Trouble reading Ontario Land Records

[loo]

OK, so I have been down to the Ontario Archives, and I have a printout of the pages that pertain the the properties I am concerned about.
However, I don't have any idea how to make sense out of them.  (Also some of them are very difficult to read.)
These are the kind where the columns read, from the left:  Instrument Number, Instrument, Its Date, Date of Registry, Grantor, Grantee, Quantity of Land, Consideration or Amount of Mortgage, and Remarks.
I could really use some guidance with the abbreviations, the vast number of names and what they mean, why the size of the property listed doesn't always correspond with the size of the Lot, do these "Instrument Numbers" lead to anything more useful, etc etc. 
Is it true that some of the copy machines work better than others at the POA?  Would I do better to try another one? 
Bewildered am I!

[KarenM]

Hi Loo,

Instrument Numbers is the numbering system used to register documents, ie, deeds, mortgages, quit claims, wills, anything that pertains to a piece of land.   So, if you sell your house to me, your lawyer will draw up the deed which you will sign, the lawyers then meet at the Registry Office and exchange documents.  My lawyer, then goes to the counter and registers two copies of the deed, an "instrument number" is stamped onto my two deeds and then the person who works at the Registry Office will write in the abstract book, the new deed and my name with the number of the instrument in the instrument coloumn.  I get one copy of the deed and the Registry Office gets the second copy, they then fold it up and file it away, in numerical order down in a vault. 

Because I don't have millions of dollars, I need to register a mortgage against the title of the property, so after the deeds have been registered, my mortgage will be registered and the same thing happens, the bank gets a copy and the Registry Office gets a copy.  The Registry Office will write in the abstract book, my mortgage with say Royal Bank and the amount that I morgaged the house for.

Does that make any sense so far   

Karen

[KarenM]

 why the size of the property listed doesn't always correspond with the size of the Lot

 

Think of a big grid, most areas started off on a grid system.   Concessions run North and South and Lines run East and West.   When a person rec'd the property from "the Crown" it was 100 acres.  So, lets say you have 100 acres at Lot 4, Concession 2.  You want to sell me 25 acres out of your 100, so a survey is done severing (taking away) the 25 acres.  I now have "part of lot 4, Concession 2" and title is registered to me by way of a deed.  If you want to get rid of another 20 acres, the legal description will change again to maybe "part of the east 1/2 of lot 4, Concession 2". 

Karen

[KarenM]

do these "Instrument Numbers" lead to anything more useful, etc etc. 

Yes, if you die and own property, hopefully you have a will, you executors may have to sell your land, therefore your will, Letters Probate or Letters of Administration will be registered on title.  So, it is registered and given an instrument number and the number put in the book and then a copy is filed away in the vault. 

You can also get copies of the deed, mortgage, anything that was registered on title, they are kindof neat to have as they have original signatures on them.

Karen

[KarenM]

the vast number of names

 

It's just a running list of everyone who has held title on that land.  It starts from the Crown and goes right up to today.  If you were to buy a property, a lawyer must certify title to you and to the mortgage company, they do what is called a 40 year search.  The lawyer (or his secretary  ) attends the Registry Office and will pull every instrument number for the past 40 years on that property and make sure that everything has been done properly on the land.  Technically, you should be able to take an original survey and map out all the transactions on that lot by reading the deeds of title.  Sometimes a mortgage may have been paid off, but a discharge of mortgage was never registered, therefore it can be 20 years ago, but none the less a discharge of mortage even 20 years old has to be registered.


Grantor - Seller
Grantee - Buyer
Mortgagor - is the bank or anyone who has lent money
Mortagee - the person who has to pay it back

I hope I've explained some of your questions 


Karen

[loo]

This is a good start, Karen.  Thank you for your patience.
Thep age I am looking at is such a tangled web, that it's hard to believe that so many people had an interest of some sort in this measly 100 acres!  If these are all mortgages, then there were an awful lot of them.  The first person seems to have only had about 20 acres, or something like that, but later I think he had the whole thing, or at least half of it, but I can't figure out where, as there are so many numbers, and they don't seem to add up anywhere.

I'd like to know how I would access all these details:  "You can also get copies of the deed, mortgage, anything that was registered on title, they are kind of neat to have as they have original signatures on them."  When I pressed the archivist about these numbers in the left hand column, he didn't seem to have any idea what they were for.  I said to him that they must lead to some other place, as they are not in consecutive order, but he didn't seem to know what to do next.  Perhaps if I could see these documents, then the one I have in my hand would make more sense to me.

What does grantor/grantee mean?

[KarenM]

Where is the property located?  What County?

Karen

[loo]

It's Ontario County.

[KarenM]

Ok, so Ontario County is now Durham County.  The Land Registry Office is in Whitby.  I would call them and ask if they have the instrument numbers on microfilm there, technically they should. 

Like everything, the registry system and land titles system has gone electronic.  When I was still working, we did it the old fashion way, but they starting to transfer all the property information onto a computer system.  When they were done with the books of title they were throwing them out  , a group of genealogists thank fully stepped in a said "no way".  The group was called APOLROD.  If you've ever seen that show Ancestors in the Attic, Fawne Stratford-Devai was instrumental in having these books saved.  She has written a few books on the Land System of Ontario.

Karen