1861 Census of Canada West - The Census That Keeps Giving Challenges

One of my fellow genealogy researchers sent me the following question:

"I have found the 1861 agricultural census for Huron County in Canada West.  I have searched through the pages, and the only page for Stanley Township is found on page 1274 of 1274 pages.  On the LAC webpage, I tried changing the number at the end of the sequence, as you advised, and the next image says "end of reel".  Increasing the number I find a list of Townships and eventually I get an error message.  I think that probably means there are no more images.

Sadly my Alexander Fraser, on lot 29, Concession V is not on the single page for Stanley Township, and therefore his information is lost to the angels.

Is there anywhere else I can search?  Possibly a microfilm at LAC?"

It just seems like the 1861 Census of Canada West keeps giving us challenges.

Curiously, I had experienced a very similar problem in February so I actually had knew where to start. Yet, like all adventures, I really didn't know where this journey would ultimately take me and the discoveries I'd make.

The short answer to that initial question was to look at the Census of Canada, 1861 collection on FamilySearch. Many of these microfilms in this collection aren't available for viewing from home but only at a FamilySearch Center and not a FamilySearch Affiliate. However, in this case we were lucky enough that the "ONTARIO Huron (townships of Usborne and Wawanosh, and agricultural census)" (Film 349282 / DGS 4108085) is available for viewing from home. On image 530 of 597 of that digitized microfilm we find Alexander Fraser, recorded on line 47, as residing on part of lot 29, concession 5. So that was almost easy.

"Census of Canada, 1861," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6G1Z-Q9B : accessed 25 May 2023), Agricultural Census, Huron District, Stanley Township Sub-district, Enumeration District No. 4, stamped page 146; DGS 4108085, image 530 of 597.

 

However, like much of our research, there is much more to this question than we can imagine. So let's dig into the challenges and discoveries I encountered.

My colleague mentioned that they looked for the images on the Library and Archives Canada site using the techniques I mention in blog posts "A Challenge: 1861 Census of Canada - Agricultural Schedule" and "Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?". However, the LAC reel ended with the pages for Enumeration District No. 1 for Ward No. 1 Stanley in the County of Huron, Canada West and then the dreaded "CONTINUED-NEXT REEL" image.

"Census of 1861," images, Library and Archives Canada (https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4391938_00688 : accessed 25 May 2023), List of sub-districts for Huron District with "CONTINUED-NEXT REEL" notation; microfilm C-1037.

 

We actually find that image on FamilySearch as image 505 on the "ONTARIO Huron (townships of Usborne and Wawanosh, and agricultural census)" (Film 349282 / DGS 4108085) film. But if the digitized reel ends on the Library and Archives Canada site how can it continue on the FamilySearch digitized film? Even more importantly, where is that image for Stanley Township on the FamilySearch film to be found on the LAC site?

This is where we need to look at the "Districts and Sub-districts: Census of 1861, Canada West" page at Library and Archives Canada and look at the list of physical microfilms for the Huron district. This list doesn't include the Agricultural Census in the list of Sub district names but, based on looking on the various images on the LAC digitized reel and on FamilySearch, it would appear that the Huron County Agricultural Census is found on microfilm C-1037. If the Agricultural Census is supposedly continued on the next reel, it might be safe to assume (a dangerous word in any research endeavour) that the rest of the Agricultural Census is found on microfilm C-1038. Looking on the list of microfilms on the "Districts and Sub-districts: Census of 1861, Canada West" page we see that the Population Census for Camden and Gore sub-district of Kent County are found on microfilm C-1038.

We can use the Advanced Search Options on LAC for the Census of 1861 to go to the first page of the Population Census for Camden and Gore Townships of Kent County.

Screen capture of the Library and Archives Canada Search: Census of 1861 form with Advanced Search Options shown searching for Canada West, District Name Kent, Sub-District Name Camden, Page Number 1.

Picking the first name returned we notice that the id in the URL pointing to the image on the LAC site is 4391555_00098. For those who have used my tips of searching and wandering through the images of the Census of 1861 on the LAC site you probably will be thinking "Hmmm, we are already on image 98. What might be on those earlier images?"

Starting at image 4391555_00001 we can step through the images until we get to something interesting. On image 10 of LAC's digitized microfilm we find an image just like what we saw at the end of the last LAC digitized microfilm, an image listing the sub-districts of the Huron District. By image 12 we start seeing the Agricultural Census for Enumeration District No. 2 of the Township of Stanley for the County of Huron. Lo and behold, a few images later on the Library and Archives Canada site, we find the same image we found on FamilySearch for Enumeration District No. 4 of Stanley Township in the County of Huron on LAC's image id 4391555_00028.

Just a moment...

FamilySearch has this Agricultural Census all together on a single digitized microfilm and Library and Archives Canada has it spread across two digitized microfilms. 

What is going on? 

Which "digitized microfilm" accurately reflects the actual microfilm? 

I'm fortunate to live in Ottawa where the main LAC public facility is located so this question warranted a trip in to check the physical microfilm(s). Unsurprisingly, the LAC digitized microfilms would appear to be a true and accurate copy of the physical microfilms. The County of Huron Agricultural Census for 1861 is spread across two physical microfilms.

It seems that, at least in this case, the FamilySearch Image Group Number (DGS) film 4108085 is not a true copy of the physical microfilm. All the details are there but they have "helped" us out by splicing together images from several physical microfilms. It's just one more thing to watch for in our research and possible citations.

What about my fellow researcher's challenge with finding the image on Ancestry?

I've noted in my own travels that Ancestry has done some strange things with the Census of 1861 and how the images have been put together on their virtual filmstrip. My colleague had found the image for the Agricultural Census of Enumeration District no. 1 for Ward No. 1 Stanley in Huron County on page 1274 of 1274. The URL that Ancestry uses to display that image is https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391938_00686. That image number in the Ancestry URL really looks like the image id from Library and Archives Canada. So plugging in the number from LAC we can create the Ancestry URL https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391555_00028. Going to that web address we find that image we found on the LAC and FamilySearch sites. 

But it is image 438 of 1274 on Ancestry's virtual filmstrip! 

Ancestry, in their creation of their virtual filmstrip, has placed the images from LAC's microfilm C-1038 for the County of Huron smack dab between the Personal Census Enumeration District No. 3 Ward of the Township of Hay in the County of Huron, stamped page 25 (image 430) and Personal Census Enumeration District No. 3 Ward of the Township of Hay in the County of Huron, stamped page 27 (image 473). Talk about confusing!

Ultimately it turns out that Ancestry had not properly indexed the entries on that Agricultural Census page since the entry for Alexander Fraser is only listed under his Given Name "Alexander" and no surname has been transcribed into the index. About a quarter of the names on that page are missing the surname. Even knowing the stamped page number didn't help me out. With not putting any names in and searching on just the exact keyword "agricultural" and the exact page number "146"  for anyone who lived in "Huron, Ontario, Canada" Ancestry returned 5774 entries and my listed started on page 137. That's why my fellow research couldn't find their Alexander Fraser in the index. Ancestry really doesn't make it easy for us at times!

Of course, another issue with the images on Ancestry is that they only imaged the first page of the two page forms so we still need to use the images available on the Library and Archives Canada site to see the whole picture of what is recorded for each person or lot. I've covered that challenge in "Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?"

I wonder (and sort of dread) what the next challenge the Census of 1861 for Canada West will bring!