or entirely upon a single source . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources . august 2012 gracy title a stewart company type public company nyse stc founded travis county texas usa 1873 headquarters 100 north congress st. 100 austin texas usa key people wanda fredrick president david tandy chief executive officer gaye pierce chief operations officer senior vice president larry molinare executive chairman website http www.gracytitle.com founded in austin texas in 1873 gracy title company is the first and oldest land title insurance 1 company in texas . contents 1 history 2 title & escrow services 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the company s original land title plant and document history dates back to the sovereignty of texas as a territory when the king of spain granted land to the original settlers of texas prior to its period as a republic from 1836 1845 . during the reconstruction era of the united states following the civil war the abstract and land title industry was in disarray regarding valid ownership of land and real estate claims which gave rise to need for land & real estate contract negotiations procedures and transactions to be insured . the general title insurance concept had previously been conceived but was not a fully legal industry within land transactions . a pennsylvania dispute that arose in 1868 which eventually settled in 1873 led to the legal incorporation of u.s. title insurance companies in the general corporation act passed in 1874 . the first company in texas which arose out of the merging concepts of abstract title and insurance gracy was founded from an existing abstract of title company as james v. bergen and company in 1873 by surveyor james valentine bergen and george b. zimpelman a former travis county texas sheriff land developer and owner of lbj ranch . as zimpelman s business influence in texas development increased he was given partnership and the firm was renamed zimpelman & bergen . david bergen gracy james bergen s cousin joined the firm in 1881 . when zimpelman retired the name changed to bergen daniel & gracy abstract company headed by james bergen david bergen gracy and charles daniel at 103 e. 6th street . 2 the austin board of trade referred to the firm as the only institution here that furnishes reliable abstract of title in the county . 3 the office later moved to 819 congress ave. 4 david gracy served as austin s city treasurer city commissioner and assisted in the organization of several prominent deposit & loan and mortgage companies in austin . the company became gracy title guaranty company in 1920 and was owned and operated by the gracy family until 1947 . title & escrow services edit gracy title issues title insurance policies on three of the largest underwriters in the us first american title commonwealth land title insurance company and stewart title guaranty company . the company provides title and escrow services post closing services and insurance services for commercial and residential transactions . gracy title a subsidiary of parent company stewart law and land title company since 2008 5 collectively has been recognized by forbes as the nation s 4th most admirable and trustworthy companies . 6 it is currently operated by wanda frederick president ; david tandy ceo ; gaye pierce coo svp ; and larry molinare chairman of the board . the company issues title insurance policies and provides title services from 18 locations throughout central texas . see also edit list of united states insurance companies references edit craig mark r. lawyer and banker and central law journal 1932 25 134 what is title insurance . accessed 5 november 2008 . morrison & fourmy 1897 . morrison & fourmy s general directory of the city of austin for 1897 1898 . united states texas travis county austin . p. 358 . isaacs i.j. 1894 . the industrial advantages of austin texas or austin up to date . austin history center austin texas the akehurst publishing co. with the austin board of trade . p. 91 . the daily news tribune industrial review edition austin capital city of texas . university of north texas libraries the portal to texas history http texashistory.unt.edu the daily news tribune . 1906 . p. 24 . stewart title gracy join forces . austin business journal . retrieved 2 september 2012 . forbes top companies . forbes magazine awarded companies . reprinted stewart affiliates . retrieved 25 august 2012 . forbes top admirable and trustworthy companies 2007 2012 external links edit retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gracy title company & oldid 729022516 categories institutional investorsinsurance companies based in texascompanies established in 18731873 establishments in texascompanies based in austin texashidden categories articles needing additional references from august 2012all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 july 2016 at 08 43 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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