Ontario Concession and Lot in the 1871 Census of Canada

Unlike the 1851 (searching the Ancestry or Library and Archives Canada version) and 1861 (searching the Library and Archives Canada version) censuses of Canada West where the Agricultural schedule is recorded by name, the 1871 census of Canada records the details about the land by page and line number. So let's dive into that census to see what we can find.

Before we begin, make sure that you drop by the Library and Archives Canada page on the "Census of Canada, 1871". There we learn that the census officially began on 2 Apr 1871. What makes this census fairly unique is that almost all 9 schedules actually survived to be microfilmed in 1975:

• Schedule 1, Nominal return of the living
• Schedule 2, Nominal return of the deaths
• Schedule 3, Return of public institutions, real and personal estate
• Schedule 4, Return of cultivated land and products
• Schedule 5, Livestock, animal products, home-made fabrics and furs
• Schedule 6, Return of industrial establishments
• Schedule 7, Return of products of the forest
• Schedule 8, Return of shipping and fisheries
• Schedule 9, Return of mineral products

We are probably all familiar with schedule 1, "Nominal return of the living", since that is where we find all the names, ages, county or province of birth, religion, and other personal details we like to have in our records. It becomes critical to find the household in schedule 1 since all other schedules don't use the name of the head of household as the reference but instead the page and line number where the head of household is found.

If you are interested in learning more about this census, the Manual containing "The Census Act," and the instructions to officers employed in the taking of the first census of Canada, (1871) can be found on the Internet Archive.

If someone in the family may have died in the past year then make sure you take a look at schedule 2, "Nominal return of the deaths", to see if they are listed. But for this post we will be looking at schedule 4, "Return of cultivated land and products", to see if we can find the concession and lot number.

For these examples we will be using Luke McMullen, my 3rd great-grandfather, who arrived around 1840 in Lanark County, Upper Canada and settled in North Elmsley township. 

We will be using Ancestry to help me out in this task. Why Ancestry? Unlike the search system on the Library and Archives Canada site, Ancestry's search system often takes in account the various spelling challenges we have with the names of our ancestors. Also, their navigation buttons and virtual filmstrip makes it easy to move through the images of the census...no messing around with changing URLs in your browser.

First of all, start off by going to the 1871 Census of Canada search page on Ancestry. The easiest way is to search the Ancestry Card Catalogue for the keywords "1871 census of Canada" (without the quotes).

Screen capture of searching the Ancestry.ca card Catalogue for the "1871 census of canada".

Select the 1871 Census of Canada from the list of results to bring up the search page.

Screen capture from Ancestry.ca 1871 Census of Canada search page.

When we search for Luke McMullen who lived in Lanark, Ontario, Canada we get a number of potential results since we didn't do an exact match for any of the search fields. Fortunately the first entry in the list of results is him.

Screen capture from Ancestry.ca searching for Luke McMullen residing in Lanark, Ontario, Canada in the 1871 Census of Canada.

When we go to the record and finally open up the image of the census page we need to record a few details in order to find any associated land details in schedule 4, Return of cultivated land and products.

1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 79, sub-district C, Schedule No. 1, p. 45, dwelling 151, family 151, Luke McMullen; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Apr 2013); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-10017.

We need to write down the District, Sub District, page, and the line number where we find the head of household listed. So for Luke McMullen, recorded as "Luke McMullin", we have:

• District: 79 South Lanark
• Sub-District: C Elmsley North
• Page: 45
• Line: 1
  

All these details will help us make sure we are looking at the right page in schedule 4.

We are next going to use the navigation buttons on the image viewing page from Ancestry. 

Screen capture from Ancestry.ca for the image of the 1871 Census of Canada for Luke McMullen in North Elmsley Township, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada with arrow highlighting a navigation button.

Highlighted in the image above with the bright red arrow pointing to it is one of the navigation buttons that help you move through the images. We can also type in the image number in the box found near the bottom of the page or use the arrows at the bottom of the page to quickly move through the images in the filmstrip. We want to move through these images until we come to Schedule No. 4. As tempting as it is, don't stop at Schedule No. 2 to check for deaths but continue on past Schedule No. 3 until we get to Schedule No. 4.

1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 79, sub-district C, Schedule No. 4, p 1; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Feb 2021); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-10017.

Once we get to the first page of "Schedule No. 4.---Return of Cultivated Land, of Field Products and of Plants and Fruits" check to make sure we are still in the right district and sub-district.

We can see that we are still in District 49, Sub-District C Elmsley North. Notice that on the first line of the schedule there is no name. Instead the first two entries on a line are the page and line numbers. The next two entries on the line have the range/concession and number of the lot. So let's continue through the images until will get to the image with page number 45, line 1, the information we got from looking at Schedule 1.

1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 79, sub-district C, Schedule No. 4, p 8, extract; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Feb 2021); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-10017.

Once we get to page 8 we can see the line for page 45, line 1 giving the location as concession 7, lot 27 in North Elmsley where Luke McMullen owns 175 acres of land with 130 acres improved and 20 acres in pasture.

One important note concerning the use of concessions and lots. Not all townships and counties in Ontario used that system. A great example is Thorold Township in Welland County. In the 1871 Census of Canada you will find the "Range or Concession" with a "-" or left blank but a lot number is provided. This is where "The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project" can help you find the lot in a map once you have them on the ground in the 1871 Census of Canada in Ontario.