Ernestown, Ontario (1851 census)

Ernestown was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 5,111. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q5394285. The administrative centroid was at approximately 44.265°N, 76.767°W.

Population

In 1851, Ernestown had a population of 5,111: 2,617 male and 2,494 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 1851

In the 1851 census, Ernestown shared boundaries with:

• Camden
• Fredericksburg
• Kingston
• Portland

Full census record, 1851

The 1851 census recorded 214 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 7 categories.

Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 5,111 total population, 2,617 males, 2,494 females, Male members of the family who are present: 2,325, Female members of the family who are present: 2,250, 1,729 single males, 1,589 single females, 830 families, 827 married males, 806 married females, 479 males attending school, 426 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 292, Females present who are not members of the family: 244, 99 widowed females, 96 female births, 82 male births, Male members of the family who are present: 61, 61 widowed males, Female members of the family who are absent: 46, 4 deaf and dumb females, 3 deaf and dumb males, 2 lunatic females, 2 lunatic males, 1 blind females, 1 persons at sea. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)

Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 362 males aged 5 to 10, 340 females aged 5 to 10, 322 single males aged 10 to 15, 319 single females aged 15 to 20, 309 single females aged 10 to 15, 293 single males aged 15 to 20, 270 single males aged 20 to 30, 252 married females aged 20 to 30, 224 married males aged 30 to 40, 208 married females aged 30 to 40, 185 married males aged 40 to 50, 181 married males aged 20 to 30, 171 married females aged 40 to 50, 171 single females aged 20 to 30, 132 married males aged 50 to 60, 96 males aged 2 to 3, 90 females under age 1, 88 females aged 2 to 3, 84 males aged 1 to 2, 83 married females aged 50 to 60, 81 males under age 1, 80 females aged 1 to 2, 74 females aged 4 to 5, 72 males aged 3 to 4, 64 males aged 4 to 5, 64 married males aged 60 to 70, 57 females age 3 to 4, 47 married females aged 60 to 70, 38 single males aged 30 to 40, 34 married females aged 15 to 20, 31 single females aged 30 to 40, 29 single males aged 40 to 50, 26 married males aged 70 to 80, 23 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 22 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 16 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 14 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 13 single females aged 40 to 50, 13 single females aged 50 to 60, 12 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 12 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 10 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 9 married males aged 80 to 90, 9 single males aged 50 to 60, 9 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 8 married females aged 70 to 80, 8 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 7 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 7 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 6 single males aged 60 to 70, 6 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 4 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 4 widowed males aged 90 to 100, 3 married females aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 2 single females aged 70 to 80, 2 single males aged 70 to 80, 1 married males aged 15 to 20, 1 married males aged 90 to 100, 1 single females aged 60 to 70, 1 single females aged 80 to 90, 1 single males aged 80 to 90. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 3,732 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 625 persons originating in Ireland, 345 persons originating in the United States, 287 persons originating in England or Wales, 62 persons originating in Scotland, 37 French Canadians, 8 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 4 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 4 persons whose origin is unknown, 2 male negroes or coloured persons, 2 negroes or coloured persons, 2 persons originating in Switzerland, 1 persons originating in France, 1 persons originating in Italy or Greece, 1 persons originating in New Brunswick, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)

Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 201,180 pounds of homemade butter, 98,900 bushels of oats, 68,644 acres of land in farms, 48,706 bushels of peas, 40,425 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 38,614 bushels of rye, 35,563 acres of farmland under cultivation, 33,081 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 28,205 pounds of wool produced on farms, 25,672 bushels of wheat, 23,027 bushels of corn, 22,608 bushels of buckwheat, 21,755 acres of farmland under crops, 20,939 bushels of potatoes, 15,902 gallons of cider, 13,849 bushels of barley, 13,545 pounds of maple sugar, 12,577 acres of farmland in pasture, 10,759 sheep, 9,547 tons of hay, 3,951 acres of oats, 3,090 milk cows, 3,043 acres of rye, 3,029 acres of peas, 3,023 swine, 2,639 acres of wheat, 2,505 calves and heifers, 2,243 horses, 1,397 bushels of carrots, 1,231 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 1,025 bulls, oxen, or steers, 1,018 acres of buckwheat, 716 acres of barley, 716 barrels of pork, 716 bushels of turnips, 644 occupants of farms, 635 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 602 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 600 acres of corn, 503 acres of potatoes, 457 pounds of hops, 392 pounds of flax or hemp, 229 bushels of beans, 211 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 176 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 120 pounds of tobacco, 96 barrels of beef, 96 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 86 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 58 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 17 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 7 acres of turnips. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 100,000 yards of cloth produced in woollen factories, 10,000 pounds of wool produced in carding and fulling mills, 8,973 yards of flannel, 5,312 yards of fulled cloth, $4,000 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 1,400 woollen factories returning capital, $1,337 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 325 yards of linen, 300 carding and fulling mills returning capital, 250 tanneries returning capital, 16 employees in woollen factories, 13 employees in saw mills, 10 employees in grist mills, 9 saw mills, 9 saw mills powered by water, 8 saw mills reporting annual production, 7 grist mills, 7 grist mills powered by water, 7 saw mills returning capital, 6 grist mills returning capital, 5 grist mills reporting annual production, 4 tanneries, 3 tanneries not reporting, 2 employees in carding and fulling mills, 2 employees in tanneries, 2 grist mills not reporting, 2 woollen factories, 2 woollen factories reporting, 1 carding and fulling mills, 1 carding and fulling mills reporting, 1 distilleries, 1 distilleries reporting, 1 foundries, 1 foundries not reporting, 1 saw mills not reporting, 1 tanneries reporting. 1,210,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 25,420 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. $2,500 value cloth produced in woollen factories in the past year (pounds sterling). $400 value leather produced in tanneries in the past year (pounds sterling). (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 5,946 gallons of liquor produced in distilleries — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Fisheries (1851). This community's record includes 141 barrels of cured fish. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 31 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 20, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 11, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 6, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 6, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 4, 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 30 to 40: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 90 to 100: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 2, 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 80 to 90: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 1 person connected to this place who were alive in 1851, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON001003 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON125003 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q5394285
• Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernestown_Township

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). "Ernestown, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/ernestown-on001003-1851/.