Ministry of
Government and Consumer Services
Ontario Government Record Series RG 40-1
7 centimetres of textual records
Series consists of memoranda prepared for the Chief Justice of Upper Canada by the Surveyor General documenting claims made under the First Heir and Devisee Commission which were "not described for want of information", as well as resulting orders made by the Chief Justice, who sat on the Commission.
Each memorandum prepared by the Surveyor General relates to a specific Commission (i.e., the Commission of a particular district, relating to a specific hearing) and may document more than one claim. The following information may be recorded in the memorandum: the claim number(s); a description of the claim(s) (i.e., the location of the land being claimed); and details regarding the claim(s) (e.g., background details, information on contested claims, information concerning supporting documentation).
Some memoranda contain later annotations made in the Surveyor General's Office noting the transcription of the memoranda into copybooks containing letters written by the Surveyor General.
Normally accompanying the memorandum is the Chief Justice's decision regarding the claim, which may range from an order that a description be issued to a request for further information on the claim. In addition, the series contains copies, prepared by the Clerk of the Executive Council for the Surveyor General, of the Chief Justice's order calling for the issuance of a description. Some orders are annotated with description numbers.
Finally, the series also contains copies of certificates of search prepared by the Surveyor General, documenting his search of plans and other records in his office of relevance to the claim under consideration. Some of these certificates, too, contain later annotations made in the Surveyor General's Office noting the transcription of certificates into copybooks containing letters written by the Surveyor General.
Click on the link(s) below for more information.
Upper Canada. Surveyor General's Office Upper Canada. Heir and Devisee Commission (1797-1805)Some records of the Second Heir and Devisee Commission are held by Library and Archives Canada, and have been described as RG 1, L5. These records also are available on microfilm for consultation in the Main Reading Room of the Archives of Ontario.
Sub-series RG 1-16-2 contains minutes of search for the Eastern, Home and Midland Districts relating to claims made for the land under the First Heir and Devisee Commission.
Series RG 22-610 consists of Eastern District Heir and Devisee Commission records for 1797 to 1803 and 1806 to 1812.
Sub-series RG 1-3-1, Letters written by the Surveyor General, 1797-1869, consists of the copybooks into which correspondence and other material produced by the Surveyor General was transcribed.
In addition to being available from the Archives of Ontario through inter-institutional loan, these records are also available on microfilm through the Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To obtain references to this microfilm, access the Family History Library Catalogue and search under the heading: Ontario. Heir and Devisee Commission (2nd). Please note that Family History Library Catalogue microfilm reels and the microfilm references used by the Archives of Ontario differ.
No accruals are anticipated.
Series RG 40-1 formerly was Series RG 40 A-1.
These records were created by the following Ontario government agency or agencies. Click on the agency reference code for information about this agency and other records it created.
1803-1804 : |
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Surveyor General's Office (BA84) |
First consult the file listing which lists the material in more detail then retrieve self-service microfilm reel MS 657, reel 1. Please note that microfilmed records are identified by their former reference codes.
Scroll up to "Finding Aid" for more information about any available finding aids or listings.
http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/microfilm/l_heirs.aspx#rg40a1