Canada, British Columbia, Crown Land Grants - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
These records describe the sale or transfer of specific parcels of Crown land from the provincial government to private persons and organizations. The grants are arranged in registration number order. There are separate index volumes which cover one or more annual volumes of land grant registers.

Land records often predate censuses, and they can help date an immigrant’s arrival and trace immigrant origins. Some types of land records provide birth places or places of last residence, while others provide the basic clues to continue the search in other records. Land records can also pinpoint places of residence in Canada.

The early applications for pre-emptions and Crown grants began in the mid-1800s and are stored in the British Columbia Information Management Services. They give the name of the grantor and grantee, a description of the land, the date of transaction, and sometimes names of relatives.

For a list of records by localities and dates currently published in the British Columbia, Crown Land Grant Records, 1851-1874 collection, follow the instructions below to browse this collection.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Land Grant
 * Full name of purchaser
 * Full name of purchasee
 * Date of grant
 * Grant number
 * Description of the land

How Do I Search This Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate year of the land purchase.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the 
 * 1) Select District/Town
 * 2) Select Years and Registration or Volume Numbers to view the images

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the 
 * 1) Select Record Type
 * 2) Select Volume, Document Designation and Years to view the images

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as birth, christening, census, court, marriage and death records
 * Use the information to find additional family members
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Consult the British Columbia Record Finder to find other records
 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name, especially French versions
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names
 * Search the indexes and records of British Columbia, Canada Genealogy
 * Search in the British Columbia Archives and Libraries
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in British Columbia.
 * Record Finder

British Columbia, Crown Land Grant Records, 1851-1874
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.


 * Collection Citation:"British Columbia, Crown Land Grant Records, 1851-1874." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Citing Department of Lands and Works. Ministry of Lands and Parks, Crown Land Registry, Victoria.

British Columbia, Crown Land Grants, 1869-1930
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

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