Canada Census 1891

Search Canada census 1891

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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.

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What can these records tell me?

Transcripts of the census have been provided for each result, along with the image of the actual census. Transcripts will include the following information:

  • First name(s)
  • Last name
  • Sex
  • Relationship
  • Age
  • Birth year
  • Birth place
  • Marital status
  • Year
  • Relation to head of household
  • Family number
  • District name
  • Province
  • Other household members

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:

  • B.C. – Bibile Christian
  • C. (of) E. – Church of England
  • C. (of) S. – Church of Scotland
  • E.M.C. – Episcopal Methodist Church
  • F.C. – Free Church (Presbyterian)
  • M.E.C. – Methodist Episcopal Church
  • P.C.L.P. – Presbyterian-Canada and Lower Provinces
  • P.F.C. – Presbyterian Free Church
  • R.P. – Reformed Presbyterian
  • U.P. – United Presbyterian
  • W.M. – Wesleyan Methodist

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

Discover more about these records

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.

Notable individuals in this census

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.