The first census in Canada was
undertaken in 1666 listing 3,215 inhabitants.
This work provided details of the basis resources and needs of the
colonies and opened the way for future censuses to be taken on a regular basis.
Various efforts were made on an irregular basis, and in Upper Canada
there was from 1793 a series of statutes requiring the taking of a census on an
annual basis, beginning with a “true and complete list of every male and
female” resident, but later reverting to a nominal listing only for the heads
of households. After Confederation
in 1867 the taking of the census became a constitutional requirement, and in
1871 the first Dominion census was conducted.
Users of the early census returns
will find many are fragmentary and do not cover all of a region or province.
From 1825 onward census returns
for many areas name the head of the household, number of persons living in each
household, grouped by age, sex and marital status.
CANADIAN CENSUS OF 1871
The most extensive and by far the
most comprehensive records are those for 1871.
These records have been organized and filmed so that all nine schedules
for each enumeration district are brought together as a unit.
The nine schedules are as follows:
1.
Nominal return of the living
2.
Nominal return of deaths within the last twelve months
3.
Return of public institutions, real estate, vehicles and implements
4.
Return of cultivated land, of field products and of plants and fruits
5.
Live stock, animal products, home-made fabrics and furs
6.
Return of industrial establishments
7.
Return of products of the forest
8.
Return of shipping and fisheries
9.
Return of mineral products
Personal data may include place
of birth, age, sex, marital status, infirmities, religion, education and
occupation or profession. Residential
data may include property ownership, type of housing and number of outbuildings.
Agricultural and industrial data may include land occupied, implements,
crops, livestock and their products, taverns, shops, distilleries, mills and
manufacturers, and wages paid. With
few exceptions after 1851, all persons in each household were enumerated and an
agricultural return was compiled separately.
Reels for various areas are
available in the following:
1801, 1811, 1818, 1825, 1831,
1848, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901
Birth Records – 1869 to 1902
Death Records – 1869 – 1927