November 2021

We all know that the Upper Canada Land Petitions at Library and Archives Canada are the place to start researching your Loyalist ancestors. But I recently attended a Zoom meeting of Kingston Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society and discovered another source of Loyalist petitions.

The speaker, Jane MacNamara of Toronto, spoke on “Records of Migration and Settlement at the Archives of Ontario.” She spoke mostly about the Emigrant Office record sets, which may be of use in researching my Irish immigrants. However, Jane also mentioned the Petitions received by the Crown Lands Department for the 1827-1856 period. These are found at the Archives of Ontario (AO) in RG 1-54-2, in alphabetical volumes. They are on microfilm at AO and are also digitized at familysearch.org (FS). A good way to start at FS is to go to Search > Catalog > make sure “All” types selected > enter “Canada, Ontario” > Scroll down to “Canada, Ontario – Land and property Page 6 of 10 Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier, Vol. 40, No.5 – November 2021 (31)”. Click that link and scroll down to “Land Records, ca. 1792-1876. Author: Ontario Crown Lands department”. When you click that link, it expands to a 5-page list; go to page 2 and scroll past the listing of microfiche indexes until you see “Petitions.” The camera icon means you can view the digitized records online: just click it.

Items are arranged alphabetically on each film, and there is usually a divider page placed before the first page of a person’s documentation. Be certain to collect all pertinent pages.

What do land records 1827-1856 have to do with Loyalists? PLENTY! I selected the appropriate digitized film to contain Dulmage, and sure enough, some family members were there. Both Solomon Dulmage (c1800 – 1862) and Peter C. Dulmage (1816-1892), brothers of my 2nd-greatgrandfather Jonathan Dulmage (1814 – 1900) submitted petitions in 1850 for land as Sons of a UE Loyalist. Why they waited so long, I’m not sure. … was there a deadline suddenly and they finally decided to act? Their father Jacob Dulmage (?1768 – 1841) had obviously passed away, and therefore they had to include affidavits from others stating that they knew that Jacob had served in Jessup’s Rangers, had seen his discharge letter, etc. I haven’t yet determined if the petitions were successful and what land the men acquired, but I am surprised they were so late in time.

Jacob Dulmage was never on the original UE List, probably because he was not issued rations separately as he still lived with his parents upon discharge: he was only 14 at the time. I was told years ago that it might be problematic to submit a certification claim through Jacob as only a son of David Dulmage UEL, because there is no proof of his birth. However, since last year I found Jacob’s discharge paper signed by Edward Jessup at Library and Archives Canada, I’ve been planning to claim through Jacob. His sons’ claims for SUE land will certainly enhance my claim.