Land Records and Ontario

Photo by Claude Laprise on Unsplash

​Land records have always held an interest for me. Perhaps because I come from a farming family, the land research appeals to me. I had the opportunity to listen to an online seminar “Onland from a Genealogy Perspective” by Ken McKinlay and sponsored by the Huron Genealogical Society of Ontario. It was an excellent talk. Let’s look.

​I’ve written about using Ontario’s Onland site in the past. It is an excellent way to find many of your land records for relatives from Ontario. ONLAND for land search in Ontario, Canada - Herding Cats Genealogy  In addition you’ll want to check out Ken McKinlay’s blog because he has two specific articles about using Onland.
 
Family Tree Knots: Finding on the Ground: Northern Ontario Districts
Family Tree Knots: Upper Canada Land Books
 
As you are likely aware FamilySearch also has many of the Ontario Land Records. I found that once I knew the concession and lot numbers for my ancestors, it was easiest to find the Abstract Register Books of the land at Onland. From there I could look at the records by Instrument number in FamilySearch. In the link below, I searched the catalog for Canada, Ontario, Grey where you can see there are several options for looking at the land record instruments.
 
familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=1941229&query=%2Bplace%3A"Canada%2C Ontario%2C Grey" %2Bavailability%3AOnline&subjectsOpen=359619-50
 
When you find your land in the Abstract Register Books, note the Instrument number, the dates for the event and filing date plus the parties involved. There are many types of land records and while most are on FamilySearch, you might want to order a copy from Onland to see if there are any differences or details. In addition to the above information, you will need to find the prefix code for by selecting the Instrument Prefix List for the appropriate Land Registry Office. Again, Ken McKinlay does a great job walking through the process in his blog.
 
If you haven’t looked at Onland records for a while, take some time to explore and see what you can learn about your family. Happy exploring!