Norwich, VL, Ontario (1851 census)
Norwich, VL was a village in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 5,239. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q4115370. The administrative centroid was at approximately 42.953°N, 80.630°W.
Population
In 1851, Norwich, VL had a population of 5,239: 2,698 male and 2,541 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 5,239 |
| 1881 | 1,411 |
| 1891 | 1,255 |
| 1901 | 1,269 |
| 1911 | 1,112 |
| 1921 | 1,176 |
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 Norwich, South, 1861 (50.4% of this CSD's polygon).
- In a later year, this CSD contained Norwich, North, 1861 (49.6% of this CSD's polygon).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1851
In the 1851 census, Norwich, VL shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1851
The 1851 census recorded 205 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 5,239 total population, 2,698 males, 2,541 females, Male members of the family who are present: 2,415, Female members of the family who are present: 2,409, 1,795 single males, 1,603 single females, 878 families, 853 married males, 845 married females, 619 males attending school, 552 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 283, Females present who are not members of the family: 132, 95 male births, 93 widowed females, 74 female births, Female members of the family who are absent: 50, 50 widowed males, Male members of the family who are present: 48, 3 deaf and dumb males, 3 lunatic females, 3 lunatic males, 1 blind females, 1 blind males, 1 persons at sea. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)
Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 388 females aged 5 to 10, 364 males aged 5 to 10, 330 single males aged 15 to 20, 327 single females aged 10 to 15, 324 single males aged 10 to 15, 296 married females aged 20 to 30, 279 single males aged 20 to 30, 268 single females aged 15 to 20, 252 married females aged 30 to 40, 240 married males aged 30 to 40, 224 married males aged 20 to 30, 205 married males aged 40 to 50, 149 married females aged 40 to 50, 119 females aged 2 to 3, 116 married males aged 50 to 60, 115 single females aged 20 to 30, 103 females under age 1, 97 males under age 1, 94 females aged 1 to 2, 80 males aged 3 to 4, 79 males aged 2 to 3, 77 males aged 4 to 5, 75 females age 3 to 4, 72 males aged 1 to 2, 71 females aged 4 to 5, 65 married females aged 50 to 60, 46 married males aged 60 to 70, 44 single males aged 30 to 40, 43 married females aged 15 to 20, 32 married females aged 60 to 70, 24 females of unknown age, 22 males of unknown age, 21 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 18 single males aged 40 to 50, 17 married males aged 70 to 80, 16 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 16 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 15 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 11 single females aged 30 to 40, 11 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 11 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 10 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 10 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 8 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 8 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 7 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 6 married females aged 70 to 80, 6 single males aged 50 to 60, 5 single females aged 40 to 50, 4 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 3 married males aged 15 to 20, 3 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 2 married females aged 80 to 90, 2 married males aged 80 to 90, 2 single females aged 60 to 70, 2 single males aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 80 to 90, 1 single males aged 70 to 80, 1 widowed females aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 3,325 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 918 persons originating in the United States, 433 persons originating in Ireland, 333 persons originating in England or Wales, 137 persons originating in Scotland, 44 persons originating in New Brunswick, 26 persons whose origin is unknown, 11 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 6 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 3 persons originating in France, 1 French Canadians. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 1 persons originating in Jersey or other British islands — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 112,930 pounds of homemade butter, 112,543 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 103,449 bushels of wheat, 81,261 bushels of oats, 56,203 pounds of maple sugar, 56,038 acres of land in farms, 30,959 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 28,663 bushels of corn, 25,079 acres of farmland under cultivation, 20,815 pounds of wool produced on farms, 20,512 bushels of peas, 15,994 acres of farmland under crops, 15,275 bushels of turnips, 7,982 acres of farmland in pasture, 7,346 sheep, 5,628 acres of wheat, 5,455 bushels of potatoes, 5,160 gallons of cider, 5,054 swine, 4,732 tons of hay, 3,895 bushels of buckwheat, 3,886 bushels of barley, 2,997 barrels of pork, 2,625 acres of oats, 2,258 milk cows, 1,788 horses, 1,740 calves and heifers, 1,228 bulls, oxen, or steers, 1,198 barrels of beef, 1,120 acres of corn, 1,103 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 991 acres of peas, 736 occupants of farms, 410 pounds of flax or hemp, 284 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 273 bushels of rye, 246 acres of potatoes, 232 bushels of carrots, 221 bushels of beans, 203 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 194 acres of buckwheat, 163 acres of barley, 120 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 118 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 104 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 89 acres of turnips, 69 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 28 acres of rye, 17 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 8 persons living on farms over 200 acres. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)
Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 10,794 yards of flannel, 5,000 yards of cloth produced in woollen factories, $4,250 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 2,928 yards of fulled cloth, $2,700 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 750 woollen factories returning capital, $570 value annual production or rent from grist mills (pounds sterling), 250 tanneries returning capital, 80 yards of linen, 23 employees in saw mills, 10 saw mills, 10 saw mills reporting annual production, 10 saw mills returning capital, 9 saw mills powered by water, 5 employees in grist mills, 4 employees in woollen factories, 3 employees in tanneries, 2 grist mills, 2 grist mills powered by water, 2 grist mills reporting value of annual production or rent, 2 grist mills returning capital, 2 tanneries, 2 tanneries reporting, 1 foundries, 1 foundries not reporting, 1 saw mills powered by steam, 1 woollen factories. 4,800,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. $250 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 76 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 39, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 37, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 11, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 9, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 7, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 5, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 5, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 4, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 3 to 4: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 4 to 5: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 2, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 4 to 5: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 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 70 to 80: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
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 1851, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.
| Name | Lifespan | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| James Jackson | 1789–1851 | died here |
| Emily Howard Stowe | 1831–1903 | born here |
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON027007— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_ON134016— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q4115370
- Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich,_Ontario
- Wikipédia (FR): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_(Ontario)
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). "Norwich, VL, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/norwich-vl-on027007-1851/.