Chester, West, Quebec (1861 census)

Chester, West was a census subdivision in Quebec, recorded in the 1861 Census of Canada with a population of 1,876. The administrative centroid was at approximately 45.980°N, 71.804°W.

Population

In 1861, Chester, West had a population of 1,876: 978 male and 898 female residents.

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 was contained in Chester, Township, 1851 (55.2% share).

Later boundary forms

• In a later year, this CSD contained Chester W-O, 1871 (72.4% of this CSD's polygon).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1861

In the 1861 census, Chester, West shared boundaries with:

• Arthabaska
• Chester, East
• Ham
• Tingwick
• Wolfestown

Full census record, 1861

The 1861 census recorded 138 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 6 categories.

Population & families (1861). This community's record includes 1,876 total population, 978 males, 898 females, Male members of the family who are present: 871, Female members of the family who are present: 848, 653 single males, 583 single females, 321 married males, 297 married females, 246 adult males unable to read or write, 155 adult females unable to read or write, 118 males attending school, 108 females attending school, Males present who are not members of the family: 107, 54 male births, 52 female births, Females present who are not members of the family: 50, 18 widowed females, 4 widowed males, 1 lunatic females. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Age structure (1861). This community's record includes 145 females aged 5 to 10, 139 males aged 5 to 10, 130 married females aged 20 to 30, 117 married males aged 20 to 30, 106 single males aged 10 to 15, 103 married males aged 30 to 40, 101 single females aged 10 to 15, 97 married females aged 30 to 40, 77 single males aged 15 to 20, 73 single females aged 15 to 20, 64 females aged 1 to 2, 64 males aged 1 to 2, 61 males aged 2 to 3, 54 females aged 2 to 3, 52 males aged 3 to 4, 49 males aged 4 to 5, 47 married males aged 40 to 50, 46 single males aged 20 to 30, 41 females aged 4 to 5, 38 married females aged 40 to 50, 37 females age 3 to 4, 33 married males aged 50 to 60, 15 single females aged 20 to 30, 14 married females aged 50 to 60, 14 married males aged 60 to 70, 13 married females aged 60 to 70, 8 widowed females aged 70 to 80, 6 married males aged 70 to 80, 5 widowed females aged 60 to 70, 3 married females aged 15 to 20, 3 single males aged 30 to 40, 2 married females aged 70 to 80, 2 single males aged 50 to 60, 2 widowed females aged 30 to 40, 2 widowed females aged 50 to 60, 2 widowed males aged 70 to 80, 1 married males aged 80 to 90, 1 single females aged 60 to 70, 1 widowed females aged 40 to 50, 1 widowed males aged 60 to 70. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Ethnic origin (1861). This community's record includes 1,874 French Canadians, 1 persons native to Canada, not of French origin, 1 persons originating in France. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1861). This community's record includes $134,667 value farms (dollars), 29,840 pounds of maple sugar, $27,555 value all livestock, 27,429 bushels of potatoes, 22,962 acres of land in farms, 17,089 acres of farmland in woodland or forest, 12,933 bushels of oats, $8,793 value horses aged over 3 years, 7,841 pounds of homemade butter, 5,873 acres of farmland under cultivation, 4,811 bushels of rye, 4,067 acres of farmland under crops, $3,827 value farm implements in dollars, 3,760 bushels of buckwheat, 3,541 bushels of barley, 3,489 bushels of turnips, 2,724 bushels of spring wheat, 1,759 acres of farmland in pasture, 1,721 pounds of wool produced on farms, 1,355 pounds of flax or hemp, 897 tons of hay, 857 bushels of peas, 798 sheep, 660 acres of oats, 530 swine, 483 barrels of pork, 441 acres of rye, 439 calves and heifers, 425 pounds of cheese produced on farms, 379 bulls, oxen, or steers, 316 acres of potatoes, 315 acres of buckwheat, 311 milk cows, 302 occupants of farms, $270 value garden and orchard crops, 267 acres of barley, 261 acres of spring wheat, 232 acres of farmland held by townspeople who are not farmers, 159 persons living on farms between 50 and 100 acres, 151 horses aged over 3 years, 112 acres of peas, 104 persons living on farms between 20 and 50 acres, 67 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 54 gallons of cider, 48 barrels of beef, 47 acres of farmland in gardens, 43 acres of turnips, 30 horses aged 3 years and under, 27 persons living on farms between 100 and 200 acres, 12 bushels of winter wheat, 7 bushels of corn, 7 persons living on farms under 10 acres, 5 acres of winter wheat, 4 bushels of beans, 4 bushels of carrots, 4 persons living on farms over 200 acres, 1 acres of corn, 1 persons living on farms between 10 and 20 acres. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Manufacturing & industry (1861). This community's record includes 1,249 yards of linen, 1,164 yards of flannel, 998 yards of fulled cloth, $843 value carriages for pleasure (dollars), 55 carriages for pleasure. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V2T11.)

Deaths & mortality (1861). This community's record includes 14 total number of deaths, Deaths in the past year among females of all ages: 7, Deaths in the past year among males of all ages: 7, Deaths in the past year among females under age 1: 3, Deaths in the past year among males aged 20 to 30: 3, Deaths in the past year among males under age 1: 2, Deaths in the past year among females aged 15 to 20: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 20 to 30: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 60 to 70: 1, Deaths in the past year among females aged 70 to 80: 1, Deaths in the past year among males age 3 to 4: 1, Deaths in the past year among males aged 40 to 50: 1. (Source: 1861 Census of Canada, V1T5.)

Identifiers

• TCP UID: QC003007 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_QC003007 — 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). "Chester, West, Quebec (1861 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/qc/chester-west-qc003007-1861/.