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

Record Description
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.

For a list of records by document type and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

Record Content
The records may contain the following information:


 * Full name of grantor
 * Full name of grantee
 * Grant date
 * Grant number
 * Description of the land
 * Date of transaction

How to Use the Record
To begin your search, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Name of ancestor
 * Place of residence

Searching the Collection
To browse this collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the "Record Type" category ⇒ Select the "Volume, Document Designation and Years" category which will take you to the images.

Look at each image one by one comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

Using the Information
When you have found the information that you were looking for, you can use the following tactics to help you in your search:


 * Use the date of transaction to search for a census year. For example, if a transaction was on the 7 October 1869, you would search in the 1871 Census of Canada to find his residence in that particular place. Make sure you include the full name of your ancestor in the census search.

General Information About Records
Legal land descriptions in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and parts of British Columbia, are different from those in the eastern provinces.

There are indexes available in these collections. The indexes are in individual folders called Index and General Index. Find your ancestors name and look for the date and Crown Grant Number. This will help you find the record you are looking for in the collection.

Related Websites

 * Preemption and Homestead Guide
 * Provincial Crown Land descriptions

Related Wiki Articles

 * British Columbia Land and Property
 * Canada Land and Property Records
 * Canada Land Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection
“Argentina, Buenos Aires, Catholic Church Records, 1635-1981,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 28 February, 2012), La Plata &gt; San Ponciano &gt; Matrimonios 1884-1886 &gt; image 71 of 389 images, Artemio Avendano and Clementina Peralta, 1884; citing Parroquia de San Ponciano en la Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Matrimonios. San Ponciano, La Plata, Buenos Aires.