Township Papers – Research Gems for Genealogy

Township Papers can be found at the Archives of Ontario. They cover the settlement of Ontario from ca. 1783-1870. They are very useful for finding ancestors who settled for some time but did not stay long enough to pay off their land with the Crown or for establishing how long ancestors did own a piece of property before receiving the Crown deed.
They are called Township Papers because that is how they are arranged at the Archives of Ontario. The Archives describes them as being a “miscellaneous group of land-related records, which have been arranged by township name, then by concession and lot or by town name and lot number.” What can be found in these files are orders-in-council, location certificates, location tickets, assignments, certificates verifying completion of settlement duties, copies of receipts, copies of descriptions, copies of patents and copies of incoming correspondence. They are the records from the Surveyor General’s Office (ca. 1783-1827), the Crown Lands Department (1827-1867) and the Department of Crown Lands (1867-ca 1870). They came to the Archives of Ontario from the Department of Lands and Forests. They are in the Ontario Government Record Series RG 1-58 and are available on microfilm reel. Information about them and the list of townships available is available at http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/ARCH_DESC_FACT/FACTSDESC/REFD+RG+1-58?SESSIONSEARCH The microfilm reels can be borrowed through interlibrary loan with a local Ontario library.
An example of the information that can be found in the Township Papers follows. On Concession C, Lot 4 (tCCL4-90809 Belmore Line) in Turnberry, the information found at the Land Records Office about this property begins with the granting of the crown deed to Samuel McKee for 91 acres. In 1873, the land changes hands to James Mulvey and remains in the Mulvey family until it is sold in 2008. When we examine the Township Papers for information about this property we find out that in September 1854, Thomas Irwin filed an application for it and paid a deposit of £9, 2 shillings for Lot 4 and Lot 5 (182 acres). Irwin sold it to Samuel McKee on July 3, 1857 (both Lots 4 & 5) for 175 pounds sterling. In the settlement duties affidavit of 1863, it was found that Robert McKee had lived on the properties for 4 years, had 80 acres cleared and a house, 18‘x 26’, built to house his family. Yet according to the Land Records, the land did not transfer into his name until 1869, when he paid off the property.
During research of the Morris/Turnberry history book, we turned many times to the Township Papers to figure out land transactions. Many people submitted histories in which the stories passed down through the family told of early generations that had settled land in the 1850s, yet that fact could not be substantiated in the Land Records. Often the Township Papers helped establish earlier dates of settlements. It was through the Township Papers that proof of the Land Scandal also surfaced.