Did you have ancestors living in Canada in 1891? Discover your ancestor’s religion, birth place and year, and marital status in the 1891 census.
Did you have ancestors living in Canada in 1891? Discover your ancestor’s religion, birth place and year, and marital status in the 1891 census.
Transcripts of the census have been provided for each result, along with the image of the actual census. Transcripts will include the following information:
Images, hosted by Library and Archives Canada, will often provide you with additional information, such as occupation. To assist you in deciphering the images, which are somewhat poor in quality, we have provided a list of the column headings below.
Column 1 – Vessels and shanties (count of vessels and shanties, numbered in order visited by the enumerator)
Column 2 – Houses in construction (count of houses in construction, numbered in order visited by the enumerator)
Column 3 – Houses uninhabited (count of uninhabited houses, numbered in order visited by the enumerator)
Column 4 – Houses inhabited (count of inhabited houses, numbered in order visited by the enumerator)
Column 5 – Families (count of the family or household – two or more families occupying the same house were to be numbered separately)
Column 6 – Names, entered with last name first
Column 7 – Sex, m for male and f for female
Column 8 – Age, at last birthday (for those under one year of age, a fraction was used – 4/12 would mean four months old)
Column 9 – Married or widowed
Column 10 -- Relation to head of family (w for wife, d for daughter, s for son, dom for domestic, and L for lodger)
Column 11 – Country or province of birth
Column 12 – French Canadians, number of French Canadians and French Acadians
Column 13 – Place of birth of father
Column 14 – Place of birth of mother
Column 15 – Religion, occasionally abbreviations were used:
Column 16 – Profession, occupation, or trade (multiple can be listed for an individual, those studying a profession were listed as students of that profession, those attending college were listed as students and school children were not listed as such, and for those with no occupation other than household work, a dash was recorded)
Column 17 – Employers
Column 18 – Wage earner
Column 19 – Unemployed during week preceding census
Column 20 – Employer to state average number of hands employed during year
Column 21 – Read
Column 22 – Write
Infirmaties – The infirmity needed to have reached the stage of incapacity to be recorded.
Column 23 – Deaf and dumb
Column 24 – Blind
Column 25 – Unsound mind
The third national census was started on 6 April 1891. At that time, enumerators collected information from British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, which included 201 census districts and 2,475 subdistricts.
Unfortunately, the original paper records of this census were destroyed in 1955 following the microfilming done by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. The process and quality of the microfilming was not consistent and has results in some images being of poor quality.
E. J. Lennox
Edward James Lennox was an architect who is remembered for designing several landmarks including the Old City Hall and Casa Loma. Over the course of his career, he designed over 70 buildings in Toronto. In the 1881 census, Lennox is recorded with his wife and three children. The census notes that he is Presbyterian and his occupation is as an architect.
Al Christie
Alfred Ernest Christie was an early Canadian player in Hollywood in the early twentieth century. Christie was a screenwriter, director and producer of films. Some of the films he worked on include When the Heart Calls (1912), A Roman Scandal (1919), and So Long Letty (1920). In the 1881 census, he is listed with his mother, Mary, and is aged nine.
For images that are difficult to decipher, refer to the breakdown of column headers in the What can these records tell me? section to assist you.
If the image continues to prove difficult to read, try downloading the image and opening it an image editing program on your computer. Increase the contrast and experiment with various settings to improve legibility.