Elderslie, Ontario (1861 census)

Elderslie was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 1,774. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q115261381. The administrative centroid was at approximately 44.337°N, 81.184°W.

Population

In 1861, Elderslie had a population of 1,774: 947 male and 827 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, Elderslie shared boundaries with:

• Arran
• Brant
• Grenock
• Saugeen
• Sullivan

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 149 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 1,774 total population, 947 males, Male members of the family who are present: 877, 827 females, Female members of the family who are present: 778, 672 single males, 538 single females, 258 married males, 256 married females, 149 males attending school, 148 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 70, Females present who are not members of the family: 49, 44 male births, 33 widowed females, 29 female births, 17 widowed males, 9 adult females unable to read or write, 9 adult males unable to read or write, 1 deaf and dumb males, 1 lunatic males. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 150 single males aged 20 to 30, 123 single males aged 10 to 15, 105 females aged 5 to 10, 95 single females aged 10 to 15, 94 males aged 5 to 10, 92 single females aged 15 to 20, 91 married females aged 20 to 30, 86 married males aged 30 to 40, 82 single males aged 15 to 20, 77 married females aged 30 to 40, 61 married males aged 40 to 50, 57 married males aged 20 to 30, 47 females aged 1 to 2, 47 married females aged 40 to 50, 45 males aged 1 to 2, 44 females age 3 to 4, 44 single females aged 20 to 30, 37 males aged 2 to 3, 35 females aged 2 to 3, 32 females aged 4 to 5, 31 single males aged 30 to 40, 30 males aged 4 to 5, 30 married males aged 50 to 60, 20 married males aged 60 to 70, 19 males aged 3 to 4, 19 married females aged 50 to 60, 19 married females aged 60 to 70, 9 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 8 single males aged 40 to 50, 7 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 6 single males aged 50 to 60, 5 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 5 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 4 single females aged 30 to 40, 4 single females aged 40 to 50, 4 single females aged 50 to 60, 4 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 4 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 4 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 3 married males aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 2 males of unknown age, 2 married females aged 70 to 80, 2 single females aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 1 married females aged 15 to 20, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 80 to 90, 1 single males aged 60 to 70, 1 widowed males aged 30 to 40. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 1,037 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 378 persons originating in Scotland, 240 persons originating in Ireland, 84 persons originating in England or Wales, 16 French Canadians, 8 persons originating in the United States, 5 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 4 persons originating in New Brunswick, 2 persons originating in Germany or Holland. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $294,130 value farms (dollars), 47,137 bushels of turnips, $42,650 value all livestock, 42,632 acres of land in farms, 37,275 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 29,695 bushels of spring wheat, 20,776 bushels of potatoes, 13,851 pounds of homemade butter, 9,016 bushels of oats, $7,807 value horses aged over 3 years, 6,621 pounds of maple sugar, $6,447 value farm implements in dollars, 5,357 acres of farmland under cultivation, 4,229 acres of farmland under crops, 2,194 acres of spring wheat, 1,830 bushels of peas, 1,646 pounds of wool produced on farms, 1,632 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 1,119 acres of farmland in pasture, 1,117 bushels of barley, 912 tons of hay, 896 swine, 779 calves and heifers, 677 sheep, 544 milk cows, 427 bulls, oxen, or steers, 419 acres of oats, 330 bushels of winter wheat, 293 occupants of farms, 286 acres of turnips, 208 acres of potatoes, 167 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 133 horses aged over 3 years, 125 barrels of pork, 110 acres of peas, 91 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 82 pounds of flax or hemp, $68 value garden and orchard crops, 60 bushels of rye, 58 horses aged 3 years and under, 54 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 52 acres of barley, 47 pounds of hops, 42 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 41 bushels of carrots, 38 barrels of beef, 31 acres of winter wheat, 24 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 12 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 9 acres of farmland in gardens, 9 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 3 acres of rye, 2 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes 771 yards of flannel, $221 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 132 yards of fulled cloth, 89 yards of linen, 8 carriages for pleasure. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 9 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 5, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 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. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON066008 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON104009 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q115261381

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). "Elderslie, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/elderslie-on066008-1861/.