Land Registry
Ottawa-Carleton Land Registry Office #5
161 Elgin Street, 4th Floor
Court House
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2K1
613 239-1319
The records for all of Ottawa (formerly Ottawa-Carleton, including Cumberland Township) are here.

Where have the land records gone?
APOLROD is the Association for the Preservation of Ontario Land Registry Documents. This site indicates the disposal/dispersal of the Ontario land registry office documents and provides a list of land registry offices.

Types of records in Ontario Land Registry Offices

Tracing properties in Ontario

Quebec Land Grants, 1763 - 1890

Ontario land records before 1792 are held in Quebec as today's Ontario was part of the Province of Quebec until 1792.The Quebec Family History Society (QFHS) has indexed the Quebec land grants for 1763 - 1890. They can be bought as an unbound set or as individual volumes (except IJ, UV, and YZ). See the QFHS publications page for information on ordering.

If you are looking for early records, you can also contact the Ontario Archives:
Archives of Ontario (AO)
77 Grenville St.
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9
416 327-1600

Note: Land records are organized by townships, concessions and lots. Early townships were divided into concessions. A BF concession refers to a broken front, i.e., an uneven piece of land along a river or other geographical feature. A Gore may be a leftover piece of land in a township after being surveyed; not as wide as a regular concession.

Reference materials

A guide to Ontario land registry records (1994)
Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto
ISBN 0-7779-0184-6

Anglo-Celtic Roots (2002)
"The Use of Land Registry Records for Genealogical Purposes" (part 1) in Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 132 - 135
Terry Brown and Bob Grainger
ISSN 1201-3702
Consult at: BIFHSGO Library

Anglo-Celtic Roots (2003)
"The Use of Land Registry Records for Genealogical Purposes" (part 2) in Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 29 - 31
Terry Brown and Bob Grainger
ISSN 1201-3702
Consult at: BIFHSGO Library

Canada before Confederation: a study in historical geography (1991)
"The detailed settlement pattern", in Chapter 4 - Ontario; pp. 123 - 130.
R. Cole Harris and John Warkentin, editors
Carleton University Press Inc., Ottawa
ISBN 0-88629-137-2

Index to Upper Canada land books
Susan Smart, editor
Vol. 1 - February 1787 to December 1797 (2005); ISBN 0-7779-2147-2
Vol. 2 - January 1798 to December 1805 (2004); ISBN 0-7779-2140-5
Vol. 3 - January 1806 to December 1816 (2001); ISBN 0-8020-7839-7
Vol. 4 - January 1817 to December 1820 (2001); ISBN 0-7779-2118-9
Vol. 5 - January 1821 to December 1826 (?); ISBN 0-7779-2117-0
Vol. 6 - January 1827 to December 1832 (2002); ISBN 0-7779-2126-X
Vol. 7 - January 1833 to December 1835 (2003); ISBN 0-7779-2132-4
Vol. 8 - January 1836 to December 1838 (2003); ISBN 0-7779-2137-5
Vol. 9 - January 1839 to February 1841 (2004); ISBN 0-7779-2139-1
Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto

Land Patent Holders: Goulbourn Township and Village of Richmond (2001)
Jim Stanzell
Ottawa Branch publication # 01-03
ISBN 0-7779-1516-2

Married women and property law in Victorian Ontario (1997)
Lori Chambers
The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, Toronto
ISBN 0-8020-7839-7 (paper)

Land records in British Parliamentary Papers

Land records from British Parliamentary Papers, 1837 XLII, page 549 - Upper Canada: Papers Relating to Sir F.B. Head and Sale of Land.
This is a work in progress by Marjorie P. Kohli, so it's worthwhile to check back every so often. Names are listed by first letter of surname, but not in alphabetical order after that. Spellings of place names can vary, e.g., Goulbourn can appear as Goulborn or Goulbarn, but should be recognizable nevertheless.

Marlborough Township land assessments

1820s (.PDF file)

1830s (.PDF file)

1840s (.PDF file)

1850s (.PDF file)

1860s (.PDF file)

1870s (.PDF file)

1880s (.PDF file)
For more information, see the Alberta Family Histories Society - Land Assessments page.