Pickering, Ontario (1881 census)
Pickering was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1881 Census of Canada with a population of 6,883. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q386626. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.901°N, 79.095°W.
Population
In 1881, Pickering had a population of 6,883: 3,514 male and 3,369 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 6,737 |
| 1861 | 8,002 |
| 1871 | 7,375 |
| 1881 | 6,883 |
| 1891 | 5,998 |
| 1901 | 5,225 |
| 1911 | 4,763 |
| 1921 | 4,910 |
Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1881
In the 1881 census, Pickering shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1881
The 1881 census recorded 34 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 4 categories.
Population & families (1881). This community's record includes 6,883 total population, 3,514 males, 3,369 females, 2,320 married persons, 1,369 families, 1,162 married females, 1,158 married males, 272 widowed persons, 183 widowed females, 89 widowed males. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Age structure (1881). This community's record includes 4,291 single persons under 18, 2,267 single males under 18, 2,024 single females under 18. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Buildings & housing (1881). This community's record includes 1,358 occupied houses, 1,356 inhabited houses, 41 uninhabited houses, 6 houses under construction, 2 dwellings that are temporary shanties. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Agriculture (1881). This community's record includes 856,569 bushels of turnips, 214,937 bushels of oats, 161,315 bushels of barley, 99,042 bushels of winter wheat, 77,956 bushels of other root crops, 75,944 bushels of peas and beans, 71,005 bushels of potatoes, 50,529 bushels of spring wheat, 19,342 bushels of corn, 11,518 tons of hay, 9,594 acres of wheat, 7,554 acres of hay crops, 3,561 bushels of rye, 1,462 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 678 acres of potatoes, 156 bushels of buckwheat. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T24.)
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 1881, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.
| Name | Lifespan | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| John Miller | 1817–1904 | died here |
| James Ironside Davidson | 1818–1902 | died here |
| Sarah Ann Dale | 1848–1915 | born and died here |
| Robert Menzies Mitchell | 1865–1932 | born here |
| Thomas John Thomson | 1877–1917 | born here |
Residents in 1881
The 1881 census residents page for this Census Subdivision lists 6,884 individuals enumerated here, with name, age, sex, religion, ethnic origin, birthplace, and occupation. Source: TCP/Dillon 1881 Canadian Census deposit at Borealis.
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON132001— 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 1881 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 (1881 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/pickering-on132001-1881/.