Elma, Ontario (1861 census)
Elma was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 2,392. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q115261391. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.656°N, 81.010°W.
Population
In 1861, Elma had a population of 2,392: 1,272 male and 1,120 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | — |
| 1861 | 2,392 |
| 1871 | 3,616 |
| 1881 | 4,421 |
| 1891 | 4,231 |
| 1901 | 4,159 |
| 1911 | 3,789 |
| 1921 | 3,374 |
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 Listowel, T-V, 1871 (0.9% of this CSD's polygon).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1861
In the 1861 census, Elma shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1861
The 1861 census recorded 166 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 2,392 total population, 1,272 males, Male members of the family who are present: 1,219, 1,120 females, Female members of the family who are present: 1,088, 862 single males, 730 single females, 400 married males, 373 married females, 171 females attending school, 168 males attending school, 69 male births, 60 female births, Males present who are not members of the family: 53, Females present who are not members of the family: 32, 20 adult males unable to read or write, 17 adult females unable to read or write, 17 widowed females, 10 widowed males, 3 persons at sea, 1 lunatic females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)
Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 150 single males aged 20 to 30, 149 married females aged 20 to 30, 148 single females aged 10 to 15, 143 males aged 5 to 10, 138 females aged 5 to 10, 138 single males aged 10 to 15, 130 married males aged 30 to 40, 124 single males aged 15 to 20, 117 single females aged 15 to 20, 101 married males aged 20 to 30, 98 married females aged 30 to 40, 91 married males aged 40 to 50, 70 married females aged 40 to 50, 66 females aged 4 to 5, 53 males aged 2 to 3, 48 females aged 2 to 3, 47 females aged 1 to 2, 47 single females aged 20 to 30, 46 females age 3 to 4, 46 males aged 1 to 2, 45 married males aged 50 to 60, 44 males aged 3 to 4, 42 males aged 4 to 5, 32 single males aged 30 to 40, 26 married males aged 60 to 70, 25 married females aged 50 to 60, 17 married females aged 60 to 70, 9 married females aged 15 to 20, 8 single females aged 30 to 40, 7 single males aged 40 to 50, 5 males of unknown age, 5 single males aged 50 to 60, 5 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 4 married females aged 70 to 80, 4 married males aged 15 to 20, 4 single males aged 60 to 70, 4 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 3 married males aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 2 single females aged 40 to 50, 2 single females aged 50 to 60, 2 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 2 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 2 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 2 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 1 females of unknown age, 1 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 1 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 1 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 1 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 1 widowed males aged 60 to 70. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded 1 married females aged 10 to 15 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 1,404 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 358 persons originating in Ireland, 276 persons originating in Scotland, 243 persons originating in England or Wales, 61 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 24 persons originating in the United States, 10 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 7 negroes or coloured persons, 7 persons originating in France, 6 male negroes or coloured persons, 6 persons originating in New Brunswick, 1 female negroes or coloured persons. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)
Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $441,878 value farms (dollars), 64,944 bushels of turnips, 48,162 bushels of spring wheat, 41,116 acres of land in farms, $34,846 value all livestock, 33,671 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 33,513 pounds of homemade butter, $21,502 value horses aged over 3 years, 19,010 pounds of maple sugar, 18,091 bushels of oats, 15,689 bushels of potatoes, $13,179 value farm implements in dollars, 8,694 bushels of peas, 7,445 acres of farmland under cultivation, 6,540 acres of farmland under crops, 5,603 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 2,992 acres of spring wheat, 1,831 gallons of cider, 1,430 swine, 1,416 pounds of wool produced on farms, 1,172 horses aged 3 years and under, 947 tons of hay, 859 acres of farmland in pasture, 816 acres of turnips, 810 calves and heifers, 748 milk cows, 709 bushels of barley, 697 acres of oats, 696 sheep, 610 bulls, oxen, or steers, 564 acres of peas, 499 barrels of pork, 390 occupants of farms, 264 acres of potatoes, 248 horses aged over 3 years, 214 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 206 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 139 barrels of beef, 97 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 87 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, $75 value garden and orchard crops, 74 pounds of hops, 66 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 50 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 46 acres of farmland in gardens, 40 bushels of winter wheat, 32 acres of barley, 29 bushels of carrots, 20 bushels of corn, 14 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 5 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 3 acres of corn, 3 bushels of beans, 2 acres of mangel wurtzel, 2 acres of winter wheat, 2 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)
Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes 1,334 yards of flannel, $453 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 144 yards of fulled cloth, $41 value carriages for hire (dollars), 17 yards of linen, 10 carriages for pleasure, 2 carriages for hire. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)
Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 24 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 17, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 7, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 7, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 2, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 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 males aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON092006— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_ON137006— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q115261391
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). "Elma, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/elma-on092006-1861/.