A new Library and Archives Canada
land petition database can help you find ancestors who lived in Lower Canada (where present-day Quebec is) between 1764 and 1841.
When New France became a British colony in 1763, the land-distribution system changed. New lands were now granted as part of townships instead of as seigneuries
(the term for land the Crown granted to landlords, who in turn leased it to settlers).
With the change, many settlers submitted land petitions to the governor. The Lower Canada Land Petitions database
indexes their petitions for grants or leases of land, as well as other administrative records. The site contains more than 95,000 references to individuals.
Search it by surname and given name. Try spelling variations and surname-only searches, since there’s no Soundex searching.
Some records are linked to digitized images, but in most cases, matches show a year, volume and page number of the original record, and a microfilm number. Use the information to request microfilm copies from the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec
(Quebec national archives
You can access the Canadian national archives' Lower Canada Land Petitions and other databases from the Canadian Genealogy Centre Web site