Who Do You Think You Are? Zooey Deschanel's Abolitionist Quaker Ancestors

Last night I watched Who Do You Think You Are? with Zooey Deschanel on TCL  in partnership with Ancestry.com 

It was very good, much better than last week's episode. There was a lot of history that was new to me and I found it fascinating.

Zooey found out that her female Quaker ancestor played an important part in the 1851 Christiana Riot in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. In this skirmish a group of African Americans and white abolitionists fought off a Maryland slave owner trying to capture four fugitive slaves hidden in the town.

I was particularly fascinated by the story of William Parker, a fugitive slave who was living on Zooey's ancestors' farm. William was an abolitionist and the driving force behind the Riot

After the Maryland slaveowner was killed, William fled to Canada where he settled in the Buxton Settlement in southern Ontario. I'd been hoping he fled to the Queen's Bush settlement which is where my husband's black ancestor Jonathan Butler settled in the mid 1840s. 

He went on to be a driving force in Ontario (Canada)  and his first-hand account of the riot and his flight via the Underground Railroad system, published in 1866, can be read online at "William Parker The Freedman's Story"

A cursory search on Ancestry.com in the Canadian census records show William and his wife and children in Raleigh Township, Kent County Ontario. He represented Buxton on the Raleigh Township Council, to which he was re-elected year after year by both white and black voters. He was not Zooey's ancestor but he did have close ties with her Quaker abolitionists and I found his story as fascinating as theirs.

If you missed Zooey Deschanel's journey to find our more about her abolitionist ancestor you can watch it on the TLC website.

Library and Archives Canada Answers Questions About the 1921 Canadian Census

As most genealogists know, the 1921 Canadian Census is now online on  Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca   It has not been indexed (yet) so researchers can only browse the images for now but Ancestry will be providing an index within a few months. The images are free to view but when the index is ready it will behind a pay-to-view wall.

Those who are not already Ancestry subscribers do need to sign up for free access but no credit card details are required. This is not the same as their 14 day free trial where credit card information is required. 

There is some controversy over Library and Archives (LAC) partnership with Ancestry.com and many people are questioning why an American based company has Canadian records, will we see the census on LAC's website at any point, etc.

After looking around, I found the answers to many  of those questions here on Collections Canada website at Learn more about the Library and Archives Canada Agreement with Ancestry.ca. It’s a very detailed explanation of the partnership deal between LAC and Ancestry.

Basically Ancestry gets to use the images while they do the indexing. The images and index are on Ancestry for 3 years then the indexes are turned over to LAC and they put the index and images online for free.

Seems like a win-win situation to me! If we waited for LAC to index we’d be waiting a very long time!

Interested genealogists can also read "LAC Answers Questions about Release of 1921 Census" on the OGS (Ontario Genealogical Society) Blog.

Tips for Searching For a British Home Child

During the years of the Child Emigration Scheme (British Home Children), between 1869 and 1939 (some up to 1948), over 100,000 children ages 1 - 18 were sent to Canada from Great Britain to work as farm labourers and domestics by over 50 Agents - Barnardo, Middlemore, Macpherson, Fegans, to name a few.

Descendants make up 12%, over 4 million of the Canadian population. If you think your ancestor was one of these children, there are ways to learn more:

You can search the British Home Children ships passenger lists from 1865 to 1935 on Library & Archives Canada website.

Part of the file Barnardo's sent us

If your ancestor was a part of the Dr. Barnardo's homes, you can contact Barnardo's for the records. They can be reached at Trace Your Family History on Barnardo's Homes website.

My husband has a British Home Child in his ancestry and sending to Barnardo's for his records provided a wealth of informative genealogical detail plus photographs of the child when he was admitted to Barnardo's Homes in 1897.

Marj Kholi's Young Immigrants to Canada website is another must for those seeking a British Home Child ancestor. Descendants can also check the British Home Children Registry for a name of interest.

Old Reader Officially Staying Open to the Public

It's official. Old Reader will stay open to the public.

 "We’re pleased to announce that The Old Reader will officially remain open to the public! The application now has a bigger team, significantly more resources, and a new corporate entity in the United States. We’re incredibly excited to be a part of this great web application and would like to share some details about its future as well as thank you for remaining loyal users. We’re big fans and users of The Old Reader and look forward to helping it grow and improve for years to come."

Read the details here


Credits: "Rss Icon" by digitalart on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Special Summer Sale on Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

Now through August 25th Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner is offering a $30 discount on their Flip-Pal mobile scanner Picture Keeper Bundle!

This bundle includes the Flip-Pal mobile scanner, a Deluxe Flip-Pal mobile scanner Carry Case, and a Picture Keeper PK 8. (Regular Price: $229.97, Sale Price: $199.97).

To receive this discount enter a coupon code upon checkout. The coupon code is: SAS725 (good through 11:59pm on August 25th, 2013)

Loving the 1921 Canadian Census Images Online!

Over 7 hours of scrolling page by page but I finally found my mother with her parents in the 1921 Canadian Census online on  Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca!

Mother was four years old and listed with her middle name of Doreen instead of the name she used later in life. That was a little tidbit of information as we never knew that her parents called her anything other than Joan.

Grandpa Fuller is listed as a bookkeeper which I also found intriguing. Why? Because I suspect that being a bookkeeper in 1921 meant you were pretty good at Math. My children and I are all pretty good at Math - I taught High School Math and my kids are much better at Math than I am. They're Math whizzes. Is it genetic? I believe that DNA plays a big part in our abilities.

But the big surprise (a happy one) was finding my great-grandparents living next door! I knew they had at some point come to Canada from England with plans to stay, but that after a few years they returned to England and lived out the rest of their lives there. The census shows me their immigration year of 1920 so my next step is to search the ships passenger lists, both inbound and outbound, on Ancestry. 

See the little 8 year old boy, Walter living with his parents (my great-grandparents)? Well that's my Uncle Wally and last month he turned 101 years young! I'm going to print this census off and mail it to him.

I also found my dad and his parents in the 1921 Census which was thrilling for me. It's the first census for both my mom and dad to show up in.

It wasn't an easy search, as many of the pages are challenging. The handwriting is bad, the pen nib used was fat so there are wide strokes of ink which obscure the letter shapes, names are written on top of other names and a lot of the pages are basically scribbles and ink blotches. But I'm very happy we were given images to browse instead of having to wait for indexing. I shudder to think about the indexing project that Ancestry is taking on. I suspect genealogists will have to use lots of wildcards in their searches once that index goes online.

The page with my dad and his parents is  more legible than many that I pored over. But still challenging. For example does it say that my Grandpa McGinnis was an "oil wiper"? And was he working for the railroad? That would be news to me. I know he was with the Guelph Fire Department in 1909 and that he worked as a construction foreman in 1911. 1917 shows him working at Page-Hersey (they manufactured iron pipes) and in 1928 he worked as a carpenter.  I can see that my Uncle Clare was a driller in a factory but am just not sure about my Grandpa's place of work. So this is a nice little puzzle I'll work on. Any thoughts on "Oil Wiper" and "railroad"?

It was kind of sad to see the names of two of my dad's brothers - 13 year old Lindsay and 4 year old Frank. Lindsay died 3 years later at age 16, and little Frank died when he was 8. I often think of my poor Grandmother losing two of her sons so young.

It's Here! 1921 Canadian Census ONLINE

It's here! The 1921 Canadian Census is now on Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca

No name index but you can search by location. 


 I'm off to find my mom and dad and grandparents in Guelph Ontario. Wish me luck!








Credits: "Man Showing Thumb Up Gesture" by stockimages on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's True! 1921 Canadian Census Coming Online Tomorrow!

The rumours started earlier this afternoon on Social Media that the 1921 Canadian Census will be online tomorrow. So I contacted one of my reliable sources for confirmation.

My anonymous source tells me that the 1921 Canadian Census is indeed coming online tomorrow on Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca

I have no other details at this time but watch this blog for details as they emerge!

I'm excited - are you?

Credits: Image by imagerymajestic on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 3 Disappoints

Last night I watched Episode 3 of Who Do You Think You Are? with Chelsea Handler on TCL  in partnership with Ancestry.com 

If you missed Episode 3 you can watch it on the TLC website.  [Warning: Spoiler Alert in my blog post!]

I confess that I did not enjoy this episode at all. In fact I found it so boring that I fell asleep part way through! That's a first for me.

Chelsea was on a journey to find out about her grandfather's service in the German army in WW2. The hype before the show was aired led viewers to believe that Chelsea, who was raised in the Jewish faith, was going to find details on her grandfather's Nazi past.  It sounded pretty interesting and exciting but alas it was not. 

Her grandfather was an ordinary German citizen who did his duty to his country as a German soldier and nothing more. I honestly was disappointed as I was interested to see how an ancestor who was a confirmed Nazi might affect Chelsea and what conclusions she would draw from her search. 

Had I not seen and heard the hype beforehand I think I could have enjoyed this episode  for what it was - an overall learning experience about German military records. As it was I felt tricked and let down. 

Fingers crossed that next week's episode with Zooey Deschanel is more to my liking

Five Cloud Storage Services Revisited

In 2011 I wrote about cloud storage and the different free cloud services available. It's at Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining for those who want to have a look. Time for an update!

Here is a list of 5 free Cloud Storage services you might want to try:

1. Dropbox. This is my all-time favourite. With Dropbox I can store, sync, and, share files online for free. Not all cloud services will sync. If that's not important to you, don't worry about it. But I like to have at least one service that will automatically sync my uploaded files to all my devices. You get 2 GB of free space but you can get more with referrals. If you still need more you can always subscribe to Dropbox Pro, available in 100 GB, 200 GB, and 500 GB plans. You can even get more than 500GB with their Business Plan.

2. Google Drive. 15 GB of free space plus the use of Google spreadsheets and docs makes this a great choice.  I use Google Drive quite a bit and it's easy to share editing of files with others.

3. Bitcasa: 10 GB of free storage and surprisingly, for $99.00 a year you can have unlimited storage with their Infinite Plan. I like this option very much and am probably going to sign up for Infinite.

4. Amazon Cloud Drive: 5GB of free storage. I use this for genealogy certificates.

5. SugarSync: 5GB of free storage makes this another option. You can pay for 60GB, 100GB or 250GB plans if 5GB isn't enough for you

I haven't included SkyDrive as I don't care for it. But lots of people do use it and you can get 7 GB of storage so you might want to check it out too.

Let's talk about having your own personal cloud storage and external hard drive systems. I use Western Digital MyBookLive which hooks up to your home network and gives you your own private cloud storage. It's easy to drop files into it and it also creates a backup of your computer hard drive.  I bought the 2TB version at Amazon and there is a 3TB version available too. The WD My Book Live 2TB is on sale, down from $164.99 to $109.99 while the WD My Book Live 3TB is down from $199.99 to $153.98

It's a bit of work setting it up but once you do, it's easy to use. You can even set up different folders for different family members and can password protect the folders if you wish.

I also use the WD My Passport 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage. In fact I have three of them! I can't live without them. They range in size from 3TB down to 320 GB so there's bound to be one that suits you. These are also your own private storage but the beauty is their portability.  The size is 4 x 1 x 3 inches! I have all my genealogy photos and documents on one and I can take it with me to plug into a relative's tv (if they have a USB port) or their computer to share with them

Hopefully these ideas will help you if you're struggling with what cloud service or what type of external back up system to use.

Credits: "Computer Computing Global Social Networks" by KROMKRATHOG on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

WW1 Photo Album Page 6

Continuing on with my WW1 Photo Album archive here is the 6th page in Doris' album. This was a very exciting page for me to find in this album! Yes the photos are dark and blurry but I am thrilled to see them because they are of my mom as a baby taken circa early 1917 with her older sister and her parents.

I do not have many photos of my Grandfather Fuller who died before I was born. What a thrill to see him, and to see my Grandmother as a young bride with her two little daughters.

 This is my Grandfather Fuller with my mother. She was born in September 1916 so this photo is almost certainly Spring or summer of 1917

 This is Grandpa Fuller and I think he is holding my mom but I can't be positive, even after I lightened the photo.

 This is my Grandmother Fuller and I am pretty sure the baby is my mother. It looks like Grandma might still be wearing a maternity smock so no doubt she had a little post-baby weight still to lose

 This is my mom sitting on the blanket with her older sister Lillian

 This is Uncle Ern with Auntie Cordie but I am not sure if the child is their daughter Doris or their daughter who died young

 I am sad at how dark this photo is because it is my mom in what looks like a christening gown. She is being held by an adult but even with making the photo lighter I cannot tell who is holding her. Her sister Lillian is in a baby walker.

A 90th Birthday Party Family Reunion

Yesterday was my auntie's 90th birthday party. That's auntie in 1925 with her sisters and yesterday in her beautiful coral skirt and jacket. Auntie is the only sister left now.

It was a nice time as all of her sons were there and I got to reconnect with cousins I had not seen in over 30 years. I wish her daughter could have been there too, how nice that would have been for auntie!

For her gift I gave auntie a book I had put together on her family - the Fuller family.

It was chock full of photos of her parents and her siblings (and her of course!) from 1912 to 1960. Many people at the party mentioned it to me so I think she passed it around for everyone to enjoy.

 While Auntie was the oldest person there at 1080 months, the youngest was my niece's son Liam at 2 months.

If you are want some ideas for a Family Reunion or a special birthday party, take a look at Family Fun Days

1861 Canadian Census Online at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has certainly been busy. Their latest online offering is the 1861 Canada Census. Oh how I wish it were the 1921, that long-overdue census they promised us for June 1st....  If you want that 1921 census released sooner rather than later, please sign the petition to our new Minister of Canadian Heritage, Shelly Glover

Please take a moment to sign the petition. Your signature is important!

Following is the announcement of the 1861 Census and a link to the index and images. You might also want to take a look at my previous article about the 1861 Agricultural Census which provides a great deal of valuable information on those who owned land.  This agricultural portion of the 1861 census has been scanned and put online on Ancestry.com which is great.... BUT they have only scanned one of two pages for each person. See Ancestry Goof with 1861 Canadian Census

Since I'm pointing out errors today, let's talk about the index that LAC has put online for that 1861 Canadian Census. I'm guessing they  used the Ancestry.com index  since both sites have badly MISindexed my PEER family as ROSS. Here's what LAC shows in their index. It was probably part of the deal they made with Ancestry when they allowed Ancestry to index and put the images of the Canadian Census records on the Ancestry site. The bad part of that is that bad indexing gets perpetuated!

Census Year: 1861
Item Number: 2819914
Surname: Ross
Given Name(s): Levy
Age: 50
Province: Canada West (Ontario)
District Name: Halton
Sub-District Name: Nelson

Ancestry shows the same surname - ROSS. But check out the image. It doesn't look like ROSS to me, it is clearly PEER. 

In any case here's the announcement from LAC:

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce that the Census of 1861 is now available online. Information was collected for people living in Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Canadians can search this new database by nominal information, such as the surname, given name(s) and age of an individual, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names.

UPDATE 1921 Canadian Census: Minister, via LAC admits "We're Late"

Please Sign the Petition!

Olive Tree Genealogy received this update on the much anticipated 1921 Canadian Census. We have a new Minister of Canadian Heritage, Shelly Glover, and a new petition has been created addressed to Ms. Glover.

Please read the update below and take a moment to sign the petition. Your signature is important!

Minister, via LAC [Library & Archives Canada] admits "We're Late"... & new webpage +


by Bill Robinson
Petition Organizer
Before changing the petition to reflect the new minister [Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage]:

http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/release-the-1921-census-now

I phoned Ottawa twice. Apparently a Hervieux Dery referred both calls to the Manager who actually oversees this work. Hilary Morgan at 613-894-4087 said that they are still preparing the metadata for these 200,000 images.

It seems they have a small pilot project to allow external input for the indexing, but this is one of many improvements that are still in the works. She volunteered to call me back in one to two weeks with further info.

She seemed very knowledgeable and said she knew of Lisa Dillon, for example. She seemed genuine, but unfamiliar with our petition and why we don't even have an acknowledgements of the over 3,400 emails.

Crossing my fingers.

Please spread the word about this change of address and the news.

Thanks to all. 
Bill

Credits: "Signature With Ballpoint Pen " by digitalart from DigitalPhotos.Net

Finding Ancestors on Ships Passenger Lists to Canada Before 1865

Before 1865 Ships Passenger lists on Ships Sailing to Ports in Canada did not have to be archived. It is a challenging time period to find passenger lists! But there ARE alternate records - shipping agent records, emigration agent ledger books, newspaper extracts are only a few

One such set of records are the Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849 This database contains various records and reports of Canadian emigration agents James Allison and A.J. Buchanan. Among the various records are some emigration and orphan lists. These lists are searchable by name.

As well, Filling in the Gaps has links to 21 online databases for alternate immigration records for pre-1865 Canada. These include links to immigration officer records, steamship sailings up the St. Lawrence River, Custom House Passenger Lists, J J Cooke Shipping Agent Records, Poor Law Union Immigration from England and more. 

Many of these links are to Olive Tree Genealogy free projects. Some are to free websites not associated with Olive Tree Genealogy and a few are pay-to-view databases on other sites. 

If you  are stuck looking for your ancestors on a ships list arriving in Canada before 1865 you should take a look at Filling in the Gaps

Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 2 Brings Back Memories of My Father

Last night I watched Who Do You Think You Are? with Christina Applegate following her grandmother in hopes of giving some peace to her father. 

If you missed Episode 2 you can tune in next Tuesday on TCL as they, in partnership with Ancestry.com , present Episode 3. In the next episode, Chelsea Handler unearths Nazi roots in Germany.

The series is powerful this year with some gritty stories emerging. I like that so far they are focusing on one ancestor and really digging into records such as newspapers, court records and census records to add details to the ancestor.

Last night's episode was very moving. I don't want to spoil it for those who have not yet watched so all I will say is that Christina's father never knew his mother, not even her name. He was raised by his paternal grandmother until age 14 when he went to live with his father. You will not want to miss this episode and the unsettling truths that are revealed. But in the end there is closure for her dad.

 Watching this last night brought to mind my discovery of my father's gravesite 50 years after he died. I was the only one in the family who knew what cemetery he was in, but the cemetery had told me he was in potter's field with no marker and they had no way of knowing exactly where he was. I lived with that sadness for 44 years and then a very kind man found the record showing the exact location of Dad's ashes. 

I was told I could add a simple marker, but I decided he should be with his family so had him re-interred in his home town where his parents, brothers, grandparents and great-grandparents are buried. A small plaque with his name and dates of birth and death was added to the existing marker where he now rests. It was not possible to bury him with his mother or father so I opted to place him with my mother and her parents.  I cannot describe the immense feeling of closure I felt when that marker was put on the base of the existing stone. I visit as often as I can and leave a memento to show Dad I was there. 

It took 50 years but my dad now rests with his family and family members can visit his grave. It took Christina's dad 70 years to find his mother and I'm so happy that he did.

Old Reader is Going Private - Time to Choose a New RSS Reader

Old Reader is going private in the next two weeks. So if you switched to Old Reader as your solution to Google Reader being canned, you need to find another one. Here are the details on Old Reader Blog as to why and when they are closing Old Reader to the public  "Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures"

If you are looking for a new RSS Reader here's a few you might want to take a look at:

NewsBlur.com: Right now they are not accepting free accounts. I tried to sign up this morning and there are 2100 people waiting ahead of me for a free account. For $24.00 a year you can get a premium account immediately. Free accounts have a cap of 64 sites. I may try this one as the demo looked like it would do what I want.

Feedly.com: This is pretty popular and it synched Google Reader feeds seamlessly before Google Reader was canned.  I'm on Feedly but have to admit I'm looking for a replacement. It is the most popular of RSS Readers but it just doesn't suit my needs.

Pulse: I use Pulse on my iPad and I really like it. It's more visually oriented than most readers but for iPad use I like that.

NetVibes.com: I signed up for a free account on NetVibes this morning. It's easy to set up, you pick a topic of your own choice or one of their popular ones, and NetVibes starts creating a dashboard for you. After it created my Genealogy topic, it pulled in hundreds of news stories, blogs and videos for me.  Don't worry, you can import specific blogs or websites. So far I am really liking NetVibes

IronReader: This RSS Reader is getting some good press. I haven't tried it so can't comment but you may want to check it out.

Credits: RSS Icon by digitalart on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A New Website Hack Genealogy

My good friend (and cousin through our shared Van Slyke ancestors) Thomas MacEntee, creator of GeneaBloggers and High-Definition Genealogy has a new website up and running!  

Thomas tells me that 

Hack Genealogy is a new resource for the genealogy industry and the growing community of genealogy and family history enthusiasts. Hack Genealogy is about “repurposing today's technology for tomorrow's genealogy” and a little bit more. Hack Genealogy is more than just a list of resources: It provides information on emerging technology inside and outside the genealogy industry.

Hack Genealogy is not merely about surviving the overwhelming presence of new and emerging technologies . . . Hack Genealogy is about genealogy and technology success in its many facets.

What Will You Find at Hack Genealogy?

Here are the features to be offered at Hack Genealogy over the coming months:

·      Cool GenStuff: Each day we’ll provide a curated list of the latest information about genealogy that deserve your attention.

·      Discussions and Issues: We’ll discuss issues important to the genealogy community including education, self-publishing, sharing research and more.

·      Education and E-Guides: Through the use of webinars, e-guides, Google+ hangouts and other innovative educational technologies, Hack Genealogy seeks to educate genealogists on the latest technologies.

·      GenBiz Buzz: Learn how others have succeeded with their genealogy and family history-related business and the tools they used to succeed.

·      Interviews: We’ll ask a variety of players in the genealogy landscape this question: How Do You Hack Genealogy? to learn more about how technology is being repurposed to expand the family history experience.

·      Product Reviews: Reviews of the latest products and services including software, mobile apps and more.

·      Resources: A listing of the best tools for every aspect of genealogy from research to sharing photos to writing and publishing your family history.

You can follow Hack Genealogy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/HackGenealogy), Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/hackgenealogy) and at http://hackgenealogy.com. 

Credits: "New Stamp" by Stuart Miles on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Finding an Ancestor in Early Ontario Land Records

Upper Canada Land Petition Isaac Vollick

Many researchers ask me where and how they can find information about an early Upper Canada (aka Canada West aka Ontario) ancestor and where he or she settled.

Early Ontario records can be challenging to find. Ontario was not settled until the American Revolution when many Loyalists fled the Colonies (later the United States of America) for Canada.Very early records were often not taken or if taken, have not survived.

But there are land records, it's just a matter of knowing what has survived and where a collection can be searched.

It is also important to know the boundary and name changes that occurred in Ontario. From Upper Canada to Canada West to Ontario, you will need to know what years the name changes took place. Also important are the District and County name changes. Here is a complete list of the District Names in 1846 and the counties and townships in each.

Below is a list I compiled of online searchable land records. There are many that are not online and I have also provided a link to my website where a list of offline resources is given. I hope this is of help to struggling genealogists.

* Upper Canada Land Petitions index and images online on Library and Archives Canada (LAC).
Many early settlers, both military and civilian, submitted petitions to the Governor to obtain Crown land. Sons and daughters of Loyalists were also entitled to free lands. The Upper Canada Land Petitions contain petitions for grants or leases of land and other administrative records from 1783 to 1865

* Second Heir and Devisee Commission Case Files Database Index to  5184 case files, from 1804 to 1895, document claims for land made to the Second Heir and Devisee Commission. The second Heir and Devisee Commission was responsible for hearing and determining claims to land brought forward by the heirs, devisees, or assignees of original nominees. (Online Index)

* The Computerized Land Record Index (aka Ontario Land Record Index) summarizes land grants of Crown Land, sales of land from Canada Company sales or leases and from Peter Robinson settlers' grants. If your ancestor settled anywhere in Ontario and he was the first time owner of Crown Land, he should be on these lists. (Lookup Service)

* Return of all Patents for Land 1836 1478 names of patentees with some surnames missing (not found are surnames beginning with H, K, L, M, P, Q, S, T) 

* Canadian County Atlas Digital Project at McGill University. The County Atlas Digital Project is a searchable database of  property owners' names which appear on the township maps in the county atlases. Township maps, portraits and properties have been scanned, with links from the property owners' names in the database.

* List of land records available for Ontario (aka Canada West aka Upper Canada) and where each set of records can be found (online or offline)