Land Records

Yarmouth County Land Records begin with the arrival of the first permanent English settlers, in 1761. In that year several families settled at Chebogue and Milton, in Yarmouth Township, and at Argyle and Pubnico, in Argyle Township. During the early years of settlement, all of what now forms the Counties of Yarmouth, Shelburne, and Queens was one large county called Queens County. After the arrival of 10,000 Loyalists at Shelburne in 1783, the government at Halifax decided to sub-divide this area into two counties. In 1784 the County of Shelburne was formed, consisting of present day Shelburne and Yarmouth Counties. Finally, in 1836 Yarmouth County was formed.

Various townships existed within the above listed counties. The boundaries of these townships did not necessarily change when new counties were formed. Yarmouth and Argyle Townships existed first in Queens County, then in Shelburne (1784-1835), and finally in Yarmouth County. Because of the location of the “county seat,” some of the earliest Yarmouth County Deeds will be found recorded at the Registry of Deeds in Liverpool, Queens Co., NS. For the period 1784-1835 a number of early Yarmouth County Deeds are found recorded at the Shelburne County Registry of Deeds, Shelburne, NS.

A Registry of Deeds had been established at Yarmouth, NS as early as 1771, but for whatever reason a number of deeds continued to be registered at either Liverpool or Shelburne after this date.

ATCHA holds a brief description of most Yarmouth County Deeds recorded in both Liverpool and Shelburne. These descriptions will be found in the “Argyle Municipality Deeds Project”, compiled by Ann Sorensen and the late George Sorensen.

Deeds
Land Grants