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

Canada British Columbia

What is in the 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, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
The land grant records usually include:


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

How Do I Search the 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
For the Years 1851-1874 visit the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select District/Town
 * 2) Select Years and Registration or Volume Numbers

For the Years 1869-1930 visit the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Record Type
 * 2) Select Volume, Document Designation and Years

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.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.



I Found Who 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 Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * 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. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of British Columbia, Canada Genealogy.
 * Search in the British Columbia Archives and Libraries.
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Image Citations

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