1911 Census of Canada and Addresses in Ontario

Although the 1851, 1861, 1871, and 1901 Censuses of Canada have additional schedules which have survived to provide us with more detailed information of where our ancestors resided, the 1911 census also has that information included in the surviving "Schedule 1, Population".

From the Library and Archives Canada page on "Census of Canada, 1911" under the Columns headings and interpretation" section they state:

Column 4. Place of habitation

• For cities, towns or incorporated villages, the number of the house and the name of the street, such as "14 Bay Street."
• For rural districts, the name of the township, lot, parish or cadastral number such as "lot 13, concession 1."
• For Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the location was noted by township, range or meridian such as "T. 14, R. 9, W. 3," for township 14, range 9, west of the 3rd meridian.

The exact wording of the instructions to the enumerators can be found in the "Fifth Census of Canada 1911: Instructions to Officers, Commissioners and Enumerators" on page 26, item 82, "Place of habitation"

In theory, if the enumerator was being diligent, we should have that information when we come across them in the 1911 Census of Canada.

The operative phrase here is "In theory". Here are a few samples from my own collection of 1911 Census of Canada pages in Ontario to highlight the various ways enumerators recorded the place of habitation.

Here, the enumerator only provided the name of the township, N. Elmsley:

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 90, sub-district 15, Elmsley North Township, p. 4; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Nov 2013); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20381.

Contrast that with the following extract from the census done in Tay Township, Simcoe County where the enumerator provided the lot and concession.

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 119, sub-district 21, Tay Township, p. 7; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Feb 2014); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20397.

What about the villages, town, and cities in Ontario? Here is an example with the street number and name recorded in the place of habitation. As long as the street name hasn't changed, the street hasn't been renumbered, or the street completely removed we have a chance of finding the location on a current map.

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 132, sub-district 46, Niagara Falls, p. 38; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Aug 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20408.

There may be occasions where we have to read around some of the tally marks made by the enumerator or statistician. So that can be annoying at times.

Sometime you only get the name of the street and not the number. But that's better than nothing...right?

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 83, sub-district 20, Goderich, p. 24; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jan 2019); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20378.

Unfortunately, there are times where not even the street name is given as we find for the Town of Clinton. All the enumerator wrote was "Clinton".

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 83, sub-district 17, Clinton Town, p. 13; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 Oct 2012); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20378.

What really makes life challenging is when the paper copy was put onto microfilm and the quality of the image is, for a better word, lacking.

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district 49, Kingsville, p. 1; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Nov 2014); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20371.

Hopefully with graphic editing software you might be able to bring out the details (this is just a quick first pass contrast/gamma correction using Irfanview)

1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district 49, Kingsville, p. 1; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Nov 2014); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20371; colour adjusted.

As you can see, the 1911 Census of Canada also has clues we can use to find our ancestors on the ground.