Bill C-3 (2025) and Searching for Birth Registrations in Ontario

Ever since Royal Assent was granted on 20 Nov 2025 to Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), there has been a steady increase in the number of posts seen in the various Ontario genealogy groups on Facebook I participate in, and also by the branches of Ontario Ancestors.

Screen capture of the start of An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), Assented to 20 Nov 2025 as Bill C-3 in the First Session, Forty-fifth Parliament 3-4 Charles III, 2025.

This change to the Citizenship Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29) for Canada removed the first generation born outside Canada limitation of Canadian citizenship in some situations.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I portray one on TV. So I don't pretend to understand the gotchas involved not only when it comes to applying for a citizenship certificate but also who can make use of this claim of Canadian citizenship through descent beyond the first generation. If you have any questions about doing this process, I'm definitely the wrong person to ask. Instead, I recommend contacting a law firm that deals in Canadian citizenship and immigration for guidance. The money and time spent talking with a competent legal expert many save you grief and disappointment later.

One of the key document that folks are often having challenges with locating is evidence of a great-grandparent's birth. With birth, marriage, and death registrations in Canada being a provincial concern, each province started civil registrations in different years. You will need to first brush up on when registrations started where your ancestor was born and then figure out where to find those documents.

Since I deal with Ontario genealogy the most, although I am familiar with other provinces, I'm going to focus on those who are seeking to use Canadian citizenship through descent where their ancestors were born in Ontario. Although similar challenges exist for all the provinces when it comes to civil birth registrations.

The key thing to know about Ontario civil birth registrations is that it didn't start until 1 Jul 1869. What is frustrating to many is even then it took many years before there was full compliance with the law. As an example of that lack of compliance with registering births, it is estimated that the birth returns for 1898 were only 80% complete. It's no wonder we sometimes have challenges looking for an Ontario birth registration prior to the 1900s. I've written about finding Ontario civil birth registrations in my blog back in 2022 and I updated it in 2024. Please take a few minutes to read the post to understand what is available and where.

Also, don't just rely on transcriptions and indexes to find your ancestor's birth registration in Ontario. If you can't find the civil birth registration by using the computer aided search feature on the various sites, then take the effort to browse the digitized birth registration index created by the government of Ontario that is found digitized on FamilySearch in their "Births, stillbirths, and delayed registration with indexes, 1869-1912" collection. That digitized material is generally grouped by the first letter of the last name, and then by year. Within the those groupings, the names are order alphabetically.

If you do find the birth registration in the digitized material and you are wanting a certified copy, then read the "Birth, marriage and death registrations" page on the Archives of Ontario site in the section under "Order a certified copy of a registration".

However, if a birth registration can't be located, that means folks will be looking for church records in the hopes that a baptism was performed around the time the person was born.

The challenge then really begins since many of the parish registers are not online and name indexed for searching. If we are lucky, the ancestor might have been baptized by a Wesleyan Methodist minister. Why lucky? Wayne Bower has generously digitized and made available those Wesleyan Methodist baptism registers now held by the United Church of Canada on his page "Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Registers
1825-1910". You might also come across some parish registers on FamilySearch and Ancestry. But those are more the exception than the rule.

Instead you will need to research the family to figure out the following from around the time of the birth:

• What religion was the family following?
• Did the denomination the family followed practice infant baptisms?
• Where was the family was residing?
• What churches may have been in existence in the area?
• Where are those records now held? 
• Have the records for that time period been made available online? 

You might have noticed I emphasized the word "research". That is because the answers to those questions require us to find other documents such as census and land records, read and understand what has been recorded in those other records, possibly use maps to find the family on the ground to identify nearby churches, reading local histories to figure out what churches were in existence at the time, and contacting existing churches or archives to find out where the records may have ended up. You might even have to research that religion to get some of those answers.

For example, the Methodist Church, Canada, the Congregational Union of Canada, and about 70% of The Presbyterian Church in Canada came together to form The United Church of Canada in 1925. There have been other congregations brought into that union over the subsequent years. That means, for those congregations you might need to contact The United Church of Canada Archives to find the records. But what about the 30% of the Presbyterian Church in Canada that didn't join in that union? Then you might need to contact The Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives. 

What if the family attended the Church of England? You will need to figure out the diocese that church was in and contact the appropriate diocesan archives in the hopes that they will be able to locate a baptism record. 

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to families who followed one of the various Protestant faiths that practiced infant baptism, you might actually find a baptism of a child performed by a clergyman of a different Protestant faith. In my own research I've come across families who stated they were Presbyterian in the censuses yet several of their children were baptized by Wesleyan Methodists circuit ministers. So keep an open mind as to where you might actually find a record of baptism.

If the family was Roman Catholic you might find the parish registers in the digitized material held by the Drouin Institute on their site Généalogie Québec. Ancestry also has many of those same registers in their copies of the Drouin collection in "Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1802-1967", "Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968", and "Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946". Ancestry also has a "Ontario, Canada, Roman Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1760-1923" collection that includes Ontario parishes not found in the Drouin collection. Don't forget that FamilySearch also has digitized copies of various Roman Catholic parish registers on their site. 

Even Library and Archives Canada has a number of parish registers either on microfilm or made available in an online digitized format courtesy of their partner CRKN's Héritage in their "Parish and related birth, marriage and death records" collection.

There is also the "Church records collection (F 978)" available at the Archives of Ontario. A list of the churches and associated microfilms in that fond is found on the Archives of Ontario page "Church records collection data table: 1749-1981". Some of those microfilms have been digitized and made available for viewing on FamilySearch. When looking at the microfilm numbers in that table, the ones that start with "MS" or "GS" are from the Archives of Ontario. If the microfilm starts with just a "C" or "M" followed by numbers, those from Library and Archives Canada's collections.

Just a word of caution — I have found that when dealing with any handwritten parish registers, transcriptions or indexes can be a bit iffy. So you quite often have to dive into the weeds and actually browse the images for the parish in the hopes of finding the baptism of your ancestor.

 

Please note that this blog post may be updated periodically as more information comes to light. I do stress that, in my opinion, before embarking on doing the paperwork to claim your Citizenship Certificate you consult with an immigration and citizenship lawyer who is well versed in the Canadian Citizenship Act and the changes the bill made.

I wish you best of luck in your efforts to find those sometimes hard to locate birth and baptism records. And, if it applies, I also wish you luck in your endeavours to establish your lost Canadian citizenship.

 

• [Update 3 Feb 2026: Added paragraph on baptisms by other Protestant clergymen]
• [Update 7 Feb 2026: Added link to "Guide for Paper Applications for a Citizenship Certificate for Adults and Minors (Proof of Citizenship) under Section 3 (CIT 0001)" that may clarify the 1,095 days requirement for parents residing in Canada.
• [Update 10 May 2026: Removed the Section 3 (CIT 0001) paragraph and commentary]
• [Update 12 May 2026: Added link to the Archives of Ontario Church records collection F 978] 

 

Using the OLRI in Ontario Land Research

This past weekend, the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society presented "A Celebration for the OLRI". The recordings of that event are now available to watch on their page "A Celebration for the OLRI: Recordings" and, if you have tried to do any land research in Ontario, I strongly recommend that you watch the videos to pick up some really good tips and tricks. In my own 25 minute talk, "OLRI to the Rescue", I gave two examples where I used the Ontario Land Records Index to find in a specific collection that is found digitized on FamilySearch.

However, I know that some folks prefer reading how to do something instead of watching and re-watching a presentation multiple times, so here is another example of how we can connect the various Ontario land records together that are available online for free.

This is part of what came to me via an email and it was just enough of a challenge for me that I thought it deserved a blog post. Please keep in mind that I will often just point you to the collections and my "Finding on the Ground" series of blog posts. So, please don't inundate me with requests for assistance or else I will have to start charging for the help I've freely given over the years.

"I want to find the original patent documents. I have looked in the Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865 on LAC for him but have not found his entry. I used variations of his names, and also searched everyone who patented land in Sullivan, but he is still not coming up. 

Do you have any advice on where to find his patent info? This is my first foray into this record set."

They also provided the image from the Abstract Register found on FamilySearch. I really liked that since the image provided key details I could use to confirm what I was seeing in the other records.

Registrar of Deeds for Grey County (Ontario), Abstract register for Sullivan Township, vol. 1, p. 2, Division 2, Lot No. 3, Concession 1, patent entry for Edward Elliott dated 10 Jul 1849, "Abstract index books, ca. 1832-1958," imaged, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVG-GSNL-8 : accessed 21 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8129790 > image 8 of 550.

My first assumption, and we all know that assumptions are not a good thing, is that they are not looking for the land patent records but the petition records since they mention searching the Land Petitions of Upper Canada found on the Library and Archives Canada site. If they are looking for the patent paperwork, they would have to visit the Archives of Ontario in Toronto to go through the microfilms since they aren't digitized.

What do we know from the abstract register entry?

We see that Edward Elliott was granted letters patent on 10 Jul 1849 for Lot 3 located in the 2nd Division on Concession 1 in the Township of Sullivan.

Using the Ontario Land Records Index, OLRI, found digitized on the Internet Archive we can browse digitized fiche either by the township index or nominal index. If I have a location I will generally start with that since the person who received the letters patent might not have been the person who was originally allotted the lot.

Once I get into either the Nominal Index or Township Index collection, I will always re-sort the fiche sheets by the "Title" since the default is by weekly views and I don't really care which fiche were looked the most. By re-sorting the list of fiche I can quickly find that "OLRI Township Index: Fiche 60 Stephen-Sydenham" should have Sullivan Township.

Then it's just looking through the digitized images of the fiche to find the image with Sullivan Township, Concession 1, Lot 3, Division 2.

Ontario Land Records Index, Township Index, Sullivan Township, p. 2221, imaged, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/olri_township-index_060_stephen-sydenham/page/n185/mode/2up : accessed 21 Jan 2026), Township Index > Fiche 60 Stephen-Sydenham > image 186 of 270; citing the Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.

We can see that the fourth entry from the bottom has the following details:

• Township/Town/City: Sullivan
• Lot: 3 in 2 Div
• Concession: 1
• Date ID: 8
• Issue Date: 18490413 [13 Apr 1849]
• Trans Type: FG
• Type FG: AA
• Name of Locatee: Elliot Edward [last name followed by the first name]
• Archival Reference: RG 1 CI3 Series Vol. 149, page 14

To decipher some of those codes we need to take a look at the OLRI Fields and Codes finding aid (the French version is here).

The "Date ID" of 8 means that it was issued via an Order-in-Council. That means we should probably be able to find the petition in the Upper Canada Land Petitions on the Library and Archives Canada site. The "Trans Type" of "FG" tells us that it was a "Free Grant" but administrative fees may have been charged. And the "Type FG" of "AA" means that it was "Gratuitous—free grants to individuals who were (a) judged destitute by a government board and/or (b) had all their administrative fees waived."

We also get the old Archives of Ontario reference details. Many, but not all, of those files have been digitized and placed online on FamilySearch in their "Land records, ca. 1792-1876" collection. In the past, I used to dread having to use this collection since, before the digitization of the OLRI and also the Full Text Search feature on FamilySearch, I had to first find the name indexes for the various sets of volumes, then the register pages, and hopefully finally the images of the fiats or warrants. It sometimes took hours of browsing the images to find that one nugget.

To find out if the reference is on FamilySearch, have to go to the Archives of Ontario in Toronto, or request an interlibrary loan of a microfilm we can look in the OLRI Archival References document (French version) to see if there is an entry in the "FamilySearch DGS" column for that series and volume.

Just a heads up, that "CI3" is not "See One Three" but "See Eye Three".

In that OLRI Archival References document for RG 1 C-I-3 Volume 149, we learn that it is:

• found on the Archives of Ontario microfilm MS 693 Reel 153,
• the new reference in the archive is RG 1-155-2-1,
• found on FamilySearch microfilm number 1376110;
• found on FamilySearch DGS (Image Group Number) 8126225.

Awesome, we can view it from home! 

In the FamilySearch "Land records, ca. 1792-1876" collection created by the Crown Lands Department of Ontario we see that Image Group Number (DGS) 8126225 is described as "Fiats - A.A. (v. 148-149) bundle 401-646, 1851-1869, ca. 1846-ca. 1870 (includes index to 367-646)". In this case, we have to scroll through the images a fair bit before we get to the start of the volume described as "R.G. 1, C-I-3, VOL. 149 REGISTER FIATS - A.A., FIATS 367-646". For this register, they included a name index so we have to scroll past them to get to the register pages to locate page 14 of the register.

Crown Lands Department (Ontario), RG 1, C-I-3, Vol. 149, Register for Fiats - AA, p. 14, “Land records, ca. 1792-1876,” imaged, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVK-TCBV-L : accessed 21 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8126225 > image 676 of 938; citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.

Edward Elliot is the first name for the entries in Sullivan Township and all the location details match what was found in the Abstract Register and in the OLRI. In the column before the number 1211 for the Description number is the date of the Order-in-Council which is 13 Apr 1849. That's the "Issue Date" in the OLRI. However, what is interesting (at least to me) is that there are a number of names associated with number 384 in the first column, the Fiat Number. So it would appear that maybe one petition was made on behalf of a number of folks. So that might explain why we couldn't find a petition under Edward Elliot's name.

When it comes to the fiat and warrant books held by the Archives of Ontario and found digitized on FamilySearch, we need to realize that the indexes and registers come after the volumes they reference.

For those "A.A." fiats that are mentioned in volume 149 we will need to look in volumes before and the correct digitized microfilm that has fiat in question. In this case, it is the microfilm described as "Warrants, etc., (v. 147-148) bundle 101-400, 1820-1851" on FamilySearch which is on Image Group Number (DGS) 8346087.

It didn't take me too long to find the start of Fiat 384 A.A. on image 1100 of 1160:

Crown Lands Department (Ontario), RG 1, C-I-3, Vol. 148, Warrants, Fiats Bundle 301-400, Fiat 384 A.A., “Land records, ca. 1792-1876,” imaged, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTB-2S81-Q : accessed 21 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8346087 > image 1100 of 1160; citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.

There we see that it was approved by an Order-in-Council on 13 Apr 1849 and it was for "Alexander McLaren & others". When I did a search for any Alexander McLarens in the Library and Archives Canada "Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865" database, I didn't find any from 1849.

Yet it was the next image that had the clue I was looking for.

Crown Lands Department (Ontario), RG 1, C-I-3, Vol. 148, Warrants, Fiats Bundle 301-400, Fiat 384 A.A., “Land records, ca. 1792-1876,” imaged, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTB-2S81-Q : accessed 21 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8346087 > image 1101 of 1160; citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.

There it stated, "Confirming Locations Owen Sound Settlement Garrafraxa Rd".

The rest of the pages from that fiat included all the names for this settlement.

When I went back to LAC "Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865" database and searched for "Owen Sound" as an exact phrase and the date 1849 I got one entry:

• Year: 1849
• Place of registration: Owen Sound
• Reference: RG 1 L3, Volume 396A
• Bundle: O 5
• Petition: 13
• Microfilm: C-2487
• Hierarchical level: File
• Type of material: Textual material
• Found in: Genealogy / Land / Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763 to 1865
• Item ID number: 51910

I could use the "Upper Canada Land Petitions - Microform digitization" on the LAC site, but I also know that FamilySearch has a number of these microfilms digitized in their "Petitions for land grants and leases, 1791-1867" collection and, honestly, I prefer the navigation tools on FamilySearch over that archived microform system on the Library and Archives Canada site if I can access the digitized microfilm from home. Fortunately for me, microfilm C-2487 is available on FamilySearch in Image Group Number (DGS) 8630347 and is accessible without braving the cold to visit my closest FamilySearch Affiliate or using the LAC site.

To say it was underwhelming when it came to details was an understatement since all we got were two pages with little detail except that yes, it was approved in council on 13 Apr 1849.

Upper Canada Land Petitions, “O”, Bundle 5, 1848-1850, RG 1 L3, vol. 396(a), petition 13, imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H4-MSPG-K : accessed 21 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8630347 > image 670 of 1282; citing Library and Archives Canada, microfilm C-2487.

Upper Canada Land Petitions, “O”, Bundle 5, 1848-1850, RG 1 L3, vol. 396(a), petition 13a, imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H4-MSP8-9 : accessed 21 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8630347 > image 671 of 1282; citing Library and Archives Canada, microfilm C-2487.

I even checked the Upper Canada Land Books for the minutes of the meeting on 13 Apr 1849 but they didn't have much more.

Upper Canada Land Books, Book E, p 697, Minutes of 13 Apr 1849 meeting, imaged, CRKN Héritage, (https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c108/697 : accessed 21 Jan 2026), microfilm C-108 > image 697 of 1056; citing Library and Archives Canada.

We can't forget to check the Township Papers collection from the Archives of Ontario that can be found on FamilySearch in two separate collections with the same name:

• Township papers, ca. 1783-1870's: Abinger  - Haldiman
• Township papers, ca. 1783-1870's: Hallowell - Zorra

To find the correct digitized film on FamilySearch, I always visit Jane MacNamara's "Where the story takes me..." and check her "Ontario Township Papers: How to find them" post to save me a bunch of frustration. In short order I found that I probably should be able to find any documents for that lot in Sullivan Township on Image Group Number (DGS) 8347285.

With a little bit of effort I found the file for Lot 3 on Concession 1. Within the file starting at image 386 of 1019 on the digitized microfilm I came across a copy of the grant document issued to Edward Elliot.

Crown Lands Department (Ontario), RG 1 Township Papers, Sullivan, Lot 2, Con. 1 to Lot 30, Con. 6, Sullivan Township, Concession 1, Lot 3, Grant issued to Edward Elliott, imaged, “Township papers, ca. 1783-1870's”, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSY9-GCR4 : accessed 16 Jan 2026), image group number (IGN) 8347285 > image 387 of 1019; citing Archives of Ontario.

That's actually a pretty neat find and does sort of answer the original question, even if by accident! 

Except for the entry in the Abstract Register, all of these discoveries came about due to using the Ontario Land Records Index that we know find in digitized format on the Internet Archive. In total, it probably took me about an hour to locate all of these digitized documents — all without leaving the comfort of my home and braving the cold winter weather in Ottawa.

So, when looking for the documents concerning settlement of land in Ontario, especially when it comes to the folks who received the letters patent from the government, don't forget to check the digitized fiche of the Ontario Land Records Index to help you locate the warrants and fiats.

Archives of Ontario RG 1-100 Patent Plans Update

Back in 2014 the Archives of Ontario released downloadable high resolution images of the RG 1-100 Patent Plans of townships in Ontario and there was much happiness. Fast forward to 2022 when the Archives of Ontario Archives Descriptive Database was replaced with the new Archives and Information Management System (AIMS), suddenly all those high resolution images disappeared. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth. To view those high resolution images we would have to ask the staff at the Archives of Ontario to send them to us. And yes, I would politely email the reference desk once a year asking if the folks who ran AIMS were ever going to fix this problem.

Well, we can now celebrate once again.

Before diving into the reason for our collective celebration, you might be wondering what I'm writing about. The RG 1-100 Patent Plan series of document held by the Archives of Ontario often have the earliest "maps" of settlement for places in what became known as Ontario. On those plans we might come across the names of those who received a patent from the Crown as the first settler/owner of a lot.

Recently the Archives of Ontario updated their site¹. As I was looking at some of the updated pages, on their "Crown land – Patents" page I came across little nugget:

Find patent plans online

Access high-resolution copies of most of our patent plans online for free through the University of Toronto’s Map and Data Library.

You can:

1. Use the searchable list of patent plans to find a plan by title. Select a plan to start downloading the high-quality .tif file.
2. Search for plans using an interactive online map. Plans have been georeferenced using their latitude and longitude and can be found on the map in the location they depict.

When we visit the Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection hosted by the University of Toronto we get a list of 3996 items in their collection. We can then start typing in the name of the township to whittle down the list to something a bit more manageable, especially since the list doesn't seem to be sorted alphabetically.

I have run into a few quirks with this page when I filter by the township or place and it all depends on which web browser I'm using.

• If I'm using Firefox, if there is no thumbnail image being shown then the text in the first column overlaps with the text in the second column. That text in the first column appears to be the "alt" text for the image and Firefox is showing you all that text.
• If I'm using Chrome, if there is no thumbnail image being shown then I get the "broken image" icon and the alt text is truncated to fit in the column

No matter which browser you are using, you can click on the thumbnail image or text to download the high resolution image to your computer for viewing and/or saving. Just a heads up...those images aren't small JPG images like we normally see on websites. Instead, each of the images are TIF files and can be easily between 80 to 250 MB in size. 

Let's take a look at an example. 

We can search the Archives of Ontario AIMS database for these RG 1-100 Patent Plans by doing the following:

• Select Archival search from the left panel of the "Search the Archives of Ontario"page.
• Under the search box, click on the "Archival advanced" link on the "Search archival collection" page.
• On the Archives advanced search screen:
• Put "RG 1-100" (no quotes, but the space after the "RG" is important) in the "Higher-level reference code" box.
• Put the name of the township you looking for in the "Title" box. e.g. Drummond
• Leave all the other search boxes empty.
• Click the Search button at the bottom of the page and hope the search is working².

When I did a search for Drummond Township it returned 5 results. I picked "Township No. 2 or Drummond, Blotter Plan" as the one I wanted to look at in this example.

Screen capture of the Archives of Ontario details page titled "Township No. 2 or Drummond, Blotter Plan", RG 1-1000-0-0-160.

There we see that the Reference Code is "Item RG 1-100-0-0-160" and the title is "Township No. 2 or Drummond, Blotter Plan". Useful details for our source citation.

If we click on the image on the page, we can only view the low resolution version of that patent plan. Zooming in using the magnifying glass with the "+" symbol in the upper right corner of their viewer only gives us an unreadable image since everything is blurry. That image is fairly useless for our purposes of reading what is written on them.

Using the new "Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection" page hosted by the University of Toronto we can filter on the title for that patent plan we found in AIMS. 

Screen capture from Chrome of the "Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection" page hosted by the University of Toronto with Drummond as the title or plan name.

We can see that title in the list but the thumbnail is showing a broken image icon. No problem, click either on the broken icon or the title and, depending on your browser setup, the image will appear in your browser or you will be prompted to save it to your computer. I always recommend saving it to your computer so you don't have to go through this exercise each time you want to look at the patent plan.

In the case of that "Township No. 2 or Drummond, Blotter Plan" image, the image is 9648 x 7784 pixels. That would be about 81 x 65 cm if printed out assuming 300 DPI. The file size is over 200 MB. What I would call "big".

Township No. 2 or Drummond, Blotter Plan, digital images, University of Toronto Maps and Data Library, Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection (https://maps.library.utoronto.ca/datapub/Ontario/PatentPlans/PatentPlansOntario/PP.html# : accessed 29 Oct 2025); citing Archives of Ontario, RG 1-100-0-0-160.

This is the map zoomed in about 85% and I can clearly read that one of the settlers on Lot 16 in the Second Concession of Drummond is recorded as "Corp^l Alex Fraser 49 Reg^t. Oct. 1816". That's my 4th great-grandfather.

Township No. 2 or Drummond, Blotter Plan zoomed in at 84.2% using Irfanview showing Alex Fraser as a settler on Lot 16, 2nd Concession, digital images, University of Toronto Maps and Data Library, Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection (https://maps.library.utoronto.ca/datapub/Ontario/PatentPlans/PatentPlansOntario/PP.html# : accessed 29 Oct 2025); citing Archives of Ontario, RG 1-100-0-0-160.

If I hadn't already known that Alexander served in the 49th Regiment of Foot, I would have learned a new fact about his life. If I was researching Nathaniel Stedman, from this patent plan I would have learned that he probably emigrated in November 1816. Keep in mind, that most patent plans don't have this sort of detail. For example, in another patent plan for Drummond, RG 1-100-0-0-474 "Drummond ~ County of Lanark", it just has the names of people with no other details.

I have run into a few cases where I get the dreaded 404 error when I try to access a patent plan. When that happens, I hold my breath, count to ten, and try again. I can usually then access the patent plan.

 

We can also use that other link provided on the Archives of Ontario "Crown land – Patents" page which points to the "Ontario Patent Plan Access" site.

Screen capture of the Ontario Patent Plan Access index.

Each of the dots on the map is a patent plan we can view and download.

When you first go to the page, you will get a pop-up with a link to the Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection that we've been looking at. Either press the faint "OK" button or press Escape on your keyboard to close that pop-up. We can now zoom in on the map to better see the individual dots with titles beside them. Clicking on a dot or title will display another pop-up where you can then download the patent plan being referenced.

 

For those who use the very useful Heritage Property INdex site to find early freely available maps for Ontario, when the Archives of Ontario moved to AIMS and broke the links to the high resolution maps, the links on Heritage PIN in the Pre-Confederation Patent Maps pages were also messed up. But the image names were still kept on the screen.

How does that help us?

Instead of searching for a township or plan name on the "Ontario Archives Patent Plans Collection" site, we can search for that file name in the search box. For example, for Drummond Township there are three maps linked to: I0043121, I0043403, and I0050655. We can search for I0050655 and the patent plan "Drummond Township (Perth Townsite)" appears. Now we can download the map for our viewing pleasure³.

In my opinion, for those with early settlers in Ontario, these patent plans should be one of your go-to resources. 

---

1. That's a post for another day since I'm still trying to figure out the good, the bad, and the ugly in terms of our genealogy research endeavours with the new Archives of Ontario site. I'm waiting a week for some of the initial quirks to be hopefully ironed out.

2. Yes, the AIMS back-end still has some serious issues where it just spins its wheels and seems to crash, at least from an end-user perspective. That actually happened as I was writing this post.

3. I have let the owner of the Heritage Property INdex site know of this new development in the ongoing saga of the RG 1-100 Patent Plans.

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.

FamilySearch Full-Text Searching of Ontario Probate and Land Records

Thank you to John Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections for the heads up on the addition of Canadian records to the Full-Text Search on FamilySearch in his blog post "***** FamilySearch Experimental Labs Search of Canadian Probate Records"

What is really exciting for genealogy and family history researchers researching their kin in Canada is that FamilySearch has now included two virtual collections: "Canada, Homestead Records, 1600-2011" and "Canada, Probate Records, 1600-2020". If you have been following my blog for any period of time, you know that I have a particular interest in Ontario land records, and that is what the "Canada, Homestead Records, 1600-2011" collection includes. So I'm really excited to see this addition to the Full-Text Search on FamilySearch.

So what is this cool FamilySearch tool and where do we find it?

On FamilySearch there is a not too well-known area called FamilySearch Labs containing what FamilySearch calls "experiments". These experiments are features that the teams at FamilySearch are working on but they aren't quite ready to release as part of the main FamilySearch site. 

Screen capture of the FamilySearch Labs landing page (accessed 29 Aug 2024: https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/).

There is one experiment that quite a few people have been playing with and that is the "Expand your search with Full Text". This has many folks excited since it uses handwriting recognition (HWR) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to create word searchable index of various records. I've used this experiment to discover land records in Vermont that had my 6th great-grandmother's name mentioned in the documents. 

To enable this experiment, click on the "TRY IT" bar under "Expand you search with Full text". That will bring you to the "Find Results with Full-Text Search" landing page where you can give it a go.

Screen capture of the FamilySearch Labs experiment landing page for Full-Text Search" (accessed 29 Aug 2024 : https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text).

Before diving it to this experiment, please take the time to watch the view that they have linked to on the page. It might just save you some frustration in your searches.

But since I know most of you won't watch the video until later, let's jump in.

In the search box, as a keyword, just type in a name that you are interested in and press search. In my case, I used the surname "Smith" as my starting place since it is a common surname since I wanted to see what collections and provinces were included from Canada in this experiment.

It came back with 12,262,190 results from various countries.

This is where the fun begins. And it is a good sort of fun.

First of all, note the search tips on the right side of the page in the search pane. We can:

• use quotation marks to find an exact word or phrase. Example "Henry Jones"
  
• use the + symbol to include a specific word of phrase. Example: +Judith
• use the - symbol to exclude a specific word or phrase. Example: -John
• use the ? symbol to find different spellings. Example: Jens?n will return Jensen and Jenson
• use the * symbol to find different forms of a root word. Example: Car* will match car, cars, carriage, carpenter, etc.

Next, we want to reduce the number of items returned. This is where the "Filters" come in handy. We can filter on the collection name, year, place, and record type.

I've been finding it easier to first filter by the place.

Since I'm currently interested in the records found in Ontario, Canada, I'll select "Canada" then "Ontario" using the Place filter. I could even narrow it down further to a specific county and then possibly to the township or town. For now, I'll keep it at the Ontario, Canada level. However, the ten provinces of Canada all have results returned so these virtual collections have been made up from many collections on FamilySearch.

Next we can filter the results by collection. If you are searching for probate records such as wills, estate records, letters of administration, etc. then you will want to select the "Canada, Probate Records, 1600-2020" collection. If you are looking for entries found in the land record copy books for Ontario like I am, then you are wanting to select the "Canada, Homestead Records, 1600-2011" collection. As an aside, FamilySearch is treating both of these collections has holding "Legal Records" as the record type.

For the "Canada, Probate Records, 1600-2020" collection I have noticed one caveat. They seem to have only applied the handwriting and OCR software against the digitized records that are accessible from anywhere. If the digitized material still has a key above the camera in the catalog listing, it may not have been added into this experiment.

Screen capture of the FamilySearch Labs Full-Text Search query for Luke McMullen in "Canada, Ontario" within the "Canada, Probate Records, 1600-2020" collection. (accessed 29 Aug 2024 : https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text).

From the screen capture above you, can see that there several items that have been found in the Lanark County probate estate files for my Luke McMullen. I searched for his name within quotes. If I already didn't have his file, now I can get it quickly. For Luke, when I was first looking for his file, I had to manually look through the image since the digitized index for all the years is still only accessing from a FamilySearch Affiliate or Centre.

Fortunately for me, the Ontario land record copy books don't have this sort of access restriction issue.

Looking for "Luke McMullen", I again used quotes for the keyword search, in the "Canada, Homestead Records, 1600-2011" collection returned back 13 results.

Screen capture of the FamilySearch Labs Full-Text Search query for "Luke McMullen" in "Canada, Ontario" within the "Canada, Homestead Records, 1600-2011" collection. (accessed 29 Aug 2024 : https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text).

You might come across records where the person was also a witness to the transaction. That's something that won't be mentioned in the land Abstract registers.

When it comes to Ontario land records we will also probably want to then find the Abstract Register of the property mentioned in the returned records to see if there were any other transaction that this experiment missed. To do that, we just need to read those instruments copied into the land record copy books to find the township, concession, and lot. Hopefully you still remember how to read cursive!

Although I have focused on just Ontario in this post, I did a search for Charles Howe in New Brunswick in the "Canada, Homestead Records, 1600-2011" collection and it returned back a link to the image of his land petition in New Brunswick. I don't think I have this one in my files!

For the Quebec records, you might come across names in the "Québec, district judiciaire de Québec, tutelles et curatelles, 1639-1930" or "Lower Canada land petitions and related records, 1637-1842" collections on FamilySearch.

Just keep in mind that the handwriting recognition software has the same challenges you have when reading poor quality images or lousy handwriting. It won't be able to index those documents. But the doors it can open up for us will contain rooms full of treasure. 

Have fun in your searches!

Beginner's Guide: Finding Ontario Civil Death Registrations [Update]

Back in February 2023 I wrote "Beginner's Guide: Finding Ontario Civil Death Registrations". Since then, Ancestry has made available the digitized images for deaths registered in Ontario in 1949 and 1950 in their "Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1949" (as I write this post it still states "1949" in the title) collection as a partner of the Archives of Ontario.

[Update: as of 7 Feb 2026 Ancestry has the Ontario civil death registrations up to 1953 on their site.]

Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1949," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2024), Harry Dempsey, died 27 Dec 1948, Registration of Death form; citing Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: Registrations of Deaths; Series: Registrations of Deaths (43-500); Reel: RG 80-8; Certificate Number 043124.

As we can see in the above image of the Ontario Registration of Death, Form 6, for Harry Dempsey, all the information about him and his death is found recorded on a single form. The top half of the form has all the genealogical information we crave such as the name, place of death, residence, possible name of the spouse, names of the parents, the name and address of the informant, and possibly where the person was buried. The bottom half of the form has the "Medical Certificate of Death" including when the person died along with the cause(s) of death.

This changed in 1949 when the single form was split into two forms: Form 15, now titled "Statement of Death" and Form 16, "Medical Certificate of Death".

Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1949," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2024), Catharine Aileen Gibson, died 27 Mar 1950, Statement of Death and Medical Certificate of Death forms; citing Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Deaths, 1950; Series: 80-08-0-2918, Certificate Number 012230. 

Since the name is written on both forms you may come across a difference in the spelling like we see for Catherine above.

In my looking at the various forms I also came across a few tidbits and gotchas:

• On Ancestry, the image of the Medical Certificate of Death seems to come after the Statement of Death image on their virtual filmstrip. So, for 1949 onward, make sure you review and even download both of those forms when you are documenting a death of someone who died in Ontario. 

• For those of the First Nations in Ontario you may come across their registration of death recorded on a different set of forms for 1949. Note that these titles are the titles used on the forms from that time period. Form 33 is "Statement of Death of an Indian" and Form 34 is "Medical Certificate of Death of an Indian". The differences seem to be primarily in the details describing where a person died where it asks the name of the "Indian Agency to Which Deceased Belonged." 

• The counties for the 1950 death registrations are a real mess if you are attempting to browse the collection. For example, if you select Lanark County, you don't find any deaths for 1950. There is a "Lanark, Middlesex, and Ontario" grouping for 1950 but they are a hodgepodge of various counties with the first one being for Peel county. I did a search for "Lanark" as an exact place of death for 1950 and found deaths recorded in county groupings such as "Essex, Peterborough, Simcoe, Wentworth, and York" and "York". Until someone at Ancestry can sort out this mess, browsing by counties is a bit of a mess to say the least!

As an aside, those with a sharp eye might also notice that on both the death registrations I use in my examples we find in the "Cause of Death" section a set of numbers added in. For Harry it is "180-0" and for Catherine it is "776X". Those are the codes from the "International List of Causes of Death" and "International Classification of Diseases" which can be found at http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/. Harry's code is a tricky one since in 1948 a new revision came out, ICD Revision 6. If we use that revision it states he died of "Malignant neoplasm of kidney". That doesn't make sense since it is clearly written on the form "Asphyxia due to fire in which he was burned to death." However, if we look at ILCD, Revision 5 we see that code 180 is "Conflagration". That makes much more sense. So be careful when looking up those codes for those years a new revision came out.

[Updated 7 Feb 2026: Added note that we are up to 1953 for the death registrations.]