Welcome to the Ontario County page of the Ontario GenWeb |
Have you hit a brick wall with your Ontario County ancestors? Search for your family origins on Ontario County GenWeb. I hope this site will help you find that brick-wall ancestor. |
Read about COMPLETE Canadian Census 1851-1916 Coming Online in June! |
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Ontario County GenWeb
Location of Land RecordsUpper Canada Land PetitionsUpper Canada Land Petitions (UCLP) are the actual Petitions for land which were submitted in Upper Canada (Ontario). They frequently contain information about the petitioner and his or her family. Loyalists and discharged soldiers often mentioned the regiment in which they served. There were two types of land petitions:
Land BooksLand Books are basically a summary of land grants. They rarely contain more info than name, date and location. Sometimes they have little gems in the comment section. But they're helpful because if you can't find a petition in the UCLP it may be in the Land Book so at least you have some record of the event. Township PapersTownship Papers are a miscellaneous group of land-related records have been arranged by township name, then by concession and lot or by town name and lot number. They're a mixed bag - they may contain correspondence re land, some petitions, copies of orders-in-council, etcAbstract indexes to DeedsThe Abstract Indexes to Deeds are the indexed record of every transaction on a plot of land since it left Crown ownership. Fathers willed land to sons or to wives or daughters. Men parcelled off smaller sections of land and sold it to sons. Brothers settled near each other, or on the same land. Armed with the Abstract Indexes to Deeds you can check for every instance of your name of interest on that parcel of land. By referring to the date and Instrument Number found with each transaction, you can look up the complete record. You may find a will (Many wills are filed in the Land Records Offices) or other important document.Free GrantsUp to 1826 free land grants were available to all settlers, to government favourites, and to UEL (Loyalist) children. In 1826 these free grants were abolished except Loyalist grants and soldiers, and anyone wanting Crown land had to buy it.The Canada CompanySettlers could also buy lands from the Canada Company, a private company owning all of the Huron District. These records are held at the Archives of Ontario. All land sales after the initial Crown grant were registered with local land registry offices.Assessment & Tax RecordsAssessment and Tax Records contain location of an individual's land. There are very early assessment records, but each area in Ontario has different surviving records, so you must check for the county or township of interest to you.CLRI (Computerized Land Records Index)Also called the Ontario Land Record Index, this summarizes land grants from sales of Crown Land, from Canada Company sales or leases and from Peter Robinson settlers' grants. If your ancestor settled anywhere in Ontario and he was the first time buyer of Crown Land, he will be on these lists. A CLRI lookup service [$] is available online. |
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I can't answer queries as I don't live in Ontario County but a great place to start is the AskOliveTree blog where you can submit your genealogy challenges and brickwalls to Lorine for help. |
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