Ernestown, Ontario (1861 census)

Ernestown was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 5,450. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q5394285. The administrative centroid was at approximately 44.265°N, 76.767°W.

Population

In 1861, Ernestown had a population of 5,450: 2,828 male and 2,622 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).

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 Bath, VL, 1871 (0.9% of this CSD's polygon).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1861

In the 1861 census, Ernestown shared boundaries with:

• Camden
• Frederichsburgh
• Kingston
• Portland

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 182 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 5,450 total population, 2,828 males, 2,622 females, Male members of the family who are present: 2,608, Female members of the family who are present: 2,419, 1,868 single males, 1,709 single females, 905 married males, 837 married females, 709 males attending school, 651 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 220, Females present who are not members of the family: 203, 105 male births, 91 female births, 76 widowed females, 55 widowed males, 22 adult males unable to read or write, 18 adult females unable to read or write, 4 lunatic females, 3 blind males, 3 lunatic males, 2 blind females, 2 deaf and dumb females, 1 deaf and dumb males. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 324 females aged 5 to 10, 316 single females aged 10 to 15, 313 single males aged 15 to 20, 308 single males aged 20 to 30, 306 single males aged 10 to 15, 297 males aged 5 to 10, 293 single females aged 15 to 20, 241 married females aged 30 to 40, 240 married males aged 30 to 40, 210 married females aged 20 to 30, 195 single females aged 20 to 30, 188 married males aged 40 to 50, 170 married females aged 40 to 50, 169 married males aged 20 to 30, 157 married males aged 50 to 60, 115 married females aged 50 to 60, 112 males aged 1 to 2, 104 males aged 4 to 5, 96 males aged 3 to 4, 90 married males aged 60 to 70, 87 females aged 2 to 3, 84 females aged 4 to 5, 83 females age 3 to 4, 83 males aged 2 to 3, 80 married females aged 60 to 70, 72 single females aged 30 to 40, 70 females aged 1 to 2, 49 married males aged 70 to 80, 45 single males aged 30 to 40, 31 single males aged 40 to 50, 28 single females aged 50 to 60, 25 single females aged 40 to 50, 25 single males aged 50 to 60, 22 single males aged 60 to 70, 22 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 20 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 19 single females aged 60 to 70, 17 married females aged 70 to 80, 17 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 14 single females aged 70 to 80, 14 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 10 married males aged 80 to 90, 10 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 9 single males aged 70 to 80, 9 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 7 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 6 single males aged 80 to 90, 6 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 6 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 5 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 5 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 4 females of unknown age, 4 males of unknown age, 4 married females aged 15 to 20, 4 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 2 married males aged 15 to 20, 2 single females aged 80 to 90. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded 2 single males aged 90 to 100, 2 single females aged 90 to 100 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 4,480 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 430 persons originating in Ireland, 246 persons originating in England or Wales, 224 persons originating in the United States, 56 persons originating in Scotland, 2 persons originating in France, 2 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 2 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 2 persons originating in the West Indies, 1 persons originating in New Brunswick. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $1,653,229 value farms (dollars), $235,828 value all livestock, 185,689 pounds of homemade butter, $112,042 value horses aged over 3 years, 101,790 bushels of oats, 85,310 bushels of spring wheat, $72,346 value farm implements in dollars, 59,494 acres of land in farms, 47,214 bushels of potatoes, 43,941 bushels of rye, 43,817 bushels of barley, 42,148 bushels of peas, 35,326 acres of farmland under cultivation, 29,732 pounds of maple sugar, 25,181 pounds of wool produced on farms, 24,305 acres of farmland under crops, 24,168 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 23,468 bushels of buckwheat, 14,459 bushels of corn, $14,195 value garden and orchard crops, 10,663 gallons of cider, 10,143 acres of farmland in pasture, 8,000 sheep, 7,740 milk cows, 6,110 tons of hay, 5,400 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 4,864 bushels of carrots, 4,379 acres of spring wheat, 3,421 acres of oats, 2,608 acres of peas, 2,042 acres of rye, 1,914 calves and heifers, 1,815 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 1,750 acres of barley, 1,705 horses aged over 3 years, 1,684 swine, 1,375 barrels of pork, 1,233 bushels of turnips, 1,126 acres of buckwheat, 1,071 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 878 acres of farmland in gardens, 607 horses aged 3 years and under, 567 acres of potatoes, 530 occupants of farms, 489 acres of corn, 467 barrels of beef, 363 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 310 pounds of flax or hemp, 277 pounds of hops, 210 bulls, oxen, or steers, 200 bushels of winter wheat, 197 bushels of beans, 195 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 160 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 92 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 43 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 28 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 17 acres of winter wheat, 12 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 8 acres of turnips. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $7,230 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 5,968 yards of flannel, 2,374 yards of fulled cloth, $400 value carriages for hire (dollars), 173 yards of linen, 106 carriages for pleasure, 9 carriages for hire. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 47 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 26, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 21, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 16, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 10, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 80 to 90: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 80 to 90: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 2 people connected to this place who were alive in 1861, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON084006 — 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 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). "Ernestown, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/ernestown-on084006-1861/.