Canadian Census Enumerator Instructions - Updated

Back in 2015 I wrote an article titled "Canadian Census Enumerator Instructions" which pointed folks to the instructions that the enumerators were supposed to follow (operative word here is "supposed"). Over the past 9 years we've had two more Canadian censuses released to the public, Library and Archives Canada has undergone a change to their site, and links to some of the instructions have broken. So here is an update to that article.

Seventh census of Canada 1931, instructions to commissioners and enumerators (Ottawa: F.A. Acland, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1931), cover page.

First of all, before pointing you to the enumerator instructions, I want to remind everyone to make sure you read all the way across the census page and look at each column. There can be important clues held within that we may be ignoring in our haste to move to the next record to locate. Details such as:

• Were the children going to school? 
• Did someone in the household have an infirmity? 
• Was another language spoken in the household? 
• Is there a note indicating the date and household where the enumerator stopped their work for the day?

In our review of the various columns we will come across abbreviations that might have us wondering things like what religion is "E.M.C." and what is that "U.C." recorded for the place of birth. My initial starting place to help me decipher those abbreviations is the "General census guide" page on Library and Archives Canada web site found under their "Census records" topic page. If you haven't done so lately, take the time to check out the various census related pages found under that topic page. There have been many changes and updates in the past few years.

As for the instructions to the enumerators, the "Pre-Confederation, 1825 to 1867", "Dominion of Canada, 1871 to 1931", and "Prairie Provinces Census, 1870-1926" pages on the Library and Archives Canada site all have columns with links pointing to where we can find the instruction. Some of these links will take you to the Act permitting the government to take the census.

In addition to the links provided by Library and Archives Canada, here the links to the same sorts of instruction manuals for the post Confederation enumerations of Canada mostly found on the Internet Archive:

• 1871: Manual containing The Census Act and the instructions to officers employed in the taking of the first census of Canada
• 1881: Manual containing The Census Act and the instructions to officers employed in the taking of the second census of Canada
• 1891: Manual containing "The Census Act," and the instructions to officers employed in the taking of the third census of Canada
• 1901: Instructions to chief officers, commissioners and enumerators
• 1911: Instructions to officers, commissioners and enumerators and Instructions to enumerators in the Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory
• 1921: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators
• 1931: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators
• 1941: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators

There are also the surviving special nominal censuses of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta that were taken between the censuses of the rest of the dominion:

• 1906: Issue of Proclamation for taking the Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta
• 1916: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators
• 1926: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators
• 1936: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators
• 1946: Instructions to commissioners and enumerators 
  

Before Confederation in 1867 there were censuses taken of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada East, and Canada West. These censuses can vary greatly in terms of what was asked. For example, the Nova Scotia censuses prior to Confederation only include the name of the head of household

1851: 

• Nova Scotia: An Act for taking the Census of the Province, and obtaining Statistical information
• New Brunswick: An Act for ascertaining the Population of this Province and An Act to amend an Act, intituled An Act for ascertaining the Population of this Province
  

1852 (Canada East/Canada West)

• Gagan, David P., "Enumerators' Instruction for the Census of Canada 1852 and 1861." Histoire sociale/Social History. Vol. VII, no. 14 (Novembre-November 1974)

1861

• Canada East/Canada West: Gagan, David P., "Enumerators' Instruction for the Census of Canada 1852 and 1861." Histoire sociale/Social History. Vol. VII, no. 14 (Novembre-November 1974)

You might have noticed that I also included the instructions for censuses that have not yet been released to the public. The images for those census won't be transferred from Statistics Canada to Library and Archives Canada until 92 years after the census date. However, now we at least know what questions were asked.

As always, make sure you save any of the PDFs to your computer for safe keeping. One never knows when a page or document will disappear from the Internet.

Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867

One resource I've started to see used more by those with roots in Nova Scotia is Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867 that was compiled by Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith and published in 1994 by the Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. We are fortunate that this two volume collection has been available since 2007 on Ancestry so that we can review the books at home if you have an Ancestry subscription.

The easiest way to find the two volumes on Ancestry is via a search of the Card Catalogue. Just search for the title" "Nova Scotia Immigrants". Alternately, the links below point to the collection on Ancestry.ca.

• Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, Vol. I
• Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, Vol. II

The inclination by almost of us is to jump in and start searching for the names of our ancestors. However, don't do that, at least not yet.

First of all, visit the title page and the following page and record the details about the volumes. This will help you out later when you create your source citiations¹. Next, read the page with the Abbreviations. Most of the abbreviations we may be used to but some, like "Sr." and "Jr.", might have a context that you aren't familiar with. Both of these sections can be found at the beginning of the volumes. Also, take a moment to read the preface and introduction since those sections explain why this two volume set came into existence.

However, there are two very important sections that you will need to consult once you do find your ancestors mentioned in the books and those are the Bibliographies. These sections will help you to decipher where the compilers found the information.

On with the searching!

Here is an example of one such entry I found for Mary Cantfield².

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 2:46.

As we can see, there is quite a bit of information that has been abstracted. We learn that Mary Cantfield is the daughter of Denis Cantfield and Catherine Ryan and the family was of County Kilkenny, Ireland. She married Richard Dunphy in Halifax on 29 Nov 1839. The "q.v." reminds us we need to look up the entry for Richard Dunphy in the volume.

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 2:84.

In doing so we learn that Richard Dunphy is the son of Patrick Dunphy and Mary Moran and the family was of County Kilkenny, Ireland .

Yet where did the compilers find this information. That is in the parenthesis at the end, the "(34:129)". To figure that out we need to refer to the bibliographies I mentioned before.

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 2:258.

Here we see that the information came from an article "Some Irish Immigrant Weddings in Nova Scotia 1834-1840" by Terrence M. Punch in the 8th edition, issue 2, of The Irish Ancestor published in 1976.

Using PERSI, the PERiodical Source Index, found on Findmypast I was able to find the details about the article and the publication but, after much searching, no online edition was easily available. But that's OK. A check of Worldcat pointed me to Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa where I could view The Irish Ancestor. In the pre-COVID-19 days I would have hopped on the bus since I reside in the same city and gone to LAC to read the article with the details extracted found on page 129. Now, it is a bit more of a challenge.

What other clue is there?

How about that the information came "from records at Catholic archdiocese at Halifax"?

Well a flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia is out of the question for me at this time. Maybe there are some Catholic Church records online. On Ancestry that might be in the "Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946" collection. However, I didn't see any records from Halifax listed.

So my next go to site is FamilySearch and their catalog. A search for "Canada, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Halifax" as a place revealed a list of 14 church collections. One specifically caught my attention, that of the "Parish registers, 1830-1969" for the Catholic Church of Saint. Mary's Basilica. Right time period and correct religion. Looking at the various entries I noticed that some were indexed but all were viewable from the comfort of home.

Screen capture of the catalog listing for Marriages, 1830-1873 from the Parish registers, 1830-1969 of Saint Mary's Basilica (Halifax, Nova Scotia).

That digitized microfilm isn't name indexed but that's OK, I have had plenty of practice looking through microfilms. After a bit of bouncing around the images on that digitized reel I came across this:

"Nova Scotia Church Records, 1720-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBC2-9JV?cc=1925428&wc=M6PF-CWL%3A219772701%2C219796201%2C219809001%2C219901401 : 21 May 2014), Halifax > Halifax > Catholic St Mary's Basilica > Marriages 1830-1843 > image 192 of 262; Catholic Church and Church of England parishes, Nova Scotia.

All the details in the abstract can now be confirmed by looking at the entry from the parish register plus we know now the names of the witnesses.

It is important to keep in mind that most items listed in the bibliographies may not be available online. This is where your to-do list becomes important. Such is the case for my Starr line of Nova Scotia.

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 1:486.

Joseph Starr, the son of Samuel Starr and Abigail Leffingwell, is of interest to me due to him being in Connecticut at the start of the United States of America War of Independence and supposedly escaping back to Nova Scotia after refusing to serve in the Connecticut militia. So I'm always looking for information about him and his exploits.

Here I learn that the source of the information is on page 238 in the Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly, volume 7, issue 3 published on September 1977 in the article "The History of the Nova Scotia Apple Industry". There is also information in the same article about his mother and father. Although I can purchase a copy, since I'm in no rush, I'm going to wait until Library and Archives Canada is open to the public and read the article there.

A few things to take away from this little exercise:

• When using compiled collections take the time to follow the chain of sources to locate the original documents. Sometimes you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find. Sometimes it is new information not included in the abstract; other times it might be a whole new collection of documents.
• If looking at a baptism, marriage, or burial in a church parish register, take a look around for other events recorded that may pertain to your family. If a marriage, check for a baptism occurring within a few years time. You might come across a child you weren't aware of.
• Not everything is online. But it never hurts to check.
• To-do lists will help you remember what you need to sooner or later to look up. If your to-do list gets long enough you might even plan a holiday to a place that has the archive or library that houses the books or collections you want to review. While your family is out enjoy the sights you can be a time traveller and travel into the past.

---

1. Remember those? Your source citations help you remember where you found the information and helps others that may use your work to also know where you found those nuggets about your ancestors.

2. I have no relationship, that I know of, to the Cantfield family. It is just an example that I've helped find the source of the information for someone posting a query on a Facebook genealogy group.

The Fair Captive

After a recent question was asked in my blog concerning Caleb Howe, my 5th great-grandfather, I decided to review what I had about him, his siblings, and his parents, Caleb Howe and Jemima Sawtelle. The good part about doing this kind of review is that I was able to finally add an older brother, William, into the tree as a child of Caleb and Jemima. However, it also started me down an interesting rabbit hole of research concerning the story of Jemima.

My encounter with Jemima's story was years ago when I came across the genealogy of the Howe family posted under the Phipps Family Pages. There I learned about the "Fair Captive" and the story of her capture during the French and Indian War. The write up on that web page mentioned that "Jemima's story became part of the "American Preceptor"..." Courtesy of the Internet Archive I was able find and download various editions of the "The American Preceptor; being a new Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools" by Caleb Bingham, initially the 1837 edition but recently I was able to find the 1801 edition on the Internet Archive. For general reading I prefer the 1837 edition since the earlier editions make use of the "long s" or "ſ" so that a word like "disposed" looks like "diſpoſed" as you can see below.

Caleb Bingham. American Preceptor; Being a New Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools (Boston, Massachusetts: Manning and Loring, 1801), p 183; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/americanprecept09binggoog/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 20 May 2020).

Until you get used to reading text like that it can get confusing at times. By the way, you will have an opportunity to practice reading words with the "long s" by the end of this post.

But where did this "Fair Captive" designation come from? Please bear with me as the journey is a bit of a long one since it is all about following clues and, in one case, a bit of luck and cobbled with experience.

I started with a simple Google search with the keywords of "Jemima Sawtelle" and one of the first results was from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography for SAWTELLE, JEMIMA (Phipps; Howe; Tute). The good thing about this dictionary is that they include a list of sources used. In that list was mentioned the book New England captives carried to Canada between 1677 and 1760 during the French and Indian wars by Emma Lewis Coleman published in 1925. On pages 314-321 Jemima's story is recounted and even a few sources are stated in the footnotes. I like when I come across sources mentioned in foot or end notes!

pp.316-317:

Colonel Schuyler was again her friend, interesting himself in her ransom as is shown by the following letter from Dr. Benjamin Stakes, Surgeon of New Jersey troops, who frequently acted for him. Written in New Haven in December, 1757, it was addressed to Ebenezer Hinsdale, who enclosed it to Gov. Benning Wentworth.³¹

³¹N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll., V, 256

p.319:

Schuyler's official list³⁴ gives "Miss How, and boys William, Josia and Peter."
³⁴ N. Y. Docs., X, 882

Fortunately Ms. Coleman includes in her appendix of the book the abbreviations that she used. One of them, "N. Y. Docs." was defined as "Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York". However, "N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll." wasn't defined but from other definitions it seemed reasonable that it was "New Hampshire Historical Society Collections".

After a bit of searching through various catalogues such as Google Books, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive it turns out that those aren't exactly the titles of the works that Ms. Coleman was referencing.

Starting with that possible "N.H. Hist. Soc. Coll., V, 256" it took a little bit of searching but I finally turned up "Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Volume V" on the Internet Archive and on pages 256 to 258 I came across transcriptions of the letters mentioned.

[John Farmer, Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac Hill]. Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. V (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1837), pp.254-256, Letter of Col. Ebenezer Hindsdale to Gov. Benning Wentwork-1755; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionsnewh06socigoog/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

For "N. Y. Docs." the title turned out to be "Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Volume X". What was interesting to me was that the "Miss How, and the boys William Josia and Peter" was not written that way, at least in the 1858 edition:

E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Vol. X, (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1858), pp.882; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ10newyuoft/page/n4/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020); List of English prisoners delivered to Colonel Schuyler, &c.

E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Vol. X, (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1858), pp.883; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ10newyuoft/page/n4/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020); List of English prisoners delivered to Colonel Schuyler, &c.

These are transcriptions from documents in the Archives of the "Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies;" of the "Ministère de la Guerre," and in the "Bibliothèque de Roi," at Paris. Of course, going to France at this time is not in the cards. However, on a whim as I was writing this, I did a search for the archives in question and one web site mentioned that:

Les originaux sont conservés aux Archives nationales de France. Les Archives nationales du Canada possèdent des copies des documents de la série B et d'autres séries.

That got me thinking, what about searching the Library and Archives Canada site. Even if it is just a microfilm number, once the pandemic subsides and buildings open up to the public, I can look up the microfilm. My initial search of the archives collections using the keywords "Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies" returned more than 2000 matches. That's a lot to review but not unrealistic. But what about "Schuyler"? Were there less matches and could I find one that might apply?

I couldn't believe it when the third item in the list of 789 results was "["Rôle des prisonniers anglais remis au colonel Schuyler". Certificat signé ...]. 1758, novembre, 01". That is exactly the document I was looking for. Even more amazing was that they have been digitized and put online:

"Rôle des prisonniers anglais remis au colonel Schuyler." Série C11A. Correspondance générale; Canada [document textuel (surtout des microformes)] (R11577-4-2-F). Library and Archives Canada microfilm F-103, p.289 and 291[stamped]. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa; digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3073215 : accessed 20 May 2020). 

As you can see, unlike what Ms. Coleman recorded, Miss How and her sons are not listed together but on separate pages in different categories.

Looking back at the various sources cited in the entry for Jemima Sawtelle in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography also mentioned in The history of New-Hampshire by Jeremy Belknap. Again, this book is available on the Internet Archive in various editions. I always prefer the edition closest to the time of the events.

Jeremy Belknap, A.M., The History of New-Hampshire, Vol. III, (Boston, Massachusetts: Belknap and Young, 1792), pp.370-388, A particular Account of the Captivity of Mrs Jemima Howe, by the Rev. Bunker Gay, of Hinsdale, in a Letter to the Author; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofnewham03belk/page/n10/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

In the stories that were published they reference Maj. Israel Putnam and in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography one of the sources is "An essay on the life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam..." by David Humphreys. That wasn't too hard to chase down although there are multiple digitized copies available. The oldest edition I could find was "An Essay of the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: Addressed to the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut" published in 1788.

At the houſe of Colonel Schuyler, Major Putnam became acquainted with Mrs. Howe, a fair captive, whoſe hiſtory would not be read without emotion if it could be written in the ſame affecting manner, in which I have often heard it told. She was ſtill young and handſome herſelf, though ſhe had two daughters of marriagable age. Diſtreſs, which had taken ſomewhat from the original redundancy of her bloom and added a ſoftening paleneſs to her cheeks, rendered her appearance the more engaging. Her face, that ſeemed to have been formed for the aſſemblage of dimples and ſmiles, was clouded, with care. The nature ſweetness was not, however, ſoured by deſpondency and petulance; but chaſtened by humility and reſignation. This mild daughter of ſorrow looked as if ſhe had known the day of proſperity, when ſerenity and gladneſs of ſoul were the inmates of her boſom. That day was paſt, and the once lively features now aſſumed a tender melancholy, which witneſſed her irreparable loſs.

David Humphreys, An Essay of the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: Addressed to the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut,  (Hartford, Connecticut: Hudson and Goodwin, 1788), pp.74-81; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/essayonlifeofhon1788hump/page/n3/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

Although the story as recorded by Mr. Humphreys in the telling of Israel Putnam's life is romanticized it does add some dimension to the story of Jemima How. The description of her definitely describes a "fair captive."

Jemima's story has been told in numerous publications in addition to the ones mentioned above. Some appear to be derived from the account recorded by Rev. Bunker Gay.

• Indian Captivities or Life in the Wigwam pp.156-165
• Harper's new monthly magazine, volume 12, "Israel Putnam," p.588
• Marguerite Allis, Not without peril, a novel by Marguerite Allis, founded on the life and adventures of Jemima Sartwell, one of the first settlers in Vermont.
• Angela Marco, Fair captive, a colonial story
  

Her monumental inscription tells the tale of her life.

Mrs. Jemima Tute Succeſsively Relict of Meſsrs. William Phips, Caleb Howe & Amos Tute The firſt two were killed by Indians Phips July 5th AD 1743 Howe June 27th 1755 When Howe was killed She & her Children Then ſeven in number Were carried into Captivity. The oldest a Daughter went to France And was married to a French Gentleman The youngeſt was torn from her breaſt And periſhed with Hunger By the aid of ſome benevolent Gent'n And her own perſonal Heroiſm She recovered the Reſt She had two by her laſt Huſband She outlived him & them And died March 7th 1805 aged 82 Having pasted thro more viciſsitudes And endured more hardſhips Than any of her Cotemporaries No more can Savage Foes annoy Nor aught her wideſread Fame Deſtroy

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 May 2020), memorial page for Jemima Sawtelle(Phipps/Howe) Tute (7 Mar 1723–7 Mar 1805), Find a Grave Memorial no. 17509287, citing North Vernon Cemetery, North Vernon, Windham County, Vermont, USA; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

So follow those citations in the books you come across that mention your ancestors. You never know what documents that you will come across will lead you.