Peterborough, C, Ontario (1851 census)
Peterborough, C was a city in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 2,191. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q776930. The administrative centroid was at approximately 44.301°N, 78.331°W.
Population
In 1851, Peterborough, C had a population of 2,191: 1,135 male and 1,056 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 2,191 |
| 1861 | 3,979 |
| 1871 | 4,611 |
| 1881 | 6,812 |
| 1911 | 18,360 |
| 1921 | 20,994 |
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, Peterborough, C shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1851
The 1851 census recorded 179 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 2,191 total population, 1,135 males, 1,056 females, Male members of the family who are present: 917, Female members of the family who are present: 867, 792 single males, 677 single females, 358 families, 325 married females, 322 married males, Males present who are not members of the family: 218, 215 males attending school, Females present who are not members of the family: 189, 168 females attending school, 54 widowed females, 43 female births, 37 male births, Male members of the family who are present: 36, Female members of the family who are absent: 24, 21 widowed males, 3 lunatic females, 2 deaf and dumb females, 1 deaf and dumb males. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 162 males aged 5 to 10, 146 single females aged 10 to 15, 145 single males aged 10 to 15, 140 single males aged 15 to 20, 139 females aged 5 to 10, 131 married females aged 20 to 30, 127 single females aged 15 to 20, 126 single males aged 20 to 30, 121 married males aged 30 to 40, 105 married females aged 30 to 40, 84 single females aged 20 to 30, 78 married males aged 40 to 50, 69 married males aged 20 to 30, 45 males aged 1 to 2, 44 males under age 1, 38 females aged 4 to 5, 38 married females aged 40 to 50, 38 married females aged 50 to 60, 38 married males aged 50 to 60, 37 females under age 1, 35 males aged 3 to 4, 33 females aged 1 to 2, 31 females age 3 to 4, 31 males aged 4 to 5, 28 single males aged 30 to 40, 27 females aged 2 to 3, 26 males aged 2 to 3, 15 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 11 married males aged 60 to 70, 11 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 10 single females aged 30 to 40, 10 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 8 married females aged 60 to 70, 7 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 6 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 6 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 5 married females aged 15 to 20, 5 single males aged 40 to 50, 5 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 3 married males aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 2 males of unknown age, 2 single females aged 40 to 50, 2 single males aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 2 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 1 married males aged 15 to 20, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 50 to 60, 1 single females aged 60 to 70, 1 single females aged 70 to 80, 1 single males aged 70 to 80, 1 widowed males aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 1,012 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 670 persons originating in Ireland, 240 persons originating in England or Wales, 157 persons originating in Scotland, 74 persons originating in the United States, 22 French Canadians, 5 persons originating in the West Indies, 4 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 3 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 1 persons originating in all other places, 1 persons originating in France, 1 persons originating in New Brunswick. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 1 persons originating in Guernsey — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 1,561 bushels of wheat, 897 bushels of oats, 651 acres of land in farms, 546 acres of farmland in pasture, 450 pounds of homemade butter, 392 acres of farmland under cultivation, 259 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 238 pounds of hops, 153 bushels of potatoes, 150 bushels of turnips, 140 acres of farmland under crops, 100 bushels of peas, 96 acres of wheat, 80 bushels of barley, 56 horses, 41 swine, 40 bushels of carrots, 39 sheep, 37 milk cows, 27 acres of oats, 25 occupants of farms, 20 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 20 bulls, oxen, or steers, 14 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 11 bushels of corn, 10 barrels of beef, 10 calves and heifers, 6 acres of barley, 6 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 6 barrels of pork, 5 acres of peas, 5 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 4 acres of potatoes, 4 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 2 bushels of beans, 2 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 1 acres of corn, 1 acres of turnips. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)
Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 16,000 pounds of wool produced in carding and fulling mills, 10,000 yards of cloth produced in carding and fulling mills, $1,850 value iron produced in foundries in the past year (pounds sterling), 1,700 distilleries returning capital, 850 foundries returning capital, 700 tanneries returning capital, $450 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 17 employees in foundries, 11 employees in saw mills, 10 employees in tanneries, 7 employees in distilleries, 6 employees in carding and fulling mills, 5 employees in grist mills, 4 foundries, 4 foundries reporting, 3 distilleries, 3 distilleries reporting, 2 grist mills, 2 grist mills powered by water, 2 grist mills reporting annual production, 2 saw mills, 2 saw mills powered by water, 2 saw mills reporting annual production, 2 tanneries, 2 tanneries reporting, 1 carding and fulling mills, 1 carding and fulling mills reporting, 1 saw mills returning capital. 1,200,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 9,000 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. $2,600 value leather produced in tanneries in the past year (pounds sterling). (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T7.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 3,600 gallons of liquor produced in distilleries — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 29 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 18, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 11, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 5, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 4, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 2, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 4 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wilson Seymour Conger | 1804–1864 | died here |
| David Fife | 1805–1877 | died here |
| William Tassie | 1815–1886 | died here |
| Jean-François Jamot | 1828–1886 | died here |
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON030009— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_ON138017— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q776930
- Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough,_Ontario
- Wikipédia (FR): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_(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). "Peterborough, C, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/peterborough-c-on030009-1851/.