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Questions asked on the 1871 census of Ontario
(The names of all family members are listed)


This census was in nine parts (Schedules) with each part asking questions of a common area. The personal census (schedule no.1) has 20 names per page and each line is numbered on the left hand side. Use the page number and the line number of heads of family to refer to schedules 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9. On these six Schedules the two columns on the left refer to the page and line from Schedule 1.

This census was indexed and 33 books, each with 1 or sometimes 2 indexed counties, were published. They were published under the titles 'Index to the 1871 Census of Ontario - x County' - x being the county or counties in each volume. The indexes give the name, status ('h' - head of household, 's' - stray, or 'd' - died in the last 12 months), sex, age, birthplace, religion, ethnic origin, and occupation.

If a 'd' appears the person will be listed in Schedule 2 - deaths within the last 12 months. If a 's' appears the person may be a relative with a different surname than the head of family, a visitor or an employee of the family and be a resident on census day.

There are also location codes and names. As shown in the following example for EIDT, CONRAD. The codes consist of county number (036= Grey), township, town or city letter (A=Normanby), sub-district number (1) and page number (36). He was listed as a stray (S), male (M) and age 40 but was living with a family with a different surname.

EXAMPLES FROM THE INDEX TO THE 1871 CENSUS
EIDT,CONRAD,S,M,40,GERMANY,LU,GERMAN,FARM LABOURER,036,A,1,36
EIDT,JACOB,H,M,37,GERMANY,LU,GERMAN,WAGON MAKER,036,A,1,36
EADE,ANN,D,F,24,ENGLAND,WM,,,043,C,,D

Jacob Eidt was also entered on page 36, sub-division 1 but was a head of family (H).

Ann Eade was listed as dead within the last 12 months (D). Her entry ends with 043,C,,D. 043 was York County, C - Aurora Village, the two commas (,,) indicate that Aurora had no sub-divisions and 'D' indicates that she was listed in schedule 2.

Near the beginning of each book is a map of the enumeration area and a table of location codes and names including microfilm numbers on which the census appears.

You can then get the film and turn quickly to the division and the exact page in which you are interested.

There is also a cumulative index listing all names from all counties which is available on the internet. This a handy way to find people whose whereabouts is unknown in 1871. There are two sites with the index.

The National Archives of Canada has the index on at http://www.archives.ca. This sight is searchable using surname, given names and keywords. Remember that many names were mis-spelt or mis-read by the person extracting the name - because of poor handwriting or microfilming. I have used the keywords to find some of these people. eg. Christopher Scanlon, 40, IRL, sawyer, Collingwood Township could not be found in the census index but through directories I was sure he should be there. I searched for all Christopher's (given name) and Collingwood (keyword). He was listed under the name Christopher Seaman, 40, IRL, lawyer in the index. Checking the microfilm proved that this was the family I was seeking, but that the family name was entered as Scannon. The handwriting was poor and the name mis-spelt. The 'ca' could easily have been read 'ea' and the 'nn' as 'm' therefore Scanlon was written as Scannon and indexed as Seaman. In general the volunteers who indexed this census did an excellent job and produced a very useful resource.

This site provides the microfilm number, county, name and number of the district and sub-district and page number. However after doing a search and getting a list of names doing the next step of clicking a name for the details frequently returns an error.
Queen's University also provides a site at http://130.15.161.15/census/index.html. Searches may be made by family name, given names, birthplace, location and district. There is also a map of the 1871 enumeration districts. This site provides the county, name and number of the district and sub-district and page number but not microfilm number.


SCHEDULE No. 1.
Nominal Roll of the Living

Numbered in order of visitation
1. Vessels
2. Shanties
3. Dwelling houses in construction
4. Dwelling houses uninhabited
5. Dwelling houses inhabited - (numbered in sequence)
6. Families - (numbered in sequence)
7. Names
8. Sex
9. Age
10. Born within the last twelve months
11. Country or Province of Birth
12. Religion
13. Origin
14. Profession, Occupation or Trade
15. Married or Widowed
16. Married within the last twelve months

INSTRUCTION
17. Going to school
18. Over 20 years unable to read
19. Over 20 years unable to write

INFIRMATIES
20. Deaf and Dumb
21. Blind
22. Unsound mind
23. Dates of Operations and Remarks

SCHEDULE No. 2.
Nominal Return of the Deaths within the last twelve months

1. Name of Deceased
2. Sex
3. Age
4. Born within the last twelve months
5. Religion
6. Country or Province of Birth
7. Profession, Occupation or Trade
8. Married or Widowed
9. Married during last twelve months
10. Month of Death
11. Disease or other cause of Death
12. Remarks.

SCHEDULE No. 3.
Return of Public Institutions, Real Estate, Vehicles and Implements

1. Reference to schedule No. 1 - Page
2. Reference to schedule No. 1 - Number (line number)

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
3. Special or Legal name of Institution, Character or Classification
4. Number of Buildings
5. Number of Inhabitants

REAL ESTATE
6. Grand total of acres of land owned
7. Number of town or village building lots
8. Number of dwelling houses owned
9. Number of warehouses, stores, factories, shops, etc owned
10. Number barns or stables owned

VEHICLES & IMPLEMENTS
11. Number of carriages or sleighs
12. Number of cars, wagons, and sleds
13. Pleasure or common boats
14. Number of ploughs and cultivators
15. Reapers and mowers
16. Horse rakes
17. Thrashing machines
18. Fanning mills
19. Remarks

SCHEDULE No. 4.
Return of Cultivated Land, of Field Products and of Plants and Fruits


1. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Page
2. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Number (line number)

OCCUPIED LANDS
3. Range or Concession
4. Number of Lot
5. Owner, Renter or Employee.
6. Total number of acres occupied
7. Number of acres improved
8. Number of acres in pasture
9. Number of acres of salt or dyked marsh
10. Number of acres in gardens and orchards

FIELD PRODUCTS
11. Wheat, Acres
12. Spring Wheat, Bushels
13. Fall Wheat, Bushels
14. Bushels of Barley
15. Bushels of Oats
16. Bushels of Rye
17. Bushels of Peas
18. Bushels of Beans
19. Bushels of Buckwheat
20. Bushels of Indian Corn

ROOT CROPS
21. Potatoes, Acres
22. Potatoes, Bushels
23. Bushels of Turnips
24. Bushels of Mangel Wurtzel & other Beets
25. Bushels of Carrots and other roots
26. Hay Crop, Acres
27. Hay Crop, Tons of 2000 pounds, or bales of 16 pounds of Hay
28. Bushels of Grass and Clover Seed
29. Bushels of Flax Seed

PLANTS, FRUITS, AND OTHER PRODUCTS
30. Pounds of Flax and Hemp
31. Pounds of Hops
32. Pounds of Tobacco
33. Pounds of Grapes
34. Pounds of Apples
35. Pounds of Pears, Plums, and other Fruits
36. Pounds of Maple Sugar

SCHEDULE No. 5.
Live Stock, Animal Products, Homemade Fabrics and Furs

1. Reference to Schedule No. 1 - Page
2. Reference to Schedule No. 1 - Number (line number)

LIVE STOCK
3. Horses over 3 years old
4. Colts & Fillies
5. Working Oxen
6. Milch Cows
7. Other Cattle
8. Sheep
9. Swine
10. Hives of Bees

ANIMAL PRODUCTS
11. Cattle killed or sold for butchering or export
12. Sheep killed or sold for butchering or export
13. Swine killed or sold for butchering or export
14. Pounds of Butter
15. Pounds of homemade Cheese
16. Pounds of Honey
17. Pounds of Wool

HOMEMADE FABRICS
18. Yards of home-made Cloth and Flannel
19. Yards of home-made Linen

FURS
20. Beavers Skins
21. Musk Rats
22. Minks
23. Otters
24. Seals
25. Martins
26. Foxes
27. Bears
28. Moose, Caribou and Deer hides
29. Number of all other Furs

SCHEDULE No. 6.
Return of Industrial Establishments

1. Kind of Industries, Establishments, Names of Proprietor
Company and other such information
2. Fixed Capital in $
3. Floating Capital in $
4. Number of months worked during the year
5. Average Number of People employed Over 16 years: Male
6. Average Number of People employed Over 16 years: Female
7. Average Number of People employed Under 16 years: Boys
8. Average Number of People employed Under 16 years: Girls
9. Aggregate amount of Yearly Wages in $
10. Moving power - Kind
11. Moving power - Nominal force
12. RAW MATERIALS - Kind
13. RAW MATERIALS - Quantities
14. RAW MATERIALS - Aggregate value in $
15. PRODUCTS - Kind
16. PRODUCTS - Quantities
17. PRODUCTS - Aggregate value in $
18. REMARKS

SCHEDULE No. 7.
Return of Products of the Forest

1. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Page
2. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Number (line number)
3. Square pine, number of cubic feet, White
4. Square pine, number of cubic feet, Red
5. Cubic Feet of Square Oak
6. Cubic Feet of Square or sided Tamarac
7. Cubic Feet of Square " sided Birch and Maple
8. Cubic Feet of Square Elm
9. Cubic Feet of Walnut, black
10. Cubic Feet of other species of walnut
11. Cubic Feet of Hickory
12. Cubic Feet of all other Wood of Squared Timber
13. Number of census standard Pine Logs
14. Number of census standard Spruce and other lLgs
15. Number of Spars and Masts
16. Thousands of Staves
17. Cords of Lath-wood
18. Cords of Tan-bark
19. Cords of Fire-wood
20. Remarks

SCHEDULE No. 8.
Return of Shipping and Fisheries

1. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Page
2. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Number (line number)

SHIPPING
3. Steam Vessels - Number of shares
4. Steam Vessels - Tonnage owned
5. Sailing Vessels - Number of shares
6. Sailing Vessels - Tonnage owned
7. Barges - Number of shares
8. Barges - Tonnage owned

FISHERIES
Vessels and Boats employed Fishing
9. Vessels - Number
10. Men - Number
11. Boats - Number
12. Boats - Men
13. Number of shoremen or gravers
14. Number of fathoms of Nets and Seines of all sorts
15. Number of Weir or Fascine Fisheries
16. Quintals of Cod (note: a quintal = 100 kilograms)
17. Quintals of Haddock, Hake, and Pollock
18. Barrels of Sounds and Tougues
19. Barrels of Herring
20. Barrels of Gaspareaux
21. Barrels of Mackeral
22. Barrels of Sardines
23. Barrels of Halibut
24. Barrels of Salmon
25. Barrels of Shad
26. Barrels of Eels
27. Barrels of White Fish
28. Barrels of Trout
29. Other Fishes per barrel
30. Barrels of cured Roes
31. Barrels of Oysters
32. Gallons of medicinal Cod Liver Oil
33. Gallons of all other Fish Oil

SCHEDULE No. 9.
Return of Mineral Products

1. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Page
2. Reference to Schedule No. 1: Number (line number)
3. Ounces of Gold
4. Ounces of Silver
5. Tons of Copper Ore per Standard of 25% of MMtallic Copper
6. Tons of Iron Ore per Standard of 25% of Metallic Iron
7. Tons of Pyrites per Standard of 50% of Sulphur
8. Tons of Manganese Ore
9. Lead and other Ore per ton or otherwise
10. Tons of Coal
11. Tons of Peat
12. Tons of Plumbago
13. Tons of Lump gypsum
14. Tons of Phosphate of lime
15. Pounds of Mica
16. Gallons of Crude Petroleum
17. Barrels of Salt
18. Cubic feet of Grained Marble
19. Cubic feet of Building Stone for dressing
20. Squares of Roofing Slate
21 Remarks
Census Index

CanGenealogy.com > Hugh Armstrong's Genealogy Site Index