Canada Census, 1901 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada

What is in this Collection?
The census day for Canada was March 31st, 1901. This is important because the census represents the country on this exact day, not necessarily the entire year.

A number was assigned to a district, a letter to a sub-district and a number to a subdivision of a sub-district. Some sub-districts also have a number, i.e. "a(1)" means sub-district "a1" and "a1" means sub-district "a", subdivision "1". There are some printed forms that were in both English and French. The responses that the people gave to the enumerator were either in English or French.

The national government of Canada has taken censuses every ten years since 1871 and every five years since 1971. The 1871 census covers the four original provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. The first coast-to-coast census was taken in 1881. Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949. For Newfoundland, there are few found 19th-century censuses that list names. They mostly contain statistical summaries.

These censuses list a large proportion of the population. Unfortunately, some portions have been lost, and some geographical areas within the provinces were missed by the census takers.

The 1901 census also contains a buildings and lands schedule for each locality. This schedule gives a city street address or a farm land description—such as township and range, or township, concession, and lot number—for most families.

To see more information about the census, see Canada Census

Census records may contain the following information:


 * Names of family members
 * Gender
 * Place of birth and approximate year of birth
 * Age
 * Marital status
 * Religion

How do I Search the Collection?
Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page.

I Found Who I was Looking for, Now What?

 * Use the birthplace and birth year to search in the Canada Births and Baptisms (FamilySearch Historical Records) collection to search for family member's birth records.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, Now What?

 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Continue to search the index and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have served in the same unit or a nearby unit.
 * Be aware that, as with any index, transcription errors may occur.
 * Guessing your ancestor’s birth year to narrow down the search.
 * Looking at the last place where your ancestor was living in the previous census years.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):