Ontario Land and Property: Difference between revisions

#Get the appropriate film, and search it for your ancestor's name.

'''If you find your ancestor listed in any of these indexes, search the corresponding land records.'''  

== Step 2. Search land records arranged by description  ==

#Locate your ancestor's name in the records listed in this section.  

::This ''Index'' is included on the internet in ''Search Family Archives'' available at '''www.genealogy.com/cdhome.html''' Family Archives: Genealogy Data Online & on CD [Internet database]. [N.p.]: Genealogy.com, 2000. You can search this 220 million entry database for free. If the archive is the ''Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s (#118)'', the source might be an illustrated historical atlas, but you must buy the index on compact disc, or use a book or compact disc copy at a library to learn the county and township.

#Once you know the county, township name, concession number, and lot number, use this information to find the land records.  

:Copies of the will or probate papers are rarely filed in both the land registry office and the court. But probate papers in the land registry are a hint that you may find some additional related papers in court records.

The ''Abstract Index Books'', listed under [[Ontario Land Records#Step 2. Search land records arranged by description|'''Step 2''']], are the major indexes to wills recorded or memorialized in deed books. If land records show the person's estate was ''proved'' or probated before a court, look for the person's name in one of the following sources:  

*[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Court+of+Probate%3A+Registers+and+Estate+Files+at+the+Archives+of+Ontario+%281793-1859%29&qt=owc_search '''''Court of Probate: Registers and Estate Files at the Archives of Ontario (1793-1859)''''']. '''FHL book 971.3 P2z''' [Toronto]: Ontario Genealogical Society, 1986. This record indexes '''''Probate Registers, 1793-1858; and Estate Files, 1793-1859'''''. On [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=218510&disp=Probate+registers%2C+1793-1858%3B+and+++ 41 films beginning with '''FHL film 1312313''']. Upper Canada. Court of Probate. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1982. Search alphabetically for your ancestor's name. The probate registers may include wills, administrations, guardianships, or citations of next of kin. Estate files may include inventories, administration papers, bonds, affidavits, letters, or wills.

*'''''Surrogate Court Records Index, 1793–1858'''''. [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=551408&disp=Surrogate+Court+records+index%2C+1793%2D%20%20&columns=*,0,0 '''FHL fiche 6334160 [set of 8''']. Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, [198 ?]. This index may list dates, volume and page numbers, and the county that received the preB1854 records. For film numbers of indexed records, check the Family History Library Catalog '''Place Search''' under the name of the '''county''' and the topic '''Probate Records'''.

*[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18015848&referer=brief_results '''''Surrogate Court Index of Ontario, Canada, 1859-1900''''']. '''FHL book 971.3 P22g''' by June Gibson. 27+ vols. Agincourt, Ont.: Generation Press, 1988B. This index lists name, locality, will number, and year proved. A table in each volume lists the Archives of Ontario microfilm reel numbers that are indexed in that volume.

If you cannot locate land records for your ancestor, you could also search '''Church Records, Censuses, Directories, Military Records''', or '''Taxation Records'''. For details about the value, use, and availability of these and other record types, see the [[Portal:Ontario|''Ontario'']] wiki page and [[Portal:Canada|''Canada'']] wiki page.