Peterborough, C, Ontario (1861 census)
Peterborough, C was a city in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 3,979. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q776930. The administrative centroid was at approximately 44.301°N, 78.331°W.
Population
In 1861, Peterborough, C had a population of 3,979: 2,051 male and 1,928 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 1861
In the 1861 census, Peterborough, C shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1861
The 1861 census recorded 126 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 3,979 total population, 2,051 males, 1,928 females, Male members of the family who are present: 1,739, Female members of the family who are present: 1,720, 1,368 single males, 1,253 single females, 655 married males, 595 married females, 322 males attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 312, 302 females attending school, Females present who are not members of the family: 208, 94 male births, 81 female births, 80 widowed females, 78 adult males unable to read or write, 71 adult females unable to read or write, 28 widowed males, 2 deaf and dumb males, 2 lunatic males, 1 blind males, 1 persons at sea. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)
Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 253 single females aged 15 to 20, 249 single males aged 15 to 20, 242 married females aged 20 to 30, 235 females aged 5 to 10, 232 males aged 5 to 10, 226 single males aged 20 to 30, 197 married males aged 30 to 40, 190 married males aged 20 to 30, 187 single males aged 10 to 15, 185 single females aged 10 to 15, 170 married females aged 30 to 40, 164 single females aged 20 to 30, 137 married males aged 40 to 50, 106 males aged 1 to 2, 99 married females aged 40 to 50, 90 married males aged 50 to 60, 87 males aged 2 to 3, 85 females aged 2 to 3, 80 females aged 1 to 2, 65 males aged 3 to 4, 56 females aged 4 to 5, 54 females age 3 to 4, 54 males aged 4 to 5, 42 married females aged 50 to 60, 42 single males aged 30 to 40, 34 single females aged 30 to 40, 26 married males aged 60 to 70, 24 married females aged 15 to 20, 17 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 17 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 14 married females aged 60 to 70, 14 single females aged 40 to 50, 14 single males aged 40 to 50, 12 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 12 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 11 married males aged 70 to 80, 11 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 9 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 6 single females aged 50 to 60, 6 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 5 single males aged 50 to 60, 5 single males aged 60 to 70, 5 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 5 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 4 married females aged 70 to 80, 4 married males aged 15 to 20, 4 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 3 single females aged 60 to 70, 2 single females aged 70 to 80, 2 single males aged 70 to 80, 2 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 2 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 1 females of unknown age. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)
Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 2,058 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 889 persons originating in Ireland, 376 persons originating in England or Wales, 278 persons originating in Scotland, 150 French Canadians, 126 persons originating in the United States, 75 persons whose origin is unknown, 13 male negroes or coloured persons, 10 female negroes or coloured persons, 6 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 5 persons originating in Italy or Greece, 5 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 3 persons originating in France, 2 persons originating in New Brunswick, 2 persons originating in the West Indies, 1 Indigenous males, 1 persons originating in all other places, 1 persons originating in Newfoundland. 1 persons originating in Guernsey, Jersey, or other British islands. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)
Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $23,165 value all livestock, 238 swine, 227 milk cows, 193 horses aged over 3 years, 140 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 33 sheep. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)
Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $4,094 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), $980 value carriages for hire (dollars), 79 carriages for pleasure, 25 carriages for hire. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)
Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 39 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 23, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 16, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 9, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 8, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 1, 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 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)
People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 6 people connected to this place who were alive in 1861, 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 |
| Sir Joseph Wesley Flavelle | 1858–1939 | born here |
| Jessie Knox Munro | 1861–1923 | died here |
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON093012— 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 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). "Peterborough, C, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/peterborough-c-on093012-1861/.