Toronto, Ontario (1851 census)
Toronto was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 7,539. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q7826543. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.604°N, 79.662°W.
Population
In 1851, Toronto had a population of 7,539: 3,997 male and 3,542 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 7,539 |
| 1861 | 6,592 |
| 1871 | 5,974 |
| 1881 | 5,873 |
| 1891 | 5,528 |
| 1901 | 5,208 |
| 1911 | 6,208 |
| 1921 | 6,981 |
Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).
Boundary continuity (non-identical overlaps)
Spatial polygon overlaps with adjacent census years where the boundary shifted enough that the SAME_AS chain didn't merge them. These show where the territory came from and went to even when it isn't tracked as the same persistent place.
Later boundary forms
- In a later year, this CSD contained Streetsville, Village, 1861 (0.9% of this CSD's polygon).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1851
In the 1851 census, Toronto shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1851
The 1851 census recorded 209 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 7 categories.
Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 7,539 total population, 3,997 males, 3,542 females, Male members of the family who are present: 3,506, Female members of the family who are present: 3,212, 2,791 single males, 2,323 single females, 1,230 families, 1,141 married males, 1,099 married females, 794 males attending school, 664 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 491, Females present who are not members of the family: 330, 132 male births, 120 widowed females, 104 female births, 65 widowed males, Male members of the family who are present: 26, Female members of the family who are absent: 17, 3 blind males, 1 blind females, 1 deaf and dumb males, 1 lunatic males. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 526 males aged 5 to 10, 511 females aged 5 to 10, 494 single males aged 20 to 30, 483 single males aged 10 to 15, 459 single females aged 10 to 15, 437 single females aged 15 to 20, 437 single males aged 15 to 20, 361 married females aged 20 to 30, 342 married males aged 30 to 40, 325 married females aged 30 to 40, 275 single females aged 20 to 30, 272 married males aged 40 to 50, 257 married males aged 20 to 30, 204 married females aged 40 to 50, 161 married males aged 50 to 60, 151 males aged 1 to 2, 145 males under age 1, 135 females aged 1 to 2, 126 males aged 2 to 3, 123 males aged 3 to 4, 122 males aged 4 to 5, 115 females aged 2 to 3, 112 females under age 1, 112 married females aged 50 to 60, 109 single males aged 30 to 40, 99 females aged 4 to 5, 96 females age 3 to 4, 70 married males aged 60 to 70, 46 married females aged 60 to 70, 43 single females aged 30 to 40, 34 married females aged 15 to 20, 28 single males aged 40 to 50, 27 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 26 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 25 married males aged 70 to 80, 24 single males aged 50 to 60, 24 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 23 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 15 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 14 married females aged 70 to 80, 14 single females aged 40 to 50, 14 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 13 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 13 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 10 married males aged 15 to 20, 8 single females aged 50 to 60, 8 single females aged 60 to 70, 8 single males aged 60 to 70, 7 single females aged 70 to 80, 7 single males aged 70 to 80, 6 males of unknown age, 6 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 6 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 6 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 4 married males aged 80 to 90, 4 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 females of unknown age, 3 married females aged 80 to 90, 2 single males aged 80 to 90, 2 widowed females aged 80 to 90. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 1 single females over 100 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 3,669 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 2,095 persons originating in Ireland, 1,191 persons originating in England or Wales, 247 persons originating in Scotland, 200 persons originating in the United States, 59 French Canadians, 49 persons originating in all other places, 36 negroes or coloured persons, 23 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 21 male negroes or coloured persons, 15 female negroes or coloured persons, 12 Indigenous persons, 7 Indigenous males, 6 persons originating in the West Indies, 5 Indigenous females. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)
Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 190,296 bushels of wheat, 152,888 pounds of homemade butter, 106,985 bushels of oats, 60,634 acres of land in farms, 38,563 bushels of peas, 36,179 acres of farmland under cultivation, 34,235 bushels of potatoes, 28,306 pounds of wool produced on farms, 24,455 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 22,249 bushels of barley, 19,999 acres of farmland under crops, 18,309 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 16,463 bushels of turnips, 15,745 gallons of cider, 14,850 acres of farmland in pasture, 11,310 pounds of hops, 9,633 acres of wheat, 8,478 sheep, 6,172 tons of hay, 5,909 bushels of corn, 5,238 acres of oats, 4,984 swine, 3,354 bushels of buckwheat, 2,878 barrels of pork, 2,594 acres of peas, 2,298 milk cows, 2,012 horses, 1,703 acres of barley, 1,645 calves and heifers, 1,400 pounds of maple sugar, 1,330 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 1,214 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 1,111 bushels of rye, 1,035 bulls, oxen, or steers, 709 barrels of beef, 671 occupants of farms, 597 bushels of carrots, 441 acres of potatoes, 429 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 300 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 174 acres of corn, 139 acres of buckwheat, 121 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 118 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 110 pounds of flax or hemp, 108 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 84 acres of turnips, 74 acres of rye, 13 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 11 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 9 bushels of beans. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)
Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 28,000 yards of cloth produced in woollen factories, $16,250 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), 13,000 feet of lumber produced daily by saw mills reporting daily production, 8,000 pounds of wool produced in carding and fulling mills, 7,035 yards of flannel, $3,800 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 1,989 yards of fulled cloth, 700 distilleries returning capital, 300 carding and fulling mills returning capital, 72 employees in saw mills, 18 employees in grist mills, 18 saw mills, 17 saw mills powered by water, 15 saw mills reporting annual production, 15 saw mills returning capital, 11 grist mills, 11 grist mills returning capital, 10 grist mills powered by water, 9 grist mills reporting annual production, 3 employees in distilleries, 3 saw mills reporting daily production, 3 tanneries, 3 tanneries not reporting, 2 employees in carding and fulling mills, 2 grist mills reporting daily production, 1 carding and fulling mills, 1 carding and fulling mills reporting, 1 distilleries, 1 distilleries reporting, 1 employees in woollen factories, 1 grist mills powered by steam, 1 saw mills powered by steam, 1 woollen factories, 1 woollen factories reporting. 5,100,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 53,480 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. 250 barrels of flour produced per day by grist mills reporting daily production. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 250 gallons of liquor produced in distilleries — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Fisheries (1851). This community's record includes 143 barrels of cured fish. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)
Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 42 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 24, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 18, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 7, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 7, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 5, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 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 males aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| William Thompson | 1786–1860 | died here |
| Nahnebahwequay | 1824–1865 | born here |
| William Thomas Aikins | 1827–1897 | born here |
| Uzziel Ogden | 1828–1910 | born here |
| Kenneth Chisholm | 1829–1906 | born here |
| Sir John Morison Gibson | 1842–1929 | born here |
| Joseph Featherston | 1843–1913 | died here |
| William James Gage | 1849–1921 | born here |
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON028004— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_ON136004— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q7826543
- Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Township,_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). "Toronto, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/toronto-on028004-1851/.