Cow Bay, Nova Scotia (1881 census)
Cow Bay was a census subdivision in Nova Scotia, recorded in the 1881 Census of Canada with a population of 2,117. The administrative centroid was at approximately 46.100°N, 59.910°W.
Population
In 1881, Cow Bay had a population of 2,117: 1,105 male and 1,012 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1,986 |
| 1881 | 2,117 |
| 1891 | 2,104 |
Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1881
In the 1881 census, Cow Bay shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1881
The 1881 census recorded 47 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 5 categories.
Population & families (1881). This community's record includes 2,117 total population, 1,105 males, 1,012 females, 636 married persons, 378 families, 319 married males, 317 married females, 75 widowed persons, 63 widowed females, 12 widowed males. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Age structure (1881). This community's record includes 1,406 single persons under 18, 774 single males under 18, 632 single females under 18. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Buildings & housing (1881). This community's record includes 337 inhabited houses, 337 occupied houses, 30 uninhabited houses, 6 houses under construction. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Agriculture (1881). This community's record includes 21,501 bushels of potatoes, 6,125 bushels of oats, 997 bushels of turnips, 707 tons of hay, 506 acres of hay crops, 444 bushels of spring wheat, 370 bushels of barley, 158 acres of potatoes, 57 bushels of other root crops, 31 bushels of peas and beans, 22 acres of wheat, 15 bushels of buckwheat, 4 bushels of corn, 4 bushels of rye, 2 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T24.)
Fisheries (1881). This community's record includes 5,406 fathoms of fishing nets, 2,195 quintals of cod, 1,745 barrels of herring or alewives, 592 gallons of fish oil, 208 barrels of mackerel, 119 men on fishing boats, 98 quintals of haddock, hake, or pollock, 82 fishing boats, 17 barrels of salmon, 13 quintals of fascines fish, 7 men on fishing vessels, 2 shoremen, 1 barrels of halibut, 1 fishing vessels. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T27.) The 1881 enumerator also recorded 2 barrels of shad — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Residents in 1881
The 1881 census residents page for this Census Subdivision lists 2,117 individuals enumerated here, with name, age, sex, religion, ethnic origin, birthplace, and occupation. Source: TCP/Dillon 1881 Canadian Census deposit at Borealis.
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
NS006013— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_NS028007— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: not yet grounded. This page covers a place whose persistent identity has not yet been linked to a Wikidata entity. Identification is via TCP UID and spatial polygon only.
Sources
Census tabulations from the 1881 Census of Canada, transcribed and georeferenced by the Canadian Peoples / TCP project, hosted at the HGIS Lab, University of Saskatchewan. Persistent place identity computed from spatial-overlap chains across all available census years (1851–1921). Identity grounding to Wikidata performed via the HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph project's MCP-assisted disambiguation pipeline. See the About / Methodology page for the full data pipeline.
Cite this page
Clifford, J. (2026). "Cow Bay, Nova Scotia (1881 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/ns/cow-bay-ns006013-1881/.