Researching the Land: Online and In-Person Resources for Land Records

History of the Land

It is important to understand the history of the land you are researching so you can put the information you find into its proper context. Land changes by geographical boundaries for administrative purposes over time. A piece of land may have been part of a different township, county, or district at different periods in time. As a result, you may have to look for land records in different administrative institutions.

Early Land Settlement

In Ontario, land was Crown Land (as in belonging to the government) after being surrendered by First Nations, until granted to private owners. It was surveyed into townships made up of concessions (about 1¼ miles wide) and 200-acre lots, which individuals had to apply for through the Crown.

Crown Land Granting Process

1. Petition: an individual submitted a petition (application) to the Crown
2. Grant: if the petition was successful, the Crown would issue a land grant to the petitioner who then became a settler on a 200-acre lot
3. Settle Land: certain settlement duties were required to be met (such as clearing a certain amount of the land, building a residence, etc.)
4. Patent: once the settlement duties were complete, the Crown would issue a patent which officially transferred ownership to the private individual

Resources for Crown Land Records

• Upper Canada Land Board (1765-1804) database from Library and Archives Canada is an online index to individuals mentioned in the Land Board records.
• Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865) is an online index from Library and Archives Canada of the petitions to obtain land in Upper Canada.
• The best resource for Crown land records is the Ontario Land Records Index (OLRI.) This resource, created by the Archives of Ontario, is an index of many records from various institutions involved in the granting process.
• When you find an individual (or piece of land) the information is all in code. You can decipher the code through the Using the Ontario Land Records Index research guide created by the Archives of Ontario.
• By noting the Archival Reference number and the information on the webpage Understanding the Reference Code in the Ontario Land Record Index, an archivist would be able to order the microfilm reel containing the documents.

Local Land Transfer Process

Land transactions in Ontario began in 1793 but were not mandatory to register until 1846, so some were unrecorded or registered late. To research a property's history, you need its legal description—lot and concession numbers—and can find records at the local Land Registry Office or a local archive.

Resources for Land Registry Records

After land registration was mandated in 1865, Abstract Indexes were created to document all transactions for each lot, listing buyer/seller names, transaction types, dates, amounts, and instrument numbers. These indexes covered entire lots, even when the land was later subdivided, making it hard to trace the history of specific parcels. To find detailed records, researchers must use the instrument number from the Abstract Index to locate the original Land Instrument, though not all have survived—especially those from before 1846 or fully paid mortgages. However, many land instruments have been preserved and we have them for all townships in Lambton County.