land records
John Maughan (1800) land records
The 1837 Toronto & Home District Directory indicates John Maughan owned land in Lot 12, Concession 7 in the Township of Markham. A search of the land registry records for this geographic will hopefully provide extra information.
John Maughan's (1800) will was registered as GC14427 on 25-May-1882 in Toronto. Euphemia Maughan's (John's wife) will was registered as GC18894 on 26-July-1902 in Toronto.
Another online resource that has proved useful is the indexing project being done at McGill University to archive the information contained on County Atlases. These atlases, which are a pictorial representation of land ownership, provide similar information as an official census would. Visit the link to read more about the history of county atlases across Canada. John Maughan (1800) does not appear on the township of Markham atlas dated 1878, being replaced by James Robinson and William Stotts.
The search of the County Atlas database returned 3 Maughan's, one of particular interest due to his proximity to the Markham reference above: the 1878 atlas of Whitchurch Township in the County of York (now in the Regional Municipality of York), which neighbours Markham Township to the north, shows a William Maughan (brother / son of John?) as the owner of all 100 acres of Lot 16 Concession 7. This presents another avenue to follow up on. The second is a W. Maughan who appears on the 1897 atlas of Hibbert township in the county of Perth as the owner of Lot 25 Concession 4. The third is a Joseph Maughan (from England) who was a sheriff in Grey county for many years. He appears as an owner in the Town of Owen sound (settled in 1854) in the township of Derby on the atlas of that area dated 1880.
John Maughan (1835) land records
Research of the records in the Toronto Land Registry Office (formerly LRO 63, now LRO 80) indicates John Maughan's land ownership as follows:
Original geographic per Township of York original survey of Lot 8 Concession 1 From The Bay (FTB) was subdivided by Registered Plan 282 (registered 24-Sep-1867) prepared by "Gossager + Wadsworth" PLS’s. The title block of the plan includes the following further description: "shewing the subdivision of the property of the estate of William Small Esq. being part of the Berkley Estate". The plan creates a Mill Pond lot and 8 Parcels varying in acreage.
A deed was registered on 6-Apr-1881 as TY12481 from Daniel McMichael to John Maughan for all of Parcel 2 comprising slightly more than 30 acres. The abstracts for this plan are found in Volume 501A.
I have reviewed copies of some of the documents hoping to determine family members and vital statistics and still need to check the surrounding parcels of plan 282. Also I will review the abstracts of PLMID 1438 & PLE 515 to determine if / where the Maughan ‘house’ was. There are a number of deposits which may contain sketches of the lands prior to the registration of PLE 481, which seems to be the remainder of John’s land sold off for subdividing.
Reference in his will (GC29420 registered 14-Mar-1919) is specifically made to the "Wellington Street property" which the executors were to "fully consider the merits of disposing of, as there may be a future rise in value". I believe this refers to the property at 98 Wellington Place, which by the 1940's had been renamed Wellington Street West. I do not suppose the property at 28 Wellington Street East would have been in fact owned by John, however I will endeavour to discover this as time permits.
Interesting to note that John's wife Margaret is not mentioned in the will and therefore likely predeceased him.
Janet Stein Maughan and Euphemia Russell Stein Maughan, his older sisters, are dead by this time (1888 and 1899 respectively). His older brother Robert is not mentioned either, he may have not survived the voyage to Canada - only a review of the older census records might shed some light here. John's eldest two boys, Herbert J. Maughan and Charles F. Maughan, predeceased him and no mention is made of their "issue", leaving one to think they never married.
The bulk of the estate is split into four shares, 2 gong to daughter Minnie and 1 each to son John and son Walter. Harry's three boys are left sums of money (nothing for daughter-in-law Eleanor though, must have been on the outs) and no other mention is made of Harry.
Two other curiosities are found in the will: $200 is left to the 'Home for Incurables' should his estate realize the sum of $70,000 after the debts are paid and the probate is granted by the court on the condition that no portion of the estate's assets can be distributed to beneficiaries or creditors who are German, Austro-Hungarian, Turkish or Bulgarian subjects without the sanction of the Crown. It was, after all, WW1.
98 Wellington Place is part of Lot 13 in Section F of the Military Reserve Plan in the City of Toronto. Ownership records are detailed as follows:
OB611 - Grant - 14-Jan-1869 - to John Maughan Jr. Esq. (being the westerly 40' of the lot).
OB1269 - Mortgage - 17-Jul-1869 - to Western Assurance Company.
OB2749 - Grant - 11-Jul-1870 - to John Maughan Sr. Esq. (being the e 23' of the w 40').
GC14427 - Will - 25-May-1882 - John Maughan Sr. - executrixes, daughters Janet Stein Maughan and Euphemia Russell Stein Maughan.
SW3822 - Grant - 25-May-1882 - estate of John Maughan Sr. to John Maughan Jr.
OG10394 - Grant - 14-Mar-1891 - estate of Janet Stein Maughan to John Maughan Jr.
WF1018 - Grant - 9-Jun-1917 -
Harry Maughan (circa 1874) land records
A Power of Attorney was registered, with regard to Harry's personal affairs here, as GC21118 on 21-Dec-1907. This fits with his disappearance between 1905 and 1910. This indenture is handwritten (by what appears to be Walter Joseph Roland? or Boland?), dated and signed on the 14th of December 1907 and registered one week later. The document is difficult to read, however it does provide some useful bits of information. Harry identifies his occupation as an insurance agent, and he appoints Edward Roper Curzon Clarkson as his lawful attorney. He also identifies two properties specifically as being in his name at the time: his residence at 183 Garden Ave. and "the property known as number 295 King Street West in the City of Toronto being the property occupied by (the?) advertising novelty company...".
The impression the document leaves the reader is that of hasty planning, as though Harry knew for a while that he would be leaving (with whom / why?) and then at the last moment , probably following someone's advice, decided to get his affairs in order as he would likely not be returning. I will follow up on the leads provided here as time permits.
Alan Maughan (1896) land records
general information
Miscellaneous Maughan land records
Further searches in the General Register at the Toronto Land Registry Office have turned up the following:
John Maughan - Will - GC1718 - registered 28-July-1860 - brother ? cousin ? son ?
John Maughan - Appointment of Trustee - GC17226 - registered 31-Oct-1895
Nicholas Maughan - Will - GC18417 - registered 21-Jan-1901
Nicholas Maughan died 13-Dec-1900 and left various land holdings and securities to
his offspring, namely: John William Maughan, Charles Drummond Maughan, Mary
Emma (Maughan) Ellis [married John F. Ellis], Fidelia Jane (Maughan)
Armstrong, George Snider Maughan
#018776-05 (Victoria Co): James Edward MAUGHAN, 34, farmer, York, Monmouth, s/o Patrick MAUGHAN & Margaret WRIGHT, married Minnie SOMERVILLE, 25, Gwillumbury, Monmouth, d/o William SOMERVILLE & Christie SIBLEY, 6 Sept 1905 at Fenelon Falls.
Land Records in the Ontario are now mostly automated into the POLARIS database and original abstract books and documents are now more difficult to access. I recommend if you are looking for more information, to attend your local Land Registry Office and ask the staff how best to proceeed with your research.