Ancaster, Ontario (1861 census)

Ancaster was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 5,043. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q488909. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.204°N, 80.027°W.

Population

In 1861, Ancaster had a population of 5,043: 2,542 male and 2,501 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 1861

In the 1861 census, Ancaster shared boundaries with:

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

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 201 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 5,043 total population, 2,542 males, 2,501 females, Female members of the family who are present: 2,261, Male members of the family who are present: 2,236, 1,692 single males, 1,635 single females, 798 married males, 771 married females, 459 males attending school, 402 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 306, Females present who are not members of the family: 240, 100 male births, 95 widowed females, 83 female births, 71 adult males unable to read or write, 52 widowed males, 39 adult females unable to read or write, 4 deaf and dumb males, 3 lunatic females, 2 deaf and dumb females, 2 persons at sea, 1 blind males, 1 lunatic males. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 360 females aged 5 to 10, 350 males aged 5 to 10, 309 single females aged 10 to 15, 300 single females aged 15 to 20, 280 single males aged 15 to 20, 259 married females aged 20 to 30, 253 single males aged 20 to 30, 251 married males aged 30 to 40, 239 single males aged 10 to 15, 213 married females aged 30 to 40, 180 single females aged 20 to 30, 174 married males aged 40 to 50, 165 married males aged 20 to 30, 138 married females aged 40 to 50, 111 married males aged 50 to 60, 97 females aged 1 to 2, 93 males aged 1 to 2, 90 males aged 2 to 3, 85 married females aged 50 to 60, 84 females age 3 to 4, 79 females aged 2 to 3, 79 males aged 3 to 4, 74 females aged 4 to 5, 72 males aged 4 to 5, 72 married males aged 60 to 70, 57 single males aged 30 to 40, 34 single females aged 30 to 40, 32 married females aged 60 to 70, 32 single males aged 40 to 50, 30 married females aged 15 to 20, 19 married males aged 70 to 80, 19 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 19 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 18 single males aged 50 to 60, 16 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 15 males of unknown age, 15 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 15 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 14 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 12 married females aged 70 to 80, 12 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 10 females of unknown age, 10 single females aged 50 to 60, 9 single males aged 60 to 70, 9 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 8 single females aged 60 to 70, 7 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 7 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 6 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 5 single females aged 40 to 50, 4 married males aged 80 to 90, 4 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 single males aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed males aged 90 to 100, 2 married females aged 80 to 90, 2 married males aged 15 to 20, 2 single females aged 70 to 80, 2 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 80 to 90. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 3,435 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 465 persons originating in Scotland, 429 persons originating in Ireland, 334 persons originating in England or Wales, 243 persons originating in the United States, 67 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 51 negroes or coloured persons, 31 male negroes or coloured persons, 27 French Canadians, 20 female negroes or coloured persons, 10 persons originating in France, 7 persons whose origin is unknown, 5 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 4 persons originating in New Brunswick, 4 persons originating in Newfoundland, 2 persons originating in Switzerland, 2 persons originating in the East Indies, 1 persons originating in all other places, 1 persons originating in Spain or Portugal, 1 persons originating in Sweden or Norway. 4 persons originating in Guernsey, Jersey, or other British islands. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $2,085,430 value farms (dollars), $194,128 value all livestock, 127,076 bushels of turnips, 111,781 pounds of homemade butter, 103,447 bushels of oats, $96,325 value horses aged over 3 years, $77,094 value farm implements in dollars, 72,250 bushels of winter wheat, 54,928 bushels of potatoes, 45,589 bushels of barley, 42,606 acres of land in farms, 42,025 bushels of peas, 30,828 bushels of carrots, 30,764 bushels of spring wheat, 29,312 acres of farmland under cultivation, 24,019 acres of farmland under crops, 23,502 gallons of cider, 16,504 pounds of wool produced on farms, 14,038 pounds of maple sugar, 13,294 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 12,148 bushels of buckwheat, $11,280 value garden and orchard crops, 10,832 bushels of corn, 10,799 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 7,542 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 5,850 tons of hay, 5,152 sheep, 5,020 acres of winter wheat, 4,795 acres of farmland in pasture, 3,038 acres of oats, 2,880 swine, 1,835 acres of peas, 1,751 acres of spring wheat, 1,718 milk cows, 1,532 acres of barley, 1,489 barrels of pork, 1,436 horses aged over 3 years, 1,315 pounds of flax or hemp, 1,283 calves and heifers, 505 acres of potatoes, 498 acres of farmland in gardens, 485 acres of buckwheat, 442 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 414 occupants of farms, 391 horses aged 3 years and under, 380 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 375 bushels of rye, 260 acres of turnips, 260 barrels of beef, 256 acres of corn, 224 bulls, oxen, or steers, 172 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 121 bushels of beans, 106 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 78 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 37 pounds of hops, 25 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 21 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 18 acres of rye, 13 acres of mangel wurtzel, 12 persons living on farms under 10 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $26,498 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 5,623 yards of flannel, 1,047 yards of fulled cloth, 405 carriages for pleasure, $80 value carriages for hire (dollars), 2 carriages for hire. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 45 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 24, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 21, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 3, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 3, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 80 to 90: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 90 to 100: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 80 to 90: 1, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 3 people connected to this place who were alive in 1861, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON104001 — 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 1861 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 (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/ancaster-on104001-1861/.