Pelham, Ontario (1851 census)

Pelham was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 2,400. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q448041. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.040°N, 79.336°W.

Population

In 1851, Pelham had a population of 2,400: 1,248 male and 1,152 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, Pelham shared boundaries with:

• Clinton
• Gainsborough
• Louth
• Thorold
• Wainfleet.

Full census record, 1851

The 1851 census recorded 176 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 2,400 total population, 1,248 males, 1,152 females, Male members of the family who are present: 1,076, Female members of the family who are present: 1,045, 823 single males, 713 single females, 413 families, 399 married females, 391 married males, 304 males attending school, 244 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 172, Females present who are not members of the family: 107, 46 female births, 40 widowed females, 34 male births, 34 widowed males, Male members of the family who are present: 15, Female members of the family who are absent: 8, 3 deaf and dumb males, 2 deaf and dumb females. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 174 males aged 5 to 10, 157 single males aged 10 to 15, 154 single females aged 10 to 15, 151 females aged 5 to 10, 144 single males aged 15 to 20, 136 single females aged 15 to 20, 131 married females aged 20 to 30, 129 married females aged 30 to 40, 125 single males aged 20 to 30, 113 married males aged 30 to 40, 99 married males aged 40 to 50, 96 married males aged 20 to 30, 63 married females aged 40 to 50, 57 single females aged 20 to 30, 50 married males aged 50 to 60, 49 females aged 1 to 2, 47 males aged 1 to 2, 45 females age 3 to 4, 43 females under age 1, 41 married females aged 50 to 60, 40 males aged 2 to 3, 40 males aged 3 to 4, 36 females aged 4 to 5, 35 males under age 1, 31 males aged 4 to 5, 29 females aged 2 to 3, 21 married males aged 60 to 70, 18 married females aged 15 to 20, 13 single females aged 30 to 40, 13 single males aged 30 to 40, 13 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 12 married females aged 60 to 70, 11 married males aged 70 to 80, 9 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 9 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 8 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 8 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 6 single males aged 40 to 50, 6 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 5 males of unknown age, 5 married females aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 4 single males aged 50 to 60, 4 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 3 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 2 single males aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded . single males over 100 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 1,821 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 243 persons originating in the United States, 108 persons originating in England or Wales, 104 persons originating in Ireland, 42 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 41 persons originating in Scotland, 31 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 3 French Canadians, 3 persons originating in France, 3 persons originating in New Brunswick, 1 persons originating in Newfoundland. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 40,829 pounds of homemade butter, 20,509 bushels of wheat, 18,246 bushels of oats, 13,792 acres of land in farms, 9,007 bushels of corn, 6,987 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 6,805 acres of farmland under cultivation, 6,468 gallons of cider, 5,786 bushels of potatoes, 4,545 pounds of wool produced on farms, 3,446 bushels of buckwheat, 3,387 acres of farmland in pasture, 3,241 acres of farmland under crops, 2,563 bushels of turnips, 1,698 tons of hay, 1,549 bushels of peas, 1,538 acres of wheat, 1,392 sheep, 1,239 bushels of barley, 945 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 697 swine, 596 pounds of maple sugar, 548 acres of oats, 470 milk cows, 395 horses, 380 acres of corn, 342 barrels of beef, 303 calves and heifers, 299 bulls, oxen, or steers, 294 barrels of pork, 270 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 213 acres of buckwheat, 205 bushels of carrots, 177 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 170 occupants of farms, 137 acres of potatoes, 118 acres of peas, 90 pounds of flax or hemp, 70 acres of barley, 66 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 52 bushels of beans, 38 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 35 pounds of hops, 31 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 30 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 20 bushels of rye, 14 acres of turnips, 10 pounds of tobacco, 5 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 3 acres of rye, 3 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 2 persons living on farms over 200 acres. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 2,410 yards of flannel, $1,300 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), $1,125 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 442 yards of fulled cloth, $400 value iron produced in foundries in the past year (pounds sterling), 200 foundries returning capital, $25 value annual production or rent from saw mills (pounds sterling), 11 employees in saw mills, 8 saw mills, 7 saw mills powered by water, 7 saw mills reporting annual production, 7 saw mills returning capital, 3 employees in grist mills, 3 grist mills, 3 grist mills powered by water, 3 grist mills returning capital, 2 grist mills reporting annual production, 1 distilleries, 1 distilleries reporting, 1 foundries, 1 foundries reporting, 1 grist mills not reporting, 1 saw mills powered by steam, 1 saw mills reporting value of annual production or rent. 996,500 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 4,000 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. 425 barrels of flour produced per day by grist mills reporting daily production. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 20,000 gallons of liquor produced in distilleries — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 15, 15 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 6, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 80 to 90: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

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 1851, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON040001 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON151004 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q448041
• Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelham,_Ontario
• Wikipédia (FR): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelham_(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). "Pelham, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/pelham-on040001-1851/.