Guide to Early Land Settlement records
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Upper Canada Land Petitions, ca.1790-ca.1867
- Petitions for Land, 1827-1856
- Orders-in-Council, 1827-1904
- First and Second District Land Board Records
- First District Land Boards
- Second District Land Boards
- Settling Disputed Land Claims: The Heir and Devisee Commission Records
- When to Use the Heir and Devisee Commission Records
- The First Heir and Devisee Commission (1797-1805)
- The Second Heir and Devisee Commission (1805-1911)
- Second Heir and Devisee Commission Database
- Other Second Heir and Devisee Commission Records
- Promoters of Land Settlement: The Canada Company, Thomas Talbot, and Peter Robinson
- Thomas Talbot Fonds (F 501)
- Records Relating to the Peter Robinson Settlers
- Land Descriptions, Surveyor’s Notes and Diaries, and Crown Lands Correspondence
- Surveyor Notes and Diaries
- Crown Lands Correspondence
- Survey Plans of Townships
- Acquiring Ownership of the Land: The Patent
- Land Registry Office Records
- Further Reading - Resources on Early Land Settlement
- Customer Service and Research Guides
The RecordsApplying for a Land Grant: Land PetitionsA settler who wanted to get a land grant had to send a petition to the Crown stating the basis for his or her claim. Most land petitions are in one of two series of records: click here for information about the Upper Canada Land Petitions or click here to access Petitions for Land. Upper Canada Land Petitions, ca.1790-ca.1867The series of records called the Upper Canada Land Petitions were addressed to the Executive Council of Upper Canada. The originals are at Library and Archives Canada. These records and an accompanying index are available on self-service microfilm in the Archives of Ontario Reading Room or at Library and Archives Canada. The Library and Archives Canada Website also includes:
Click here to access the Library and Archives Canada website. The petitions submitted in Upper Canada are mostly individual petitions. They often have information about the petitioner and his or her family. Loyalists and discharged soldiers often mentioned the regiment in which they served. Sons and daughters of Loyalists gave their father's name. Civilian petitioners sometimes gave their country or place of origin. Other information that is in some petitions includes:
If you do not find a name in the online index, you may want to search the microfilmed index. It includes entries from the Land Books (recording the decision to accept or reject the petition) when the petition has not survived:
There is a finding aid with these lists and a pathfinder in the Reading Room. The pathfinder is also available online; click here to access the Pathfinder to petitions for land. Petitions for Land, 1827-1856Between 1827 and 1856, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor referred some petitions to the Commissioner of Crown lands. The Archives has the Petitions for Land (RG 1-54) records. Click here to access the database description for RG 1-54, Petitions relating to land received by the Crown Lands Department. They are arranged in alphabetical order and are available on self-service microfilm in the Reading Room and through microfilm interloan. There is a pathfinder in the Reading Room and online; click here to access the Pathfinder to petitions for land. .
If you believe that an individual filed a petition but you cannot find it, check the orders-in-council. Click here to access the database description for RG 1-50, Orders-in-Council kept by the Office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The Lieutenant Governor issued orders-in-council on the recommendation of the surveyor general or the commissioner of Crown lands, authorizing the sale, lease, or free grant of Crown lands. Other RecordsTable 1, below, lists other series and sub-series of records that have copies of petitions:
First and Second District Land Board RecordsThe records of the land boards of Upper Canada may have useful information on an early settler. Many of these records dealing with individual settlers are indexed in the Ontario Land Records Index (OLRI). However, for the Second District Land Boards, there is settlement information that is not indexed in the OLRI. First District Land BoardsThere were two sets of district land boards in the Upper Canadian period. The first dated from 1789 to 1794. During this time, there were four administrative boards: Hesse, Nassau, Mecklenburg and Lunenburg. They oversaw land matters in their districts and facilitated settlement in the districts by granting certificates of location to the early settlers. On November 6, 1794 the land boards were abolished and centralized land management through the Executive Council began. The records include minutes, reports, correspondence, and instructions or regulations for the operations of the land boards. Library and Archives Canada holds most of the records of the First District Land Boards. Their records have a nominal index. It identifies the name, the volume and page and the microfilm reel numbers corresponding to the records. Table 2, below, lists the records that are available on microfilm in our Reading Room. They are also available through microfilm interloan, excluding the records described under Reference Code D 359; these records are available in our Reading Room and at Library and Archives Canada. Click here to access the Library and Archives Canada website.
Second District Land BoardsUnder an Order-in-Council dated March 13, 1819, land boards were again established in each of the districts of Upper Canada (with the exception of Niagara, where there was no more grantable land). This was to speed up the process for locating settlers on land — the abolition of the First District Land Boards was seen as slowing down the land-granting process. These boards:
The land boards were abolished on December 31, 1825. Table 3, below, has the series that list the settlers that the Second District Land Boards located. Most of these records are not indexed in the OLRI (except for RG 1-161-2-1). Click here to access the database description for RG 1-161-2-1, Register and index of fiats for land grants - Second District Land Boards. A number of the volumes in the series have nominal indexes.
Settling Disputed Land Claims: The Heir and Devisee Commission RecordsThe government created the Heir and Devisee Commissions to settle disputes about who was entitled to receive the letters patent for a parcel of land. This issue arose in the Upper Canadian period. Many individuals applied for and were located on land. However, they did not go through with the process of actually getting the letters patent that would transfer ownership to them from the Crown. By the early 1790s, government officials were noticing that many location certificates had passed out of the hands of the original nominees to other individuals. In some cases, the original nominees had died without a will or had “devised” or willed their land to another person. In other cases, land certificates had been exchanged between or assigned to other individuals, or sold or mortgaged — sometimes several times. The Archives has a small number of records of the first Heir and Devisee Commission (1797-1804) and most of the records of the second commission (1805-1911). When to Use the Heir and Devisee Commission RecordsUse these records if:
The First Heir and Devisee Commission (1797-1805)In 1797, the government created the First Heir and Devisee Commission. The commission acted as a Court of Equity. It had jurisdiction to review and adjudicate claims to land in cases where no letters patent had been issued. The commission’s decisions could be appealed to the Executive Council. It also heard claims for larger tracts of land. Library and Archives Canada has most of the records of the first commission (1797-1804) and some of the records of the second commission (1805-1911). These records are available on self-service microfilm in the Reading Room of the Archives of Ontario and at Library and Archives Canada. For more information about these records, see Inventory D 352, First Heir and Devisee Commission diffusion material in the Reading Room or click here to access the Library and Archives Canada website. The Archives of Ontario also has records of the First Heir and Devisee Commission. The records of the First Heir and Devisee Commission do not contain a nominal index nor are there individual case files. There may be some information on settlers in the Commission’s minutes and reports. Table 4, below, has references to records that are mainly material created by, or relating to, the First Heir and Devisee Commission. Please see the series descriptions for more information about these records.
The Second Heir and Devisee Commission (1805-1911)In 1805, new legislation was passed. It established what is generally referred to as the Second Heir and Devisee Commission. The act specified the role of this commission as giving “relief to those persons who may be entitled to claim lands in this Province as heirs or devisees of the lands” (Statutes of Upper Canada, 45 Geo. III, c. 2.). This new commission heard the claims of the heirs, devisees, and assignees of the original nominees. Supporting submissions included anything that had a bearing on the claimant’s right to a particular lot of land. This could be genealogical information about family relationships and individual land transactions. A separate report was prepared for each session of the commission. Within each report, each claim that the Commission heard was assigned a unique number, beginning with the number one. In some cases a second application was made to the commissions by the heirs of the heirs of the Crown’s original nominee. The last meeting of the commission occurred in 1896 but it was not formally abolished until 1911 with the passing of the Ontario Act. Second Heir and Devisee Commission DatabaseThe Second Heir and Devisee Commission provides an index to the 5,184 case files that record claims made to the commission; click here to access the searchable online database. It. Detailed search results will provide information:
Finding out who received land as a result of an Heir and Devisee claim can be difficult because the surnames of the original claimant (who would have submitted a claim) and the descendant may be different. To find the original claimant’s name:
Once you have the claimant’s name, you can look for the commission case file. Other Second Heir and Devisee Commission RecordsTable 5, below, lists the series and sub-series with references to records that are mainly material created by, or relating to, the Second Heir and Devisee Commission. Please see the series descriptions for more information about these records:
Promoters of Land Settlement: The Canada Company, Thomas Talbot, and Peter RobinsonCanada Company Fonds (F 129)Non-governmental fonds are a valuable tool in early land research. One such fonds is the Canada Company Fonds (F 129). Established in 1825, the London (England)-based Canada Company was granted large tracts of land (approximately 2.5 million acres) in southwestern Ontario (much of which comprised the Huron Tract) during the 1800s. It leased or sold land for settlement. The principle aim of this company was to obtain land in Canada and to promote its sale to prospective settlers. It was also expected to build roads on its land to make the land more accessible. Several series of records in the Canada Company fonds can be used for family-history research:
In addition to its land business, the Canada Company acted as a remittance agent for its settlers when they wanted to send money to friends and family, and arranged for money to be made available to settlers when they travelled outside Canada. The Remittance Books (F 129, C-7, Vol. 1- 7) have the name of the settler who gave the money, the name of the place where he or she lived in Canada, the name and place of residence in Great Britain of the person to whom he or she was sending the money, the amount of money sent, and all relevant dates concerning the transaction. A finding aid to the Canada Company fonds is available in pdf format. Some of the records from this series are also indexed in Ruth Holt and Margaret William’s Genealogical Extractions and Index of the Canada Company Remittance Books, 1843-1847 (Weston, Ont.: R. Holt, 1990). It is in the Reading Room’s Genealogy Publications bookcase.
In southwestern Ontario between 1802 and 1837, approximately one-half-million acres were entrusted to the control of Colonel Thomas Talbot. Talbot was a successful and remarkable settlement promoter. Large portions of the so-called “Talbot Tract” remained unimproved by 1837, when the Talbot agency was transferred to the Crown. By this date, however, Talbot had managed to settle approximately 6,000 families in the present-day counties of Norfolk, Elgin, Middlesex, Kent, and Essex. The forty-nine Talbot town and township plans (F 501-1) at the Archives have entries on the initial acceptance, retention, rejection or replacement of settlers. Click here to access the database description for F 501-1. Talbot pencilled in the settlers’ names. Often, this information was subsequently erased or scratched out and replaced with the names of new locatees. Often a date, probably the date of location, appears next to the settler’s name. Although settlers received their land patents from the Crown, Talbot reportedly exercised control over them. As with other township plans, clergy reserves are shown in grey, Crown reserves in red. The Talbot fonds also include a Register or Lease Book (F 501-2). It has information on leases in ten townships where Talbot oversaw settlement: Aldborough, Bayham, Charlotteville, Dunwich, London, Malahide, Southwold, Townsend, Woodhouse and Yarmouth. This register is not indexed in the OLRI. Click here to access the database description for F 501-2 for more information on this record and how to find and use it. Records Relating to the Peter Robinson SettlersIn 1823, as a form of poor relief, the imperial government began a program to help individuals from southern Ireland to immigrate to Canada. The settlement of these immigrants was entrusted to the civil administration of Upper Canada. Peter Robinson, the brother of Attorney General John Beverley Robinson, was put in charge of organizing and supervising the undertaking. He helped with two waves of immigration. The first group of immigrants, arriving in 1823, were located largely in the townships of Ramsay, Huntley, Pakenham, and Goulbourn in the Bathurst District of Upper Canada. A second, much larger, group of immigrants was brought over in 1825, locating in townships in the Peterborough area, most notably in Douro, Otonabee, Asphodel, Smith, Emily, Ennismore and Ops. Immigrants were given free transportation to Upper Canada, provisions during the voyage and for an additional year following their location on the land, and the tools and utensils required for settlement. Each male immigrant between the ages of 18 and 45 was to receive a location ticket for 70 acres of land, with the option of purchasing another 30 acres at a later date. The Peter Robinson fonds (F 61 - click here to access the database description) has microfilmed records from the Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives. Click here to access the Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives website. The museum’s collection has:
The Archives has original records with correspondence from settlers that Peter Robinson had assisted and who were now writing to him for more help. A finding aid for these records, including copies of passenger lists, is available in pdf format from the Archives of Ontario. The Peter Robinson settlers listed in this fonds are indexed in the OLRI. Other records that Peter Robinson created are in the Crown land records listed in Table 6, below. Click here to access the database description for RG 1-84-0-2, Returns of settlers in the Newcastle District, which are indexed in the OLRI.
Township PapersThe series of Crown land records called “the Township Papers” (RG 1-58 - click here for access to the database description) are a miscellaneous collection of documents about land. The staff of the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests brought these records together as a way to sort and arrange otherwise unrelated land records. The records date from ca.1783 to ca.1870. If an individual document dealt specifically with a particular piece of property and did not appear to fit within another records series, it was placed within the Township Papers. After the department transferred the series to the Archives, our archivists continued to file miscellaneous material within the series. The Township Papers include copies of orders-in-council, location certificates and tickets, assignments, certificates of settlement duties, correspondence and some wills. The records are arranged by township, town, or village and, within each township, by concession and then lot number. Once you know the particular lot of land the settler was granted, it is worth looking at the Township Papers since there may be records on the lot in question that will provide information about the settler. This series is available through m icrofilm interloan or in the Reading Room on microfilm. Click here for more information on the Archives of Ontario's microfilm interloan service. Land Descriptions, Surveyor’s Notes and Diaries, and Crown Lands CorrespondenceDescriptionsThe Crown produced a description of the land after it had been granted to an individual or corporation; they include:
The descriptions are arranged by the more than 30 different types of land grants and leases in existence at various times. click here to access the database description for RG 1-53, Descriptions of land grants, leases, sales, assignments and licenses of occupation. Domesday Books can serve as indexes to the Descriptions and the Lists and Indexes to Descriptions in RG 1-53-1; RG 1-63 - click here to access the database description for RG 1-63, Domesday books. Surveyor Notes and DiariesThe Crown land survey diaries, field notes and reports are another source of information about the details of the land granted to a settler or corporation. Each surveyor was directed to keep a diary and a field book that documented vegetation cover, topography, soil type and remarks on the suitability of the land for agriculture. The records are grouped together by geographic location/general subject. The Archives does not have all the surveyor diaries and field notes. The Crown Surveys Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, located in Peterborough, Ontario has a large number of them. To access the records held at the Archives, click here to access the database description for RG 1-59, Crown land survey diaries, field notes and reports . For information on accessing the records held by The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, click here to visit the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Crown Lands CorrespondenceCorrespondence of the surveyor general and his successor as commissioner of Crown lands can be a valuable source of information about a particular piece of land or individual settlers or corporations in Upper Canada. Correspondence from and to the surveyor general commissioner of Crown lands covers all aspects of land administration. There are letters from individual settlers. Much of the correspondence is arranged in chronological order. However, if you do not know the date of a possible piece of correspondence, check the Crown Land Papers Card Index (available on microfiche in the Reading Room. This catalogue indexes mainly records from the Correspondence and memoranda received by the Surveyor General relating to surveys and land administration, that were created between the late 18th century and 1868. However, not all the correspondence created during this period was indexed. The Crown Lands Paper Card Index has a brief description of the piece of correspondence and a reference to the volume in which the correspondence is found. The index terms include: the names of correspondents, townships, counties, districts, etc. Click here to access the database description for RG 1-2, Surveyor General relating to surveys and land administration Crown land correspondence can be found in several series of records. Some of the earlier correspondence is found in Table 7, below:
Maps and PlansThe Archives has maps and plans dating to the early settlement of Upper Canada, and before. Check with a reference archivist for further information on the maps and plans included in this research guide and other maps and plans at the Archives. Most maps and plans documenting early land distribution and occupancy were prepared for the Crown. Maps produced by the Surveyor General’s Office of the Department of Crown Lands are either at the Archives or the Crown Survey Records Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources, located in Peterborough, Ontario. The Crown Survey Records Office has the main group of Crown land maps. These include records like original town and township surveys, road and exploration surveys, maps of Indian lands and resurveys of disputed boundaries. For legal purposes, the maps and plans at the Crown Survey Records Office are considered to be the first, or the official, map or plan. The Archives has mostly those maps and plans that, for legal purposes, are considered to be copies. Survey Plans of TownshipsEarly survey plans of townships show the lot and concession gridlines. Often, however, plans were used as office or working copies and other information was written on them. Different colours of ink were used to identify Crown and clergy reserves, swampy areas, and bodies of water: grey for clergy reserves, red for Crown reserves, a yellowish green for swamps and blue for water. Often, occupants’ names were written over the survey grids. Survey plans showing lots and concessions, and with other information written on them are in the Archives’ Township Plan Collection and in the government series titled the Ministry of Natural Resources Township Survey Plans. Click here to access the database description for C 277, Township plan collection. Click here to access the database description for RG 1-470, Ministry of Natural Resources township survey plans. Patent PlansPatent Plans are another important record created to record the distribution of Crown lands. Patent plans show the status of alienation of Crown lands (“alienation” here refers to the act of transferring property or title to it from one to another). Was a lot patented, leased, or under a licence of occupation? When a lot, or a portion of a lot, was patented, the name of the patentee (the grantee) was written on the plan in the appropriate place. Sometimes, other information was recorded, such as the order-in-council number, the licence of occupation number or a lease reference. Different colours of ink identified Crown reserves (red ink) and clergy reserves (grey ink). If a name is mentioned on a particular lot of land on a patent plan, this does not guarantee that the person received the patent. In conducting your research, you will find it useful to look at patent plans together with text records like land petitions and the index to land patents. There are approximately 5,600 patent plans. Click here to access the database description for RG 1-100, Patents plans. Most patent plans are digitized online, in the Archives’ Visual Database; click here to access the Visual Database. Other Maps and PlansIn addition to maps created as part of the surveying and land granting process, the Archives’ collections have various maps that document land use and occupancy. For example, one of these collections has a series of county atlases published in the late 1870s. These atlases show the names of the occupants of individual lots. The atlases are available on microfilm in the Archives’ Reading Room and through microfilm interloan. Around the year 2000, bound re-editions were published and are in the Reading Room. Click here for more information on the Archives of Ontario's microfilm interloan service. Joan Winnearl’s book Mapping Upper Canada, 1780-1867: An Annotated Bibliography of Manuscript and Print Maps (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991) lists maps produced between 1780 and Confederation (1867). Please consult a reference archivist for information about using this volume or the map collections at the Archives. Acquiring Ownership of the Land: The PatentTo find out if a settler received the official title of land from the Crown, check the land patents. The Crown issued the patents once the administrative fees were paid and the settlement duties were completed. Land Patent Books, 1793-1984 have copies of letters patent; click here to access the database description fro RG 1-53, Land patent books. There is also pathfinder in the Reading Room and online; click here to access the Pathfinder to land patents. Indexes to the patent books include the Index to Land Patents by Township, 1793-1852 and the Index to Land Patents by Name, 1826-1967. Click here to access the database description for RG 53-55, Index to land patents by township or click here to access the database description for RG 53-56, Index to land patents by name. They are available on self-service microfilm in the Reading Room and through microfilm interloan. Click here for more information on the Archives of Ontario's microfilm interloan service. The Indexes have the name of the patentee, the date of the patent, the lot and concession number, the township, the type of transaction, the liber (book) and folio (page) numbers where the patent was located in the original patent books and the number of acres obtained. Typically, there is no additional information on a settler in the patent books. Land Registry Office RecordsOnce the patent for a particular lot of land was issued, any future transactions on that piece of property are documented in the Land Registry Offices (LRO). A land registry system was established in Ontario in 1795 to document land ownership. Under this system, land transactions are registered in county, district, and regional LROs. There are a variety of records that document land transfer ownership from and to individuals or corporations. To find out more about these records, click here to access Research Guide 231: Finding land registration records. Further Reading - Resources on Early Land SettlementThe following book and articles provide more information on Crown Land Records: Books
Published Articles
Archival Documents
Making ContactReady and WillingAlthough unable to do your land records research for you, our reference archivists are waiting to assist you. You may telephone or write to them by mail or email or — best of all — visit the Archives of Ontario. Contact usTelephone: 416-327-1600 Toll free (Ontario): 1-800-668-9933 Fax: 416-327-1999 Email: click here to send an email to the Archives of Ontario Address: Archives of Ontario, 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd., Toronto, ON M7A 2C5 WebsiteFor information about the Archives’ holdings, as well as access to research guides and other customer service materials available through the Archives of Ontario, please click here to visit our website at www.ontario.ca/archives. Customer Service and Research GuidesThe Archives of Ontario has published a series of in-depth research guides on a variety of specific topics. For more information, please see “Research Guides and Tools” under “Accessing Our Collection” on the home page of the Archives website. ____________________________________________________________________________ © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2009 This information is provided as a public service. Although we endeavour to ensure that the information is as current and accurate as possible, errors do occasionally occur. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information. Readers should where possible verify the information before acting on it. Yüklə 88,97 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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