New on Canadiana Heritage

Shown here are additions to Canadiana Heritage extracted since the start of the month:

Three digital microfilms for the Department of Indian Affairs, Headquarters central registry system : First series (C-8239 to C-8241),

Five for Nominal rolls and paylists for the Volunteer Militia of various date ranges from 1855 to 1916 (T-16767 to
T-16772),

Three identified only as Records of entry and other records (T-16597 to T-16599),

Seven Western Land Grants between 1907 and 1917 (C-6170, C-6207, C-6218, C-6229, C-6230, C-6429, C-6555).

The Land Grants are from the LAC collection Canada. Department of the Interior: Letters patent which contains
274 reels. According to LAC
“This collection consists of copies of (one page) Letters Patent issued on lands granted by the Department of the Interior and its predecessors from July 13, 1883, to February 28, 1950. The copies have been given individual folio numbers and are bound together into libers (books) which are numbered sequentially from 1 to 1039. These documents were issued on western homestead lands only when a Homestead Inspector confirmed that the conditions of residency, cultivation and construction, as required by the various Dominion Lands Acts, had been met by the homesteader.”

Suppose you were looking for the patent issued to George Schmaltz. who obtained land in Township Eight, Range Eight, West of the Fourth Meridian in the Province of Alberta.

Canadiana Heritage provides no way to find it short of scanning every microfilm, and it may not even be in their collection.

The LAC Collection Search is of no help. Instead, at LAC go to A to Z tools and guides, then to the last page and Western Land Grants (1870-1930). Searching Schmaltz gives 21 hits including 2 for George.

One hit has a map and the information it’s Folio: 482, Liber: 772, Microfilm Reel Number: C-6555, Item Number: 270127. Microfilm C-6555 is one newly added to the Heritage collection, described as including Liber 772, Folio 57 to Liber 773, Folio 190. BINGO! Now you just have to figure out where on the microfilm you find it.

It turns out the patent was issued on 19 December 1917.

The second George Schmaltz hit also has a map and Folio: 390, Liber: 600, Microfilm Reel Number: C-6412, Item Number: 270128. C-6412 isn’t in the Heritage collection.

This is an example of where LAC and Canadian Heritage both have good information but don’t play nicely together.

Ancestry has a collection Alberta, Canada, Homestead Records, 1870-1930 providing additional information.