Nelson, Ontario (1851 census)

Nelson was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 4,078. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.406°N, 79.857°W.

Population

In 1851, Nelson had a population of 4,078: 2,135 male and 1,943 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, Nelson shared boundaries with:

• Flamboro, East
• Nassagaweya
• Trafalgar

Full census record, 1851

The 1851 census recorded 190 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 4,078 total population, 2,135 males, 1,943 females, Male members of the family who are present: 1,867, Female members of the family who are present: 1,808, 1,447 single males, 1,261 single females, 638 married males, 619 married females, 605 families, 389 males attending school, 309 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 268, Females present who are not members of the family: 135, 64 female births, 63 widowed females, 62 male births, 50 widowed males, Male members of the family who are present: 10, Female members of the family who are absent: 4, 1 lunatic females, 1 persons at sea. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)

Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 361 males aged 5 to 10, 312 females aged 5 to 10, 284 single males aged 10 to 15, 263 single males aged 15 to 20, 238 single females aged 15 to 20, 231 single females aged 10 to 15, 193 married females aged 20 to 30, 192 married females aged 30 to 40, 176 married males aged 30 to 40, 151 married males aged 40 to 50, 133 single males aged 20 to 30, 128 married males aged 20 to 30, 123 single females aged 20 to 30, 114 married males aged 50 to 60, 113 married females aged 40 to 50, 81 males aged 3 to 4, 77 females aged 1 to 2, 74 females aged 2 to 3, 73 married females aged 50 to 60, 69 females under age 1, 68 males aged 4 to 5, 67 males aged 2 to 3, 65 males under age 1, 64 males aged 1 to 2, 59 females age 3 to 4, 53 married males aged 60 to 70, 52 females aged 4 to 5, 35 married females aged 60 to 70, 27 single males aged 30 to 40, 19 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 14 married males aged 70 to 80, 14 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 11 married females aged 15 to 20, 11 single males aged 40 to 50, 11 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 10 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 10 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 10 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 9 single females aged 30 to 40, 9 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 9 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 6 males of unknown age, 6 single males aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 5 single males aged 60 to 70, 5 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 4 single females aged 40 to 50, 4 single females aged 60 to 70, 4 single males aged 50 to 60, 3 females of unknown age, 3 single females aged 50 to 60, 3 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 2 married females aged 70 to 80, 2 married males aged 15 to 20, 2 single females aged 80 to 90, 2 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 1 single females aged 70 to 80, 1 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 1 single males aged 90 to 100 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 2,411 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 677 persons originating in Ireland, 589 persons originating in England or Wales, 172 persons originating in Scotland, 165 persons originating in the United States, 34 French Canadians, 17 female negroes or coloured persons, 16 Indigenous males, 14 male negroes or coloured persons, 11 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 10 persons originating in New Brunswick, 4 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 4 persons originating in the East Indies, 1 Indigenous females, 1 persons originating in Newfoundland. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)

Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 133,814 pounds of homemade butter, 82,805 bushels of wheat, 53,125 bushels of oats, 45,512 acres of land in farms, 25,244 acres of farmland under cultivation, 20,268 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 18,863 pounds of wool produced on farms, 14,714 bushels of potatoes, 12,624 bushels of barley, 12,501 acres of farmland in pasture, 12,199 acres of farmland under crops, 11,258 gallons of cider, 11,196 bushels of corn, 10,371 bushels of turnips, 8,297 bushels of peas, 7,807 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 5,610 sheep, 5,515 acres of wheat, 5,042 tons of hay, 4,885 pounds of maple sugar, 4,336 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 2,972 bushels of buckwheat, 2,504 bushels of carrots, 2,129 swine, 1,754 barrels of pork, 1,654 acres of oats, 1,628 milk cows, 1,179 horses, 1,033 acres of barley, 997 calves and heifers, 989 barrels of beef, 767 bulls, oxen, or steers, 695 acres of peas, 544 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 518 occupants of farms, 355 acres of corn, 188 acres of buckwheat, 188 acres of potatoes, 187 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 135 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 96 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 77 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 66 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 50 bushels of rye, 37 acres of turnips, 23 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 20 pounds of flax or hemp, 11 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 8 bushels of beans, 4 acres of rye. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes $8,600 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 5,626 yards of flannel, $2,975 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 1,481 yards of fulled cloth, 750 tanneries returning capital, 600 yards of cloth produced in woollen factories, 200 woollen factories returning capital, 53 employees in saw mills, 22 saw mills, 20 saw mills powered by water, 20 saw mills reporting annual production, 20 saw mills returning capital, 10 yards of linen, 9 employees in grist mills, 4 grist mills, 4 grist mills reporting annual production, 4 grist mills returning capital, 3 grist mills powered by water, 2 employees in tanneries, 2 employees in woollen factories, 2 saw mills not reporting, 2 saw mills powered by steam, 2 tanneries, 2 tanneries reporting, 1 grist mills powered by steam, 1 woollen factories, 1 woollen factories reporting. 3,430,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 28,500 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. $1,300 value leather produced in tanneries in the past year (pounds sterling). (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.)

Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 33 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 23, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 19, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 10, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 7, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 1, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 3 people 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: ON014004 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON117003 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: not yet grounded. This page covers a place whose persistent identity has not yet been linked to a Wikidata entity. Identification is via TCP UID and spatial polygon only.

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). "Nelson, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/nelson-on014004-1851/.