Townsend, Ontario (1851 census)

Townsend was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 4,935. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q115263014. The administrative centroid was at approximately 42.941°N, 80.253°W.

Population

In 1851, Townsend had a population of 4,935: 2,545 male and 2,390 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, Townsend shared boundaries with:

• Brantford
• Burford
• Oakland
• Simcoe, T-V
• Tuscarora
• Walpole
• Windham
• Woodhouse

Full census record, 1851

The 1851 census recorded 205 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 4,935 total population, 2,545 males, 2,390 females, Male members of the family who are present: 2,222, Female members of the family who are present: 2,203, 1,713 single males, 1,535 single females, 786 married females, 784 married males, 558 males attending school, 544 females attending school, 480 families, Males present who are not members of the family: 323, Females present who are not members of the family: 187, 69 widowed females, 56 male births, Female members of the family who are absent: 51, 48 widowed males, 47 female births, Male members of the family who are present: 44, 2 blind females, 1 blind males, 1 deaf and dumb females, 1 persons at sea. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T3.)

Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 397 females aged 5 to 10, 362 males aged 5 to 10, 315 single males aged 10 to 15, 302 married females aged 20 to 30, 299 single females aged 10 to 15, 286 single males aged 15 to 20, 264 single males aged 20 to 30, 253 single females aged 15 to 20, 246 married males aged 30 to 40, 214 married males aged 20 to 30, 204 married females aged 30 to 40, 163 married males aged 40 to 50, 139 married females aged 40 to 50, 109 females under age 1, 108 married males aged 50 to 60, 106 males under age 1, 105 single females aged 20 to 30, 96 females aged 1 to 2, 93 males aged 1 to 2, 87 females age 3 to 4, 86 females aged 2 to 3, 86 males aged 3 to 4, 69 males aged 2 to 3, 66 males aged 4 to 5, 60 females aged 4 to 5, 59 married females aged 50 to 60, 53 married females aged 15 to 20, 29 married males aged 60 to 70, 27 single males aged 30 to 40, 22 married males aged 70 to 80, 21 married females aged 60 to 70, 19 females of unknown age, 17 males of unknown age, 16 single females aged 30 to 40, 16 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 15 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 14 single males aged 40 to 50, 11 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 11 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 11 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 9 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 7 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 6 married females aged 70 to 80, 6 single males aged 50 to 60, 6 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 6 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 6 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 5 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 4 single females aged 40 to 50, 4 single females aged 50 to 60, 4 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 2 married females aged 80 to 90, 2 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 2 widowed males aged 90 to 100, 1 married males aged 15 to 20, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 single males aged 60 to 70, 1 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 80 to 90. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 3,722 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 432 persons originating in the United States, 284 persons originating in England or Wales, 225 persons originating in Ireland, 164 persons originating in Scotland, 54 persons originating in New Brunswick, 28 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 8 persons originating in all other places, 6 French Canadians, 6 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 3 persons originating in France, 1 persons whose origin is unknown. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 1 persons originating in Jersey or other British islands — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 117,495 bushels of wheat, 110,364 pounds of homemade butter, 69,381 bushels of oats, 53,201 acres of land in farms, 38,465 pounds of maple sugar, 33,901 bushels of corn, 26,926 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 26,275 acres of farmland under cultivation, 25,027 bushels of potatoes, 19,222 pounds of wool produced on farms, 16,249 acres of farmland under crops, 15,179 bushels of buckwheat, 13,249 bushels of turnips, 12,014 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 9,336 acres of farmland in pasture, 8,422 bushels of barley, 6,687 acres of wheat, 6,325 sheep, 4,571 tons of hay, 3,454 gallons of cider, 2,967 swine, 2,251 acres of oats, 2,107 barrels of pork, 1,888 bushels of peas, 1,594 milk cows, 1,593 bushels of rye, 1,396 acres of corn, 1,346 horses, 1,292 calves and heifers, 1,177 bulls, oxen, or steers, 850 acres of buckwheat, 690 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 636 barrels of beef, 560 occupants of farms, 441 bushels of carrots, 401 acres of barley, 383 acres of potatoes, 326 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 299 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 213 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 198 bushels of beans, 182 acres of rye, 128 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 118 acres of peas, 109 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 82 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 50 pounds of tobacco, 30 pounds of flax or hemp, 22 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 11 acres of turnips, 6 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 4 pounds of hops. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)

Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 93,000 gallons of beer produced in breweries, 9,568 yards of flannel, $7,100 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 3,364 yards of fulled cloth, $3,250 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), $2,500 value iron produced in foundries in the past year (pounds sterling), 1,500 foundries returning capital, 600 carding and fulling mills returning capital, 250 breweries returning capital, 200 distilleries returning capital, 100 pounds of wool produced in carding and fulling mills, 64 employees in saw mills, 25 yards of linen, 22 saw mills, 19 saw mills reporting annual production, 19 saw mills returning capital, 15 saw mills powered by water, 14 employees in foundries, 7 saw mills powered by steam, 4 employees in grist mills, 3 saw mills not reporting, 2 carding and fulling mills, 2 carding and fulling mills reporting, 2 employees in breweries, 2 employees in carding and fulling mills, 2 grist mills, 2 grist mills powered by water, 2 grist mills reporting annual production, 2 grist mills returning capital, 1 breweries, 1 breweries reporting, 1 distilleries, 1 distilleries reporting, 1 foundries, 1 foundries reporting, 1 tanneries not reporting. 5,330,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. 13,500 barrels of flour produced per year by grist mills reporting annual production. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 10,000 gallons of liquor produced in distilleries — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 33 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 17, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 16, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 6, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 4, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 4, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 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 50 to 60: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 1 person 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: ON025005 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON131004 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q115263014

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). "Townsend, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/townsend-on025005-1851/.