Canadiana.org is a Canadian company in Ottawa which is preserving Canada's published history and is making it available online to everyone – free!
The part of Canadiana.org which interests me is the Heritage Project.
The Heritage Project is going to take some of Canada’s most popular archival collections, such as 60-million pages of FREE primary-source microfilm images from the 1600s to the mid-1900s.
I have read the list and I am impressed! What would have taken me years to find these documents in the different institution across the country, will be appearing online right in my own computer.
One of the first projects that they have done is the Heir and Devisee Commission of the Upper Canada (Ontario) Land Records.
The second commission met in York, and they were restricted to claims to land made by heirs, devisees, or assignees, not by the original nominees themselves
This commission was established by provincial statute in 1797, to clarify the titles to lands in Upper Canada.
There were actually two distinct periods which the commission covered. In the first commission, they heard from people who had originally received the land, their heirs, devisees, and assignees.
Records can include (although not always) affidavits, bonds, location certificates, powers of attorney, orders-in-council, copies of wills, mortgages, deeds of sale, and testimonial letters.
The digitized copies of the microfilm reels onsite appear in the same order as on the microfilm reels themselves. Remember, unfortunately, there is NO index by name.
Alternatively, the records are arranged by district, then by type of document, then in chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order.
