Westminster, Ontario (1861 census)

Westminster was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 6,285. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q7989101. The administrative centroid was at approximately 42.912°N, 81.225°W.

Population

In 1861, Westminster had a population of 6,285: 3,252 male and 3,033 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, Westminster shared boundaries with:

• Delaware
• Dorchester
• Dorchester, North
• London
• Southwold
• Ward No. 1
• Ward No. 3
• Ward No. 5
• Yarmouth

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 195 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 6,285 total population, 3,252 males, 3,033 females, Male members of the family who are present: 3,024, Female members of the family who are present: 2,843, 2,281 single males, 2,033 single females, 931 married males, 928 married females, 766 males attending school, 593 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 228, Females present who are not members of the family: 190, 113 male births, 107 female births, 72 adult males unable to read or write, 72 widowed females, 65 adult females unable to read or write, 40 widowed males, 2 blind females, 2 deaf and dumb males, 2 lunatic females, 2 lunatic males, 2 persons at sea, 1 blind males. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 529 males aged 5 to 10, 496 females aged 5 to 10, 439 single females aged 10 to 15, 438 single males aged 10 to 15, 327 single females aged 15 to 20, 326 single males aged 15 to 20, 316 married females aged 20 to 30, 300 single males aged 20 to 30, 277 married males aged 30 to 40, 274 married females aged 30 to 40, 260 married males aged 20 to 30, 259 married males aged 40 to 50, 178 married females aged 40 to 50, 146 females aged 1 to 2, 131 males aged 2 to 3, 130 males aged 1 to 2, 125 females aged 2 to 3, 124 single females aged 20 to 30, 119 males aged 3 to 4, 113 females aged 4 to 5, 112 females age 3 to 4, 104 males aged 4 to 5, 94 married males aged 50 to 60, 75 married females aged 50 to 60, 51 single males aged 30 to 40, 42 married females aged 15 to 20, 35 married females aged 60 to 70, 26 married males aged 60 to 70, 21 single females aged 30 to 40, 20 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 16 single males aged 40 to 50, 16 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 15 males of unknown age, 13 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 10 females of unknown age, 10 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 10 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 9 married males aged 15 to 20, 9 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 8 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 7 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 6 married females aged 70 to 80, 6 single females aged 40 to 50, 5 single females aged 50 to 60, 5 single males aged 50 to 60, 5 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 4 married males aged 70 to 80, 4 single males aged 60 to 70, 4 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 3 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 3 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 2 married males aged 80 to 90, 2 single females aged 60 to 70, 2 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 1 married females aged 80 to 90, 1 married females aged 90 to 100, 1 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 4,014 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 781 persons originating in England or Wales, 696 persons originating in Scotland, 434 persons originating in Ireland, 298 persons originating in the United States, 60 negroes or coloured persons, 30 Indigenous males, 29 Indigenous females, 18 persons originating in New Brunswick, 15 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 15 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 6 Indigenous persons, 3 persons originating in the West Indies, 2 male negroes or coloured persons, 2 persons originating in Spain or Portugal, 2 persons whose origin is unknown, 1 persons originating in Switzerland, 1 persons originating in the East Indies. 3 persons originating in Guernsey, Jersey, or other British islands. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $2,270,635 value farms (dollars), 307,805 bushels of turnips, $296,228 value all livestock, 163,551 pounds of homemade butter, 154,969 bushels of oats, $125,325 value horses aged over 3 years, 96,309 bushels of spring wheat, 86,170 bushels of peas, 76,598 bushels of potatoes, $66,196 value farm implements in dollars, 59,389 acres of land in farms, 50,933 pounds of maple sugar, 35,674 acres of farmland under cultivation, 33,432 pounds of wool produced on farms, 28,803 bushels of barley, 24,609 acres of farmland under crops, 23,715 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 23,204 gallons of cider, 18,575 bushels of winter wheat, $15,622 value garden and orchard crops, 14,090 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 11,657 bushels of carrots, 10,183 acres of farmland in pasture, 9,941 sheep, 7,310 bushels of corn, 5,657 tons of hay, 5,282 bushels of buckwheat, 5,082 acres of spring wheat, 4,839 swine, 4,336 acres of oats, 3,993 acres of peas, 3,367 calves and heifers, 2,601 milk cows, 2,450 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 2,359 barrels of pork, 1,807 horses aged over 3 years, 1,696 acres of winter wheat, 1,380 pounds of flax or hemp, 882 acres of farmland in gardens, 863 acres of barley, 839 bushels of rye, 772 acres of turnips, 699 acres of potatoes, 699 horses aged 3 years and under, 662 occupants of farms, 626 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 617 barrels of beef, 322 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 301 acres of corn, 301 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 257 acres of buckwheat, 188 bulls, oxen, or steers, 177 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 125 bushels of beans, 124 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 55 acres of rye, 35 pounds of hops, 21 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 20 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 19 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 5 acres of mangel wurtzel. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $19,119 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 9,265 yards of flannel, 2,298 yards of fulled cloth, $444 value carriages for hire (dollars), 319 carriages for pleasure, 14 carriages for hire. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 39 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 20, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 19, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 5, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 4, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 2, Deaths in the past year among females of unknown age: 2, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 1 to 2: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 2, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 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 2 to 3: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 40 to 50: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 90 to 100: 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 5 to 10: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 80 to 90: 1, Deaths in the past year among males of unknown age: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 3 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: ON086014 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON128013 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q7989101
• Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster,_Middlesex_County,_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). "Westminster, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/westminster-on086014-1861/.