Collection search - Land submissions to the Executive Council [textual record]
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Record information – Brief 1Land submissions to the Executive Council [textual record]
Hierarchical level:SeriesDate:1828-1867, predominant 1841-1867.Reference:R11250-16-4-E, RG1-L3Type of material:Textual materialFound in:Archives / Collections and FondsItem ID number:205336Link to this record
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Record information – Details Date(s):1828-1867, predominant 1841-1867.Place of creation:CanadaExtent:ca. 18.245 m of textual records.Language of material:EnglishScope and content:Series consists of the petitions and related records submitted to the Executive Council, sitting as a land committee in the performance of its land disposal functions. Notwithstanding the predominance of the system of land sales rather than grants, the "land committee" continued to deal with various petitions for grants and leases, requests for title deeds and reports from the Surveyor General or the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The
recommendations of the committee were entered in the land minute books of the Executive Council (see the Land Minute Books of the Executive Council series, elsewhere within this fonds) while the petitions and other documents submitted to the committee for its consideration were filed separately.
It is the latter records which make up the present series. Petitions and other documents submitted by applicants for land grants or leases were forwarded by the governor's Civil Secretary to the Executive Council and were filed there in one series with all other submissions to the land committee. A variety of certificates and other documentation submitted in support of individual requests, as well as reports by the Surveyor General or the Attorney General on technical and legal matters, and some lists of settlers by region, will be found filed with the petitions. The great majority of the records in this series date from the years 1841-1867, although in a small number of cases records which pre-date Union will be found here.
The filing system developed by the Clerk of Council for the records of the Province of Upper Canada was continued after 1841 in the united Province of Canada. However, although the system of numbering petitions and linking them to the related land minute books was continued, the Clerk in the Province of Canada did inaugurate a distinct numbering series within that system to identify petition bundles after 1841. Whereas in the Province of Upper Canada, the petition bundle numbering had involved an alpha-numeric coding A1 to A22, B1-B22, etc., the coding used in the Province of Canada entailed a separate series of nine numbered bundles for each letter of the alphabet (A1 to A9, B1 to B9, etc.).Finding aid:Textual records (Paper) The CAB RG 1 Shelf List (see RG 1, L3 section) is a typed volume-level description which provides bundle alpha-numeric reference, petition number range, inclusive dates and corresponding microfilm reel numbers. It provides an overview of the series. It shows changes in the filing of the I-J and U-V bundles and separation of Mc and M bundles. CAB RG 1 Shelf List (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) The finding aid is an alphabetical nominal card index serving both the land petitions and the land books of the Province of Canada (records found in this fonds) as well as both the land petitions and land books of the Province of Upper Canada (records found in the Records of the Executive Council Office of the Province of Upper Canada fonds). As such, the common designation "Upper Canada Land Index" is a misnomer since the index includes references not only to lands situated in Upper Canada but also to lands situated in the entire Province of Canada after 1841, including lands in Canada East. This finding aid is also available on microfilm. MSS1802 (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) Index entries are almost exclusively personal names. Petitions on behalf of groups were indexed, but not necessarily under modern headings. A few entries were made by names of Indian tribes, by place names (as for statistical reports on lands granted in a specific township) and by office titles (as for the Surveyor General). The cards provide only the bundle and petition number; researchers must consult the Shelf List to identify the number of the microfilm reel on which that petition will appear. MSS1802 (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) Searching for the petitions submitted by persons whose names might be spelled variously or misread can benefit from careful correlation of land minute book and land petition references. In the event that only a land minute book entry is found in the index (as when the corresponding petition was indexed under an alternate spelling), the petition can be identified and traced from the alpha-numeric reference in the margin of the land minute book. Thus, for example, in land minute book A (i.e., vol. 40, covering 1841-1842), the reference M 16 corresponds to bundle M 1 petition 16. According to the Shelf List, petition M 1/16 will be found in vol. 366, on microfilm reel C-2220. MSS1802 (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) Conversely, when the index identifies only a petition under one spelling of a surname, the corresponding land minute book entry can be traced by noting the date of reading in Council, which is given in the endorsement on the back or last page of the petition, and consulting the CAB RG 1 Shelf List (section L1) for the Land Minute Books of the Executive Council series to identify the appropriate land minute book. Note that faulty instructions to the typist resulted in index cards bearing the label "Land Index 18.. - 18.." in place of the term Land Book and the correct letter designation for the 1840s through 1860s. MSS1802 (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) Since the card index identifies the page reference for a Land Book or the alpha-numeric reference for a petition, copies of the CAB RG 1 Shelf Lists (L1 and L3 sections) were included as a preface to each microfilm reel when the index was microfilmed so that users may identify the corresponding microfilm reel numbers for the land minutes.The identification of the microfilm for these Land Books is easy to accomplish by using the date of the land minute books as the key when consulting the Shelf List. MSS1802 (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) The alphabetically-arranged nominal index cards which make up Finding Aid MSS1802 have been microfilmed (reels C-10810 to C-10836 and H-1976 to H-1978). The CAB RG 1 Shelf List (see RG 1, L3 section) includes a microfilm shelf list for these reels. This shelf list indicates the range of petitioner names appearing on each reel (e.g., reel C-10810: from Aaron (Mohawk Chief) to Baker, G. W.).When using the microfilm of the index, researchers should search under possible variant spellings of a surname, and watch for inconsistencies in the filing order of the cards. MSS1802 (90: Open)Textual records (Paper) The inter-relationships amongst the series in this fonds are such that a finding aid describing one series may also provide a degree of access to other series. Thus, those volumes of the annual indexes and registers of submissions in the State Submissions to the Executive Council series which relate to "land" provide a degree of access to the land submissions in the present series. Prior to the creation of the nominal card index (finding aid MSS1802) such registers would have been an important finding aid. However, the card index now exists as a more user-friendly finding aid. Also available on microfilm. Indexes and registers (90: Open)Additional information:Arrangement note:The arrangement of the Land Petitions preserves the original alpha-numeric reference assigned by the Clerk of the Executive Council. This alpha-numeric filing system, established first in the Province of Upper Canada in the late 1790s, is based on a close correlation between the petitions and the land minute books. The alpha-numeric references are based on the initial letter of the petitioner's surname, or corporate name (the "bundle letter") and the sequence in which the petition was presented to the land committee (the "petition number"). References were recorded in the margins of the land minute books and endorsed (with the date of presentation in Council) on the backs of the petitions. Petitions assigned the same letter were tied up together as a bundle, and the bundle was subsequently given a number corresponding to the land minute book in which the decisions on those petitions were recorded. The bundle numbers correlate with the land minute books in a fashion which permits tracing from the alpha-numeric designation recorded in the margins of the minutes to the petition filed under that designation; and the endorsements on the petition permit tracing from them to the relevant land minute book.
Following the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1841, the Clerk of the Executive Council of the Province of Canada continued the filing system developed in Upper Canada but created a new series of land minute books lettered A-I and bundles of land petitions numbered 1-9. However, since the finding aid which serves the present series also serves petitions in the equivalent series in the Records of the Executive Council Office of the Province of Upper Canada fonds, users must exercise caution not to confuse bundle letters and petition numbers relevant to the two separate groups of records.
The petition numbers reflect the order in which cases were considered and decided upon by the land committee. Documents submitted in support of a petition might be of significantly earlier date, but formed part of a file under the petition's alpha-numeric reference. When the dates of supporting documents are identified in the a CAB RG 1 Shelf List they create the illusion of a discrepancy between the petitions and the Land Books.
Within the series itself, each volume of petitions is prefaced by a list of petitioners. These lists were a means of access prior to the preparation of the card index which today forms the finding aid to the records. The notation "missing" in these lists serves to identify petitions which could not be located at the time the series was first prepared for microfilming. Evidence has been found to indicate that petitions were removed from the series and forwarded to other government offices when questions of land title arose. Tracing the "missing" petitions is rarely feasible. Some petitions were brought forward to support a case, as when a claimant resubmitted his application, and can be found elsewhere within the land petitions. Cross-references have been provided, such as that indicating that Daniel Babcock's 1840 petition B 22/131 (a petition which would have originally been submitted to the Executive Council of the province of Upper Canada) is filed with his 1841 petition, B 1/54. Similar cross-references identify maps and plans transferred to the Cartographic and Architectural Archives Section for secure storage.
Prior to the most recent intellectual re-arrangement exercise (undertaken in 2002-2003), the main body of records which now make up the present series was included within Record Group 1, series L3, a series which also included land submissions and related records from the Province of Upper Canada period. In the intellectual arrangement presented here now, the Upper Canada material has been separated from the records of the Province of Canada, the latter now forming the present series and the former a distinct series within the Records of the Executive Council of the Province of Upper Canada fonds. Effectively, this leaves the present series including the Canada portion of former RG 1, series L3.Citation/reference note:Suggestions on proper citation style for the records in this series are provided in the CAB RG 1 Shelf List (see RG 1, L3 section). In that the preservation of the original alpha-numeric designations for the petitions in this series precluded the use of page numbers, users should take special care in citing material when ordering copies, in order to avoid confusion. Recommended citation for copying order purposes is also provided in the Shelf List., To the extent to which land policies and practices developed in Upper Canada were continued after the Union of the Canadas, some of the secondary sources which focus on land disposition in Upper Canada remain a useful prologue to the post-1841 period. See, for example, Lillian F. Gates, Land Policies in Upper Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968), and Patricia Kennedy's Introduction to the Index to the Upper Canada Land Books - Volume 3 (January 1806 to December 1816) (Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 2001). The evolution of the office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands is discussed at length in J. E. Hodgetts, Pioneer Public Service, An Administrative History of the United Canadas (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1955), although this source has little to say about the role of the Executive Council in land disposition.Availability of other formats note:The records in this series are available on microfilm. Microfilming of all records formerly included within RG 1, series L3 was undertaken in 1962-1965, and re-filmed in 1991-92. Microfilmed copies are available on reels C-1615 to C-1617, C-1636 to C-1644, C-1732 to C-1740, C-1880 to C-1885, C-1891 to C-1893, C-2023 to C-2027, C-2036 to C-2041, C-2097 to C-2102, C-2105, C-2113 to C-2115, C-2121 to C-2123, C-2132 to C-2137, C-2141 to C-2142, C-2181 to C-2188, C-2219 to C-2221, C-2229 to C-2233, C-2482 to C-2484, C-2486 to C-2488, C-2733 to C-2737, C-2739 to C-2740, C-2748 to C-2750, C-2801 to C-2803, C-2821 to C-2830, C-2838 to C-2841, C-2949 to C-2950, C-2961 to C-2967, C-2981 to C-2982. For lists correlating volume numbers with microfilm reel numbers, see the finding aids cited elsewhere within this descriptive entry.
Microfilming of the card index to the above-noted records (finding aid MSS1802) was undertaken in 1981 and supplementary entries were filmed in 1991. The microfilm copies are available on reels C-10810 to C-10836 (1981 filming) and H-1976 to H-1978 (1991 supplementary filming). For lists correlating microfilm reel numbers with index information contained on each reel, see the finding aids cited elsewhere within this descriptive entry.Series title note:The series is also known as the "Upper Canada Land Petitions" (an unfortunate misnomer given the fact that they relate to lands in not only Upper Canada up to 1841 but also both Canada East and Canada West in the Province of Canada after Union).Related material:For minutes of the Executive Council's deliberations and decisions on land matters, see the Land Minute Books of the Executive Council series, elsewhere within this fonds. For various other land-related records maintained by the Clerk of Council, see the Office Records of the Clerk of the Executive Council series, found elsewhere within this fonds.
The land granting process was complex and involved many officials. Records relating to land are found in other fonds at the National Archives. For example, matters of policy are the focus of land-related records found in the Office of the Governor General of Canada fonds (R-178, formerly RG7). Matters of practice relating to individual cases are the focus of land-related records found in Canada East and Canada West portions of RG 4 (Records of the Civil and Provincial Secretaries, Quebec, Lower Canada and Canada East) and RG 5 (Records of the Civil and Provincial Secretaries, Upper Canada and Canada West). Operational records of the Surveyor
General and other officials, on the other hand, are found in the provincial archives of Ontario or Quebec.
Other related records concerning the land disposition process in the Province of Canada, created and/or accumulated in the Executive Council Office of that Province, have been preserved in other fonds because the National Archives has chosen to link such records to those other fonds, for reasons that have more to do with practicality than with provenance. Records created by the Heir and Devisee Commission, principally copies of the Reports of the Commissioners for the years 1841-1854, records which would have been submitted to the Executive Council of the Province of Canada, are found in the Records of the Heir and Devisee Commission Accumulated by the Executive Council series of the Records of the Executive Council Office of the Province of
Upper Canada fonds. Deeds for grants and leases of land, surrendered to or impounded by the Executive Council of the Province of Canada for a variety of reasons, as well as technical descriptions of unclaimed grants and leases, dating primarily from the 1840s and 1850s, are found in the Grants, Deeds, Leases and Licences of Occupation Unclaimed or Impounded in the Executive Council Office series of the Executive Council Office of the Province of Upper Canada fonds.
Further exceptions in the filing of land records are noteworthy. Questions of general land policy were not dealt with by the land committee, so the relevant documents will be found with the state submissions of the Province of Canada (for which see the State Submissions to the Executive Council series and the "Put By" Submissions to the Executive Council series, both elsewhere within this fonds). Indian land titles appear to have been considered more a matter of policy than of practice. Documents relating to Indian lands may also be found in the Indian and Inuit Affairs Program sous-fonds (R216, formerly RG 10), within the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development fonds.Container note(s):C-2114 : Copy number 5.
C-2114 : Copy number 6.
C-1868 : Copy number 4 - SP.
H-1976 : Finding aid
H-1977 : Finding aid
H-1978 : Finding aid
C-10810 : Finding aid
C-10811 : Finding aid
C-10812 : Finding aid
C-10813 : Finding aid
C-10814 : Finding aid
C-10815 : Finding aid
C-10816 : Finding aid
C-10817 : Finding aid
C-10818 : Finding aid
C-10819 : Finding aid
C-10820 : Finding aid
C-10821 : Finding aid
C-10822 : Finding aid
C-10823 : Finding aid
C-10824 : Finding aid
C-10825 : Finding aid
C-10826 : Finding aid
C-10827 : Finding aid
C-10828 : Finding aid
C-10829 : Finding aid
C-10830 : Finding aid
C-10831 : Finding aid
C-10832 : Finding aid
C-10833 : Finding aid
C-10834 : Finding aid
C-10835 : Finding aid
C-10836 : Finding aidSource:PrivateFormer archival reference no.:RG1-L3 -
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