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Crown Lands Records
In contrast to the French river-lot system, the English usually divided the land into sections called ranges or “concessions”. The concessions were then divided into regular shaped farm lots of 100 to 200 acres. After 1763, areas in the Eastern Townships and counties on the Ottawa River were surveyed this way.

The beginning of the Crown grant system in Québec in 1764 and Ontario in 1795 changed the way the land was divided. A settler who wanted free land in a township submitted a petition directly to the governor or the lieutenant governor. Crown grants were made to all Loyalists or children of Loyalists after the American Revolution. Later, for a limited time any settler in the provinces of Canada could receive these grants. Free grants were abolished in 1827, except for the children of Loyalists, and other occasional exceptions.

Library and Archives Canada holds Lower Canada Land Petitions 1764-1841 (RG 1, L3L) and records of the Gaspé Land Commission (RG 1, L 7, vols. 79-80) which are nominally indexed in their finding aid 1801. Both the records and the index are microfilmed. The microfilm shelf list is posted on Library and Archives Canada website. The petitions may have information on the petitioner, his family parentage, military service and time of settling the land making them very valuable genealogically. The patents that were granted gave the name of the grantee, a description of the land and the date of the grant, also very useful.

There are several manuscript records relating to crown lands at Library and Archives Canada and at the Archives nationales du Québec. Some are:

List of lands Granted by the Crown in the Province of Québec from 1763 to 1731 December 1890. Québec: Charles-François Langlois, 1891. This book is a transcription of information from land patents. It is an especially good source to begin with if you are looking for English speaking settlers. It gives the date of the patent and the county, township and lot number where the grant was located. The index at the end of the volume is alphabetical only by the first letter of the surname.

Jésuit Estates
The Jésuit Estates were the properties owned by the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus. These lands were confiscated by the Crown following the conquest of Canada by the British and were located entirely in Québec. These lands were first rented and then sold separate from the Crown Lands in Québec. The records for this are in the Archives nationales du Québec (series-QBC-18-20).

Archives nationales du Québec
Throughout Québec there are regional Provincial Archives centers known as Les centres d’Archives nationales du Québec:


 * Abitibi-Témiscamingue et Nord-du-Québec 27, rue du Terminus Ouest Rouyn-Noranda, Québec J9X 293 Telephone: 819-763-3484 Email: [mailto:archives.rouyn@banq.qc.ca archives.rouyn@banq.qc.ca]


 * Bas-Saint-Laurent et Gaspésie,Iles-de-la-Madeleine 337, rue Moreault Rimouski, Québec G5L 1P4 Telephone: 418-727-3500 Email: [mailto:archives.rimouski@banq.qc.ca archives.rimouski@banq.qc.ca]


 * Côte-Nord 700, boulevard Laure, Bureau 190 Sept-Iles, Québec G4R 1Y1 Telephone: 418-964-8434 Email: [mailto:archives.sept-iles@banq.qc.ca archives.sept-iles@banq.qc.ca]


 * Estrie 225, rue Frontenac, bureau 410 Sherbrooke, Québec J1H 1K1 Telephone: 819-820-3010 Email: [mailto:archives.sherbrooke@banq.qc.ca archives.sherbrooke@banq.qc.ca]


 * Gaspé 80, boulevard de Gaspé Gaspé, Québec G4X 1A9 Telephone: 418-727-3500 ext. 6573 Email: [mailto:archives.gaspe@banq.qc.ca archives.gaspe@banq.qc.ca]


 * Mauricie et Centre-du-Québec 225, rue des Forges, bureau 208 Trois-Rivières, Québec G9A 2G7 Telephone: 819-371-6015 Email: [mailto:archives.trois-rivieres@banq.qc.ca archives.trois-rivieres@banq.qc.ca]


 * Montréal 535 avenue Viger est Montréal, Québec H2L 2P3 Telephone: 514-873-1100 option 4 Email: [mailto:archives.montreal@banq.qc.ca archives.montreal@banq.qc.ca]


 * Outaouais 855, boulevard de la Gappe Gatineau, Québec J8T 8H9 Telephone: 819-568-8798 Email: [mailto:archives.gatineau@banq.qc.ca archives.gatineau@banq.qc.ca]


 * Québec Campus de l’Université Laval Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Casault 1055, avenue du Séminaire Case postale 10450, succursale Sainte-Foy Québec, Québec G1V 4N1 Telephone: 418-643-8904 Email: [mailto:archives.quebec@banq.qc.ca archives.quebec@banq.qc.ca]


 * Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean 930, rue Jacques-Cartier est, bureau C-103 Chicoutimi, Québec G7H 2A9 Telephone: 418-698-3516 Email: [mailto:archives.saguenay@banq.qc.ca archives.saguenay@banq.qc.ca]

Québec Genealogical Societies

 * Quebec Family History Society 15 Donegani Avenue, P.O. Box 715 Pointe-Claire - Dorval Postal Station Pointe-Claire, Québec H9R 4S8 Telephone: 514-695-1502 Email: [mailto: qfhs@bellnet.ca qfhs@bellnet.ca]

The leading English-language society, they sell maps and the full index to Quebec Crown land grants, sorted alphabetically by surname, available online to members only.


 * Société généalogique canadienne-française 3440, rue Davidson Montréal, Québec H1W 2Z5 Telephone: 514-527-1010 Email: [mailto: info@sgcf.com info@sgcf.com]

Both societies have many links to other resources.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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