In the year 2000, local Land Registry Offices across Ontario, in an effort to save valuable space and after microfilming planned to destroy the original ca 1850 to 1955 registration documents. Interested historical groups came together as APPLROD in the hope of preserving the original historical documents. Agreement was reached and the original registration documents were placed with local historical associations, libraries and museums.

Over time, volunteers have extracted the pertinent information from them and entered it into a searchable database. This database allows researchers to search by names, townships, or property locations.

Searching by names can be helpful in cases where a researcher doesn’t know where an ancestor lived and therefore cannot search by the process normally used at Registry Offices. It also allows genealogists to track an early elusive family member whose life may have left no record other than when required to sign a family property transaction in a secondary capacity. A name search will determine all available documents and where they are stored.

The records of all townships in Lincoln County and Welland County (now the Regional Municipality of Niagara) are currently stored at sites where they will be available for the use of researchers. However to date, only some Townships have been entered into the database in entirety while others are still in the process of being indexed and will be added over time.