Finding on the Ground: An Urban Address

In my various "Finding on the Ground" series of posts the one type of property I kept glossing over were the lots in the urban areas. I kept ignoring those places for only one reason...it can be a challenge locating the records on the Ontario Land Property Records Portal, AKA OnLand. However, in this post I will walk you through the process and resources I used to find a lot in Galt, now part of Cambridge, Ontario.

The initial question was posted in the Ontario Ancestors group on Facebook:

"I know of a house in Cambridge (Galt) that I would like the Concession and Lot number.
Once I have that I know how to retrieve information off of Onland.ca, I just need the actual Concession/lot.  How do I find this please."

After a bit of back and forth to get the specific address and the person of interest (just a reminder of the importance of providing detailed information in your questions: Asking Good Questions; Creating Good Answers) I learned the following details:

• The modern address in Galt is: 46 Park Hill Rd (West of the Grand River) in Cambridge, Ontario.
• She is looking for information about the land transactions involving William John Millican since he own that property around 1883.
  

And so the adventure began!

Step 1 - Where is it now?

The first step I took was to search the OnLand Property Address in the virtual Waterloo Land Registry Office (58). Why that LRO? I didn't know which office was responsible for Galt or Cambridge so I just typed in Galt, it's shorter than typing Cambridge, in the "Find your Land Registry Office" box and OnLand informed me that it was in "WATERLOO (LRO 58)"

For the address I initially typed "46 Park Hill" but no results were returned. So I just removed the space between "Park" and "Hill". Sometimes you do have to play around with the name of the street to get the "right" name in OnLand. Eight results appeared with almost all of them for 46 Parkhill Road West Cambridge found on Lot 1 in Plan 470 of Cambridge. But there was also a 46 Parkhill Road East. 

Partial screen capture of the Address Search results for 46 Parkhill in Waterlook (LRO 58) on OnLand.

So which one is it?

I started with an assumption that the 46 ParkHill Road West was the one I wanted so I next switched to the Property Map feature on OnLand and searched by the street name "Parkhill". Three possible streets were listed: PARKHILL CRT, PARKHILL ROAD, and PARKHILL ROAD EAST. Since I didn't see a "PARKHILL ROAD WEST" listed I selected just "PARKHILL ROAD". 

Screen capture of "Search by Street" for Parkhill in Waterloo (LRO 58) on OnLand.

It looks like I choose wisely since that road is west of the Grand River.

I then zoomed out on that map. Just a word to the wise, it does take a few seconds for OnLand to redraw the map so be patient and take it slowly. 

It looked to me that Park Hill Road West might be within Concession 11 possibly on lots 9, 10, or 11 based on the other lot notations nearby. The map also seems to indicate that it is "WGR" (West of Grand River) so it could be within lot 1 or 2 WGR. So we still have some work to do.

Step 2 - Historical Abstract/Index Books

Next it was off to the Historical Books section for the virtual Waterloo Registry Office.

Normally I would browse these books but since I have a plan number from the address search I searched for Plan 470. Amazingly only one result was returned. Unfortunately it seemed like the instruments start from 1905 and I'm looking for property from around 1883. Yet there are still some very useful clues found if I pay attention. On the first page it says "James Patterson's Sy" and the next states "James Patterson Survey" at the top. On the third page it has written near the top "From 10 in 11th Con"

At this point in my research, since I was doing this on a Saturday and it was approaching 6 p.m., I no longer could use OnLand since they shutdown access to these resources at 6 p.m. on Saturday. GRRR!

I decided to go to the "Make a Topographic Map" site from the Ontario Government. Under the Navigation option in the top menu bar I selected Search and then Address as the type of search. There I typed "46 Park hill road west, cambridge" (without the quotes) and the map automagically zoomed in to the location. If I had typed "46 parkhill road west, cambridge" this site was actually smart enough to suggest "46 Park Hill Road West, Cambridge". But I did find that I had to state "road" as part of the address. The "west" was optional since it gave suggestions for the full address.

From there I zoomed in until I spotted faintly written clues like "LOT 3 WEST OF GRAND RIVER CON 11" AND "LOT 2 WEST OF GRANT RIVER CON 11". Looking at what looks to be boundary lines it would seem that "46 Park Hill Rd W" lies within Lot 2 West of Grand River, Concession 11. Again, that is a guess but it seems to match the note from the plan documents.

Next it was off to FamilySearch to look in their copies of the Abstract Index Books found under "Canada, Ontario, Waterloo" for Galt.

Looking on FamilySearch in the Abstract Index Books under "Canada, Ontario, Waterloo" for Galt (v. 1 & 2) I come across in Volume 1 of the Galt books for the "Town of Galt" a page for "Subdivision Lot No. 2 Concession XI West of Grand River: Sometimes called North Halves of Lots Nos. 10 and 11" at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H6-T3LM. The details are found on the bottom half of that digitized page. The instruments start in 1841 and go to 1863. Much later on in that same digitized set of books I see "Subdivision Lot No. 2 West of Grand River Conn XI. Sometimes called North halves of Lots Nos. 10 & 11" (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H6-TS7M) and those instruments go from 1866 to 1877. That appears to be continuation of the first page but found in Volume 2 of the Galt books. Unfortunately the later volumes for Galt aren't on FamilySearch.

Since I was stuck on FamilySearch I had to wait until OnLand opened up for online business at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

Back on OnLand within the Historical Books for the Waterloo LRO (58) I filtered the township/municipality on "Galt". I noticed that there are books labelled 1, 2, 3, 1A, 2A, etc. There was even a Book 2 which had the description "SUBDIVISION 2". So I wondered if they were the volume numbers seen when looking in the FamilySearch Abstract Index Books for Galt. A quick glance and it seemed like they were. Towards the start of some of the books an index could be found (woohoo!) so I checked the first several pages for each of the books and in Book 3A on image 2 I saw "James Patterson's Survey of Pt. 10 Con XI W.G.R. (470)" and it looks like it started around folio [page] 427. That looked really promising based on what was found recorded for Plan 470. Book 3A only went up to page 220 but the images for Book 3B started at page 221 so I started looking there. Page 427 started at image 414 but I didn't see James Patterson's Survey mentioned there so I went to the next image, 415, and there was "James Patterson's Survey of Part of Lot No. 10 Con XI W.G.R". 

It would seem that each folio is made up of two images, a top and a bottom section. There was Lot No. 1 but the entries were from 1884 to 1889 and I didn't see any Millican's mentioned. But in one of the columns it stated "Cont. on page 431". Next it was off to find page 431 stamped in the upper right corner and it was found on image 422. On the second image from page 431 (image 423) there was "Lot No. 1 James Patterson's Survey (Cont. from 427.).

Extract from OnLand's Waterloo (LRO 58), Abstract/Parcel Register Book, for Galt, Book 3B, image 423 of 446 for Lot No. 1 of James Patterson's Survey continued from p. 427.

What do I see but a B & S, instrument 8227, on 14 Mar 1890 and registered 18 Mar 1890, with the grantor being James Patterson et ux and the grantee listed as W.J. Millican.

Keep in mind that these books for Galt are a real mess when it comes to how the abstracts were recorded since the top of the page stated "Lot No. 11 Concession X" but we have other lots apparently not on that concession listed on the same page.

Step 3 - Ordering

The next challenge might be to get a copy of that B&S instrument, no. 8227. However, a copy isn't available on FamilySearch since they only have the Land Record copy books up to 1875. This means ordering the document from OnLand and I've written how to do that in my post "Finding on the Ground: Ordering from OnLand".

The first step is to "create" a registration number using a prefix code and the instrument number. To find that prefix code I needed to click on the "correct prefix and range" link found on the "Instruments, Plans and Evidence" page accessed from the OnLand Documents page. That link brings us to the ServiceOntario Prefixes and Cross-References page. Opening up Waterloo LRO 58 there is a PDF link for the Instrument Prefix List for Waterloo. Scrolling through the PDF I see that there is a "Galt" entry which covers the time period of 1853 to 1955 and instrument numbers 1 to 55023. That look to be the right place, years, and instrument numbers so the prefix code associated with that instrument number should be "D". Combining the prefix code just identified and the instrument number of 8227 I get a registration number "D8227". This was the only easy part of the whole process!

At this point, if this was my family, I could place the order for $3 plus tax. I might even order some of the other documents mentioning W. J. Millican.

Wrapping it up

I will gladly admit that I really do dislike trying to find the transactions which took place in urban environment. Urban areas can be a really challenge due to issues such as changing boundaries, going from concession and lots to plans or sections, and street names being changed. Of course, how the registrations for Galt are recorded didn't make it any more enjoyable. It turned out that the note from Plan 470 which stated "SURVEY James Patterson" was key to finding William John Millican's property without spending hours looking through all the books. So pay attention to the whole page and surrounding pages for potential clues!

Yet don't give up when looking for the land records of those who had property in urban environments. It is a bit more challenging that those simple concessions and lots but just a rewarding.

Stop Following the Herd!

 

One thing I often see both novice and experienced researchers doing is taking the short cut of trusting the research of others. It doesn't matter if it is on a tree on Ancestry, the common tree found on FamilySearch, compiled histories handed to you by a relative, or even in published books. It is all fine and dandy to use other trees for clues and hints but trusting should be out of the question!

I'm going to highlight an example of why trusting other trees is a bad idea.

I periodically go to the common FamilySearch tree to see if there have been any changes to folks that I'm following. Recently I noticed an update to Moritz Schoenberger (LXSK-9NP). He isn't a direct relationship to me but he is connected to my tree as the great-grandfather of husband of a grandaunt. That's when I noticed that I hadn't reviewed his tree on FamilySearch and, based on the list of children and only one spouse recorded, there were errors and missing issues. So I started drilling down into his family to do the usual minor updates or to provide additional details that I've discovered over the past few years.

That is when I noticed something I didn't have for Emil Schoenberger, the son of Henry Schoenberger and Lilliam Fischer,...a wife.

Screen capture for the profile of Emil Schoenberger, son of Henry Schoenberger and Lillian Fischer, from the McKinlay-McMullen database on Legacy Family Tree.

This is the the family profile from FamilySearch for the supposedly same Emil Schoenberger as of noon (ET) on 21 Sep 2022.

Screen capture for Emil Schoenberger (LX35-QT1) from FamilySearch as of 14h00 21 Sep 2022.

Anytime that I come across a discrepancy between my personally created tree and those I find online I automatically assume that I'm in the wrong and I work to verify that the information I've just come across is accurate. In the case of Emil, son of Henry and Lillian, I have quite a bit of information about him by following him and his parents through the various United States federal census enumerations including the 1950 census where we find him with his parents and recorded as unmarried:

1950 U.S. census, New Haven County, Connecticut, population schedule, New Haven, enumeration district (ED) 12-107, sheet 16, household 184; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Sep 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T628, roll 3792.

So what about this Louise Joos that Emil is supposed to have married?

A quick check on the "Connecticut Vital Records — Index of Marriages, 1897-2001" site from the Connecticut State Library revealed that an Emil Schoenberger and a Louise Yoos were married on 30 Jun 1932 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA. Why don't I just look at the Connecticut marriage registration for details about Emil's family? That should answer the question right away. That costs money and takes a bit of time, especially for someone doing long distance research from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Sometimes the easiest path isn't the one that is possible at the time.

Just a second...if Emil was married in 1932 why did it say he was never married in the 1950 census? 

Immediately I knew there was something was amiss. So I checked what I have for "my" Emil in the 1940 Census of the USA. There I saw that he was recorded as a son living in the household of Henry and Lily Schoenberger in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, USA and he is single working as a grocery clerk.

So it was time to stop and look at this family of Emil Schoenberger and Louise Joos/Yoos from the beginning. On Ancestry I added this couple to my tree but didn't attach them to anyone else and I put in the information I was starting to find. One of the hints on FamilySearch was an obituary for her found on GenealogyBank from the 25 Mar 2005 edition of the Hartford Courant where it stated that she was born on 1 Nov 1906 in Germany and died on 19 Mar 2005 in a local nursing home. The obituary even included her two children, Robert and Margaret. Plenty of information for starting a profile on her household.

With those details entered in Ancestry started giving me hints to other records and the real winner was from the "Connecticut, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1790-1996" collection on Ancestry for the Petition of Naturalization of Louise Schoenberger who arrived under the name "Luise Joos" on 21 Apr 1930 at New York on board the S.S. Berlin. That petition included her children including when and where they were born. It even stated that her husband, Emil Schoenberger, was born in Bavaria Germany on 12 Sep 1901 and he arrived in New York, New York in April 1926. 

How do I know that this is the same family found in that Connecticut marriage index? The petition also gave the date and place they were married: 30 Jun 1932 in Hartford, Connecticut. The same information found in the index. 

Just based on that one document I knew that there were at least two people with the name Emil Schoenberger residing in Connecticut at that time. One who apparently was born in Connecticut, the son of Henry and Lillian Schoenberger, and the other was born in Germany, the husband of Louise Joos.

The next step was to find the household of Emil and Lillian Schoenberger in the 1940 and 1950 census of the USA. Since I also had the names and birth years of their children it was really easy. In 1940 I found the household of Emil and Louise with their two children residing at 66 Busnhell Street in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut. There Emil is recorded as a cabinet maker. In the 1950 census I found the family still living at that address and Emil is still a cabinet maker. In both the 1940 and 1950 censuses Emil and Louise are recorded as being born in Germany.

1950 U.S. census, Hartford County, Connecticut, population schedule, Hartford, enumeration district (ED) 10-149, sheet 3, household 30; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Sep 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T628, roll 5302.

In Emil's Petition for Naturalization dated 28 Apr 1933 he states that he married Louisa on 30 Jun 1932 in Hartford, Connecticut and at that time only one child was listed since the second child had yet to be born. He also stated he was born 12 Sep 1901 in Kohlberg Bougern, Germany, arrived in 1926 on the Bremen, and is a cabinet maker.

As I discovered and entered in information into Ancestry about the Emil who lived in Hartford and was married to Louise even more details appeared such as his date of death in 1980 and even a copy of his obituary from the Hartford Courant on Newspapers.com. The details in that obituary closely match what had been found in the census enumerations of his family and even his petition for naturalization. I knew I was looking at the right person.

Some very interesting differences between the two Emil Schoenbergers can be found once one starts to examine and read the records available online in various places.

I'll now be off to fix up that common tree on FamilySearch and send a note to several tree owners on Ancestry about the error in their individual trees.

I leave you with this thought though...

STOP following the herd in your research!