January 11, 2001
The following is reprinted from "The Dixon Telegraph", as originally published January 11, 2002.
10,000 in 2001
Trustee’s Deed is final article recorded
BY DIANE MARKEL STAFF WRITER
Lee County recorded more than 10,000 documents in 2001.
It was only the second time the county recorded that many documents in one year. The first time occurred in 1998.
The 10,000th document recorded in 2001 was a trustee's deed. It was brought in to the Lee County clerk and recorder's office on Dec. 31 by title researcher Allen Philhower for the Dixon title company H.B. Wilkinson.
Everything recorded in Lee County is given a sequential number, start with number 1 at the beginning of each year. No two documents are given the same number.
"We record deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments, military discharges, subdivision plats, releases of mortgages, easements and a lot more," said Lee County clerk and recorder Nancy Nelson. "As the documents are brought in, they are recorded in that order."
"The order means a lot, for example, to banks loaning money and when a lien against the property might be recorded."
"There are about 28,000 parcels of property in Lee County, and we track everything that happens to every parcel. Everything we record except the military discharges pertains to real estate.
"It's all set by state statute."
Once the documents are recorded, they are kept at the office, and people may get copies and/or certified copies. Since 1975 every document also has been microfilmed. Since 1995 the documents also have been scanned into a computer.
"Everything we record is given a number and put into the time clock for a time. No two documents are recorded at the same time," Nelson said.
The employees in the office were aware in late December that the 10,000th document would be coming up.
"We were pretty sure it would be a title company, but we didn't know who it would be or when," Nelson said. "We thought it might be on Friday (Dec. 28) because on Thursday we took in 150 documents and we were getting close. But on Friday things slowed down, so it didn't happen until Monday afternoon."
When Philhower came in with what became the 10,000th document, he also was given a plant to mark the occasion.
Philhower said he was not totally surprised when he found out he brought in that 10,000th document.
"I knew it was coming," he said. "I thought it might be me because I had a lot of recording"
However, the plant was a surprise, he said.
And he already has started getting more documents recorded for 2002, he said.
The total number of documents recorded in 2001 by the Lee County clerk and recorder's office was 10,022. In December, the office also recorded the largest number of pages for one month in the office's history -- 5,793 -- and the largest number of total pages for a year -- 50,416.
When Nelson was asked why so many documents had been recorded in 2001, she said it was probably the low interest rates.
"People were refinancing their mortgages, from maybe 8 percent to 6 percent plus. The lower interest rate makes a big difference in a mortgage payment."
