Wellesley, Ontario (1861 census)
Wellesley was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 5,888. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q7981233. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.545°N, 80.728°W.
Population
In 1861, Wellesley had a population of 5,888: 3,137 male and 2,751 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 1861
In the 1861 census, Wellesley shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1861
The 1861 census recorded 186 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.
Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 5,888 total population, 3,137 males, Male members of the family who are present: 2,873, 2,751 females, Female members of the family who are present: 2,615, 1,799 single females, 884 married females, 816 males attending school, 602 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 264, Females present who are not members of the family: 136, 113 male births, 110 female births, 68 adult males unable to read or write, 68 widowed females, 63 adult females unable to read or write, 45 widowed males, 6 lunatic males, 3 deaf and dumb females, 3 persons at sea, 2 lunatic females, 1 blind females, 1 deaf and dumb males. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)
Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 406 males aged 5 to 10, 400 females aged 5 to 10, 395 single males aged 15 to 20, 390 single females aged 10 to 15, 374 single males aged 10 to 15, 343 single males aged 20 to 30, 306 married females aged 30 to 40, 298 single females aged 15 to 20, 293 married males aged 30 to 40, 287 married females aged 20 to 30, 199 married males aged 40 to 50, 192 married males aged 20 to 30, 152 married females aged 40 to 50, 126 females aged 1 to 2, 125 single females aged 20 to 30, 121 males aged 1 to 2, 109 males aged 4 to 5, 106 females aged 4 to 5, 106 males aged 3 to 4, 104 females age 3 to 4, 98 married males aged 50 to 60, 96 females aged 2 to 3, 92 males aged 2 to 3, 85 single males aged 30 to 40, 68 married males aged 60 to 70, 66 married females aged 50 to 60, 35 married females aged 60 to 70, 31 married females aged 15 to 20, 27 single males aged 40 to 50, 25 married males aged 70 to 80, 23 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 21 males of unknown age, 20 single females aged 30 to 40, 15 females of unknown age, 13 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 12 single males aged 50 to 60, 11 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 10 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 10 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 9 married males aged 15 to 20, 8 single females aged 40 to 50, 8 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 7 married females aged 70 to 80, 7 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 7 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 6 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 6 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 3 married males aged 80 to 90, 3 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 50 to 60, 1 single males aged 60 to 70, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 1 widowed males aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)
Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 3,375 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 1,072 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 429 persons originating in Ireland, 270 persons originating in Scotland, 239 persons originating in England or Wales, 171 French Canadians, 171 persons originating in France, 132 persons originating in the United States, 53 negroes or coloured persons, 20 persons originating in Switzerland, 3 persons originating in New Brunswick, 1 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 1 persons originating in Spain or Portugal, 1 persons whose origin is unknown. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $1,675,213 value farms (dollars), 226,244 bushels of spring wheat, $208,617 value all livestock, 140,749 bushels of oats, 98,968 pounds of homemade butter, $95,124 value horses aged over 3 years, $82,702 value farm implements in dollars, 76,344 bushels of potatoes, 74,675 bushels of turnips, 63,212 acres of land in farms, 51,488 pounds of maple sugar, 51,452 bushels of peas, 48,896 bushels of winter wheat, 37,145 acres of farmland under cultivation, 28,601 acres of farmland under crops, 26,067 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 25,920 pounds of flax or hemp, 18,124 pounds of wool produced on farms, 11,759 acres of spring wheat, 10,202 bushels of barley, 8,478 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 8,170 acres of farmland in pasture, 6,439 sheep, 5,072 swine, 3,980 acres of oats, 3,777 tons of hay, 2,401 calves and heifers, 2,296 acres of winter wheat, 2,215 acres of peas, 2,173 milk cows, 2,082 bushels of carrots, $1,707 value garden and orchard crops, 1,518 barrels of pork, 1,327 horses aged over 3 years, 1,040 bushels of rye, 736 bulls, oxen, or steers, 659 occupants of farms, 638 acres of potatoes, 616 horses aged 3 years and under, 470 acres of turnips, 413 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 386 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 374 acres of farmland in gardens, 355 acres of barley, 302 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 212 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 178 pounds of hops, 156 barrels of beef, 136 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 105 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 45 acres of rye, 27 bushels of beans, 24 bushels of corn, 15 bushels of buckwheat, 11 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 11 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 10 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 2 acres of mangel wurtzel, 1 acres of buckwheat, 1 acres of corn. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)
Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes 9,978 yards of flannel, $8,900 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 5,909 yards of fulled cloth, 564 yards of linen, 222 carriages for pleasure, $70 value carriages for hire (dollars), 2 carriages for hire. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)
Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 52 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 29, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 23, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 9, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 7, Deaths in the past year among females aged 1 to 2: 5, Deaths in the past year among females aged 4 to 5: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 30 to 40: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 10 to 15: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 30 to 40: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 4 to 5: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 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. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
ON101010— 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 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). "Wellesley, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/wellesley-on101010-1861/.