Access the digitized microfilm reels on Héritage
This reference guide was created by Library and Archives Canada in 2013 to assist researchers in discovering this series.
About the records
Library and Archives Canada holds the records of the Upper Canada Sundries (RG 5 A1), 1766-1841. This series is part of the Civil Secretary’s Correspondence for Upper Canada and Canada West. It consists of letters, petitions, reports, returns and schedules, certificates, accounts, warrants, legal opinions, instructions and regulations, proclamations and other documents received by the Civil Secretary of Upper Canada, 1791-1841, together with copies of some documents of 1766-1809, made for reference purposes.
As every aspect of Ontario life was covered in the correspondence, there is much to offer for those interested in Ontario’s early history. There is also much material of genealogical interest: character references, land and settler petitions, family histories, licenses, pardons, requests for war losses compensation, etc.
For more information, consult Library and Archives Canada's description of the records.
How the records are arranged on the microfilm reels
The microfilm reels have been digitized and the images appear in the same order as on the microfilm reels. You can browse through the images as you would through a microfilm reel. The records, which are in manuscript, are currently not searchable by name.
The Finding Aid for these records has also been digitized and can be found on Reels C-9822 to C-9825.
List of content of microfilms
You can see the full list formatted as a web page by clicking here.
How to search the Land Books
Step 1
The Finding Aid (Reels C-9822 to C-9825) for these records has also been digitized and a basic level of searching can be carried out on them. (The finding aid is in typescript, and therefore is a bit more favourable to being “read” by a computer, aiding in keyword searching.) However, if you fail to find a name when searching this way, you may also wish to conduct your own “old-fashioned” way of searching—going through the finding aid page by page.
References to land petitions in the Upper Canada Sundries can be found in the Upper Canada Land Petitions database.
There is also a partial online nominal index available at uppercanadagenealogy.com/indexes.html
Step 2
Once you have found a reference of interest to you, consult the list of content of microfilms posted above. It allows you to identify on which reel you will find the pages of interest to you.
Finding Aid Tip
As this finding aid is quite voluminous, it was divided in parts and may have some gaps. If you find a record that you are interested in, note the author, recipient, content, date and the page numbers.
Other resources
Merriman, Brenda Dougall. Genealogy in Ontario: Searching the records, 4th ed. Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 2008.
Moorman, David. The first business of government: the land granting administration of Upper Canada.
Murphy, Sharon L. Researching Canadian Land Records, Heritage Book Series: Book HC22. Toronto: Heritage Productions, 2001.