Online New Brunswick Land Records

On September 29, 2025 the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick announced their updated RS686: Land Grants database with a new look, and even more importantly, digitized images of the records. Previous to this release of these images, if you didn't live near the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, one would have to request the microfilm via interlibrary loan or find someone to make a copy of the pages found on the microfilm. 

Screen capture of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick RS686: Land Grants database released 29 Sep 2025.

Why is this newly released digitized collection important for our research?

It fills in a gap between the petitions and the deed books.

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, PANB, has had their searchable database "Index to Land Petitions: Original Series, 1783-1918" from RS108 available for a long time. With that database, although not linked to any images, with some effort we could find the digitized images on FamilySearch in their collections:

• Land petitions, 1783-1857
• Land petitions, 1858-1918

Accessing the images on FamilySearch isn't perfect since, due to probably licensing restrictions, the images can't be easily download to your computer. Of course, that doesn't stop you from using various clipping tools to grab what you see on the screen to save to your computer for safe keeping.

For example, when I search the "Index to Land Petitions: Original Series, 1783-1918 (RS108)" for Caleb Howe, my 5th great-grandfather, a result from 1907 is returned:

Name: HOWE, CALEB
Year: 1807
County: Kings
Microfilm: F4171

Fairly quickly — mainly because I've used this collection and similar ones on FamilySearch quite often — I was able to locate the start of his file from 1807 on Image Group Number (DGS) 8191404 starting at image 610 of 846. There I find his petition where he, as a half pay Lieutenant of His Majesty's Late Regiment of Queens Rangers, is asking for 500 acres :

Screen capture from FamilySearch for Image Group Number (DGS) 8191404, image 611 of 846 showing the image of the petition for land by Caleb Howe, late of the Queens Rangers.

But those are the petitions. 

The "RS686: Land Grants" collection takes us from the petitions to the actually granting of the land to the settler. But was Caleb granted his request?

I knew he had been because I found him listed on a map and even in the county registry books. Yet it's always nice to see the document that actually granted Caleb the property.

When I searched on his name, Caleb Howe, in the new "RS686: Land Grants" database nothing was returned. However, I also know that often the "e" is missing from "Howe" so a searched again but for Caleb "How".

It returned only one match:

Name: HOW, Caleb
Grant: 518
Date: 1809-12-13
Acres: 500
County: Kings
Place: Kennebecasis 

Clicking on the "View" link I was brought to the details page

Screen capture of the New Brunswick Land Grant RS686 result page for searching for Caleb How.

In Caleb's case, he is mentioned with 42 other grantees. Since trying to read the images in my browser can be a bit of a challenge since I can't easily zoom right in, I downloaded the four images to my computer. Fairly quickly I found that on page 2 on image 1 he is recorded:

"...unto the said Caleb How Lot number forty one in the fifth Division containing five hundred Acres,..." 

After the land has been granted then we can turn to the "New Brunswick, county deed registry books, 1780-1930 : COLLECTION RECORD" collection of county deed registry books found on FamilySearch for viewing and downloading from the comfort of one's home. There we find when the property may have been sold, a possible will associated with lot, and even mortgages taken out on the property.

To aid us in our exploration of where our ancestors may have lived in New Brunswick, we probably want to find the lot on a map. For that we can turn to the "Place Names of New Brunswick: Where is Home? New Brunswick Communities Past and Present" After we type in the community name to find, and then select the right place, we come to a page with a description of the community, a map showing the parishes, and the ever useful cadastral maps. I've found that I need to download the full size version map to see the whole map and not just the one presented zoomed on the screen.

On map No. 150 to the left of the letter "U" in Upham I found Caleb Howe on Lot 41 with 500 acres and Charles Howe on Lot 42 with 200 acres. Charles is Caleb's son.

New Brunswick Cadastral Map No. 150 which includes the parishes, parts or whole, of Springfield, Sussex, Norton, Hampton, Upham, and Hammand in Kings County, New Brunswick; Provincial Archives of Ontario (https://archives2.gnb.ca/App_Handlers/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?filename=/DigitizedDocuments/Communities/Maps/Cadastral/_Oversize/GRPA158.jpg).

For those with early New Brunswick roots, these online land record collections can be a valuable resource in learning how our ancestor acquired the lots the family may have lived on for years.

 

William Tegerdine, where did you live in Almonte?

Recently a friend and genealogy colleague reached out to me with a bit of a land related question concerning the ancestor of some of her cousins. She was trying to find a location of where her cousins' great-grandfather, William Tegerdine, who died in 1891 in Almonte, Ontario, Canada, resided so that the cousins could possibly visit where William lived before his death.

It sounds like a straight forward proposition. Except at this point, all we know is that William Tegerdine lived in Almonte based on the census returns and registrations of his children's births.

Here is how I approached this genealogy question... 

First of  all, I'm being a bit "lazy". I'm doing all this research from the comfort of my home.

Although we have the population schedules available for the 1881 and 1891 censuses of Canada, the agricultural schedules were not put onto microfilm to be later digitized for our use today. That means we need to look elsewhere. Possibly we could look at town or county directories or even the tax assessments to find out where he lived. I could have also re-examined the birth registrations of his children to see if my friend missed anything — unlikely she did since she's a good researcher.

Instead, I turned to the Full Text Search on FamilySearch to see if I can find any references to his name using the keywords "+tegerdine" (without any quotes).

There are 350 results from all the full text searchable collections. A few too many to scan through for me, so I filtered on the place "Canada" and then "Ontario". Now there are only two records to read. For one of the full text search results, it indicated that it was from the 1887. That looks interesting.

Screen capture of the FamilySearch Full Text Search results for "+tegerdine" for the year 1887 result showing instrument 5105 from the virtual "Almonte. Land Records 1892–1893, 1887–1889, 1889–1892" collection.

 

Fortunately the handwriting is not too bad to read but there was a bit to read and I'm doing this fairly quickly. That will cause me troubles fairly quickly though!

About half way down the instrument on that page, I came across the location of the property: "...composed of a part of the west half of Lot Number sixteen in the Ninth concession of the Township of Ramsay..."

Well that was easy!

I could now turn to the land abstract index books for Ramsay township that are found on FamilySearch. I could also have used those same historical books found on OnLand for Lanark (LRO 27). The only challenge with the Lanark County abstract index books on FamilySearch, at least for me, is that we have to know if the location is in the South or North part of the county. For Ramsay township, we find that township in the Abstract index books, ca. 1820-1959 books by the Registrar of Deeds (North).

But I quickly ran into a problem.

I couldn't find his name listed in any of the pages for Lot 16 on the 9th Concession. Maybe I had read the writing wrong.

I sort of did read it wrong. Or more correctly, I didn't read it all for a few words later it continued, "...and may be better known as being Town Lot number one hundred and thirty nine on Hope Street in the Cameron Section of the aforesaid Town of Almonte..."

That is an important detail. It also highlights why one should read the whole document and not just latch onto the first detail that may be of interest. And yes, I'm very guilty of not always doing that, especially in this case! I probably should paid attention to the computer generated transcription provided by FamilySearch. Those transcriptions aren't perfect by a long shot but they can help us when quickly glancing at a document.

There are several abstract index books also available on FamilySearch for Almonte. Fortunately near the front of the first two books I looked at the registrar has written which surveys or areas the specific book includes. I found that volume 2 states "Cameron Survey from 1 to 226".

Within just a few minutes I was able to locate Lot No 139 Cameron Survey on Image Group Number (DGS) 8636227, image 470 of 620 and there was instrument 5105 listed in the abstract. That's the same instrument that we had found by doing the Full Text Search using his last name.

Lanark County (North), Ontario, Abstract index books, ca. 1820-1959, Almonte Abstract Register Volume 2, p. 139, Town of Almonte, Lot No. 139, Cameron Survey; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H6-5SPT-V : accessed 9 Oct 2025); DGS 8636227, image 470 of 620.

What is interesting is that there are several other instruments that the Full Text Search didn't identify. For example, it missed instrument 5106. That's because the handwriting recognition transcribed his name of "Legerdine". That instrument is valuable since it provides the name of William's wife, Rhoda, so that I could confirm I'm chasing the right family — and I am.

If I had used "tegerdine legerdine" (without quotes) in my Full Text Search I would have come across this record. Curiously, using "?egerine" (without quotes) in the Full Text Search actually returned this error message on FamilySearch, "Sorry, we encountered a problem. The question mark and asterisk are wildcard symbols and cannot be used as the first letter of a search term. Please modify your search and try again." Hmmm, an interesting quirk in the search.

That should be it, right? I have a location of Lot 139 on Hope Street in Almonte, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada.

Except when I put in that address into Google Maps, it put me in the water. The address numbers on a present day map for Hope Street go from about 271 to 412. It seems like the lot numbers don't match the street address numbers. Sigh.

Looking at the abstract register page for the lot, I see that Rhoda Tegerdine still owned that property until 1907 so maybe the 1901 census of Canada would have a street address for me in Schedule 2.

Schedule 2 you say? Most folks only know about schedule 1, the Population schedule, of the 1901 census of Canada. The challenge with schedule 2 is that it doesn't have names on it but refers back to the page and line number of the head of household in the Population schedule. In my 2021 blog post "Finding the Concession and Lot in Ontario in the 1901 Census" I wrote about how we can use schedule 2 in our research. A number of the URLs pointing to pages on the Library and Archives Canada site have changed since I wrote that blog post due to the revamp of the LAC site in 2022, but the links to the schedule 2 PDF finding aids for the provinces still work (for now). 

In searching for Rhoda Tegerdine in the 1901 census of Canada I found her and her family residing in Ward 1 in the Town of Almonte in polling division 2 of sub-district A in the Lanark North (80) district on page 3, line 36 in dwelling 32 as family 32 (https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=36646761&lang=eng&ecopy=z000076057). Using the schedule 2 finding aid for Ontario, I found that the images for that sub-district and division started at https://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z002/jpg/z000076052.jpg. Looking for the entry in schedule 2 for the household that is found on page 3, line 36 in schedule 1, I found her address is recorded as "138-139 Hope".

Great. Not the modern address I was looking for. It seems that the lot number was still being used. But "138-139"?  I know about lot 139 from my search on his last name where I found the instrument and subsequently the abstract register page.

Back to the FamilySearch images of the abstract registers I went.

Lanark County (North), Ontario, Abstract index books, ca. 1820-1959, Almonte Abstract Register Volume 2, p. 138, Town of Almonte, Lot No. 138, Cameron Survey; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H6-5S5J-P : accessed 9 Oct 2025); DGS 8636227, image 470 of 620.

There is his name starting with instrument 5702. Yet another instrument missed by the full text search since the name was automagically transcribed as Legerdine. The computers aren't quite there to take over the role of a good researcher.

But we still don't know exactly where the Tegerdine family lived on Hope Street.

I next turned to maps. Keep in mind that I'm doing this all from the comfort of my home and I really don't want to have to travel anywhere at this point to look at material that isn't online.

I checked all sorts of maps, including a distorted image of a fire insurance plan for Almonte that I came across. No luck.

That's when I remembered that OnLand has maps associated with the Property search page. I've used these maps a few times in the past when attempting to locate an urban property. They can be sometimes a pain to use but in this case, it really worked out well.

After I selected Lanark (LRO  27) as my virtual land registry office on OnLand, I went to Property and then Map. Before clicking 'View Map" I clicked on the Area list and to my pleasant surprise I found that Almonte was one of the specific areas I could focus on. Going to that map I could search by the street name without having to worry about picking the right Hope street in Lanark County. I started typing "Hope" and it gave me the option of "Hope Street" or "Hope St". I chose the first and this map appeared with Hope Street highlighted.

Partial screen capture of the Ontario Electronic Property Index Map for Lanark (LRO 27), Almonte with Hope Street highlighted.

There I could see the lot numbers and even street names. For lots 138 and 139 we can see that they are basically on the corner of Hope Street and St. Andrews Street.

Finally I could use Google Maps to find the corner of Hope Street and St. Andrew's Street.

Screen capture from Google Maps showing the intersection of Hope Street and St. Andrews Street in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.

Not bad for about two and a half hours of research over two days. The first hour and a half was spent researching the land records. The last hour was trying to find an online map that had the lot numbers on it. Once I remembered OnLand did, it took me less than 5 minutes to get an exact location of those lots on a modern map.

My friend's cousins can now visit the same lots their great-grandfather, William Tegerdine, and family resided on in Almonte. 

Yes, I started with what could be called AI assisted results for the first breakthrough. That saved possibly days or even weeks of effort, but it took actual knowledge and research to put all the pieces together to come up with an answer for my friend.

Finally, this is a reminder to "Stop searching, and start researching" when you have challenging research problems.

OLRI Now Digitized

In the Saturday, October 4, 2025 edition of the Ontario Ancestors eWeekly Update, it was announce that the Ontario Land Records Index had been digitized and can be found on the Internet Archive in their Ontario Land Records Index collection. Jane E. MacNamara wrote a guest post for the Internet Archive Canada making the announce of this important release at Now Online! Ontario Land Records Index.

These sorts of digitization projects take a number of folks to make it happen. To put the OLRI into a digital format and place it online took a number of partners:

• Archives of Ontario provided a copy of the fiche to be digitized 
• Toronto Branch of Ontario Ancestors (OGS) funded the project
• Internet Archive provided the place to host the digitized images
• Additional Technical support was provided by the Internet Archive Canada, Our Digital World, and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. 

Additionally there were key folks that Jane mentions in her announcement that performed that valuable task of fixing up the file names so we could actually use the digitized fiche in a manageable way.

What did we get from this project?

First of all, this isn't a plug in a name and the computer will magically bring us to the page with the name on it. This is the digitized representation of the pages of the fiche from the Archives of Ontario. We need to treat it as such but without the annoyance of finding a place with the OLRI and a working microfiche reader. We will be looking through the sheets and pages to find the information.

The digitized nominal index came from 53 sheets of fiche and the township order index from 75 sheets of fiche. You might think that that's not too many sheets to image. However, unlike microfilm which is one continuous roll of images, each fiche sheet can contain up to 270 very tiny pages. That can make it a bit more complicated to scan for digitization as can be seen in this 2-hour YouTube video of the Internet Archive doing microfiche scanning. For the OLRI, that's about 34,000 images to process!

Just what is this index and why is it so valuable for those researching their Ontario roots?

As Jane wrote in her guest post, this "is an index to those settlers who were allocated Crown land in Upper Canada/Canada West/Ontario." It was compiled in the 1970s by the Archives of Ontario and published in 1979. For many of us who have used the OLRI in the past, we quickly became familiar with the fiche found in the various archives and libraries that was so often scratched up from use over the years. Just as importantly, we knew which institutions had working microfiche readers.

When using the Ontario Land Records Index on the Internet Archive, at this time I recommend that when you get to the "Ontario Land Records Index" page, to select either the "Township Index" if you know where your person resided or the "Nominal Index" if you don't.

Next, click on "Title" in the "Sort by" menu bar. This will organize the sheets in an alphabetical order so that Fiche 04 comes after Fiche 03. Otherwise, the default sort is by the number of weekly views and that will really annoy you when trying to find that one sheet for "Bennet Rich J - Boulton Dary Edward" that is Fiche 04.

We also need to keep in mind that the OLRI is exactly what its name implies. It is an index.  

Archives of Ontario, "Ontario Land Records Index," Alphabetical Listing by Township/Town/City, Fiche 19 Douro-Dungannon, p. 4069-4070, Drummond; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/olri_township-index_019_douro-dungannon/page/n169/mode/2up : accessed 7 Oct 2025).

Here we can see the page from the alphabetical listing by township/town/city, AKA Township Index, for Drummond Township in Lanark County that has my 4th great-grandfather, Alexander Fraser, listed on it. How do I know that this is my Alexander Fraser and not the Alexander Fraser who lived about a dozen lots away on the same concession?

A bunch of research plus I had found him in the Abstract register book where he was listed as the first settler to be recognized the owner of that property by the Crown.

Lanark County (South), Ontario, Abstract index books, ca. 1800-1959, Drummond Township Abstract Volume A, p. 78, Township of Drummond, North East Half Lot No. 16 in 2nd Concession; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSGS-WQFH-H : accessed 7 Oct 2025); DGS 8200306, image 96 of 601.

I can also find him listed in the Alphabetical Listed by Name of Locatee, AKA Nominal Index. Of course, Alexander Fraser isn't exactly an uncommon name. So, I would need to know where he resided to make sure I was looking to the right person.

Archives of Ontario, "Ontario Land Records Index," Alphabetical Listing by Name of Locatee, Fiche 16 Fisher Andrew Jr - Fraser Joseph, p. 4264-4265; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/olri_nominal_index_nl_016_fisherandrewjr_fraserjoseph/page/n243/mode/2up : accessed 7 Oct 2025).

Here is the abstract for his lot from the Township Index:

Township/Town/City: Drummond

Lot: NE 1/2 16

Concession: 2

Date ID: 8

Issue Date: 05 Nov 1812

Transaction Type: FG

Type FG: M

Type of Lease/Sale:

Name of Locatee: Alexander Fraser

Archival Reference

RG: 01

Series: CI3

Volume: 123

Page: 69

There is a bit to understand here. Fortunately for us, the Archives of Ontario has their "How to use the Ontario Land Record Index" PDF document to help us decipher some of what we see in the index entry.

• Hopefully by now if you have done any land record research in Ontario, you know that the "NE 1/2 16" for the lot means the North East Half of Lot 16.
• The Date ID code of "8" means that this was granted by an Order-In-Council.
• The Transaction Type of "FG" indicates that Alexander received this as a  Free Grant — a transfer of land ownership by the Crown that wasn't done by a sale.
• Since it was a Free Grant, we learn that the "M" means it was a grant for his military or militia service.

As for the Archival Reference, that is actually the really useful part of this index for it points us to the record that was used to create this index entry.

To figure what that is , we need to consult the "Understanding the Archival Reference Code in the Ontario Land Record Index" page also from the Archives of Ontario. There we find that RG 01, Series CI3 is from the Fiats and Warrants. Clicking on the link that is provided in that document we find that volume 123 is on microfilm MS 693 Reel 138.

That would be sort of annoying, but acceptable if there wasn't another option, if we had to order that microfilm. Fortunately for me, I happen to know that many of the microfilms from the Archives of Ontario that hold the CI3 series have been digitized and placed online on FamilySearch. They can be found in the "Land records, ca. 1792-1876" collection. That collection does include the Ontario Land Records Index but not in the digitized format — that's why the release of the OLRI in a digitized format is so important.

However, if you didn't know that little fact, you might have discovered it by reading the "Finding Aid to Archival References in the Ontario Land Records Index (OLRI)" also found on the OLRI Internet Archive page.

Since I hadn't yet looked at that document, after looking through the list of volumes for the warrants and fiats I found volume 123 in the digitized microfilm titled "Military warrants (v. 121-122) bundle A127-Z140, 1831-1867 Military fiats (v. 123) 1817-1836 (indexed)" in Image Group Number (DGS) 8312358 with volume 123 starting at image 1027 of 1148. Within a few minutes I had found his entry in the register book.

Archives of Ontario, "Land records, ca. 1792-1876", Military fiats (v. 123) 1817-1836, RG 1 C-I-3, vol. 123, p. 69; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSRG-BWDZ-S : accessed 7 Oct 2025); DGS 8312358, item 7, image 1122 of 1148.

I remember when I didn't have easy access to the OLRI and it would take me easily an hour to find the source document in this collection on FamilySearch. It took me five minutes to find it this time. That is why this index is so valuable to those using land records in Ontario for their genealogy and family history research. The Ontario Land Records Index is a huge time saver.

Of course, not all the land records have been digitized and made available online as can be seen in that "Finding Aid to Archival References in the Ontario Land Records Index (OLRI)". It would be so nice to have the Canada Company land transaction records and others used as the source material for the OLRI also online but I will happily use whatever resource I can find.

A Backup Reminder

Wikimedia Commons contributors, "File:Burned laptop secumem 11.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Burned_laptop_secumem_11.jpg&oldid=1072269636 (accessed August 27, 2025).

When was the last time you backed up your important genealogy and family history related information stored on your computer?

• Was it today?
• Possibly yesterday?
• Hopefully last week?
• A month ago?
• Can't remember?
• Never? 

If you have been actively working on your genealogy research and you also store the information on your computer, I'm really hoping it was one of the first three options.

In my case, I have over 120 GB of genealogy related information and, of course, a lot of personal information that I don't want to lose in the case of a disaster or an act of stupidity¹.

There are a number of ways out there to make sure your own data is protected from loss and each have their own pluses and minuses. I'm not going to go into the details about the various ways to back up your information. But I will share what I do to safeguard what I have saved on my computer. 

First of all, no matter how you do your backup, it important that your backed up information is placed somewhere other than where it came from. For example, I use Legacy Family Tree for my genealogy database on my desktop computer. It has a built-in backup system that I use. However, instead of saving that backup to the same hard disk where my database is, I send it to a folder on Dropbox. That folder is actually somewhere out in the Internet on servers maintained by Dropbox.

Second, try to have your backups stored in more than one place. It could be in the cloud, on an external hard disk, on USB memory sticks, or another computer.

Finally, do your backups on a regular basis. 

Since I am a Windows user, I can't speak to the options that Mac users have.

So, how do I backup up my important data?

I use two programs, both have free versions for home or non-commercial users:

1. SyncBackFree by 2BrightSparks.
2. Paragon Backup & Recovery Community Edition by Paragon Software.

In SyncBackFree, I have created several backup tasks that I can quickly and easily click to backup my genealogy information. 

• The first backup task I have within SyncBackFree is to copy the information to Google Drive. I spend about $50 CDN a year to get 200 GB of storage space on Google Drive. I generally use this task after a busy day or two of research since I don't want to have to redo my research again. Much like with Dropbox, this backup is stored somewhere out on the Internet on servers owned and maintained by Google.
• The other task I have within SyncBackFree is to mirror my genealogy files to a USB memory stick. I actually have two USB memory sticks² that I rotate between. I try to do this every week or so depending the amount of research I've been doing. I keep the USB memory sticks on my desk so that I can quickly grab them if I have to suddenly leave my home in case of natural disaster or fire. I really don't want to lose 20+ years of research! I also use these USB memory sticks to copy my genealogy information from my desktop to my laptop. 

The difference between what I send to Google Drive and what is placed on the USB memory sticks, it that my Google Drive backup generally only holds my genealogy database and the directories of the images of the records I've downloaded. That's about 80 GB of files. What is stored on my USB memory sticks is all that plus the other folders that are important but not critical for my genealogy research.

Once a month I also backup my whole computer to an external hard disk using the Paragon Backup & Recovery software. This hard disk is only connected to my computer when I'm doing a backup. That way, if I ever get attacked by ransomware that encrypts my desktop's hard disk, they can't get to that external hard disk and those backups. To make sure I do this backup on a regular basis, I have set up a calendar task for the first of every month to remind me to do it.

Great, I now have the information backed up — I hope!

But I've been burned in the past when it comes to backups where I though the information was being safeguarded on magnetic tape (yes, I'm that old) but it turned out I was dreadfully wrong. It turned out that tape had a crinkle on the edge and I couldn't restore information from it. Now, at least once a year, I also attempt to restore a file or two from a backup I've created with Paragon Backup & Recovery. Aside from making sure the data is being backed up, it also refreshes my poor brain on how to do a restore when I'm not in a panic³.

I don't really have to do the same for the backups I've created with SyncBackFree since that software just copies the files to where I tell it. That means I can drag and drop those backed up files from my Google Drive or USB memory stick to my computer without too much thinking⁴.

 

There are all kinds of options for backing up your important information. There are programs out there that automagically copy your information to the cloud or to connected external hard disks without you having to do anything. You set it up and it does it's job. You can also save all your work to the cloud by default using OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. and not have any data solely on your laptop, tablet, or desktop system.

As an aside, why don't I just use the built-in Windows backup since it is free? For a long time, before Windows 11, I did. But I found the version on Windows 11 just didn't give me the flexibility that I wanted. So, I looked at a number of programs and Paragon Backup & Restore had the features (and price) that fit my needs.

 

Yes, I can be a bit paranoid when it comes to backing up my computer. But that's from over 30 years of working in IT and getting burned when the backups didn't work.

All I ask from you is to... 

Back up your information now!

 

---

1. Yes, I have foolishly, although accidentally, deleted a whole directory of genealogy data and then emptied the recycle bin. Thank goodness for having backups!
2. I have a third USB memory stick on standby for when one of the other USB memory sticks finally dies at the most inopportune time.
3. And you are always in a panic when trying to restore files that you may have just lost.
4. I do have to remember that I want to copy and not move the files though.

 

News about Canada's National Registration File of 1940

A few days ago I was reading the General census guide page on the Library and Archives Canada site looking for some information that used to be found on the old Library and Archives Canada site. I decided to check out the link in the Related links section at the bottom on the General census guide page for the 1940 National Registration since last year I heard some possible rumblings about Library and Archives Canada getting the material from Statistics Canada.

Before I go any further, I want to explain what this "National Registration File of 1940" is and why we have it. 

Sample questionnaire for men. Courtesy of Statistics Canada.

Sample questionnaire for women. Courtesy of Statistics Canada.

The National Registration came out of Canada's National Resources Mobilization Act, 1940 and it required all those who were 16 years or older, except for those in the military, in religious orders, or confined to an institution, to fill in a questionnaire. For us genealogy and family history researchers, we can consider this registration as a census substitute. In 2013, the Library and Archives Canada blog posted an informative article "The 1940 National Registration File" that provided details about this registration. Unfortunately for us, at that time it cost $45 to make a request to Statistics Canada to have them search for the file for a single person.

However, that may be changing in the not so distant future. 

Back in April 2025, the link to the LAC's 1940 National Registration page pointed us to the blog post.

Now it points us to a "Preserving the National Registration File" page with the following text:

The National Registration File from the Second World War is arriving at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Statistics Canada is transferring the records to LAC in batches in June and July 2025.

We are working with care to preserve these valuable records and are temporarily pausing public access during this process. Due to years of use and the deteriorating nature of cellulose acetate film, this important collection is in poor physical condition. To prevent further damage, the records must be stored in cold storage at -10ºC. This will give LAC specialists time to develop a plan to ensure that digital copies of these records remain accessible in the future.

These records are a rich source of demographic information on Canadian individuals, even more detailed than census records. In August 1940, the Department of National War Services initiated a national registration of all persons in Canada aged 16 and older (with some exceptions). Newfoundland conducted a similar registration beginning in 1942. The resulting National Registration File includes approximately eight million questionnaire cards, which were later imaged on microfilm. The questionnaires provide details such as address, age, date and place of birth, general health, and occupation. For immigrants to Canada, the forms also record key details such as the year of arrival and the country of birth of their parents.

To make these archival records searchable and visible online, they must be:

• Assessed — we will assess the stability of the microfilms to determine whether they can be circulated without permanent damage and whether their content remains legible.
• Added to the collection — we will assign reel numbers and storage location, create archival descriptions and add entries in Collection search.
• Accessible — we will determine the best approach for digitizing and providing access to the files.

Thank you for your patience as this process moves forward. We will be updating this page with new information as it becomes available, so please check back regularly.

For those who are used to using the 1939 Register for England and Wales, this is our Canadian equivalent. It also just doesn't include the Dominion of Canada but also the registration held in 1942 for Newfoundland, which didn't join Canada until after the Second World War.

Before we all celebrate, make sure you read what LAC has written on their page, especially the "Due to years of use and the deteriorating nature of cellulose acetate film, this important collection is in poor physical condition." part. It is going to take some effort on Library and Archives Canada's part to figure out how they are going to preserve this material for digitization.

Also buried on that "Preserving the National Registration File" page is a link to the LAC Collection search entry for "National Registration File". If you have watched my talk on "Exploring Library and Archives Canada Online" found archived by Legacy Family Tree Webinars, you know that the LAC Collection search can be confusing at times but can also have interesting information buried in the details.

A few details stood out to me from the item page:

• There are 3064 microfilms in 16 mm format. There are two copies of most microfilms so we are probably looking at about 1532 films to be digitized. That's a lot of material to digitize!
• The original completed questionnaire cards were destroyed in the 1950s after they were microfilmed.
• It does not include the registration certificates that people were to carry with them at all times until the end of the Second World War. 
• The material is NOT available for us to access at this time. So don't even bother asking to see the microfilms!
• Once the microfilms have been digitized, it looks like they will be "Consultation 90 Open" courtesy of ATIP 2025-06-09 BR 439. That means no additional paperwork will be needed to view the questionnaires.

If you are curious about the instructions and the questions asked, I'd recommend visiting the "National registration comes to Canada" page hosted by Wartime Canada to read the National Registration Regulations Instructions 1940 and National Registration Regulations 1940 PDF files.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these completed questionnaires but I'm also going to give Library and Archives Canada plenty of time to figure out how to best preserve these microfilms so that future generations can use the material in their research. 

Webinar Announcement: Exploring Library and Archives Canada Online

I'm really lousy at this self-promotion thing.

That said, I'll be making my debut as a speaker with Legacy Family Tree Webinars on Friday, June 20, 2025 at 2 p.m. EDT when I will be giving my webinar "Exploring Library and Archives Canada Online".

Over the past few years, the website for Library and Archives Canada has undergone a number of changes. For some long-time users of the old site, this has caused moments of frustration (and cursing in my case). In this webinar I will take a look at the new site, touch upon using the new census search system, explore a few other resources they have made available to us, and even show some examples of using the potentially powerful Collection search feature.

You can register to watch the webinar live by visiting https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/exploring-library-and-archives-canada-online/. If you miss the live webinar, it will be available for free for about seven days afterwards. After that time it will be only available to Legacy Family Tree Webinar subscribers. A syllabus is available for this webinar, but it is only available to Legacy Family Tree Webinar subscribers.

I hope to see you there!

Revisit - Library and Archives Canada RG 8, C Series How-To

More than a decade ago, I wrote a blog post titled "Library and Archives Canada RG 8, C Series How-To." Since then, the Library and Archives Canada site (LAC) has been revised, updated, and refreshed. After a colleague mentioned that they were having challenges accessing the finding aids associated with the RG 8, C Series collections¹, I decided to check out what has changed in accessing this collection of important Canadian colonial military records.

The first big change is that the topic page, "British military and naval records," is now in the new format. That's both good and bad — and the bad definitely outweighs the good in this case. The bad is that a lot of the good stuff on how to access the digitized material has been left off the new page. Fortunately for us, the old page is archived on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine at "British military and naval records (RG 8, C series) - Introduction and index."

Normally, I'd recommend using that archived page as one's guide to accessing the digitized images and use some of the links found on the new topic page to get to the images.

However, I wanted to see if I could find the material in this collection using the current Library and Archives site only and not go to the Wayback Machine copy.

In exploring this collection, I'm going to be looking for Alexander Fraser, late corporal with the 49th Regiment of Foot, who settled in Drummond Township in what is now known as Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. He is also my 4th great-grandfather.

The first place to start on the LAC site is going to be visiting the "British Military Records."C" Series [multiple media]" collection description page.

There is a lot of stuff there. Yet for us, the important link is found at the end of the Finding aid section on that page. There we find a link to a PDF file associated with "Multiple media (Electronic) Name Index - British Military Records. C Series (90: Open)" found at https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf002/p000003718.pdf. In that PDF we learn how the name index maps to the microfilms with the digitized images of the old card index.

For Alexander Fraser, it seems that I need to look at microform C-11814 since his last name should be found somewhere between "Foy, Lewis - Freer, Noah."

That microform is part of the archived "British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - INDEX ONLY" set of microfilms found buried on the current Library and Archives Canada web site. According to the current "British military and naval records" topic page they state: "Note: these links will be only be available until the images are fully available in Collection Search." How long that will take is anyone's guess.

Of course, since Alexander Fraser is a bit of a common name, it took me a few minutes to find my Alexander Fraser.

"British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - INDEX ONLY," index card for Alex. Fraser, Corporal of the 49th Regt, image 711 of 6381; microfilm C-11814, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

That "C.4." found at the bottom left corner of the digitized card isn't a microfilm number. Instead, it is a volume number and we need to drop the "C" part in the next step in order to figure out the microfilm that holds the images of the actual documents. I also need to write down that I'm going to be wanting to look for page 15 in that volume 4.

On the old LAC site there used to be a table that converted the volume numbers to microfilm reel numbers. However, that has disappear from the current "British military and naval records" topic page but it still exists on the Wayback Machine at https://webarchiveweb.wayback.bac-lac.canada.ca/web/20220707190537/https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/Pages/rg8-num.aspx. But using that archived page would defeat my purpose of only using the current system.

So, I'm going to the sometimes frustrating² Collection search system on the Library and Archives Canada site and I want to use the Advanced search feature found at https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/SearchAdvanced.

I'm not going to do any name searching though. Instead I'm going to use a few of the advanced search features.

1. For the "Collection", I selected "Collections and Fonds" from their pop-up list. It's near the top of the list.
2. Next I'm going to look for "Specific terms". The first one I want to select is "Archival reference" from their pop-up list. In the box beside it I will type in "RG8-I". That's an "eye" not a "one", and there are no spaces.
3. I also need a second Specific term so I want to click on the "+" next to the box where I filled in that RG8-I.
4. In that newly added line for Specific terms, I'm going to leave the Boolean operator as "AND", and select "Volume/Box" from the pop-up list just like I did for "Archival reference". I'm going to type in that volume number I found in the index card in the text box beside it but without the "C." stuff in front. In this case it is "4".
5. I'm leaving all the other search boxes empty or at their defaults. 

Screen capture of Library and Archives Canada Collection Search advance search screen with Collection = "Collections and fonds", and Specific terms of Archival reference = "RG8-I" and Volume/Box = "4".

Finally, I clicked the Search button.

If everything works out you too will hopefully see something like this in the search results.

Screen capture of Library and Archives Canada Collection Search advance search results looking for Collection = "Collections and fonds", and Specific terms of Archival reference = "RG8-I" and Volume/Box = "4".

By the way, if you are wanting to make changes to the search, don't use the back button in your browser. Instead, click on the "Modify search" button above the search results.

The first entry looks to be what I'm looking for since the reference states:

RG8-I, Volume number: 4, Microfilm reel number: C-2608

The other item that was returned in the results list actually states that the volume number is "92/1--92/4" and the search probably picked it because it has "4" in the volume number after a slash.

I recommend that you don't click on the image that is displayed as part of the search results. Instead, click on the title of the item to be viewed, in my case it is the one referencing microfilm reel C-2608. Clicking on the image will only display the digital object viewer. However, if I click on the title I get the viewer plus descriptive stuff I might want to use to create my source citation. In this specific example, the new(ish) digital object viewer will load the PDF holding the images from RG8-I, volume 4. Be patient, this can take a few minutes for the PDF to be displayed.

Screen capture of Library and Archives Canada Digital Object Viewer for RG 8, Volume 4 with page 15 displayed.

I was able to quickly browse through the images to find the page 15 mentioned on the index card.

I can now download the PDF to my computer, it is about 51 MB is size in this case. I can then use the PDF viewer on my computer to clip the pages I want to save as JPG images for safe keeping in the folder I have for Alexander Fraser on my computer³.

One question you might be asking is, "Why didn't I use the Collection search to find that microfilm reel of the index cards?" The answer is actually fairly simple. They haven't added those microfilms in a digitized format to the new collection database. So I had to use the archived microforms page for the "British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - INDEX ONLY".

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1. At the time I'm writing this, a number of users from non-Canadian locations are reporting getting "403 - Forbidden: Access is denied" error messages when trying to access some of the Library and Archives Canada pages. From conversations I've had with others, this might be a side effect of some security settings that LAC has put in place to prevent AI bots from scraping the content in various LAC collections. I've asked for feedback from LAC to confirm that this is the reason.

2. The Collection search is often frustrating since, if we just use the basic search, we get way too many results back and we are just overwhelmed with the hundreds or even thousands of items to look at. Yet it is a powerful search system once we figure out how to beat it into submission and use the various search filters found in the advanced search options. By the way, I'm still figuring it out.

3. Yes, I back up my genealogy files on a periodic basis to the cloud and also to USB memory sticks. I also backup my whole computer every month to an external drive that I keep disconnected except for when I'm doing my backups. Hopefully you also backup your important genealogy files.