Ontario Land Grant Deed

I am fortunate enough to be the recipient of one of the original Land Grand deeds, granted to my great grandmother in 1877 for a parcel of land, 192 acres in Hagerman Township, Parry Sound District.

This would have been at a point in time that the government was trying to open up settlement in the more northerly reaches of the new province of Ontario.  I'm not sure I understand the thinking behind it, but many of my forefathers left the fertile, established farms of southern Ontario and headed off into the wild wilderness territory of the Muskokas and Georgian Bay.  Albeit the government was offering free land to the hardy souls with enough pioneering gumption to accept.  Perhaps they left behind farms, productive in crops, but encumbered by insurmountable debt.  Whatever the reason, north they came, to the rocky forestlands of Hagerman and Croft township.  Between logging, brickmaking and farming they were able to eek out an existance and etch their characters into the harsh environment they slowly conquered.

I tried to scan the most import features of the deed, although it is marked with leachings from other documents that lay with it over the decades.  I'm not sure why it was made out to my great grandmother and not my great grandfather, although, perhaps they each had 192 acres, and his deed was misplaced over time.



Outside of deed is dated 1883 with her married name





This is the seal, I'm not sure about the blue paper over it, but I have always just left it intact.



Inside, note date 1877, and maiden name

 I believe these are the building that were erected on said piece of property. If this correct, this would have been the house, my father was born in and spent the formative years of his life in.

And that is all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.