Land records are another way to add dimension to your ancestors. Not everyone owned land, but if they did there may still be a record of it somewhere. There are some indexes online, and you may be able to use that information to get more complete records from the state or province. Estates were traditionally given as spoils of war to soldiers for their loyalty in battle. At the birth of Canada land grants were given to help populate the land. Then, to boost the population even more, a 100 acre lot of land was given to couples that had 12 living legitimate children.
The largest that I found was the Canadian
County Atlas Digital Project done by McGill University. It is a cadaster of Ontario, with names and acreage of each lot. Search under People for the
land grant information, then get the map showing the location.
In US search Internet Archive using keywords : plat book.
In US search Internet Archive using keywords : plat book.
Relevant Links:
Land Records
Free
grants of land to parents with 12 kids
QuebecLand Register (follow links)
Library
and Archives Canada (LAC) – Land Records
Letters
Patent containing grants of land (mentioned in Report
By Québec (Québec). Secretary's Office 1891
Index to Alberta Homestead Records
up to 1930
Index to Alberta Homestead Records
After 1930
CPR to
settlers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta from 1881 to 1927
Nova Scotia Land
petitions
New
Brunswick Land Grants
Return of Owners of
Land – Ireland
Return
of Owners of Land - UK 1873
New Zealand:
Copies of papers and despatches relative to New Zealand; Return showing ..
land in the colony of New Zealand, sold by the government - 1845
Cadastres
Land
map of Quebec and Ile d'Orleans
StJean -
Ile d'Orleans
StLaurent -
Ile d'Orleans
Beaconsfield
Settlement, Andover Parish, N.B
Nova Scotia :
click on a square and zoom in
Rainy
River, Minnesota
(Lauzon, Sorel, Sillery, etc)
Cadastres abrégés des
seigneuries du district des Trois-Rivières 1863
Extrait des livres de renvoi officiels des comtés d'Hochelaga etJacques-Cartier 1872
Extrait du livre de renvoi officiel de la cité de Montréal : Extract of the book of reference of the city of Montreal. For different wards 1870’s
Extrait des livres de renvoi officiels des comtés d'Hochelaga etJacques-Cartier 1872
Extrait du livre de renvoi officiel de la cité de Montréal : Extract of the book of reference of the city of Montreal. For different wards 1870’s
Olcott's
Blue Book of Land Values of Chicago - several years
The
San Francisco block book; comprising Park Lane Tract, Market Street
Homestead Ass'n., Stanford Heights, Sunnyside, City Land Ass'n., Lakeview, West
End Homestead, University Mound Homestead Ass'n., Excelsior Homestead, Reis
Tract, South San Francisco Homestead and Railroad Ass'n., Tide Lands, etc. :
showing size of lots and blocks and names of owners, compiled from latest
official records
Georgia
USA: The Cherokee land lottery, containing a numerical list of the names of
the fortunate drawers in said lottery, with an engraved map of each district -
1838
Wow, I didn't know you could get land via procreation at any time or place in history. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThank for your comments and for visiting!
DeleteI was excited to read this, because I had never heard the term Cadastre before! I didn’t know that Canada used a different term than the US. I love using plat maps in my research because it’s a great way to physically locate where my ancestors owned property, and easily shows their neighbors and neighborhood. Great article!
ReplyDeleteFun compare these cadastres with google maps to see where our ancestors lived!
DeleteThanks for visiting!
I've frequently used maps like these to locate the properties owned by my ancestors, but I didn't know they were called cadastres. Interesting addition to my knowledge.
ReplyDelete