York, Ontario (1861 census)

York was a census subdivision in Ontario, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 10,337. The administrative centroid was at approximately 43.726°N, 79.420°W.

Population

In 1861, York had a population of 10,337: 5,250 male and 5,087 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).

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.

Earlier boundary forms

• In an earlier year, this CSD contained Lunatic Asylum, 1851 (0.0% share).
• In an earlier year, this CSD contained Upper Canada College, 1851 (0.1% share).

Later boundary forms

• In a later year, this CSD contained York, W-O, 1871 (56.0% of this CSD's polygon).
• In a later year, this CSD contained York, E, 1871 (43.5% of this CSD's polygon).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1861

In the 1861 census, York shared boundaries with:

• Etobicoke
• Markham
• Religious, Collegiate, and other Public Institutions
• Scarborough
• St. Andrews’ Ward
• St. Davids’ Ward
• St. Georges’ Ward
• St. Lawrence Ward
• St. Patricks’ Ward
• Vaughan
• Yorkville, Village

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 204 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 10,337 total population, 5,250 males, 5,087 females, Male members of the family who are present: 4,751, Female members of the family who are present: 4,711, 3,595 single males, 3,354 single females, 1,558 married males, 1,554 married females, 932 males attending school, 805 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 499, Females present who are not members of the family: 376, 213 male births, 209 female births, 179 widowed females, 149 adult males unable to read or write, 142 adult females unable to read or write, 97 widowed males, 7 lunatic males, 4 deaf and dumb males, 2 blind males, 2 lunatic females, 2 persons at sea, 1 deaf and dumb females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 729 males aged 5 to 10, 684 females aged 5 to 10, 622 single females aged 10 to 15, 608 single females aged 15 to 20, 599 single males aged 10 to 15, 574 single males aged 15 to 20, 548 single males aged 20 to 30, 508 married females aged 20 to 30, 504 married females aged 30 to 40, 470 married males aged 30 to 40, 380 single females aged 20 to 30, 376 married males aged 40 to 50, 320 married males aged 20 to 30, 279 married females aged 40 to 50, 230 married males aged 50 to 60, 197 females aged 1 to 2, 185 males aged 2 to 3, 183 males aged 3 to 4, 176 females age 3 to 4, 176 females aged 2 to 3, 167 males aged 1 to 2, 156 married females aged 50 to 60, 153 females aged 4 to 5, 148 males aged 4 to 5, 126 single males aged 30 to 40, 117 married males aged 60 to 70, 69 married females aged 60 to 70, 66 single females aged 30 to 40, 62 single males aged 40 to 50, 39 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 38 single females aged 40 to 50, 36 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 33 single males aged 50 to 60, 32 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 30 married males aged 70 to 80, 30 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 26 married females aged 15 to 20, 23 widowed males aged 60 to 70, 22 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 19 widowed males aged 50 to 60, 18 widowed males aged 40 to 50, 17 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 16 single females aged 60 to 70, 14 males of unknown age, 13 single females aged 50 to 60, 11 widowed females aged 20 to 30, 11 widowed males aged 30 to 40, 10 married females aged 70 to 80, 9 females of unknown age, 9 married males aged 80 to 90, 9 single males aged 60 to 70, 6 widowed females aged 80 to 90, 5 single females aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed males aged 20 to 30, 4 married males aged 15 to 20, 4 single males aged 70 to 80, 3 widowed males aged 80 to 90, 2 married females aged 80 to 90, 2 married males aged 90 to 100, 2 single females aged 80 to 90, 2 widowed females aged 90 to 100, 1 single males aged 80 to 90, 1 widowed males aged 90 to 100. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.) The 1861 enumerator also recorded 1 widowed females over 100 — single-county tallies of limited cross-year comparability.

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 5,492 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 2,171 persons originating in Ireland, 1,745 persons originating in England or Wales, 457 persons originating in Scotland, 309 persons originating in the United States, 195 negroes or coloured persons, 107 male negroes or coloured persons, 88 female negroes or coloured persons, 50 persons originating in Germany or Holland, 38 persons originating in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island, 25 persons originating in New Brunswick, 11 persons originating in France, 10 persons originating in Newfoundland, 7 persons originating in Switzerland, 6 French Canadians, 3 persons originating in the East Indies, 2 persons originating in Sweden or Norway, 1 persons originating in Italy or Greece, 1 persons originating in the West Indies. 7 persons originating in Guernsey, Jersey, or other British islands. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1; V1T5.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $4,310,720 value farms (dollars), $304,451 value all livestock, 168,582 bushels of oats, $143,251 value horses aged over 3 years, 140,209 pounds of homemade butter, 132,969 bushels of potatoes, $116,621 value farm implements in dollars, 96,050 bushels of peas, 92,353 bushels of winter wheat, 65,520 bushels of turnips, 54,469 acres of land in farms, 41,567 bushels of carrots, 40,081 acres of farmland under cultivation, 34,137 bushels of barley, 32,045 acres of farmland under crops, $30,929 value garden and orchard crops, 28,180 bushels of spring wheat, 18,006 pounds of wool produced on farms, 17,495 bushels of mangel wurtzel, 14,388 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 13,690 gallons of cider, 7,013 acres of farmland in pasture, 5,923 acres of winter wheat, 5,396 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 5,253 sheep, 5,210 acres of oats, 4,633 tons of hay, 4,537 swine, 4,384 acres of peas, 3,271 pounds of maple sugar, 2,892 bushels of corn, 2,845 milk cows, 2,192 horses aged over 3 years, 2,031 barrels of pork, 1,969 acres of spring wheat, 1,874 bushels of buckwheat, 1,805 pounds of flax or hemp, 1,521 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 1,365 calves and heifers, 1,276 acres of barley, 1,045 acres of potatoes, 1,033 acres of farmland in gardens, 752 bushels of beans, 570 occupants of farms, 555 barrels of beef, 533 horses aged 3 years and under, 383 bushels of rye, 204 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 193 bulls, oxen, or steers, 190 acres of turnips, 152 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 120 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 99 acres of buckwheat, 98 acres of corn, 69 pounds of hops, 57 acres of mangel wurtzel, 50 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 30 acres of rye, 30 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres, 20 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 8 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes $37,782 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 2,205 yards of flannel, $1,706 value carriages for hire (dollars), 1,575 carriages for pleasure, 517 yards of fulled cloth, 50 carriages for hire, 20 yards of linen. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 80 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 43, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 37, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 10, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 8, 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 males aged 30 to 40: 5, Deaths in the past year among males aged 70 to 80: 5, 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 females aged 40 to 50: 4, Deaths in the past year among males aged 2 to 3: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 50 to 60: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 60 to 70: 3, Deaths in the past year among females aged 2 to 3: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 5 to 10: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 50 to 60: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 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 5 to 10: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 80 to 90: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 80 to 90: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 37 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: ON105011 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_ON138001_1911 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: not yet grounded. This page covers a place whose persistent identity has not yet been linked to a Wikidata entity. Identification is via TCP UID and spatial polygon only.

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). "York, Ontario (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/on/york-on105011-1861/.