Wellesley, Ontario (1851 census)
Wellesley was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1851 Census of Canada with a population of 3,546. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q7981233. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.545°N, 80.728°W.
Population
In 1851, Wellesley had a population of 3,546: 1,910 male and 1,636 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1851 | 3,546 |
| 1861 | 5,888 |
| 1871 | 5,710 |
| 1881 | 5,752 |
| 1891 | 5,609 |
| 1901 | 5,051 |
| 1911 | 4,757 |
| 1921 | 4,466 |
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, Wellesley shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1851
The 1851 census recorded 186 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1851). This community's record includes 3,546 total population, 1,910 males, Male members of the family who are present: 1,834, 1,636 females, Female members of the family who are present: 1,586, 1,325 single males, 1,054 single females, 618 families, 570 married males, 556 married females, 119 males attending school, 91 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 76, Females present who are not members of the family: 50, 34 male births, 26 widowed females, 24 female births, Male members of the family who are present: 16, 15 widowed males, Female members of the family who are absent: 14, 3 lunatic females, 1 blind females, 1 deaf and dumb females, 1 lunatic males. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Age structure (1851). This community's record includes 274 males aged 5 to 10, 260 females aged 5 to 10, 222 married females aged 20 to 30, 211 single males aged 10 to 15, 190 single females aged 10 to 15, 179 single males aged 20 to 30, 175 single males aged 15 to 20, 167 married males aged 30 to 40, 164 married males aged 20 to 30, 140 single females aged 15 to 20, 131 married females aged 30 to 40, 124 married males aged 40 to 50, 99 married females aged 40 to 50, 85 females aged 1 to 2, 82 males under age 1, 81 males aged 1 to 2, 79 males aged 2 to 3, 78 males aged 4 to 5, 76 males aged 3 to 4, 75 females age 3 to 4, 74 married males aged 50 to 60, 73 females under age 1, 62 females aged 4 to 5, 60 females aged 2 to 3, 56 single females aged 20 to 30, 53 married females aged 50 to 60, 30 married females aged 15 to 20, 28 married males aged 60 to 70, 27 males of unknown age, 26 single males aged 30 to 40, 21 females of unknown age, 17 single males aged 40 to 50, 16 married females aged 60 to 70, 13 single males aged 50 to 60, 13 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 12 single females aged 40 to 50, 11 single females aged 30 to 40, 8 married males aged 70 to 80, 8 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 6 single males aged 60 to 70, 5 married males aged 15 to 20, 5 single females aged 50 to 60, 5 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 4 married females aged 70 to 80, 4 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 3 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 2 single females aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 2 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 1 married females aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 70 to 80, 1 single females aged 80 to 90, 1 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 1 widowed males aged 40 to 50. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Ethnic origin (1851). This community's record includes 1,646 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 785 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 464 persons originating in Ireland, 229 persons originating in Scotland, 215 persons originating in England or Wales, 132 persons originating in the United States, 46 persons originating in France, 7 persons whose origin is unknown, 6 French Canadians, 6 persons originating in New Brunswick, 6 persons originating in Switzerland, 3 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T1.) The 1851 enumerator also recorded 36 persons originating in Russia, Prussia, or Poland — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.
Agriculture (1851). This community's record includes 60,544 bushels of wheat, 54,828 acres of land in farms, 53,662 bushels of oats, 47,290 pounds of homemade butter, 38,379 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 28,312 pounds of maple sugar, 21,263 bushels of potatoes, 16,812 bushels of turnips, 16,449 acres of farmland under cultivation, 13,695 acres of farmland under crops, 10,909 bushels of peas, 9,101 pounds of wool produced on farms, 4,163 sheep, 3,642 acres of wheat, 3,384 swine, 2,986 bushels of barley, 2,636 acres of farmland in pasture, 2,289 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 2,169 acres of oats, 2,054 tons of hay, 1,650 bushels of rye, 1,512 barrels of pork, 1,508 bulls, oxen, or steers, 1,184 milk cows, 1,066 calves and heifers, 774 acres of peas, 758 pounds of flax or hemp, 678 bushels of corn, 509 occupants of farms, 473 horses, 391 acres of potatoes, 346 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 292 barrels of beef, 289 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 189 acres of barley, 161 acres of turnips, 127 acres of rye, 118 acres of farmland in gardens or orchards, 99 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 91 bushels of buckwheat, 88 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 85 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 64 pounds of tobacco, 50 bushels of carrots, 43 acres of corn, 39 bushels of beans, 36 pounds of hops, 31 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 9 acres of buckwheat, 3 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 2 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6.)
Manufacturing & industry (1851). This community's record includes 6,877 yards of flannel, 3,600 feet of lumber produced daily by saw mills reporting daily production, 1,992 yards of fulled cloth, 1,000 pounds of wool produced in carding and fulling mills, $750 value capital returned by grist mills (pounds sterling), $600 value capital returned by saw mills (pounds sterling), 81 yards of linen, 25 tanneries returning capital, 4 saw mills, 4 saw mills powered by water, 4 saw mills returning capital, 3 employees in saw mills, 3 saw mills reporting daily production, 2 employees in grist mills, 1 employees in tanneries, 1 grist mills, 1 grist mills powered by water, 1 grist mills reporting daily production, 1 grist mills returning capital, 1 saw mills reporting annual production, 1 tanneries, 1 tanneries reporting. 80,000 feet of lumber produced per year by saw mills reporting annual production. $150 value leather produced in tanneries in the past year (pounds sterling). 3 barrels of flour produced per day by grist mills reporting daily production. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V2T6; V2T7.)
Deaths & mortality (1851). This community's record includes 30 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 16, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 14, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 8, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 7, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 2, Deaths in the past year among females 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 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 5 to 10: 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, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 1. (Source: 1851 Census of Canada, V1T3.)
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON038005— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_ON150003— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q7981233
- Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley,_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). "Wellesley, Ontario (1851 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/wellesley-on038005-1851/.