HGIS Canada › Ontario › Colchester › 1861
Year: 1861  |  Province: Ontario  |  Wikidata: Q5142112

Colchester, Ontario (1861 census)

Colchester was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 2,656. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q5142112. The administrative centroid was at approximately 42.084°N, 82.900°W.

Population

In 1861, Colchester had a population of 2,656: 1,376 male and 1,280 female residents.

Population trajectory across census years

YearPopulation
18511,870
18612,656
18712,920

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, Colchester shared boundaries with:

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 185 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 7 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 2,656 total population, 1,376 males, 1,280 females, Male members of the family who are present: 1,262, Female members of the family who are present: 1,209, 936 single males, 906 single females, 419 married males, 331 married females, 259 females attending school, 239 males attending school, 118 adult males unable to read or write, Males present who are not members of the family: 114, 85 adult females unable to read or write, Females present who are not members of the family: 71, 61 female births, 61 male births, 43 widowed females, 21 widowed males, 3 blind males, 2 deaf and dumb males, 2 lunatic females, 1 deaf and dumb females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 197 females aged 5 to 10, 182 males aged 5 to 10, 169 single males aged 10 to 15, 158 single females aged 10 to 15, 145 single males aged 15 to 20, 144 single females aged 15 to 20, 107 single males aged 20 to 30, 99 married females aged 30 to 40, 98 married males aged 30 to 40, 97 married males aged 40 to 50, 97 single females aged 20 to 30, 96 married females aged 20 to 30, 80 married males aged 20 to 30, 74 married males aged 50 to 60, 70 married females aged 40 to 50, 53 males aged 2 to 3, 53 males aged 4 to 5, 48 females aged 4 to 5, 48 married males aged 60 to 70, 45 females aged 1 to 2, 42 males aged 1 to 2, 41 females age 3 to 4, 41 females aged 2 to 3, 40 males aged 3 to 4, 39 married females aged 50 to 60, 36 single males aged 30 to 40, 33 single females aged 30 to 40, 21 married males aged 70 to 80, 21 single males aged 40 to 50, 18 married females aged 60 to 70, 18 single females aged 40 to 50, 12 single males aged 50 to 60, 11 single females aged 60 to 70, 10 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 10 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 9 single females aged 50 to 60, 9 single males aged 60 to 70, 8 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 5 married females aged 15 to 20, 5 single males aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 5 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 5 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 4 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 4 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 3 married females aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 2 single females aged 70 to 80, 2 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 2 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 1 married females aged 80 to 90, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 80 to 90, 1 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 1,459 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 894 persons originating in the United States, 728 negroes or coloured persons, 396 male negroes or coloured persons, 332 female negroes or coloured persons, 103 French Canadians, 64 persons originating in Scotland, 61 persons originating in England or Wales, 50 persons originating in Ireland, 18 Indigenous persons, 10 Indigenous males, 8 Indigenous females, 7 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 7 persons originating in New Brunswick, 7 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 1 persons originating in Spain or Portugal, 1 persons originating in the West Indies, 1 persons whose origin is unknown. (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 $496,764 value farms (dollars), $94,474 value all livestock, 45,907 bushels of corn, $40,346 value horses aged over 3 years, 38,980 pounds of homemade butter, 26,177 bushels of winter wheat, 25,448 bushels of potatoes, 25,195 acres of land in farms, 24,450 bushels of oats, 17,629 bushels of turnips, $16,123 value farm implements in dollars, 14,918 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 11,903 gallons of cider, 10,277 acres of farmland under cultivation, 10,162 bushels of peas, 6,953 pounds of wool produced on farms, 6,799 acres of farmland under crops, 5,980 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 4,624 bushels of spring wheat, $3,911 value garden and orchard crops, 3,457 swine, 3,174 bushels of buckwheat, 3,092 acres of farmland in pasture, 2,218 bushels of rye, 2,180 sheep, 1,765 acres of corn, 1,615 pounds of maple sugar, 1,464 acres of winter wheat, 1,436 tons of hay, 1,121 calves and heifers, 1,114 barrels of pork, 789 milk cows, 726 acres of oats, 679 horses aged over 3 years, 615 acres of peas, 386 acres of farmland in gardens, 378 acres of spring wheat, 367 pounds of flax or hemp, 328 horses aged 3 years and under, 326 occupants of farms, 227 acres of potatoes, 199 bushels of beans, 195 acres of buckwheat, 176 acres of rye, 157 bulls, oxen, or steers, 156 bushels of barley, 101 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 99 barrels of beef, 93 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 61 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 55 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 47 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 28 acres of turnips, 25 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 25 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 18 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 12 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 7 acres of barley, 7 bushels of carrots, 1 acres of mangel wurtzel. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $6,525 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 4,357 yards of flannel, 395 yards of fulled cloth, 174 carriages for pleasure. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Fisheries (1861). This community's record includes 114 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 females of all ages: 17, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 13, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 6, 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 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 1, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 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, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Identifiers

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). "Colchester, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/colchester-on071003-1861/.