Canada 150 - Illustrated Atlas of Prince Edward Island

During our country's 150th anniversary celebration of confederation I will write posts titled Canada 150 with a link to a publication or website I find that may help you tell the story of your Canadian ancestors.
Click on the Canada 150 label on the right or at the bottom to see all the posts.

Today I have for you...

Illustrated Historical Atlas of ...Prince Edward Island

1880

This is more than an atlas, filled with cadastres, portraits, and drawings of residences.

Pg 93-94

There are a few places online to view this Atlas.  At Island Imagined where there is a list of what is on each page, Internet Archive (not very good quality of some images), and David Rumsey Map Collection.

At Rumsay maps, to get back to main page after viewing a page full screen, top right click back to media, then click Related (105). It shows 50 page thumbnails on a page.

Relevant Links

Island Imagined - Atlas of PEI

David Rumsey Map Collection - Atlas of PEI

Internet Archive - Atlas of PEI

  

Related post:  History of PEI and Censuses

The Illustrated Atlas and a Hidden Gem

Because the title of these publications is "The Illustrated Atlas of the County Of..." you may not have noticed the hidden gem.

Besides holding cadastre maps (with owner's names) of towns and townships in that county, in the back of the books is a Patron's Directory. Why is this different from other directories?  Aha!  this is the gem...

It states their name, residence, business (even if it is farming), PO address, where the person was born and the date of settlement in that county!

Here is an example - my 2x great grandfather John Seale in Pittsburgh Township, Frontenac County, Ontario. He was born in Ireland and settled in the county in 1833.

Note:  The second link below is a list at Internet Archive. Check index, some directories are throughout instead of at the back. In the Andreas directory of Hancock County Illinois it is a list of Subscribers (see index). In the directory for St Joseph, Indiana it is a list of County References. You can also do a search using the authors of the atlases listed, there maybe some histories of counties that have a list of patrons.



Relevant Links


Illustrated historical atlas of the counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Ontario, 1878 - Patron's Directory in the back

Illustrated historical atlases of counties in the US and CAN 




Related Post: Location, Location, Location
                (to which is added 2 atlases for Australia)

Location, location, location

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.


A Cadastre survey of land could include details of ownership, what the land is used for, and boundaries and dimensions of the land, used for tax purposes and in land disputes. When you buy a house in a development you get a cadaster with your paperwork, showing where your lot is, with the dimensions and boundaries.  Some of the earlier cadastres have the owner’s names written on them.  Cadastres have been used as early as 77 CE and a lot of countries use them.  There are quite a few of these cadastres online, and I will link to some of them below.

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.

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

Saskatchewan Land Grants

CPR to settlers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta from 1881 to 1927

Nova Scotia Land petitions

New Brunswick Land Grants

PEI Land Grants

Return of Owners of Land – Ireland

Return of Owners of Land - UK 1873

USA- BLM Glo Records 

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

Massachusetts Deed Purchase

Cadastres

Ontario Digital Atlas

Land map of Quebec and Ile d'Orleans

StJean - Ile d'Orleans

StLaurent - Ile d'Orleans

Ile Bouchard

Montreal Atlas 1880-81 

Montreal and Bout de l”Ile  

Beaconsfield Settlement, Andover Parish, N.B

Nova Scotia : click on a square and zoom in

Rainy River, Minnesota

Michigan Cadastre maps

Cadastres abrégés des seigneuries appartenant à la couronne Bas Canada1863

(Lauzon, Sorel, Sillery, etc)

Cadastres abrégés des seigneuries du district de Montréal 1863

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

Cadastre map of Lunenburgh County, Nova Scotia 1864

Olcott's Blue Book of Land Values of Chicago - several years

Surveyor's Book - 1863, Glasgow Kentucky

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

Plat Book and Directory of Cheboygan Michigan - 1902

Atlas of Eaton Co, Michigan; w/landowners - 1873 

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

Info on Cherokee Land Lottery

Old Montreal 1611-1803

Minnesota Plat Maps

Some Township Cadastre maps of Indiana 1881

The new district and county atlas of Queensland, 1878

Bakers Australian County Atlas