Brantford, Ontario (1861 census)

Brantford was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 6,904. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q115260922. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.130°N, 80.269°W.

Population

In 1861, Brantford had a population of 6,904: 3,515 male and 3,389 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).

Boundary continuity (non-identical overlaps)

Spatial polygon overlaps with adjacent census years where the boundary shifted enough that the SAME_AS chain didn't merge them. These show where the territory came from and went to even when it isn't tracked as the same persistent place.

Later boundary forms

• In a later year, this CSD contained Brantford, W-O, 1871 (57.1% of this CSD's polygon).
• In a later year, this CSD contained Brantford, E, 1871 (42.9% of this CSD's polygon).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1861

In the 1861 census, Brantford shared boundaries with:

• Ancaster
• Brantford, Town of
• Burford
• Dumfries, South
• Oakland
• Onondag
• Townsend
• Tuscarora

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 180 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 7 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 6,904 total population, 3,515 males, 3,389 females, Male members of the family who are present: 3,306, Female members of the family who are present: 3,237, 2,413 single males, 2,223 single females, 1,039 married males, 1,023 married females, 615 males attending school, 560 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 209, Females present who are not members of the family: 152, 143 widowed females, 114 female births, 101 male births, 73 adult females unable to read or write, 65 adult males unable to read or write, 63 widowed males, 1 blind females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 475 single males aged 20 to 30, 460 single males aged 15 to 20, 434 single females aged 10 to 15, 432 single males aged 10 to 15, 430 single females aged 15 to 20, 387 females aged 5 to 10, 383 males aged 5 to 10, 332 single females aged 20 to 30, 304 married males aged 30 to 40, 298 married females aged 30 to 40, 268 married females aged 20 to 30, 263 married males aged 40 to 50, 208 married females aged 40 to 50, 165 married males aged 50 to 60, 158 married males aged 20 to 30, 135 married females aged 50 to 60, 130 males aged 2 to 3, 121 females aged 2 to 3, 118 married males aged 60 to 70, 117 females aged 1 to 2, 109 females aged 4 to 5, 101 males aged 4 to 5, 95 females age 3 to 4, 89 males aged 1 to 2, 88 males aged 3 to 4, 84 single males aged 30 to 40, 76 married females aged 60 to 70, 45 single females aged 30 to 40, 42 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 38 single males aged 40 to 50, 28 married males aged 70 to 80, 25 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 23 married females aged 70 to 80, 21 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 19 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 18 single females aged 40 to 50, 17 single males aged 50 to 60, 17 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 17 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 15 married females aged 15 to 20, 15 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 11 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 10 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 10 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 9 single females aged 70 to 80, 9 single males aged 60 to 70, 8 single females aged 50 to 60, 6 single males aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 6 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 4 single females aged 60 to 70, 3 married males aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 1 widowed females aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 4,216 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 1,114 persons originating in England or Wales, 576 persons originating in Ireland, 514 persons originating in Scotland, 334 persons originating in the United States, 73 persons originating in New Brunswick, 55 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 38 Indigenous persons, 23 Indigenous males, 15 Indigenous females, 13 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 6 persons whose origin is unknown, 2 persons originating in Sweden or Norway, 2 persons originating in the West Indies, 1 persons originating in Italy or Greece, 1 persons originating in Newfoundland. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded 1 persons originating in Russia or Poland — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $3,048,482 value farms (dollars), $376,292 value all livestock, 232,484 pounds of homemade butter, 211,886 bushels of winter wheat, 190,436 bushels of turnips, $157,032 value horses aged over 3 years, $136,914 value farm implements in dollars, 115,791 bushels of potatoes, 107,362 bushels of oats, 94,685 bushels of peas, 73,565 pounds of hops, 64,555 acres of land in farms, 64,486 bushels of spring wheat, 53,358 acres of farmland under cultivation, 43,271 acres of farmland under crops, 42,150 bushels of corn, 36,980 pounds of wool produced on farms, 32,990 bushels of barley, 20,574 acres of winter wheat, $20,425 value garden and orchard crops, 17,236 pounds of maple sugar, 16,981 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 16,506 gallons of cider, 11,198 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 11,079 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 10,472 sheep, 8,854 acres of farmland in pasture, 8,827 bushels of buckwheat, 7,455 tons of hay, 4,971 swine, 4,017 acres of oats, 3,832 bushels of rye, 3,609 acres of spring wheat, 2,942 acres of peas, 2,795 milk cows, 2,460 calves and heifers, 2,422 barrels of pork, 2,219 horses aged over 3 years, 2,183 pounds of flax or hemp, 1,232 acres of farmland in gardens, 1,223 acres of barley, 1,121 acres of corn, 1,081 acres of potatoes, 765 bushels of carrots, 671 occupants of farms, 655 horses aged 3 years and under, 596 barrels of beef, 500 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 476 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 474 acres of turnips, 419 acres of buckwheat, 331 bulls, oxen, or steers, 290 acres of rye, 263 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 230 bushels of beans, 184 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 134 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 57 acres of mangel wurtzel, 32 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 31 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 27 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $35,277 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 6,391 yards of flannel, 2,271 yards of fulled cloth, 555 carriages for pleasure, 10 yards of linen. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Fisheries (1861). This community's record includes 7 barrels of salted fish sold. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 30 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 19, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 11, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 3, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 4 to 5: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 80 to 90: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 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 50 to 60: 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: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded Deaths in the past year among males aged 90 to 100: 1 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 5 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: ON065002 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON065002 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q115260922

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). "Brantford, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/brantford-on065002-1861/.