Normally we really don't pay much attention to many of the updates to catalogues and databases on genealogy and family history sites since these updates either often don't affect us or the update provides a benefit to us. This isn't the case for those researching in Ontario when FamilySearch updated their Catalog in November 2023 with their "newest FamilySearch place standards". You can read about what this update is supposed to accomplish in their article "What's New with the FamilySearch Catalog".
So how does this update affect us?
For those researching our kin in Ontario, most won't see a difference. That is unless we are trying to locate the digitized collections for a few counties that somehow got incorrectly filed in the wrong places. Most of these collections haven't been indexed so we need to be able to find and browse the digitized microfilms to find potentially useful documents.
This all started with a question from a fellow researcher when they couldn't find the land records for Grenville County. I used to be able to type "Canada, Ontario, Grenville" in the Place search box and it would appear. Now when I do that it returns "British Colonial America, Canada West, Grenville" and there are no associate collections. This was bad.
After much playing around with the search I did find the lost land records collection so at least they weren't completely missing.
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| Screen capture of FamilySearch Catalog Search screen taken 24 Jan 2024 using the search parameters of Author Name: "grenville county" and Keywords "land ontario" listing three land record collections. |
It took me a bit more work to actually find where these missing collections had been squirreled away in the FamilySearch Catalog. It turned out they had been misfiled under Canada, Ontario, Prince Edward, Gardenville!
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| Screen capture of FamilySearch Catalog Search screen taken 24 Jan 2024 with the Land and property subject open for the place "Canada, Ontario, Prince Edward, Gardenville". |
That was very unexpected to say the least since it made no sense in my mind. It had to have been an operator error when the FamilySearch Catalog was being updated. I reached out to the North American Support of FamilySearch via email, and after a bit of back and forth, they realized yes I was correct, it wasn't a transcription issue, and the Catalog was in error. The support folks directed me to contact an internal group within FamilySearch to have it resolved. This internal group also agreed that there is definitely an issue in the FamilySearch Catalog for Grenville County, which is half of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, and they would work on getting it resolved. Unfortunately, they didn't have an estimate as to when it would be fixed.
I thought that this was a one of issue.
I was wrong!
A few days ago at the Ottawa Branch of Ontario Ancestors virtual genealogy drop-in another researcher mentioned they were having problems finding land records in another county in Ontario
Oh no! Not again!
Since I'd gone through this process once I was able to quickly locate the missing land records. Yet I also wondered if there were other misfiled county level records for Ontario.
So I searched using the Subjects "Ontario land property" to get a list and count of the collections found under all places within "Canada, Ontario" and the subject "Land and Property". Note that I didn't search using the Place "Ontario" since that wouldn't have searched the place names under the "Canada, Ontario" category.
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| Screen capture of FamilySearch Catalog Search screen taken 24 Jan 2024 searching on Subjects: Ontario land property. |
What I was looking for were places with three or more collections in the "Land and property" subject that aren't at the county level of the catalogue. Most were just fine but I did find six changes, including the issue with Grenville that got my attention:
Old "Grenville County"
As I've mentioned, the old Grenville County level records are currently mis-shelved under "Canada, Ontario, Prince Edward, Gardenville". I expect that they will ultimately be colocated with the "Canada, Ontario, Leeds and Grenville" place within the FamilySearch Catalog.
Old "Leeds County"
Old "Prescott County"
Much like the old Grenville County level records, this has been misfiled. At this time they can be found under "Canada, Ontario, Leeds and Grenville, Augusta, Prescott". I think that the operator selected the Town of Prescott without realizing that Ontario likes to have towns, townships, and counties called the same but located in different parts of the province. In the future I would expect to find these collections under "Canada, Ontario, Prescott and Russell" since it is one half of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Old "Russell County"
Speaking of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, the county level record that used to be found under Russell County are now found under "Canada, Ontario, Prescott and Russell, Russell". Unfortunately for FamilySearch, the Russell in that place name is the Township of Russell. The applicable collections will hopefully be moved up to "Canada, Ontario, Prescott and Russell" level.
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
The county level records for the three counties that make up the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry are all under "Canada, Ontario, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry".
Old Victoria County
The county level record collections for Victoria County can still be found by searching for "Canada, Ontario, Victoria" in the FamilySearch Catalog. However, the search will automatically redirect you to the current name of that area which is now located under "Canada, Ontario, Kawartha Lakes".
What was done with the old Victoria County collections and the automatic redirection to Kawartha Lakes is what I personally believe should be done with those older entries that have either been misfiled or relocated under the applicable united county name. But that is just what I would have done.
Hopefully by documenting these issues you won't have the struggle I initially had when trying to find the missing records for Grenville County.
Also, as a side note, it really is important to learn how to use the catalogue search features on the various genealogy sites. Knowing how to manipulate and tweak a search may result in finding unexpected but very useful "hidden" collections.
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