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 this Collection Tell Me?
The land grant records may contain the following information:


 * 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 images in the 1851-1874 collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select "Browse Images" on the initial search page ⇒ Select the appropriate "District/Town" category ⇒ Select the appropriate "Years and Registration or Volume Numbers" category which will take you to the images.

View images in the 1869-1930 collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select "Browse Images" on the initial search page ⇒ Select the appropriate "Record Type" category ⇒ Select the appropriate "Volume, Document Designation and Years" category which will take you to the images.

Search the collection by image, comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s land record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Try looking for your ancestor in additional records. FamilySearch has many digitized collections for British Columbia and even more by specific localities in the FamilySearch Catalog.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?
You can use the following to help you in your search:
 * The British Columbia, Crown Land Grants, 1868-1930 collection includes a separate index and a general index which can be used to find grants in the crown grants section of the collection. Some folders in the British Columbia, Crown Land Grants, 1851-1874 collection include indexes at the beginning of the volume.
 * Look in the Index folder for your ancestor. Once you have found your ancestor, write down the number next to their name and look further down the film that you are in. The number will help you find the land contract and the date the contract was signed. If a transaction was on the 7 October 1869, you would search in the 1871 Census of Canada to find their residence in that particular place. As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

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