The Registrar General was established in 1868 under the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada, which was the precursor to the federal Department of the Interior. It kept the Great Seal of Canada, the Privy Seal of the Governor General, the Seal of the Administrator of Canada, and the Seal of the Registrar General of Canada, and registered all documents that might require the Great Seal or federal Crown registration. Until 1881 the Registrar General's duties included the maintenance of records produced in the land patenting process and the processing of land applications from institutions. This duty was then handed to the Department of the Interior's Lands Patent Branch. In 1883 all lands patent duties that fell under the auspices of the Dominion Lands Act (1872) were transferred from the Registrar General to the Lands Patent Branch. In 1966 the Registrar General became the Department of the Registrar General, a short-lived autonomous government department.
The Lands Patent Branch was originally established in 1881 to maintain the records produced in the land patenting process and to process land applications from institutions. It was originally administered from a central office in Ottawa, but an office was later opened in Winnipeg and local field staff assumed many of the lands patent duties. In 1883, the Lands Patent Branch took over the full functions of a land registry office in relation to federally-controlled western lands. Previously, many of these duties had been administered by the Office of the Registrar General of Canada, part of the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada. In 1928, the name of the agency was changed to Lands Patent Division. In 1930, the Lands Patent Division was dissolved when the provinces took over the responsibility for all unconveyed lands.
Published
Final
S 42.3006751
Textual records - Homestead file number: 3006751
This File part consists of federal Department of the Interior records related to homestead applications, land grants (letters patent), and/or land use enquiries that are associated with the person or organization (e.g. grantee, patentee) and the land location specified in the title of the record description.
Records are in good physical condition.
Last modified in M2A: 2018-06-26 by SEROTH.
Access restriction may apply to these records. Please consult reference archivist for assistance.
Use, publication and/or reproduction of records are subject to terms and conditions of the Copyright Act.
To consult the records, visit or contact the Saskatoon office.
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