Descriptions of land grants, leases, sales, assignments, and licenses of occupation Help

Ontario Government Record Series RG 1-53

Descriptions of land grants, leases, sales, assignments, and licenses of occupation

About these records

Title
Descriptions of land grants, leases, sales, assignments, and licenses of occupation
Dates of Creation
1794-1996, predominant 1794-1916
Physical Description

72.3 metres of textual records

Scope and Content

Series consists of descriptions of land grants and leases. A description is a document of allotted that was prepared after the Surveyor General located a grantee or purchaser on a lot.

The descriptions describe the metes and bounds of the lot and were the basis on which the patent, the authoritative document legalising the land transfer, was prepared by the Provincial Secretary. As they were written, the descriptions were each given a number by the Surveyor General's Office according to the regulations under which the grant or sale was made.

There were over thirty different types of land grants and leases in existence at various times. Codes listed in were used by the Crown Land Registry to distinguish amongst the different types of grants and leases.

This series has been divided into 33 sub-series according to the classification of types of grants/leases established by the creator of the record.

Click here to see a list of sub-series that make up this series

Restrictions on Access
No restrictions on access, but some material may require special handling or only be available on microfilm. See sub-series descriptions.
Terms For Use and Reproduction
Copyright is primarily held by the Crown. No restrictions on reproduction or publication. Permission of the Archives of Ontario is required for publication; submit a Request for Permission to Publish, Exhibit or Broadcast Form.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Records were transferred to the Archives of Ontario directly from the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Associated Material

Library and Archives Canada holds copies of descriptions for grants or leases of land which were surrendered to or impounded by the Executive Council when they discovered to be flawed or for other just causes (Reference code RG 1 L2).

Related Material

Some descriptions also can be found in Series RG 1-58, Township Papers.

Availability of Other Formats

Crown Land Registry, Ministry of Natural Resources maintains a microfilm copy of some of the volumes in this series.
Former Codes

See sub-series descriptions.

Finding Aid
See sub-series descriptions for details concerning lists and indexes relating to specific sub-series. Series RG 1-63, Domesday Books, can also serve as an index to the descriptions. One of the fields within the Domesday Book entries consists of a description number. See the series description for Series RG 1-63 for further details. See also Appendix B1 of Inventory 1 for a guide to the codes used for the records in this series.

Agency or agencies that created these records

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.

1794-1827 :

Surveyor General's Office (BA84)

1827-1867 :

Crown Lands Department (AA100)

1867-1905 :

Department of Crown Lands (AA49)

1905-1906 :

Department of Lands and Mines (AA50)

1906-1912 :

Department of Lands, Forests and Mines (AA51) Surveys and Patents Branch (CA506)

1912-1920 :

Department of Lands, Forests and Mines (AA51) Surveys Branch (CA507)

1920-1941 :

Department of Lands and Forests (AA52) Surveys Branch (CA507)

1941-1944 :

Department of Lands and Forests (AA52) Division of Surveys (CA508)

1944-1957 :

Department of Lands and Forests (AA52) Division of Surveys and Engineering (CA509)

1957-1971 :

Department of Lands and Forests (AA52) Lands and Surveys Branch (CA510)

1972-1979 :

Ministry of Natural Resources (AA17) Lands Administration Branch (CA1265)

1979-1991 :

Ministry of Natural Resources (AA17) Land Management Branch (CA1323)

1991-1996 :

Ministry of Natural Resources (AA17) Natural Resources Information Branch (CA514)

How to order these records

From our Reading Rooms

See sub-series descriptions.

Click here to see a list of sub-series that make up this series

Scroll up to "Finding Aid" for more information about any available finding aids or listings.

By Microfilm Interloan
This material is not available through Interloan.

Sub-series that make up this series

Click on a reference code for more information about a series of records.

Reference Code Sub-series Title
RG 1-53-1 Lists and indexes to descriptions
RG 1-53-2 Descriptions - assignments
RG 1-53-3 Descriptions - Canada Company
RG 1-53-4 Descriptions - certificates of forfeiture
RG 1-53-5 Descriptions - clergy reserve land sales
RG 1-53-6 Descriptions - Heir and Devisee Commission
RG 1-53-7 Descriptions - Crown land sales / general references
RG 1-53-8 Descriptions - Crown leases
RG 1-53-9 Descriptions - exploratory licences of occupation
RG 1-53-10 Descriptions - free grants (Act of 1880)
RG 1-53-11 Descriptions - free grants (Act of 1913)
RG 1-53-12 Descriptions - gratuitous and A.A. grants
RG 1-53-13 Descriptions - Indian land sales
RG 1-53-14 Descriptions - land boards (full fee)
RG 1-53-15 Descriptions - military land grants
RG 1-53-16 Descriptions - militia land grants
RG 1-53-17 Descriptions - military emigrant land grants
RG 1-53-18 Descriptions - mining land sales
RG 1-53-19 Descriptions - ten-year mining leases
RG 1-53-20 Descriptions - mining leases (21 years)
RG 1-53-21 Descriptions - mining licences of occupation
RG 1-53-22 Descriptions - new regulations
RG 1-53-23 Descriptions - old regulations (printed)
RG 1-53-24 Descriptions - old regulations (leases)
RG 1-53-25 Descriptions - ordnance land sales and leases
RG 1-53-26 Descriptions - Rainy River mining land sales
RG 1-53-27 Descriptions - Regulations 1804 (full fees)
RG 1-53-28 Descriptions - school land sales
RG 1-53-29 Descriptions - university land sales
RG 1-53-30 Descriptions - university mining land sales
RG 1-53-31 Descriptions - university mining leases
RG 1-53-32 Descriptions - veterans' grants (Act of 1901)
RG 1-53-33 Miscellaneous descriptions of land