Province wide censuses were taken in 1842, 1848, 1850, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. Others have been taken after 1901 but are not avaliable to us yet. Census information is supposed to be confidential for one hundred years however the 1891 and 1901 censuses were released after ninety-two years so we would normally expect that the 1911 census would be released in the next few years. However, claims that censuses after 1901 were taken under a statute providing that the information collected would never be released, have created doubt that any further personal censuses will be released.

The 1842, 1848 and 1850 censuses were not complete listings of the population but heads of family only. The 1851 to 1901 censuses were intended to be complete listings of the population.

If you are unsure where your ancestors lived or are unsure of how long they remained in a certain location there are other resources to assist you.

Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid OCFA. The OCFA lists the name and place of burial only - no dates - but there are well over 2 million names entered. Unfortunately a few branches of the Ontario Genealogical Society have not agreed to make their cemetery listings available to this most useful project. These include the Toronto and Halton-Peel branches.

If your ancestor was in Ontario in 1871 check the census indexes which have been published. (see 1871 - INTRODUCTION of details). This is an excellent source and easy to use.

Other starting places would be voter, assessment and jury lists, directories or phone lists. Many of these are available in the Canadian Institute for Historical Microproductions CIHM collection. This is a collection of microfiche that includes many manuscripts of genealogical or historical interest. The CIHM collection is available at many Canadian universities

The site Early Canadiana OnLine has images of over 3000 books and pamphlets that document Canadian history to the late 19th century.

AGES

Also the question asked varied. In 1851 and 1861 they were how old will you be at your next birthday while from 1871 on they were asked how old are you.

Finally the date the census was supposed to be taken varied and could introduce an apparent varation of one year particularly in 1851. This is a list of the days they were taken:

12 Jan 1852
2 Apr 1871
6 Apr 1891
14 Jan 1861
4 Apr 1881
31 Mar 1901

It is best to take age + or - 5. Never assume it is given accurately.

The 1851 census was taken nine months late. This not only added an extra year to some ages but also created the possibility that an immigrant family could show up in two censuses - one on either side of the Atlantic. As this was the year my great-great grand- parents came to Canada I have found them in the Yorkshire, Eng. and Etobicoke, Ont. censuses.

NAMES

a) some were people illiterate and would not know how to spell their own names,
b) an enumerator would not know how to spell certain names or would hear it incorrectly due to accents,
c) in the process of transposing information from one form to another mistakes were made,
d) children were listed by an abbreviated name but by their proper name as an adult. Some people used their first given names on one census but their middle name on the next,
e) people would not like their given names and would alter or completely change it (eg my grand father Cornwallis went by Wallace), and
f) some enumerators listed married women as Mrs. - no given name

On the plus side I have come across two enumeration sub-districts where married women were listed by their maiden name.

PLACES

Problems that I have encountered include:

a) place name are changed (eg. Ottawa was Bytown; Kitchener was Berlin),
b) geographic boundries change - particularly in the early years,
c) in later censuses towns and cities are listed separately from townships, and
d) municipalities bordering on counties or townships may have their citizens listed different enumeration districts.

ALTERNATE FORMS