Full-Text Search + Research = A Win!

FamilySearch's Full-Text Search is a real game changer when it comes to finding records that we might not have come across in the past. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Handwriting Recognition Technology tools that create the transcriptions used by Full-Text Search just don't index the names of the principal parties mentioned on the processed documents. These transcriptions and subsequent indexes index every word in the documents. It means we can search on not just names but occupations, addresses, and phrases. Of course, there will be interesting transcription errors created by the machines. So, we can't rely on Full-Text Search to find every record.

I will say it again for those in the back:

We can't rely on Full-Text Search to find every record.

Let's take a look at a case where FamilySearch's Full-Text Search helped remove the mortar that loosed a brick to help tear down a brick-wall I've had for some years in my research.

It was a simple question I've been struggling with for some time: Who were the parents of Mary Foley, my 3rd great-grandmother, and wife of Thomas Well, who lived in Blanchard Township, Perth County, Canada West/Ontario?

I had made some assumptions in my research:

• Mary Foley and Thomas Wells lived and met in Blanchard Township.
• Mary Foley was of the Protestant faith. This was based on the 1861 Census of Canada West and the 1871 Census of Canada of their household.

These two starting assumptions were reasonable based on the facts I had but, as we will soon see, wrong.

There were trees online with various possible names for her parents. However, none of them provided any evidence of their assertions. Since I barely trust my own genealogy research, I'm definitely not going to take the word of anyone else without some sort of evidence.

It all started while FamilySearch's Full-Text Search was still in the experiment phase and I was playing around with it.

FamilySearch Full-Text Search search box with the keywords '+"Thomas Wells" +Mary +Foley'.

It was a simple search using keywords. I wanted all documents that had all the following words or phrases: "Thomas Wells", Mary, and Foley found in the resulting transcription generated by the Full-Text Search tools.

I got something like this:

Screen capture of the results page from FamilySearch's Full-Text Search for '+"Thomas Wells" +Mary +Foley' from 11 Jun 2026.

That first result returned was a land record from Pelham Township in Welland County, Ontario, Canada. The associated transcription hint was enticing:

108 No 2418 . Quit Claim Thomas Wells et, al To Mary Scanlan E Registered 25th Feby . 1868 at 3 . O'Clock P.M. …
…of Ontario in the Dominion of Canada, Farmer, and Mary Wells of the same placewife of the said Thomas Wells, of…
…and Satisfaction of the Legacy to the above named Mary Wells, under the Will of the late James Foley deceased, …
…full, 2nd That I was personally present and did see, Thomas Wells, and Mary Wells the grantors named in the …

Looking and reading the document — several times in fact — provided a whole bunch of possible clues

Pelham Township, book F, Instrument 2418, Quit Claim, p. 108-109 [stamped]; imaged, “Land records of Welland County, 1796-1922,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 11 Jun 2026), image group number (IGN) 8636751 > image 417 of 675.

• It was a land record quit claim where Thomas and Mary Wells were relinquishing any possible claims they might have had to the lot in question
• Thomas Wells was of the Township of Blanshard in the County of Perth, Ontario
• Mary Wells is the wife of Thomas Wells
• The lot was part of the North part of Lot Number 12 in the Tenth Concession of the Township of Pelham
• That lot was owned by the late James Foley, the elder
• John Foley and James Foley, the younger, had paid Mary Wells $10 per the will of the late James Foley

That seemed like a good match to my Thomas and Mary Wells.

Since I now had the location of the lot in Pelham Township, I could semi-quickly locate the abstract register of the lot and maybe even find a copy of the will in the land record copy books.

Time for me to stop searching and to start researching. So I switched from using search boxes to browsing collections, a bit researching, some thinking, and a bit of luck.

I could have used OnLand since they usually gather all the associated pages for a lot into a easily findable group of images, but I stayed with FamilySearch and their digitized copy of what they call their "Abstract index books, 1796-1958" collection created by the Registrar of Deeds for Welland County, Ontario to find this page.

Pelham Township, book A, Abstract register for Lot No. 12 in 10th Concession for the Township of Pelham [extract], p. 203 [stamped]; imaged, “Abstract index books, 1796-1958,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 11 Jun 2026), image group number (IGN) 8636746 > image 114 of 284.

There is a listing for the "Probate of Will" as instrument 481 dated 20 May 1863 and registered on 18 May 1866 in the Land Registry Office for James Foley which was transferring 20 acres to his sons John Foley and James Foley.

Pelham Township, book E, Instrument 481, Probate of Will, p. 210-211 [stamped]; imaged, “Land records of Welland County, 1796-1922,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 11 Jun 2026), image group number (IGN) 8636751 > image 138 of 675.

This copy of James Foley's will along with the preamble in the land record copy book provided even more details:

• He died on or about 3 Nov 1865 at Pelham
• The will included in the land record copy book is a true copy of his Last Will and Testament
• John Foley and James Foley received lot 12 in the 10th Concession of Pelham
• He has a daughter named Anna Foley, the wife of John Hicks, and she received $200
• He has a daughter Mary Wells, and she received $10
• He has a wife named Jane

I also looked up his probate file in FamilySearch's "Probate records, 1856-1903 // index, 1856-1969" collection created by the Surrogate Court of Welland County. There in the digitized microfilm titled "Probate papers nos. 254-383 1865-1869", starting at image 127 of 1472, just in case there might be other tidbits of information.

What stood out to me in the will was that Mary only got $10 while Anna got $200. Also, Anna's husband was mentioned but Mary's husband wasn't. 

"Died: Foley," The Ingersoll Chronicle [Ingersoll, Ontario], 1 Dec 1865, page 3, column 2; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 Aug 2025).

Using Newspapers.com, I even found a mention in the 1 Dec 1865 edition of the Ingersoll Chronicle a death notice for James Foley and his wife Jane. I thinking her age in this notice is a bit exaggerated.

I next looked for the family in the 1861 Census of Canada West to see if there might be another clue.

Census of 1861, Canada West, Welland County, Pelham Township, population schedule, page 31 [stamped]; imaged in "Census of 1861 (Canada East, Canada West, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)," Library and Archives Canada (https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=45180961&lang=eng&ecopy=4108422_00504 : accessed 11 Jun 2026).

On that page I found what appears to be the household of James Foley with the following basic details abstracted:

• James Foley, farmer, born in Ireland, Catholic, age 53 years, male, married, living in a shanty
• Jane Foley, born in Ireland, Catholic, age 70 years [see, the death notice was lying!], female, married 
• James Foley, born in Canada West, Catholic, age 19 years, male, single
• Ann Foley, born in Canada West, Catholic, age 15 years, female, single 

Just a second...Catholic?

That changes my religion assumption big time.

It also might explain why Mary only got $10 in the will of James Foley and Mary's husband, Thomas, wasn't mentioned. Might she have been "punished" for marrying out of her faith?

Yet I couldn't find the family in the Census of 1851 (which was taken in 1852) for Canada West in Pelham Township. After doing a few hours of research into the land records using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search and reviewing abstract registers, I learned that between 13 Mar 1847 and 23 Sep 1853, James Foley was residing in Grantham Township, Lincoln County, Canada West.

Guess what? The Census of 1851 for that township didn't survive. Of all the rotten luck!

Now that I learned the family followed the Catholic Church, and from prior research that Mary was born about 1836 in Canada West, I took a look at what records for Catholic Churches in the Niagara area can be found on FamilySearch for the 1830s. One collection immediately stood out — "Parish registers, 1827-1910" for Saint Vincent de Paul (Niagara, Ontario) Catholic Church. Of course, it wasn't name indexed or even added to Full-Text Search. But that's never stopped me in the past.

It only took a few minutes of leafing though the images before I found her entry of baptism in the parish register:

St. Vincent de Paul [Niagara-on-the-Lake], Baptisms, marriages, burials 1827-1849, Register for the year 1835, B. 40, Mary Foley; imaged, “Parish registers, 1827-1910,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 11 Jun 2026), image group number (IGN) 5107199 > image 53 of 351.

There I learned that Mary was baptized on 4 May 1835, aged 1 week, the daughter of James Foley and Margaret McKenna, residing in St. Catharines. 

I finally had the names of Mary's parents! 

But the journey doesn't end there.

If Mary was baptized at St. Vincent de Paul, might her parents have been married there too?

St. Vincent de Paul [Niagara-on-the-Lake], Baptisms, marriages, burials 1827-1849, Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Interments in 1834, M. 1, marriage for James Foley and Margaret McKenny; imaged, “Parish registers, 1827-1910,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 11 Jun 2026), image group number (IGN) 5107199 > image 41 of 351.

Recorded as the first marriage for 1834 we find an entry for James Foley and Margaret McKenny. And it is a treasure trove of information for someone who came from Ireland:

June 29th Were married, by me, the undersigned Priest, James Foley Son of John Foley and Mary Power, late of the Parish of Shanagolden Co Limerick Ireland; and Margaret McKenny, Daughter of John McKenny and Sarah Kelly, Co Tyrone Ireland. After one publication of their Banns.

I really struck gold in that record!

It all started with Full-Text Search which turned up that initial land record. Yet it took actual research to get to the parish register with the baptism of Mary and the marriage of her parents. Of course, it was a bit of luck too in that the register had been digitized and made available online.

I can only hope that you have similar success in using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search to start a breakthrough in your genealogical brick-wall. 

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.

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.