Ancaster, Ontario (1851 census)

Ancaster was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 4,653. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q488909. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.204°N, 80.027°W.

Population

In 1851, Ancaster had a population of 4,653: 2,406 male and 2,247 female residents.

Population trajectory across census years

Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1851

In the 1851 census, Ancaster shared boundaries with:

• Barton
• Beverley
• Brantford
• Dumfries, South
• Dundas, Town of
• Flamboro, West
• Glanford
• Onondag
• Seneca

Full census record, 1851

The 1851 census recorded 186 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 4,653 total population, 2,406 males, 2,247 females, Female members of the family who are present: 2,031, Male members of the family who are present: 2,027, 1,625 single males, 1,460 single females, 774 families, 738 married males, 702 married females, 380 males attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 379, 322 females attending school, Females present who are not members of the family: 216, 90 male births, 85 widowed females, 72 female births, 43 widowed males, Female members of the family who are absent: 8, Male members of the family who are present: 4, 2 deaf and dumb females, 2 lunatic males, 1 blind females, 1 lunatic females. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 328 males aged 5 to 10, 327 females aged 5 to 10, 301 single males aged 10 to 15, 298 single males aged 20 to 30, 290 single females aged 10 to 15, 278 single males aged 15 to 20, 276 single females aged 15 to 20, 240 married females aged 20 to 30, 219 married males aged 30 to 40, 194 married females aged 30 to 40, 178 married males aged 20 to 30, 150 married males aged 40 to 50, 146 single females aged 20 to 30, 139 married females aged 40 to 50, 125 married males aged 50 to 60, 80 males under age 1, 79 males aged 1 to 2, 78 females aged 1 to 2, 77 females aged 4 to 5, 75 females age 3 to 4, 75 females under age 1, 72 married females aged 50 to 60, 71 females aged 2 to 3, 56 males aged 2 to 3, 55 males aged 3 to 4, 54 males aged 4 to 5, 48 married males aged 60 to 70, 42 single males aged 30 to 40, 37 single males aged 40 to 50, 27 married females aged 15 to 20, 21 single females aged 30 to 40, 21 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 19 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 16 married females aged 60 to 70, 14 married males aged 70 to 80, 14 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 12 married females aged 70 to 80, 12 single females aged 40 to 50, 11 single males aged 50 to 60, 10 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 10 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 10 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 10 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 8 single females aged 70 to 80, 7 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 7 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 6 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 5 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 4 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 3 married males aged 80 to 90, 3 single females aged 50 to 60, 3 single males aged 60 to 70, 3 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 1 males of unknown age, 1 married females aged 80 to 90, 1 married females aged 90 to 100, 1 married males aged 15 to 20, 1 single females aged 60 to 70, 1 single males aged 70 to 80, 1 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 1 widowed males aged 20 to 30. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 2,744 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 777 persons originating in Ireland, 458 persons originating in Scotland, 329 persons originating in England or Wales, 320 persons originating in the United States, 20 male negroes or coloured persons, 11 female negroes or coloured persons, 10 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 6 persons originating in New Brunswick, 3 French Canadians, 3 persons originating in France, 2 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 1 persons originating in Newfoundland. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)

Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 48,460 pounds of homemade butter, 44,754 bushels of oats, 35,178 bushels of wheat, 20,137 acres of land in farms, 10,410 acres of farmland under cultivation, 9,727 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 7,050 pounds of wool produced on farms, 6,561 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 5,863 bushels of buckwheat, 5,733 acres of farmland in pasture, 5,385 bushels of potatoes, 5,134 bushels of turnips, 4,822 bushels of corn, 4,502 acres of farmland under crops, 3,437 bushels of barley, 2,765 pounds of maple sugar, 2,658 tons of hay, 2,480 sheep, 2,195 acres of wheat, 2,045 bushels of peas, 1,307 acres of oats, 1,184 gallons of cider, 1,079 swine, 823 bulls, oxen, or steers, 769 milk cows, 743 barrels of pork, 633 horses, 520 barrels of beef, 406 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 401 calves and heifers, 380 bushels of rye, 293 acres of buckwheat, 210 acres of peas, 207 occupants of farms, 193 acres of corn, 175 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 146 bushels of beans, 137 acres of barley, 93 bushels of carrots, 91 acres of potatoes, 78 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 73 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 44 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 39 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 39 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 26 acres of rye, 24 acres of turnips, 7 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 5 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 3,224 yards of flannel, $3,175 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 769 yards of fulled cloth, 33 employees in saw mills, 9 saw mills, 9 saw mills returning capital, 8 saw mills reporting annual production, 6 saw mills powered by water, 3 saw mills powered by steam, 1 saw mills not reporting. 4,342,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.)

Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 55 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 29, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 26, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 9, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 8, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 4 to 5: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 80 to 90: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 2 people connected to this place who were alive in 1851, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON041004 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON153001 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q488909
• Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancaster,_Ontario

Sources

Census tabulations from the 1851 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). "Ancaster, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/ancaster-on041004-1851/.