1921 Census and Addresses in Ontario

Over the past year I've written about finding the location of a property in Ontario in the 1851, 1861, 1871, 1901, and 1911 Censuses of Canada. I've even written about the "missing" images of the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry. A number of times I've mentioned that the schedules for the 1881 and 1891 Censuses of Canada which have the property details didn't survive to the present day. So this leaves the 1921 Census of Canada to be covered (at least until the 1931 Census of Canada is released to the public). So off we go...

Much like the 1911 Census of Canada, only "Schedule 1, Population" was preserved to be digitized and the other four schedules no longer exist. But like the 1911 Census of Canada, the Population schedule for the 1921 Census of Canada can include specific details of where the household resided.

Before we look at what we might find we need to read what was required to be recorded. The information can be found on the Census of Canada, 1921 landing page at Library and Archives Canada under the Column headings and interpretation section. For column 4, the description says:

Column 4. Place of Abode (Section or Township)
In rural localities, give parish, section, township, range and Meridian.

What do the instructions to the enumerators state? For that we need to read the "Sixth Census of Canada, 1921, Instructions to Commissioners and Enumerators". On page 20 and 21 we find written:

71. Columns 4 and 5. - Place of Abode.  In the case of a city town or incorporated village (see Instructions Nos. 55 and 56) the enumerator will enter the Number of the house and the Street in column 4 and the name of the Ward in column 5. In the case of rural districts, the name of the Township, Lot, Parish or Cadastral number will be entered in column 4 and the name of the Municipality in column 5.

Provided, however, that in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the Section, Township, Range and Meridian will be entered respectively in columns 4, 4a, 4b and 4c, adding the name of the Municipality, Local Improvement District or Unorganized Territorial Unit, where such exists, in column 5.

Let's look at some examples of what might be found in the records for Ontario.

The 1921 census of Canada is available on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) site for free. You can search for people and view pages there. It is also on Ancestry.ca under their "1921 Census of Canada" collection. It is free at access on Ancestry as long has you have a login account but you DO NOT need a paid subscription!

For non-urban locations you will quite often only see the township recorded such as we find for the district of Bruce South, sub-district of Huron Township, Division 1:

1921 census of Canada, Ontario, district 70, sub-district 36, Huron Township, p. 5; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Nov 2013).

Yet some of the enumerators went the extra distance (mile? kilometre?) and also included the concession and lot number for the property as seen in this extract from Middlesex East, London Township:

1921 census of Canada, Ontario, district 102, sub-district 14, London Township, p. 3; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Aug 2018).

As we can see, not only did the enumerator record that the household of John L. Morris is in London Township but they are on Concession 3, lot 18.

What about the folks in the villages, towns, and cities?

Again, it depends on the enumerator and type/size of the city, town, or village. For example, we can see that the household of Charles Heatherington is residing at 94 Hamilton in Dalhousie Ward, Ottawa.

1921 census of Canada, Ontario, district 71, sub-district 46, Ottawa, p. 4; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jul Aug 2020).

Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Here the enumerator for Kingsville only recorded the street name. This is quite common for the smaller towns and villages.

1921 census of Canada, Ontario, district 78, sub-district 34, Kingsville p. 9; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Sep 2014).

Yet it still helps us narrow down where the people lived. And any clue, no matter how small, is a good clue!