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How to Find Online Images of Upper Canada Sundries
"Upper Canada Sundries" is the short name for the Library and Archives Canada collection with the full name "Civil Secretary's Correspondence, Upper Canada, Upper Canada Sundries" in Record Group 5 A1. The collection covers the years 1766-1841 on 94 microfilm reels -- 90 reels of records and a 4-reel chronological "index" that is really simply an (incomplete) abstract Table of Contents.
THERE IS NO COMPLETE NAME INDEX. Janice Nickerson created a partial index of the records for 1766-1814 (plus a few for 1816-17, 1828, 1833 and 1838). Michael Stephenson made a more complete partial index that does not contain the page numbers and thus is more difficult to use. Even the chronological index (which is not at all a name index) is incomplete.
This web page provides search methods for using both the chronological index and the partial name indexes - the methods by which I was able to find the online images of the sundries entries of the Johnston family. It is conceptually fairly simple but a bit tedious to actually do. The main page for the records is at the Collections Canada web site of the Library and Archives of Canada
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There are several good pages on the web covering what can be found in the Sundries records.
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- Find a person's record information.
The first place to search is in Janice Nickerson's partial index of the records for 1766-1814 (plus a few for 1816-17, 1828, 1833 and 1838). If you want to see records after 1814, then you must use Michael Stephenson's complete index and the chronological index together.
In either case, you need to determine the page numbers of the entries, so that in the next step you can determine the microfilm reel number, so that you can search for the image on that microfilm reel.
- Using Janice Nickerson's Partial Name Index (1766-1814, plus a few records for 1816-17, 1828, 1833 and 1838)
You can easily find the surname (if there is an entry in the index -- do consider variants) thanks to Janice Nickerson's well-organized web site. For example, to find the LAKE family entries, click on the letter L in the A-Z links at the top of the page, and you will be taken to the page of surnames starting with L.
There is only one LAKE entry, for Thomas Lake on 9 Jun 1808 at York, included on page numbers 3155-6. Note the page numbers for this entry and proceed to step 2. (I open a new window for step 2, so that I can refer back to this index window if needed.)
- Using Michael Stephenson's More Complete Partial Index
Michael Stephenson of Ontario Genealogy created a more complete index than Janice Nickerson's index, but it is not clear what it includes and what it does not include. While the latest date in the index is 1858, a check of names at various places in the 1839 records revealed that none of those names are included in the index.
Some entries in this index with dates within the range that Janice Nickerson covered exhaustively are not in Janice Nickerson's index. So, while the index points to a record in 1810, the record may not be found in the chronological entries for 1810.
The most significant problem with the index is that it does not include page numbers. Thus, the index provides no way to easily connect an index entry to the actual record.
Ontario Genealogy is a business, and Michael Stephenson has done an enormous service just making the records available. So my first recommendation is that if you find an entry in his index that is not in Janice Nickerson's index that you pay him for a copy of the record. He has done work for me over the years that has been extremely beneficial to me in breaking through brick walls. So, I highly recommend his services and very much want to see him be able to continue to do what he does.
.......... MORE TO COME ..........
- Using the Chronological Index
The Chronological Index is really a robust Table of Contents. It gives a brief abstract of each record, along with the page numbers. .......... MORE TO COME ..........
- Find the record images.
- Use the page numbers to determine which microfilm reel contains the record.
The LAC website has a unsearchable 527-page PDF of the Table of Contents up to page 14231. PDF Pages 3-17 (numbered 1-15 in the document) contain the cross-refernce of the page numbers to the dates covered, the original volume number and the (unnamed column) microfilm reel number.
NOTE that if the page numbers are on this PDF (i.e., the page numbers are 14231 or less), then you can also scroll down and find the abstract of that record.
Going back to the example in step 1, Thomas Lake's record is on pages 3155-6. The cross-reference tells us that this is on microfilm reel C-4504 in the final section, which is the first part of volume 7, including the dates January-June 1808.
Since Thomas Lake's record pages 3155-6 are less than 14231, then this PDF also contains the abstract of the record. It is on page 104 of the PDF: "1808 June 9, York - Halton to Chewett and Ridout. Stating a location in Wolford township is authorized to Thomas Lake. pp. 3144-3156."
- Use the microfilm reel number to find the digitized images of that reel.
The LAC website lists the microfilm reels without links to them. But way down at the bottom, it has a link to the digitized microfilm reels. So click on the reel number you seek.
In our example, we seek microfilm reel C-4504.
- Use the page numbers to find the digitized images of the record.
There are hand-written and stamped page numbers. The stamped page numbers refer to the pages you found in the index. So you need to use the image number pull down and the back and forward arrow buttons to move to the page where your record begins.
In our example, we seek pages 3155-3156, and we know from the cross reference that they are in the very last section on this microfilm reel of 1053 pages. So use the image number pulldown and choose a image near the end, say image 1033. See what page number that is, so that you know whether to move forward or backward from this image. In this case, 1033 is exactly the right image with page 3155.
- Download the records images.
Since these records are all from 1841 or prior, they are in the public domain, which means that you can download and use them. It is still the best practice to cite the source if you do download and use it. So, copy and paste the URL for the first page.
Just right click anywhere on the image of the original page, and click "Save Image As" and save it to your hard drive. (You should enlarge the image to the extent that you want, so that it is readable in your downloaded file.) Alternately you can use a screen capture tool, such as Microsoft's built-in Snip & Sketch tool.
Then use the "<" link or the ">" link, as need be, to step through each page of the record that you want and download each page.
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