Nelson, Ontario (1861 census)

Nelson was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 4,559. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.406°N, 79.857°W.

Population

In 1861, Nelson had a population of 4,559: 2,303 male and 2,256 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, Nelson shared boundaries with:

• Flamboro, East
• Nassagaweya
• Trafalgar

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 186 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 4,559 total population, 2,303 males, 2,256 females, Female members of the family who are present: 2,132, Male members of the family who are present: 2,105, 1,554 single males, 1,379 single females, 787 married females, 687 married males, 481 males attending school, 385 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 198, Females present who are not members of the family: 124, 90 male births, 90 widowed females, 70 female births, 62 widowed males, 61 adult males unable to read or write, 55 adult females unable to read or write, 3 blind males, 2 lunatic females, 2 lunatic males, 2 persons at sea, 1 blind females, 1 deaf and dumb males. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 330 married females aged 30 to 40, 310 males aged 5 to 10, 290 females aged 5 to 10, 277 single females aged 10 to 15, 276 single females aged 15 to 20, 260 single males aged 10 to 15, 260 single males aged 20 to 30, 250 single males aged 15 to 20, 200 married females aged 20 to 30, 190 married males aged 30 to 40, 160 married males aged 20 to 30, 160 single females aged 20 to 30, 156 married males aged 40 to 50, 116 married females aged 40 to 50, 96 married males aged 50 to 60, 80 married females aged 50 to 60, 75 females aged 1 to 2, 73 males aged 2 to 3, 70 females aged 4 to 5, 70 males aged 1 to 2, 65 females aged 2 to 3, 65 males aged 3 to 4, 60 males aged 4 to 5, 60 married males aged 60 to 70, 55 females age 3 to 4, 50 single males aged 30 to 40, 30 married females aged 60 to 70, 29 single males aged 40 to 50, 20 married females aged 15 to 20, 20 married males aged 70 to 80, 20 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 19 males of unknown age, 19 single females aged 30 to 40, 19 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 18 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 17 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 17 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 14 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 11 married females aged 70 to 80, 11 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 10 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 9 single males aged 50 to 60, 8 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 6 single females aged 40 to 50, 6 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 5 single females aged 60 to 70, 5 single males aged 60 to 70, 5 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 4 females of unknown age, 4 married males aged 80 to 90, 4 single females aged 50 to 60, 4 single males aged 80 to 90, 4 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 3 single females aged 70 to 80, 2 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 1 married males aged 15 to 20, 1 widowed males aged 20 to 30. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 3,096 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 542 persons originating in Ireland, 499 persons originating in England or Wales, 218 persons originating in Scotland, 126 persons originating in the United States, 42 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 16 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 10 persons originating in New Brunswick, 8 male negroes or coloured persons, 7 female negroes or coloured persons, 2 persons originating in the East Indies, 1 persons originating in France, 1 persons originating in Spain or Portugal, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. 2 persons originating in Guernsey, Jersey, or other British islands. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded 1 persons originating in Russia or Poland — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $2,054,694 value farms (dollars), $200,148 value all livestock, 152,066 pounds of homemade butter, 86,995 bushels of winter wheat, $85,160 value horses aged over 3 years, 74,250 bushels of turnips, $61,270 value farm implements in dollars, 58,472 bushels of oats, 49,493 bushels of potatoes, 43,302 acres of land in farms, 39,126 bushels of peas, 32,948 bushels of spring wheat, 30,070 bushels of barley, 29,253 acres of farmland under cultivation, 21,923 pounds of wool produced on farms, 20,785 acres of farmland under crops, 16,059 bushels of carrots, 15,649 pounds of maple sugar, 14,049 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, $12,653 value garden and orchard crops, 11,455 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 8,944 bushels of corn, 7,952 acres of farmland in pasture, 7,279 bushels of buckwheat, 6,712 gallons of cider, 5,579 sheep, 5,302 acres of winter wheat, 4,985 pounds of flax or hemp, 4,488 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 4,333 tons of hay, 2,369 swine, 1,977 acres of spring wheat, 1,877 acres of peas, 1,870 acres of oats, 1,864 barrels of pork, 1,722 milk cows, 1,484 calves and heifers, 1,214 horses aged over 3 years, 1,191 acres of barley, 657 barrels of beef, 516 acres of farmland in gardens, 467 bushels of rye, 383 acres of potatoes, 374 occupants of farms, 324 acres of buckwheat, 316 horses aged 3 years and under, 259 acres of corn, 236 bulls, oxen, or steers, 229 bushels of beans, 219 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 194 acres of turnips, 190 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 88 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 64 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 37 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 35 acres of rye, 26 pounds of hops, 25 acres of mangel wurtzel, 18 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 8 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 4 persons living on farms under 10 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $16,071 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 4,892 yards of flannel, 752 yards of fulled cloth, 317 carriages for pleasure. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 43 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 22, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 21, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 6, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 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 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

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

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON077005 — 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 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). "Nelson, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/nelson-on077005-1861/.