Canadian Provincial Censuses, 1763-1861 MSS -037 (www.maplestarsandstripes.com/38) Post -Conquest Head Counts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The four major censuses conducted after the Conquest and before Confederation were an attempt to count the population of this growing region. However, there are gaps, and returns for some areas Sandra are missing. Goodwin Besides these broad censuses, many provinces, regions, cities, towns, and parishes took their own head count, and some do survive. Only http://www.maplestarsandstripes .com The major censuses have been digitized and placed online. Others are on microfilm or were transcribed and published by various local [email protected] societies. An understanding of geography helps to understand the censuses. Between 1763 and 1861, there were several geographic name Copyright 2015 Goodwin Genealogy Productions changes as you can see in the chart below: Three Types of Censuses Nominal: includes the names of everyone in the household. Women are listed with their maiden names. Head of household: other members of household listed as total numbers or divided into age groups by gender and age. Statistical: useful for filling in social history of family; no individual names. Canadian Provincial Censuses, 1763-1861 2 About Page for Each Census 1861 1851/1852 1842 Canada East 1842 Canada West 1831 1825 Before beginning research in any particular census, you should consider reading the documentation on the Library and Archives Canada website. The information there will help you interpret your findings. It also translates the French column headings into English for you. Census District and Sub-District Pages Enumerators’ Instructions 1861 Canada East Canada West An excerpt of the Enumerators’ New Brunswick Instructions for the 1861 census is on Nova Scotia the PRDH website with a reference to Prince Edward Island the complete instructions which also 1851/1852 Canada East include the census of 1852. Canada West New Brunswick Nova Scotia 1842 Canada East Ancestry’s Interactive Census Canada West Map 1831 Lower Canada 1825 Lower Canada The District and Sub-district pages on the Library and Check printed repertoires for Archives Canada website is where you’ll find which schedules no longer exist. censuses. Canadian Provincial Censuses, 1763-1861 3 Search Online Censuses Census Year Website Census Year Website 1861 LAC (Canada East, Canada West, 1842 LAC: Canada East Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) FamilySearch (index only): LAC: Canada West Canada East FamilySearch (index only): FamilySearch: Canada East Canada West FamilySearch (index only): FamilySearch: Canada West New Brunswick FamilySearch (index only): Ancestry $$: Canada East Nova Scotia FamilySearch (index only): 1831 LAC: Lower Canada Prince Edward Island Ancestry $$ FamilySearch: Lower Canada 1851/1852 LAC (Canada East, Canada West, 1825 LAC: Lower Canada New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) Ancestry $$ (Canada East, FamilySearch: Lower Canada Canada West, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) FamilySearch (index only): Ancestry $$: Lower Canada (Bas- Canada East, Canada West, New Canada) Brunswick, Nova Scotia Steve Morse’s ‘Searching the 1767…1827 Nova Scotia Archives 1951 Canadian Census in One Step’ Automated Genealogy Online Census Forms 1861 form for Canada East and Canada West from FamilySearch 1851 form from FamilySearch 1851 forms for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and combined Canada East and Canada West from Ancestry Forms for 1842, 1848, 1851, and 1861 censuses from Ontario GenWeb Family Tracker form from Ontario GenWeb 1851 and 1861 census forms from Census Tools-$$ 1851 digital census form from GenealogyGenius Canadian Provincial Censuses, 1763-1861 4 Finding Aids 1) Conduct an Archive Search on the LAC website. Type in ‘census’ in the ‘Any Keywords’ box, adjust the ‘Online’ box to YES or NO, click submit, and you’ll have more than 3000 results to explore. 2) Not everything is online. To see what’s available on microfilm, check the combined books, Catalog of Census Returns on Microfilm, 1666-1891 and Catalog of Census Returns on Microfilm, 1901 on the collectionscanada website. 3) From LAC: Finding Aid no. 300, Census and Related Documents. 4) Also from LAC: Census Returns on Microfilm, 1770-1856. Microfilm copies are available through National Archives of Canada, LDS Family History Centers, and interlibrary loan. 5) For urban research, consult city directories. To locate these, check Canadian Directories, 1792-1987, or the Canadian city and area directories, 1819-1906 on Ancestry. 6) On Ancestry: Nova Scotia, Canada, Census, Assessment and Poll Tax Records 7) On FamilySearch: Red River Settlement and the Province of Manitoba from 1832-1870 8) Transcribed census information for Contrecoeur. 9) Parish censuses for Notre-Dame-de-Québec-1792, 1795, 1798, 1805, 1806, and 1818. 10) Quebec Abenaki census records 11) French-Canadians in the 1842 Oregon Census 12) Acadian censuses from Lucie LeBlanc Consentino 13) From Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History: list of censuses that were transcribed and printed in journals 14) The 1765 census of Montreal and Trois-Rivières and the 1762 census of Quebec in vol 6 of the Recensements du Quebec 15) Ontario census abstracts on the Ontario Genweb’s Census Project page 16) Appendix D, E, and F in the book French-Canadian Sources: A Guide for Genealogists 17) Several censuses were printed in the 54-volume set of the Rapport de l’Archiviste de la Province de Québec. To see what’s available, check out the list compiled by Joy Reisinger on Quebec Roots. It not only includes censuses printed in the Rapport, but other sources as well. .