F. Ropa				[8]
	Edmund J. Kucharski	1956–1960	Republican	Elected in 1956; lost reelection in 1960	[9]
	Sid Olsen	December 1976–December 1984	Democratic	Elected in 1976 and 1980
	Harry Yourell	December 1984–December 1, 1988	Democratic	Elected in 1984
	Carol Moseley Braun	December 1, 1988–December 1, 1992	Democratic	Elected in 1988
	Jesse White	December 1, 1992–January 11, 1999	Democratic	Elected in 1992 and 1996; resigned in January 1999 to serve as Illinois Secretary of State
	Eugene Moore	January 1999–December 2012	Democratic	Appointed in January 1999; elected in 2000, 2004, 2008	[10]
	Karen Yarbrough	December 2012–December 3, 2018	Democratic	Elected in 2012 and 2016
	Edward Moody	December 4, 2018–December 7, 2020	Democratic	Appointed in December 2018

Recent election results

Cook County Recorder of Deeds general elections
Year	Winning candidate	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)
1984[11]	Harry "Bus" Yourell	Democratic	1,232,485 (60.94%)	Deborah L. Murphy	Republican	789,906 (39.06%)
1988[12]	Carol Moseley Braun	Democratic	1,020,805 (54.32%)	Bernard L. Stone	Republican	795,540 (42.33%)	Edward M. Wojkowski	Illinois Solidarity	62,968 (3.35%)
1992[13]	Jesse White	Democratic	1,121,865 (58.07%)	Susan Catania	Republican	809,963 (41.93%)
1996[14]	Jesse White	Democratic	1,061,436 (65.33%)	Patrick A. Dwyer	Republican	499,551 (30.75%)	Brenda Hernandez Frias	Harold Washington Party	53,421 (3.29%)	Smith Wiiams	Justice Party	10,251 (0.63%)
2000[15][16]	Eugene "Gene" Moore	Democratic	1,167,630 (73.01%)	Arthur D. Sutton	Republican	431,717 (26.99%)
2004[17][18]	Eugene "Gene" Moore	Democratic	1,283,762 (70.74%)	John H. Cox	Republican	530,945 (29.26%)
2008[19][20]	Eugene "Gene" Moore	Democratic	1,324,426 (70.49%)	Gregory Goldstein	Republican	451,452 (24.03%)	Terrence A. Gilhooly	Green	102,968 (5.48%)
2012[21]	Karen Yarbrough	Democratic	1,313,967 (73.82%)	Sherri Griffith	Republican	466,038 (26.18%)
2016[22]	Karen Yarbrough	Democratic	1,647,174 (98.58%)	Others	Write-ins	7,250 (0.81%)