Shefford, Quebec (1881 census)

Shefford was a census subdivision in Quebec, recorded in the 1881 Census of Canada with a population of 2,936. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q63244599. The administrative centroid was at approximately 45.374°N, 72.557°W.

Population

In 1881, Shefford had a population of 2,936: 1,547 male and 1,389 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 was contained in Shefford, 1871 (86.0% share).

Later boundary forms

• In a later year, this CSD became part of Shefford, 1891 (79.1% share).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1881

In the 1881 census, Shefford shared boundaries with:

• Bolton W-O
• Brome
• Granby
• Roxton
• Ste. Prudentienne
• Stukely N
• Stukely S
• Waterloo, T-V

Full census record, 1881

The 1881 census recorded 33 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 4 categories.

Population & families (1881). This community's record includes 2,936 total population, 1,547 males, 1,389 females, 996 married persons, 551 families, 500 married males, 496 married females, 93 widowed persons, 59 widowed females, 34 widowed males. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Age structure (1881). This community's record includes 1,847 single persons under 18, 1,013 single males under 18, 834 single females under 18. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Buildings & housing (1881). This community's record includes 550 inhabited houses, 550 occupied houses, 31 uninhabited houses, 2 houses under construction. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)

Agriculture (1881). This community's record includes 35,867 bushels of oats, 35,441 bushels of potatoes, 10,445 tons of hay, 9,021 acres of hay crops, 5,829 bushels of corn, 4,991 bushels of spring wheat, 3,955 bushels of buckwheat, 2,887 bushels of other root crops, 2,759 bushels of barley, 1,963 bushels of turnips, 1,089 bushels of peas and beans, 392 acres of wheat, 298 acres of potatoes, 82 bushels of clover, timothy, or other grass seed, 8 bushels of rye, 5 bushels of winter wheat. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T24.)

Residents in 1881

The 1881 census residents page for this Census Subdivision lists 2,936 individuals enumerated here, with name, age, sex, religion, ethnic origin, birthplace, and occupation. Source: TCP/Dillon 1881 Canadian Census deposit at Borealis.

Identifiers

• TCP UID: QC059005 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
• Persistent place ID: PLACE_QC197010_1901 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
• Wikidata: Q63244599

Sources

Census tabulations from the 1881 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). "Shefford, Quebec (1881 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/qc/shefford-qc059005-1881/.