NOTE: The best way to search early Ontario land records is at FamilySearch, where the abstract book and the Instrument book images can be found. OnLand does NOT have Instrument book images, and FamilySearch is easier to navigate to find things. See my web page How to Find Online Images of Ontario Land Records on the FamilySearch Web Site. Nevertheless, the following instructions guide you through the OnLand search.

As of October 2020, all Ontario land offices are no longer open to the public, and the images of "historic books" of entries for specific lots in specific concessions in specific townships held in specific land offices are online. (These are NOT the original books with the actual entries of the specifics of each transaction. They are the indexes to those books, which are not online.)

There is NO NAME SEARCH for the OnLand web site. You must have some idea of the specific property that you seek. If you just know the township, you will have a lot of searching to do to find a specific person's land entries, but it is doable. Ideally, you should know the township, concession and lot.

But there is NO TOWNSHIP SEARCH for the website as a whole. Once you have found the correct land record office, you can search that office's records by township.

So the first thing you need to do is to figure out which land record office kept the records for your township. Many of these were county land record offices. So if you know the county of your township, look for a land record office for that county.

One other important thing to be aware of about the OnLand web site: The site is not usable except during office hours. Yes, this is bizarre. And No, I have no idea why they do this. But the bottom line is that you cannot just use the website whenever you have time. You have to plan your schedule when you want to use the site.

1. Find the correct land record office.

   The first thing you need to know is what county the land was in at the time of interest. The McGill University Ontario County Atlas Project will help you confirm you have the correct county

   • 1880 Index Map of All Counties in McGill Project
   • Outline Map of All Southern Ontario Townships and Counties
   • 1836 Map of All Townships, Counties and Districts

   Once you know the county, find that land record office or the closest one to it.

   In our example, Ernestown Township is in Lennox and Addington County.

   To see what Land Registry Offices existed, go to the OnLand web site. In the box labeled "Where would you like to search?" you can type in the name of the township, and it will give you the link to the correct Land Registry Office. In this example, it is "Ernestow, LENNOX (LRO 29)". Click on that link.

   If it does not give you a link, then click just above the text box on "Select from LRO List" and choose the one you think is closest to your township. If if turns out that choice does not have your township (which you will not know until you go the link for that LRO), then you can try a different LRO.

2. Find the right historical book.

   After selecting a Land Registry Office, there will be four large boxes at the bottom of the page. Click on the box for "Historical Books".

   I have tried several different methods on the Historical Books page, but the one I find works best is to click "Browse all Books" in the center of the screen. (You can also click the less obvious "Browse Books" tab at the top left.)

   In the "Browse Books" tab, click on "Browse Abstract/Parcel Register Book".

   This results in 217 hits. At the top right there is a "Filter by" box. Use that pull-down menu and select your township.

   For Ernestown Township, this results in 22 hits. We want Lot 41 in Concession VI. It turns out that there are two books for Concession VI.

   The first is Book #40, which turns out to have Lots only up to 25 (which you have to discover by clicking "View Details" and then examining the images.)

   The second book for Concession VI is unnumbered and labeled "Concession 5, 6". Click on this book.

3. Find the page image.

   This book has 712 images. Since Lot 41 of Concession VI is very nearly the highest numbered lot in the Concession, it is best to start at the last image and jump a few pages back until you find the right page.

   For our example, the right image is image 696 -- the earliest record for Lot 41.

   And sure enough, there is Robert Harrison as the Grantee (the new owner) on the sixth transaction. If the ditto marks are correct, he became owner of 50 acres of part of the north end of Lot 41 via a Deed made 9 May 1828 and registerd the next day, with David Fraser conveying the property to Robert Harrison. Robert Harrison paid 50 pounds, 0 shillings and 0 pence.

   If you want the actual record, you must note the left column where the Instrument of transfer is numbered 932, apparently in original volume E. I have not tried to obtain an original record, so that I can give no further guidance on doing that.

   The motivating objective for the search was to find how long Robert Harrison lived on Lot 41 and when he left. On 25 Feb 1834, Robert Harrison paid Margaret Brown 40 pounds for 10 acres in an additional 10 acres of Lot 41, making his total holding 60 acres.

   The last two entries for Robert Harrison, selling his land, were registered in reverse order of the actual dates.

   On 15 Jun 1835, Robert Harrison sold his 10-acre parcel to David Fraser for 40 pounds (the same that he paid the previous year).

   On 2 Feb 1836, Robert Harrison sold his 50-acre parcel to John Livingston for 100 pounds (double what he had paid 8 years earlier).

   So Robert Harrison owned land on Lot 41, Concession VI of Ernestown Township from 9 May 1828 until 2 Feb 1836. Where did he go? Did he own any nearby land? Checking lots 40 and 42 of Concession VI and lots 40-42 of Concessions V and VII are necessary to assure that he did not own any other land. But as far as Lot 41 of Concession VI, he left 2 Feb 1836.