Pickering, Ontario (1851 census)

Pickering was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 6,737. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q386626. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.901°N, 79.095°W.

Population

In 1851, Pickering had a population of 6,737: 3,566 male and 3,171 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, Pickering shared boundaries with:

• Markham
• Reach
• Scarborough
• Uxbridge
• Whitby

Full census record, 1851

The 1851 census recorded 197 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 7 categories.

Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 6,737 total population, 3,566 males, 3,171 females, Male members of the family who are present: 3,152, Female members of the family who are present: 2,893, 2,418 single males, 1,968 single females, 1,096 married females, 1,052 families, 1,040 married males, 721 males attending school, 505 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 414, Females present who are not members of the family: 278, 108 widowed males, 107 widowed females, 99 female births, 95 male births, Male members of the family who are present: 10, Female members of the family who are absent: 7, 3 deaf and dumb males, 1 blind males. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 488 females aged 5 to 10, 466 males aged 5 to 10, 453 single males aged 10 to 15, 390 single males aged 20 to 30, 382 single males aged 15 to 20, 380 married females aged 20 to 30, 356 single females aged 15 to 20, 334 married males aged 30 to 40, 316 single females aged 10 to 15, 278 married females aged 30 to 40, 270 married females aged 40 to 50, 243 married males aged 40 to 50, 240 married males aged 20 to 30, 192 single females aged 20 to 30, 139 females aged 1 to 2, 134 males aged 1 to 2, 127 males under age 1, 127 married males aged 50 to 60, 123 males aged 2 to 3, 122 males aged 3 to 4, 120 females age 3 to 4, 120 females under age 1, 100 females aged 2 to 3, 100 females aged 4 to 5, 98 married females aged 50 to 60, 95 males aged 4 to 5, 72 married males aged 60 to 70, 65 single males aged 30 to 40, 38 married females aged 60 to 70, 33 single males aged 40 to 50, 26 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 25 married females aged 15 to 20, 25 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 23 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 22 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 21 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 21 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 20 single males aged 50 to 60, 20 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 19 married males aged 70 to 80, 16 single females aged 30 to 40, 13 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 12 single females aged 40 to 50, 12 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 11 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 9 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 7 married females aged 70 to 80, 6 single males aged 60 to 70, 4 married males aged 80 to 90, 4 single females aged 60 to 70, 4 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 4 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 4 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 3 single females aged 50 to 60, 2 single females aged 70 to 80, 1 males of unknown age, 1 married males aged 90 to 100, 1 single males aged 70 to 80. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 3,672 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 1,126 persons originating in England or Wales, 1,019 persons originating in Ireland, 525 persons originating in Scotland, 255 persons originating in the United States, 99 persons originating in New Brunswick, 33 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 5 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 1 persons originating in France, 1 persons originating in Sweden or Norway, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 187,414 bushels of wheat, 167,258 bushels of oats, 117,438 pounds of homemade butter, 67,240 bushels of turnips, 64,160 acres of land in farms, 50,517 bushels of peas, 38,772 acres of farmland under cultivation, 31,590 acres of farmland under crops, 30,916 bushels of potatoes, 27,307 pounds of wool produced on farms, 26,733 pounds of maple sugar, 25,388 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 16,045 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 9,291 acres of wheat, 9,101 sheep, 6,581 acres of farmland in pasture, 5,150 tons of hay, 5,132 bushels of barley, 5,097 swine, 4,866 acres of oats, 3,936 barrels of pork, 3,855 bushels of corn, 2,743 acres of peas, 2,581 milk cows, 2,281 calves and heifers, 2,174 horses, 1,321 bushels of rye, 1,250 bulls, oxen, or steers, 1,086 barrels of beef, 820 occupants of farms, 686 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 606 bushels of carrots, 601 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 572 acres of potatoes, 334 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 300 bushels of buckwheat, 276 acres of turnips, 265 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 180 gallons of cider, 173 acres of barley, 148 acres of corn, 125 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 101 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 95 acres of rye, 86 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 80 pounds of flax or hemp, 62 bushels of beans, 22 acres of buckwheat, 22 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 13 persons living on farms over 200 acres. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 9,790 yards of flannel, 7,500 pounds of wool produced in carding and fulling mills, $6,820 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 4,000 yards of cloth produced in carding and fulling mills, 3,968 yards of fulled cloth, 500 carding and fulling mills returning capital, 125 tanneries returning capital, 10 employees in grist mills, 7 employees in saw mills, 7 employees in tanneries, 4 grist mills, 4 grist mills powered by water, 4 grist mills reporting annual production, 3 grist mills returning capital, 3 saw mills, 3 saw mills powered by water, 3 saw mills reporting annual production, 2 distilleries, 2 employees in distilleries, 2 tanneries, 2 tanneries reporting, 2 woollen factories, 2 woollen factories reporting, 1 carding and fulling mills, 1 carding and fulling mills reporting, 1 distilleries reporting, 1 employees in carding and fulling mills. 2,015,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 14,000 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. $1,700 value leather produced in tanneries in the past year (pounds sterling). (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.)

Fisheries (1851). This community's record includes 8 barrels of cured fish. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 65 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 33, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 32, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 13, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 10, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 7, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 6, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 4, 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 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 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 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 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. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 5 people 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: ON026002 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON133003 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q386626
• Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickering,_Ontario
• Wikipédia (FR): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickering

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). "Pickering, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/pickering-on026002-1851/.