Canada, New Brunswick, County Deed Registry Books - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada New Brunswick

What is in this Collection?
This collection includes deed records from 1780 to 1930. Most land records began in the late 1700s. They include land petitions, fiats and warrants, land grants and patents, and deeds. The federal homestead era in the Prairie Provinces lasted almost 60 years (1872 to 1930). Homestead record files cover those years.

This record includes images of indexes and deed records books for the province of New Brunswick.

Many people in Canada owned land, and a very high percentage of the population is named in land records. The availability of land attracted many immigrants to Canada and encouraged westward expansion. Land ownership was generally recorded in an area as soon as settlers began to arrive. These were often the first records available in an area. Although they may not be as easy to use, land records may give pedigree information for earlier times when other records were not kept.

The land record collection of the Provincial Archives contains microfilms and originals of many land transactions. Records include land petitions and old land deeds, primarily between 1784 and about 1850.

For an alphabetical list of records currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Collection Content
Land deeds are especially useful in finding family members. Some land deeds may even mention a relationship (such as 'mother' or 'brother-in-law') which can help you to locate missing family members. Additionally, land deed provide insight to where your ancestor lived, who his or her neighbors were, how much they paid for the land, or who they may have inherited the land from.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Deed records usually contain the following information:


 * Name of land purchaser and buyer
 * Date of transaction
 * Legal description of the property
 * Details of the transaction
 * Names of witnesses

How Do I Search the Collection?
To search this collection it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor purchasing land.
 * The approximate year the land was purchased.
 * The approximate place of where the land was purchased.

View Images in this 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 "County" ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Type" ⇒Select the appropriate "Year Range and Volume Number" 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 purchase, 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?

 * Use the residence and names of the land purchaser and seller to locate church and census records.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Some counties were subdivided or the boundaries may have changed. Consider searching neighboring counties as well since that courthouse may have been more convenient for the person.
 * Search for the land transactions of a couple and their children. The parents may have sold or given property to a son or daughter. Such transactions confirm relationships that might not be found in other records.
 * One deed does not usually give sufficient information about a couple and their children. A careful study of all deeds for the person or the family will yield a richer return of information.
 * For each parcel of land owned, you should obtain the two deeds documenting the transfer of ownership to the family or relative, or to someone else.
 * To find later generations, search the land records a few years before and after a person’s death. Your ancestor may have sold or given land to his or her heirs before death, or the heirs may have sold the land after the individual died. For daughters, the names of their husbands are often provided. For sons, the given names of their wives may be included. Heirs may have sold their interest in the land to another heir even though the record may not indicate this. Continue this process for identifying each succeeding generation.
 * Search for records of people in the county who shared a surname. These may have been the couple’s parents, uncles, or other relatives. Your ancestor may have been an heir who sold inherited land that had belonged to parents or grandparents.

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
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. 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. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation

Image Citation