Dereham, Ontario (1851 census)
Dereham was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 3,644. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q115261273. The administrative centroid was at approximately 42.927°N, 80.812°W.
Population
In 1851, Dereham had a population of 3,644: 1,959 male and 1,685 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 3,644 |
| 1861 | 5,476 |
| 1871 | 5,838 |
| 1881 | 4,486 |
| 1891 | 4,025 |
| 1901 | 3,979 |
| 1911 | 3,836 |
| 1921 | 3,552 |
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, Dereham shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1851
The 1851 census recorded 193 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 3,644 total population, 1,959 males, Male members of the family who are present: 1,796, 1,685 females, Female members of the family who are present: 1,590, 1,335 single males, 1,116 single females, 783 families, 588 married males, 534 married females, 357 males attending school, 349 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 163, Females present who are not members of the family: 95, 77 male births, 62 female births, 36 widowed males, 35 widowed females, Male members of the family who are present: 29, Female members of the family who are absent: 14, 3 lunatic females, 3 lunatic males, 2 blind females, 2 blind males, 1 deaf and dumb males. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 279 males aged 5 to 10, 274 females aged 5 to 10, 235 single males aged 10 to 15, 223 single females aged 10 to 15, 206 married females aged 20 to 30, 202 single males aged 15 to 20, 201 single males aged 20 to 30, 190 married males aged 30 to 40, 188 single females aged 15 to 20, 160 married females aged 30 to 40, 144 married males aged 20 to 30, 132 married males aged 40 to 50, 90 married females aged 40 to 50, 83 males under age 1, 81 females aged 2 to 3, 79 males aged 3 to 4, 76 females under age 1, 76 married males aged 50 to 60, 71 males aged 1 to 2, 68 females aged 1 to 2, 67 single females aged 20 to 30, 64 males aged 2 to 3, 64 males aged 4 to 5, 56 females aged 4 to 5, 54 females age 3 to 4, 43 married females aged 50 to 60, 40 married males aged 60 to 70, 38 single males aged 30 to 40, 20 single females aged 30 to 40, 17 married females aged 60 to 70, 15 married females aged 15 to 20, 10 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 9 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 8 single males aged 40 to 50, 8 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 7 single males aged 50 to 60, 6 married males aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 6 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 5 single females aged 40 to 50, 5 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 4 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 4 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 4 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 4 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 3 married females aged 70 to 80, 3 single females aged 50 to 60, 2 males of unknown age, 2 single males aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 1 single females aged 70 to 80, 1 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 2,174 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 501 persons originating in the United States, 393 persons originating in England or Wales, 386 persons originating in Ireland, 98 persons originating in Scotland, 55 persons originating in New Brunswick, 11 French Canadians, 10 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 7 persons whose origin is unknown, 5 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 2 persons originating in France, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 1 persons originating in Russia, Prussia, or Poland — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 81,299 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 60,667 bushels of wheat, 48,893 bushels of oats, 48,402 pounds of maple sugar, 40,239 pounds of homemade butter, 38,717 acres of land in farms, 26,816 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 19,724 bushels of corn, 19,302 bushels of turnips, 11,901 acres of farmland under cultivation, 10,975 pounds of wool produced on farms, 10,315 bushels of peas, 9,024 acres of farmland under crops, 6,928 bushels of potatoes, 4,315 sheep, 3,677 acres of wheat, 2,985 swine, 2,699 acres of farmland in pasture, 2,632 tons of hay, 1,807 barrels of pork, 1,508 acres of oats, 1,491 milk cows, 1,313 bulls, oxen, or steers, 1,061 calves and heifers, 899 acres of peas, 797 bushels of barley, 695 horses, 520 bushels of buckwheat, 437 occupants of farms, 419 acres of corn, 243 barrels of beef, 211 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 178 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 158 acres of potatoes, 127 bushels of beans, 125 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 111 acres of turnips, 62 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 55 gallons of cider, 50 bushels of rye, 50 pounds of flax or hemp, 37 acres of barley, 35 acres of buckwheat, 27 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 25 pounds of tobacco, 23 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 8 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 4 acres of rye, 4 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 3 bushels of carrots. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)
Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes $5,500 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 1,823 yards of fulled cloth, 1,602 yards of flannel, 1,500 tanneries returning capital, $1,000 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 250 carding and fulling mills returning capital, 49 employees in saw mills, 45 yards of linen, 12 saw mills, 11 saw mills powered by water, 10 saw mills returning capital, 9 saw mills reporting annual production, 3 saw mills not reporting, 1 carding and fulling mills, 1 carding and fulling mills reporting, 1 grist mills, 1 grist mills not reporting, 1 grist mills powered by water, 1 grist mills returning capital, 1 saw mills powered by steam, 1 tanneries, 1 tanneries reporting. 3,600,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. $2,600 value leather produced in tanneries in the past year (pounds sterling). (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.)
Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 63 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 34, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 29, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 14, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 12, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 5, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 80 to 90: 2, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 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 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 females aged 90 to 100: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
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 1851, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.
| Name | Lifespan | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| George Tillson | 1782–1864 | died here |
| Joseph Van Norman | 1796–1888 | died here |
| Edwin Delevan Tillson | 1825–1902 | died here |
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON027006— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_ON134003_1891— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q115261273
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). "Dereham, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/dereham-on027006-1851/.