Mersea, Ontario (1861 census)

Mersea was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 2,143. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q115262309. The administrative centroid was at approximately 42.082°N, 82.549°W.

Population

In 1861, Mersea had a population of 2,143: 1,121 male and 1,022 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, Mersea shared boundaries with:

• Golded
• Rochester
• Romney
• Tilbury W-O

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 163 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 7 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 2,143 total population, 1,121 males, Male members of the family who are present: 1,029, 1,022 females, Female members of the family who are present: 976, 770 single males, 677 single females, 330 married males, 324 married females, 239 males attending school, 234 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 92, 49 male births, Females present who are not members of the family: 46, 45 female births, 44 adult males unable to read or write, 25 adult females unable to read or write, 21 widowed females, 21 widowed males, 1 blind males, 1 lunatic females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 153 females aged 5 to 10, 145 single males aged 10 to 15, 139 males aged 5 to 10, 135 single females aged 10 to 15, 132 married females aged 20 to 30, 109 single males aged 15 to 20, 108 single males aged 20 to 30, 104 married males aged 30 to 40, 95 single females aged 15 to 20, 85 married males aged 20 to 30, 80 married females aged 30 to 40, 73 married males aged 40 to 50, 67 single females aged 20 to 30, 55 males aged 1 to 2, 53 married females aged 40 to 50, 46 females aged 1 to 2, 46 males aged 3 to 4, 41 married males aged 50 to 60, 40 males aged 2 to 3, 39 females aged 2 to 3, 38 females age 3 to 4, 37 males aged 4 to 5, 32 married females aged 50 to 60, 31 females aged 4 to 5, 20 single males aged 30 to 40, 16 married males aged 60 to 70, 14 married females aged 60 to 70, 9 single females aged 30 to 40, 8 married females aged 15 to 20, 8 single females aged 40 to 50, 8 single females aged 50 to 60, 8 single males aged 50 to 60, 7 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 7 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 6 married males aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 5 single males aged 40 to 50, 4 married females aged 70 to 80, 4 single males aged 60 to 70, 4 single males aged 70 to 80, 4 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 3 married males aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 3 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 2 married males aged 15 to 20, 2 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 2 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 2 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 1 married females aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 60 to 70, 1 single females aged 70 to 80, 1 single females aged 80 to 90, 1 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 50 to 60. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 1,638 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 253 persons originating in England or Wales, 108 persons originating in Ireland, 87 persons originating in the United States, 23 persons originating in Scotland, 18 French Canadians, 4 persons originating in New Brunswick, 3 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 1 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 1 persons originating in Switzerland. 7 persons originating in Guernsey, Jersey, or other British islands. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $444,434 value farms (dollars), $75,753 value all livestock, 43,019 pounds of homemade butter, 29,508 acres of land in farms, 28,558 bushels of potatoes, $28,094 value horses aged over 3 years, 24,143 bushels of corn, 20,156 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 19,289 bushels of oats, 15,809 gallons of cider, 14,062 bushels of winter wheat, $12,086 value farm implements in dollars, 10,084 bushels of peas, 9,352 acres of farmland under cultivation, 8,595 bushels of turnips, 7,148 pounds of wool produced on farms, 6,473 acres of farmland under crops, 5,246 bushels of buckwheat, 3,776 pounds of maple sugar, $3,025 value garden and orchard crops, 2,577 acres of farmland in pasture, 2,489 swine, 2,050 bushels of rye, 1,774 tons of hay, 1,738 sheep, 1,291 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 1,205 acres of corn, 1,156 calves and heifers, 857 acres of winter wheat, 851 barrels of pork, 759 milk cows, 740 bushels of spring wheat, 577 acres of peas, 499 horses aged over 3 years, 478 acres of oats, 424 acres of buckwheat, 302 acres of farmland in gardens, 290 occupants of farms, 262 acres of potatoes, 262 bulls, oxen, or steers, 246 horses aged 3 years and under, 214 acres of rye, 186 barrels of beef, 154 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 120 bushels of barley, 108 bushels of carrots, 82 acres of spring wheat, 75 acres of turnips, 71 pounds of hops, 64 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 55 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 43 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 18 bushels of beans, 12 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 10 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 6 acres of barley, 4 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 1 persons living on farms under 10 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes 4,180 yards of flannel, $2,043 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 1,060 yards of fulled cloth, 89 yards of linen, 46 carriages for pleasure. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Fisheries (1861). This community's record includes 2,500 pounds of fresh fish sold, 145 barrels of salted fish sold. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded 8 quintals of dried fish sold — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

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

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 1861, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON071007 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON110008_1881 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q115262309

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). "Mersea, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/mersea-on071007-1861/.