Scarborough, Ontario (1861 census)

Scarborough was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 4,854. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q1025401. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.778°N, 79.240°W.

Population

In 1861, Scarborough had a population of 4,854: 2,541 male and 2,313 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 1861

In the 1861 census, Scarborough shared boundaries with:

• Markham
• Pickering
• York

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 182 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 4,854 total population, 2,541 males, Male members of the family who are present: 2,316, 2,313 females, Female members of the family who are present: 2,136, 1,759 single males, 1,471 single females, 735 married females, 729 married males, 517 males attending school, 358 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 225, Females present who are not members of the family: 177, 107 widowed females, 94 male births, 89 female births, 74 adult females unable to read or write, 53 widowed males, 46 adult males unable to read or write, 3 deaf and dumb males, 2 lunatic females, 2 lunatic males, 1 blind males, 1 deaf and dumb females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 340 single males aged 20 to 30, 294 single males aged 10 to 15, 277 males aged 5 to 10, 272 females aged 5 to 10, 268 single males aged 15 to 20, 257 single females aged 10 to 15, 251 single females aged 15 to 20, 239 married males aged 30 to 40, 229 married females aged 20 to 30, 219 single females aged 20 to 30, 218 married females aged 30 to 40, 170 married males aged 40 to 50, 149 married females aged 40 to 50, 120 married males aged 20 to 30, 105 married males aged 50 to 60, 104 males aged 2 to 3, 94 males aged 1 to 2, 91 females age 3 to 4, 89 females aged 2 to 3, 86 males aged 4 to 5, 81 females aged 1 to 2, 81 single males aged 30 to 40, 80 married females aged 50 to 60, 76 males aged 3 to 4, 70 females aged 4 to 5, 68 married males aged 60 to 70, 41 married females aged 60 to 70, 26 married males aged 70 to 80, 25 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 24 single females aged 30 to 40, 24 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 23 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 18 single males aged 40 to 50, 16 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 14 single males aged 50 to 60, 13 single females aged 40 to 50, 13 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 12 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 10 married females aged 70 to 80, 10 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 10 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 9 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 7 married females aged 15 to 20, 6 single females aged 50 to 60, 6 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 5 single females aged 60 to 70, 5 single males aged 60 to 70, 4 males of unknown age, 4 single females aged 70 to 80, 4 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 4 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 2 single males aged 70 to 80, 2 single males aged 80 to 90, 2 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 1 married females aged 80 to 90, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 20 to 30. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 3,015 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 717 persons originating in England or Wales, 563 persons originating in Ireland, 456 persons originating in Scotland, 64 persons originating in the United States, 13 persons originating in New Brunswick, 12 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 9 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 3 French Canadians, 1 persons originating in France, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $2,462,910 value farms (dollars), $207,295 value all livestock, 130,708 bushels of oats, 130,255 pounds of homemade butter, $101,325 value horses aged over 3 years, $83,956 value farm implements in dollars, 72,473 bushels of potatoes, 71,116 bushels of peas, 54,880 bushels of winter wheat, 47,123 bushels of turnips, 41,667 bushels of carrots, 38,881 acres of land in farms, 28,394 acres of farmland under cultivation, 28,051 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 22,405 acres of farmland under crops, 18,890 bushels of spring wheat, 17,922 bushels of barley, 16,485 pounds of wool produced on farms, 14,791 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 10,487 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 10,066 gallons of cider, $9,023 value garden and orchard crops, 5,550 acres of farmland in pasture, 4,900 sheep, 4,255 acres of winter wheat, 4,099 pounds of flax or hemp, 3,913 tons of hay, 3,065 swine, 2,833 acres of oats, 2,663 acres of peas, 2,512 pounds of maple sugar, 2,113 bushels of corn, 2,068 milk cows, 1,685 barrels of pork, 1,425 acres of spring wheat, 1,351 horses aged over 3 years, 1,134 calves and heifers, 778 bushels of rye, 709 acres of potatoes, 610 acres of barley, 486 bushels of buckwheat, 439 acres of farmland in gardens, 439 horses aged 3 years and under, 437 occupants of farms, 392 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 299 barrels of beef, 242 bushels of beans, 222 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 167 bulls, oxen, or steers, 143 acres of turnips, 118 pounds of hops, 98 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 73 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 70 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 65 acres of corn, 59 acres of rye, 41 acres of mangel wurtzel, 25 acres of buckwheat, 22 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 14 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 11 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $16,091 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 3,273 yards of flannel, 1,110 yards of fulled cloth, 310 carriages for pleasure, 44 yards of linen. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 42 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 21, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 21, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 6, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 2, 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 50 to 60: 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 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

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 1861, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: ON105008 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON154007 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q1025401
• Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough,_Ontario
• Wikipédia (FR): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_(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). "Scarborough, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/scarborough-on105008-1861/.