Nelson, Ontario (1881 census)
Nelson was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1881 Census of Canada with a population of 3,340. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.407°N, 79.858°W.
Population
In 1881, Nelson had a population of 3,340: 1,739 male and 1,601 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 4,078 |
| 1861 | 4,559 |
| 1871 | 4,619 |
| 1881 | 3,340 |
| 1891 | 3,269 |
| 1901 | 2,776 |
| 1911 | 2,910 |
| 1921 | 3,356 |
Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1881
In the 1881 census, Nelson shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1881
The 1881 census recorded 34 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 4 categories.
Population & families (1881). This community's record includes 3,340 total population, 1,739 males, 1,601 females, 1,065 married persons, 633 families, 538 married females, 527 married males, 132 widowed persons, 89 widowed females, 43 widowed males. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Age structure (1881). This community's record includes 2,143 single persons under 18, 1,169 single males under 18, 974 single females under 18. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Buildings & housing (1881). This community's record includes 631 occupied houses, 630 inhabited houses, 47 uninhabited houses, 3 houses under construction, 1 dwellings that are temporary shanties. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Agriculture (1881). This community's record includes 136,692 bushels of turnips, 106,794 bushels of winter wheat, 93,680 bushels of oats, 64,027 bushels of barley, 57,972 bushels of other root crops, 32,585 bushels of potatoes, 30,042 bushels of corn, 17,112 bushels of peas and beans, 6,533 acres of wheat, 5,818 tons of hay, 5,150 acres of hay crops, 3,552 bushels of rye, 2,121 bushels of spring wheat, 703 bushels of buckwheat, 522 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 333 acres of potatoes. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T24.)
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 1881, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.
| Name | Lifespan | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| JOHN GENNINGS CURTIS ADAMS | 1839–1922 | died here |
| Jean Newton McIlwraith | d. 1938 | died here |
Residents in 1881
The 1881 census residents page for this Census Subdivision lists 3,341 individuals enumerated here, with name, age, sex, religion, ethnic origin, birthplace, and occupation. Source: TCP/Dillon 1881 Canadian Census deposit at Borealis.
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON150001— 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 1881 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 (1881 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/nelson-on150001-1881/.