Melford, Nova Scotia (1881 census)
Melford was a census subdivision in Nova Scotia, recorded in the 1881 Census of Canada with a population of 1,700. The administrative centroid was at approximately 45.539°N, 61.372°W.
Population
In 1881, Melford had a population of 1,700: 871 male and 829 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1,765 |
| 1881 | 1,700 |
| 1891 | 1,497 |
| 1901 | 632 |
| 1911 | 533 |
| 1921 | 520 |
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, Melford shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1881
The 1881 census recorded 42 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 5 categories.
Population & families (1881). This community's record includes 1,700 total population, 871 males, 829 females, 488 married persons, 291 families, 245 married males, 243 married females, 69 widowed persons, 52 widowed females, 17 widowed males. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Age structure (1881). This community's record includes 1,143 single persons under 18, 609 single males under 18, 534 single females under 18. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Buildings & housing (1881). This community's record includes 290 inhabited houses, 290 occupied houses, 11 uninhabited houses. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Agriculture (1881). This community's record includes 15,630 bushels of potatoes, 1,519 bushels of oats, 1,307 tons of hay, 1,171 acres of hay crops, 1,078 bushels of turnips, 195 acres of potatoes, 139 bushels of barley, 68 bushels of spring wheat, 66 bushels of other root crops, 62 bushels of buckwheat, 21 bushels of peas and beans, 3 acres of wheat. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T24.)
Fisheries (1881). This community's record includes 25,426 fathoms of fishing nets, 3,359 barrels of herring or alewives, 2,794 barrels of mackerel, 373 quintals of cod, 325 quintals of haddock, hake, or pollock, 319 gallons of fish oil, 218 men on fishing boats, 169 fishing boats, 154 barrels of gaspareaux, 56 men on fishing vessels, 8 shoremen, 7 fishing vessels, 3 barrels of salmon, 1 barrels of eels. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T27.)
Residents in 1881
The 1881 census residents page for this Census Subdivision lists 1,700 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:
NS008014— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_NS010022_1901— 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). "Melford, Nova Scotia (1881 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/ns/melford-ns008014-1881/.