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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

FAMILYSEARCH.ORG Assessment Records 1820’s-1880

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.

 
 
 

Instructions to Assessors, 1849, Talbot District

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.

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

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.

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:

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.

 
 
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Brunel-Franklin.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Chaffey-Stisted.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Draper-Ryde-Oakley.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Macaulay.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-McLean-Ridout.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Medora-Humphry.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Monck.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Morrison.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Muskoka.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Stephenson.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-MUSK-Watt-Cardwell.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-PS-Foley-McDougall-Carling.pdf
1871-Census-Ag-PS-McKellar-Hagerman-Christie.pdf
 

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