Public Archives and Records Office
HOME /
|
About the Prince Edward Island Petition Index
The petitions in the Prince Edward Island Petition Index can be found in the Executive Council fonds (Record Group 5, Series 4) held by the Public Archives and Records Office. Most petitions include the name of the petitioner(s), date, and a description of the specific piece of land being requested. Some petitioners went into great detail regarding their circumstances and included information about their family background, occupation, personal history, and even their state of health, making the petitions a valuable source of genealogical information. For more information about how petitions can be used in genealogical research, please consult H. T. Holman’s article entitled “The Humble Petition of the Undersigned Most Respectfully Showeth. . .” (Island Magazine, No. 34, Fall/Winter 1993: 34-36).
While petitions found in the database date from 1780 to 1915, users should note that they do not represent a complete collection of petitions. In a few cases, extracts from the Executive Council Minutes in which a petition was discussed have also been included in the database when the original petition was not available. The fact that these specific items are not original petitions is clearly indicated in the “Note” field of the appropriate records.
|
Accessing the Original Petitions
|
|
Digitized images of the petitions can be accessed via the “Individual Results” page for each petition. The original petitions are also available for consultation at the Public Archives and Records Office. When searching the database, users are advised to make note of the year, file number, and name of the petitioner for any petitions they would like to consult.
|
Please Note
|
|
The information which appears in this database has been extracted from the original petitions. While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information in the database is accurate, some errors in transcription and data entry are inevitable. If you identify an error, please contact us so that we may make the necessary corrections.
|
|
Return to Prince Edward Island Petition Index Main Menu
This information has been taken from website "Public Archives and Records Office"