Canada, British Columbia, Crown Land Pre-emption Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
These records include registers of pre-emptions, or purchased land that has not been fully surveyed. The registers summarize the information from the pre-emption certificates. The pre-emptions are listed in numerical order, with an alphabetical index at the back of each volume.

Many people in Canada owned land and thus 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. The registers 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 all those years.

The British Columbia Archives has a research guide about the pre-emption process used in Canada.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Land Records may contain the following information:


 * Name and age of landowner
 * Name of spouse
 * Names of children, heirs, relatives, and neighbors.
 * Place where landowner lived previously.
 * Occupation.

How Do I Search This Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The name of a relative or date of the event

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page then:
 * 1) Select "Place name"
 * 2) Select “Register Number, Volume Number 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.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as birth, christening, census, 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.
 * It may be useful to check out Saskatchewan Archives Board to see if there are other records that may be of interest to you.

I Can’t Find the Person 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 Catalog
 * FamilySearch has an extensive collection of British Columbia Records that can be found here.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.


 * Collection Citation:

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