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RESOURCES | FamilySearch Land Registry & Records

Searching for residential details of ancestors residing in Ontario, Canada? When the Township / Concession / Lot locations are already known, search Land Records at the free genealogy site FamilySearch.org.

Part One: Search the Abstract Index Books to find lookup details – Year of Registration and Instrument Number.

Part Two: Look up the land conveyance documents in Land Record Books and/or the General Register (Probate). These can contain interesting family details… even wills.

It is required to know the historical County, Township and Concession location to search the Abstract Index of Deeds.

Access the FamilySearch Catalog

Video Demo > > > >       

1. Log into your free account at FamilySearch.org
2. From the menu bar select ‘Search’.
3. From the dropdown menu select ‘Catalog’



4. The default search field is Place. Leave that.
5. Enter the name of the historical county, in the following format:
Canada, Ontario, Waterloo
6. Just leave it at the *county level* even though the townships show up in a dropdown offering.



7. For Availability: check the ‘Online’ box, and Search.



8. Select the category: ‘Land and Property’.



ALTERNATIVE SEARCH
Abstract/Parcel Register Books
at onLand.ca

 
See RESOURCES | onLand Land Registry


Video Tutorial: Pt. 1 Abstract Indexes
 

 
Video Tutorial: Pt. 2 Land Documents (Instruments)
 


Be Sure of Land Parcel Descriptions
 
As found in a directory or census, a concession / block might be coded such as ‘NBTR’. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has a township-navigator as part of its arcGIS mapping utility. See instructions here.
 
Example shown for Southwold Township.
 


The Abstract Index Books

Video Demo > > > >       

9. Within the County’s ‘Land and Property’ category in the FamilySearch Catalog, select ‘Abstract Index Books’.

10. Find the target township, and click the camera icon to view the images on the digitized microfilm. Locked out? Try re-logging in to the account.



11. The navigation tools include a thumbnail view, or a place to enter a page number, or a set of arrows to advance between images. The images (usually) appear in order by Concession / Lot.



See Tutorial Video Pt. 1 for examples.

12. To continue into a Search of the land conveyance documents (Instruments or Memorials), essentially record the Year of Registration and Instrument/Memorial number. The date of Registration is the ‘When Recorded’ column. Registration of a deed or will often occurred many years after the agreement was written.



Video Tutorial: Pt. 1 Abstract Indexes
 

 
Video Tutorial: Pt. 2 Land Documents (Instruments)
 


Wills & Other Records for Family Historians
 
Jane Macnamara’s book ‘Inheritance in Ontario: Wills and Other Records for Family Historians” is available as an e-book, and may be free to view through your Ontario library’s digital holdings on the Hoopla platform.
www.hoopladigital.com/title/11808047


County Land Records & General Registers (Probate)

Video Demo > > > >       

Within the County’s ‘Land and Property’ category in the FamilySearch Catalog, select ‘Land Records of [the county]’.

Land conveyance agreements / mortgages and estate settlements are also found in ‘General Register’. My recommendation is to search the ‘Land Records’ books, first, and if unsuccessful, to try the General Registers.

13. In this example, the numbers in red / blue are the Instrument numbers and Years of Registration we found in the Abstract Indexes. We now wish to find the documents themselves.



Note, in this first example, the digitized microfilm contains three separate Volumes. Each volume is described with a range of dates, as well as the range of Instrument / Memorial numbers (in brackets).




The first two lookups should be found on this film, because the Instrument Numbers and Dates of Registration, are matching the ranges.




Another example of how the land records films were described in the Abstract Index… this time a Year of Registration and the Book / Volume Number. A notation referred to Halton County extracts even though Waterloo Township falls under Waterloo County, and sure enough we had to check in Halton Co records.



14. To view the collection, hit the camera icon. To navigate through the images, use the thumbnail viewer and scroll. If the microfilm contains multiple books, dark plates identify the start-pages of each section.



The Instrument numbers are written in the margins.



Video Tutorial: Pt. 1 Abstract Indexes
 

 
Video Tutorial: Pt. 2 Land Documents (Instruments)
 


Deciphering the ‘Legalese’
 
The RORDAN’S Canadian Conveyancer manual of 1859 is available as an e-book. The text is searchable.
 
https://books.google.ca/books?id=1tcZAAAAYAAJ

Oakville’s Strawberry Fields: find urban lot

A demonstration of using the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources ‘Topographic Map’ utility to plot an historical Lot on a modern map.

Canada’s first strawberry plantings occurred in the 1860’s along a road that would later become the Queen Elizabeth Way highway. We are specifically looking for the farm of John Cross Jun. in Trafalgar South Township, HALTON Co.

The 1877 Walker & Miles Atlas of HALTON Co. indicates Concession 2S, Lot 12. Being unsure of the meaning of ‘2S’, we can look at a list of historical Concession names and plot the lot using the TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS. [See Maps Showing Land Parcels Tutorial].


THE STRAWBERRY STORY

The ‘Concession 2S’ location turns out to be the 2nd Concession South of Dundas Street.

 

 

 


SOURCES

Oakville Strawberry Pickers 29 Jul 1876
Sketch by William Cruickshank
Canadian Illustrated News Vol. XIV, No. 5, pg. 69
http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06230_352/6?r=0&s=1


 

RESOURCES | Tax Assessment & Collector’s Rolls

FAMILYSEARCH.ORG Assessment Records 1820’s-1880


Ontario’s historical Township Tax Assessment records captured the NAMES and CONCESSION / LOT LOCATIONS of both Owners and Tenants.

FamilySearch.org has made the images available for many Townships and has the beginnings of a Surname Index (at 2021). The Index is significantly incomplete but can be the basis for an initial search.

 

Ontario Tax Assessment Rolls, 1834-1899
Search by Surname and Region


Freeholders=Owners, Householders=Tenants


 

Go Straight to Start Pages, by Township and Year!


The Township pages here at Ontario.HeritagePIN, contain links to the start pages of Tax Roll images for the years before 1880 **yet the full collections sometimes extend into the 20th century.

At any Township page, top right, use the tab ‘Tax Rolls’.

 

Availability of Microfilmed Records, free online, at 2021


The Film numbers coloured red, indicate records that can be viewed from an LDS Family History Center. Other links can be accessed online once logged into FamilySearch.org from home. The records highlighted gray are Collector’s Rolls, whereas plain background are Tax Assessment Rolls.

 
 
 
List of Tax Rolls of historic Ontario Townships


 


 


List of Tax Rolls of historic Ontario Townships


 


 


List of Tax Rolls of historic Ontario Townships


 


List of Tax Rolls of historic Ontario Townships


 


 

Instructions to Assessors, 1849, Talbot District



 


 



The Middlesex Co. 1862 Tremaine Map – two versions!

UNIVERSITY HOLDINGS of SAME MAP EDITION, WITH DIFFERENCES

My photographs of the 1862 Co. of Middlesex wall map, snapped on location at the map collections of McMaster University (Hamilton, ON), were made for my own personal genealogy research.

At this time (2011), the University of Toronto’s online Ontario Historical County Map Project did not yet exist.

TREMAINES’ / MAP / OF THE / COUNTY of MIDDLESEX. / CANADA WEST. / COMPILED & DRAWN FROM ACTUAL-SURVEYS / BY THE PUBLISHERS / Geo R. & G. M. Tremaine. / 1862 / St Lawrence Buildings. / TORONTO. C.W.

Since McMaster’s Tremaine map was laid out on the large table, I was able to take snaps of the intact parts of the map, leaving the fragile portions rolled.

My images were affected by the glare off the shellacked paper (warped and peeling off its linen backing); any effort to transcribe names would be incomplete.

The U of T’s images – of a separate map of the same date and publisher – are the source of my transcriptions for the HeritagePIN project. Yet, to resolve the obscured parts of the U of T’s images, I consulted my McMaster images and discovered some differences!

Updates had been made to McMaster’s version of the Tremaine map – additional labels were applied to roads and rail, and the names of property owners had been inserted into previously blank lots.

Changes were found in the townships of Westminster, London, Ekfrid, North Dorchester and Delaware.


SECTION OF WESTMINSTER TOWNSHIP EAST at the GORE CONCESSION and LAMBETH – U of T greyscale

 

Univ. of Toronto – Fortin, Marcel, Cheryl Woods, and Lorraine Dubreuil. “Ontario Historical County Maps.” Web Mapping Application. Ontario Historical County Maps Project, 2005- https://utoronto.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8cc6be34f6b54992b27da17467492d2f Images from the U of T project (Sec.4 image 0003.jpg or the _merge.jpg)


SAME AS ABOVE, WITH CHANGES – McMaster colour

 

McMaster University – Tremaine’s Map of the County of Middlesex (1862), Accession #107731 https://library.mcmaster.ca/php/raremaps.php?f=more&num=107731 Photo: ©Lisa-Ann M. Rance, 2011


SECTION OF WESTMINSTER TOWNSHIP near LONDON – CON 1 and BROKEN FRONT – U of T greyscale

 

Univ. of Toronto – Fortin, Marcel, Cheryl Woods, and Lorraine Dubreuil. “Ontario Historical County Maps.” Web Mapping Application. Ontario Historical County Maps Project, 2005- https://utoronto.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8cc6be34f6b54992b27da17467492d2f Images from the U of T project (Sec.4 image 0003.jpg or the _merge.jpg)


SAME AS ABOVE, WITH CHANGES – McMaster colour

(Your turn) Check out the changes south of the river.

McMaster University – Tremaine’s Map of the County of Middlesex (1862), Accession #107731 https://library.mcmaster.ca/php/raremaps.php?f=more&num=107731 Photo: ©Lisa-Ann M. Rance, 2011


Many of the updates are incorporated in the surname databases at the township pages.



 

The 1857 Oxford Co. (Tremaine)
at Guelph U

The 1862 Middlesex Co. (Tremaine)
at McMaster U

The 1863 Prince Edward Co. (Tremaine)
at McMaster U

FAQ | Printed Large-Sized Maps?

This is the # 1 Frequently Asked Question.

This website *points to* scans of early wall maps and printed atlases held at various repositories (universities and government archives). Prints cannot be ordered, here.

A curator at the Maps Collection of a major university stated that while the maps dated 1850’s to 1880’s are not copyright-protected, any scans, prints or images of the maps are copyrighted to their producers.

Let me know of any officially-produced (book) atlases, posters or wall maps for sale. Here’s a start:


BRANT COUNTY

The Brant Co. Museum & Archives in Brantford, ON had some poster-sized old maps. Their website is compromised at present. Will check back.


NIAGARA | LINCOLN & WELLAND COUNTIES

The Mayholme Foundation of St. Catharines, ON, offers in book format, the Atlas of Early Pioneers of Niagara Peninsula. Published 2002, 8.5 x 11 in, cerlox-bound, b&w, 72 pages. ISBN 0-9897467-3-3

The publication itself is not indexed, yet the HeritagePIN surname-indexes do include my transcriptions of the names (pre-1871).


ELGIN COUNTY

The Elgin County Library in St. Thomas, ON, offers a Reprint of Geo. Tremaine’s 1864 (wall) map, in book format – Tremaine’s Map of County of Elgin Co. Ontario: Commemorative Edition in Celebration of the Sesquicentennial of the County of Elgin 1852-2002.
Published 2002, 17.5 x 11.5 in, cloth hard covers, colour, 80 pages. ISBN 0-920339-25-5

RESOURCES | Land Petitions online

Written petitions seeking permission to settle Canada’s newly-opening frontiers, are important family history resources. Regardless of whether land was granted “free” (as in a grant for military service), or whether a settler paid patent fees, government permission was required.

A Petitions was submitted with the aid of a notarial official, with supporting letters and documentation attached. The petition described the exact identity of the petitioner and location at this time, the details and circumstances of the family, migration history, qualifications for free grants, occupation and skills, oaths of allegiance and character references.

A petition was often referred to past councils – the ‘cover’ page of each petition contains a running summary of past orders and clarifications of identities. The result of a petition took the form of an Order-in-Council (O.C.) with specific date.

Consult the Archives of Ontario’s “Pathfinder to Petitions for Land“, and “Guide to Crown Land Records“, describe these record-sets.

Some collections of early Canadian Land Petitions are:

UPPER CANADA / ONTARIO:

1) Upper Canada Land Petitions 1793-1867 (index and images online; involves a search),
2) Land Petitions in Upper Canada Sundries 1793-1841 (index and images online; involves a search), and
3) Petitions to the Crown Lands Department 1827-1904 (not online)

LOWER CANADA / QUEBEC

4) Lower Canada Land Petitions 1764-1841 (index and images online), and

These collections are held either by the Library or Archives Canada or the Archives of Ontario.

As of 2012, most Upper Canada (Ontario) Land Petitions and Land Records in Sundries can be consulted online – first by searching a surname index, and then by locating the digitized versions of each microfilm reel.

The ‘Place’ column marks the Township or District the petitioner made application FROM, which may not be consistent with where they were recommended to take land. Not all petitioners followed through grants to deeds, nor in the areas recommended.

See more about the Land Districts mentioned (some Counties were not yet defined).

Searching Upper Canada Land Petitions 1793-1865, RG 1 L1

Searching Land Petitions in Upper Canada Sundries, RG 5 A1

Both collections are included in this online index:

1. Indexed by surname:

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/search-petitions-upper-canada.aspx

2. Then, the microfilmed images of the petitions can be viewed online – find the UCLP Microfilm reel here.

If the Collection is the RG 5 A1 Land Petitions in Upper Canada Sundries -find the UC Sundries Microfilm reel here


An example, searching the database for a Petition in Sundries:

Make note of:

– the Microfilm number
– the Page number (a range)

i.e. A page range expressed as 48554-48559.
Where expressed as i.e. 9049908-49914, isolate the first page number 9049908-49914

An example, searching the database for a UCLP:

Make note of:

– the Microfilm number
– the Bundle number
– the Petition number



Find the record:



An example, finding the images of the petitions:

Find the online Microfilm by reel number here.
Each digitized reel is @ 1000+ pages in PDF format, presented in a viewer with navigation controls.

Click on the link to the microfilm and then use the page navigation bar. Enter a page number and/or use the arrows, as shown below:



Navigate to the correct bundle and petition… in the navigation pane, enter a page number: try 100 as a start. Click Go.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look at the reference tag for the Bundle number. In this case we have P Bundle 19 and we want P Bundle 21, so must go much further.



Navigate to a later page number, maybe page 1000, and go back and forth using page-number or arrows until you find the correct reference tag.

Now look at the petition number which will be at the top of the page, hand-written:



In this example the petition number is 45 and we want to go to back to find petition 20. Change the page number or use the arrows in the navigation area as shown:



Each petition is preceded by a marker page such as the lined page, above. Every once in a while, a loose page has been placed out of order in the adjacent petitions. Also, the nearby petitions may be from members of the same family or migrating group.

If the reference tag is correct and the petition number is correct, you should have arrived at the record:



The first page is often a chronology of the processing of the petition. A final decision can be a simple “recommended” or “not recommended”, written in corner.

If the script is difficult to read, you may consult some transcriptions from my personal research, here.

RESOURCES | Maps showing Land Parcel Data

The Ontario Government’s ‘Make a Topographic Map’ online utility (Ministry of Natural Resources)

It can be used to confirm modern land parcel data; you may center it to a location and zoom-level and save maps digitally for printing.

TIP: with each new location, re-enter the program from its home page: https://www.ontario.ca/page/topographic-maps



CENTER THE MAP on TOWNSHIP / CONCESSION / LOT

Most rural property descriptors follow the historical townships and lot locations. Alternately, search by street address (see below).



Start typing a Township name, or use the drop-down arrow to search alphabetically.



MAKE A PRINTABLE MAP

Click-drag the map to center it, and Use the + and – zoom buttons. At a certain zoom level, look for Con/Lot tags in the center of the lots. For those tags to appear on the digital print, stay at this zoom level.

The default resolution for the default PDF print is 96dpi. The default page size to print on is standard letter-sized. The area will be masked in pink. You can adjust the options.



LOCATE BY ADDRESS

TIP: Use the name of the larger municipality; in this example ‘Sydenham’ didn’t work, but ‘Meaford’ did. Keep it simple: if you have a road name and a rural route number, leave out the RR.

No street number? i.e. R.R. only? Check out Ken McKinlay’s Finding on the Ground – A Rural Route Address in Ontario.



Unsure of the modern municipality? At this site, go to the Township’s page and click the Info icon on the map.

MODERN PARCEL INFO

These labels are the modern Parcel descriptors, and may correspond with the historical lots shown on old maps. Sometimes through time, townships have become amalgamated or renamed.

words


LOOKING FOR OFFICIAL SURVEY or LEGAL PARCEL DATA?

ONland is the Ontario Government’s portal for Land Registry services.

IS THERE A LIST OF MODERN ADDRESSES for a LOT?

No, but at the Block level, there may be.. at ONland, above.

But here’s what you might do if you don’t have a street number:

  • Google Earth or Google Maps may have tiny residential numbers if you zoom in close enough.
  • You can capture the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) and enter those later into the Google Maps address bar to pin an exact location.
  • RESOURCES | Find Lot Locations using the 1871 Census

    Research 1871 CENSUS locations free online for ALL OF ONTARIO. The individual Township pages at this site, point to every Sched. 4 start page for every Enumeration Division in the Province! COPYRIGHT – the Surname databases, Look-up charts, Transcriptions and all Map geo-points are property of Lisa Rance, Orillia, 2011-current.

    Determine the exact Concession & Lot locations where ancestors reported crops on the 1871 Census. This is helpful for differentiating families of a common surname. The ancestor need not have been a farmer – even small personal gardens on town lots, were reported.

    See Tutorial

    Muskoka and Parry Sound Lot Locations, 1871

    I only recently became aware of the existence of an “agricultural” schedule for the 1871 Census of Canada. Here are a thousand+ surnames transcribed for Muskoka and Parry Sound using the cross-referencing procedure described here.

    Search:
    Total Records Found: 1005, showing 10 per page
    SurnameIncidenceTownshipCountyDatesSourceDetails
    Ashdown 1 Humphry Parry Sound 1871. census
    Astley 1 Watt Muskoka 1871. census
    Atkin 1 Watt Muskoka 1871. census
    Atkinson 3 Watt Muskoka 1871. census
    Attridge 1 McLean Muskoka 1871. census
    August 1 Morrison Muskoka 1871. census
    Badger 1 Foley Parry Sound 1871. census
    Bailey 1 Macaulay Muskoka 1871. census
    Baily 2 Medora Muskoka 1871. census
    Baily 1 Macaulay Muskoka 1871. census

    RESOURCES | onLand+ Land Registry


     
    Searching for residential details of ancestors residing in Ontario, Canada? When the Township / Concession / Lot locations are already known, search Land Records here at onLand.

    In 2018 Service Ontario announced its project making available online the Ontario early land record ‘History Books’. Land Registry Offices closed for public search services in 2020.

    It is required to know the historical County, Township and Concession location to search the Abstract Index of Deeds.


    Access OnLand from this Website


    At any Township page, access OnLand from the link in the left sidebar called ‘Land Registry’.

    Arriving at the County index for ‘Historical Books’, immediately select the Township from the drop-down manu.





    Enter the name of an historical Ontario COUNTY. Counties are expressed as ALL-CAPS.



    Bottom right, select ‘Historical Books’ and Search…



    From Book Category, select ‘Abstract/Parcel Register Book’



    Abstract Index books for the entire county appear in the list. In the top-right corner, filter by Township.

    Some land parcels may be filed under the names of towns / municipalities.



    In this township, only one historical book is available. The Concession A and B are located on either side of the north-bouund Nipissing Road, and Concessions 1 to 14 are the grid of Concessions and Lots of the remainder of the township.



    When viewing maps, Concessions are indicated by Roman numerals.

    ALTERNATIVE SEARCH
    Abstract Index Books
    at FamilySearch.org

     
    The Ontario Land Abstract Index books can be viewed at both onLand and FamilySearch. Once details of registration are recorded from the indexes, the documents can often be found in the FamilySearch catalog of County Land Records and General Registers (Probate).
     
    See RESOURCES | FamilySearch Land Records


    Be Sure of Land Parcel Descriptions
     
    As found in a directory or census, a concession / block might be coded such as ‘NBTR’. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has a township-navigator as part of its arcGIS mapping utility. See instructions here.
     
    Example shown for Southwold Township.
     


    Ken McKinlay’s ‘Finding On the Ground’ series:
     
    A Land Records Challenge
     
    Finding A Rural Route Address in Ontario
     
    Then and Now in Ontario
     
    Finding an Ontario Concession/Lot on a Map
     
    Ordering from OnLand
     
    familytreeknots.blogspot.com/2021/08/finding-on-ground-wrap-up
     

    PHOTOlog | gingerbread house in winter SIMCOE

    ontario gothic farmhouse, historical mill

    Paint required in Hillsdale, Ontario. Photo credit: Lisa Rance, September 2011


    ontario gothic farmhouse in winter, gingerbread bargeboard

    Cozy brick farmhouse tucked against a ridge on Line 8 North. Photo credit: Lisa Rance, February 2015

    SIMCOE County | Medonte Township