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 County 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.

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 as choices.



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



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

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, a field to enter a page number, or 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 Documents / Instruments, record information about the Book/Volume, and any remarks. Essentially record the Year of Registry and Instrument / Memorial number. The date of Registry is the ‘When Recorded’ column. Registration sometimes occurred many years after an agreement was written.

Video Demo > > > >       

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

Land Records are also found in ‘General Register’. The recommendation is to search the ‘Land Records’ books, first.

13. As examples, the numbers in red are the Instrument numbers and Years of Registry for our lookups. Note, the first digitized microfilm contains the images of three separate books. Each book is described with a range of dates. Also check the range of Instruments (in brackets). The first two lookups should be found on this film.



Another example of how the land records films are described… this time a Year of Registry and the Book Number.



14. Navigate through the images. The Instrument numbers are written in the margins.