Ancestry.ca Launches 1891 Canadian National Census Online

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.ca, part of The Generations Network:

World first: 1891 Canadian national census launches online – Ancestry.ca

4.5 million names fully searchable in both English and French + original document images

(Toronto, ON – 22nd of July 2008) Canadian family history website Ancestry.ca today launched online for the first time the 1891 Census of Canada, which contains 4.5 million searchable names and 90,000 images of original census pages. Included is information from all then-existing Canadian provinces and territories.

Fully indexed and searchable in both English and French, the Census includes such famous names as Sir Sanford Fleming, William Hall, Thomas Ahearn, William Southam and Max Aitken. (original images available)

The Census was taken on the 6th of April 1891 in both English and French by 4,300 enumerators.

Family and social history enthusiasts can search the collection by name, province and district, age, gender, marital status, relation to head of family, country or province of birth, French-Canadian status, mother’s and father’s birth place, religion and occupation.

Also included is more general demographic information from this period such as the population’s ability to read and write, those with disabilities, the nature and construction of the home, and even the number of rooms contained in common dwellings.

In addition to recording basic population and demographic statistics, the Census recorded primary migrant communities, which originated from England, Ireland, Scotland, the U.S. and Germany.

A valuable source of historical information for those with an interest in family and social history, the original copy of the 1891 Census of Canada is held at the Library and Archives Canada.

Ancestry.ca Senior Vice President Josh Hanna comments: “The 1891 Census of Canada is a vital resource for casual and avid family history enthusiasts alike as it provides a detailed snapshot into a specific time in Canada’s history.”

“This Census successfully measured the majority of Canada’s population at this time and so is a rich source of important information about individuals, their families, and the society in which they lived.”

Not only can family history enthusiasts use the 1891 Census of Canada  to trace their lineage back to ancestors who lived during this time, but they can also see if they are related to revered Canadians also included, such as:

• Sir Sanford Fleming – prolific engineer and inventor, known for the introduction of Universal Standard Time and Canada’s postage stamp. In 1891 he was 61 years old living in Ottawa, Ontario with his wife and four children.
• William Hall – the first seaman, and also the first man of colour to be the recipient of the prestigious Victoria Cross. At the time of the 1891 Census he was 61 years old and living in Avonport, Nova Scotia.
• Thomas Ahearn – inventor and electrician who invented the electric cooking range and was the first person to cook a meal on an electric stove.  In 1891 he was living in Ottawa, Ontario with his two children.
• Max Aitken – famous business tycoon, politician and writer. In 1891 he was 11 years old, living with his parents and his seven siblings in New Castle, New Brunswick.

While many statistics from the end of the 19th Century are not surprising, such as the fact the most common surname in 1891 was Smith and the most popular first names Mary and William, some unexpected facts are also revealed. For example, the population of Prince Edward Island actually decreased by about 22 per cent from the 1891 Census to the 2006 Census. 

The 1891 Census of Canada is available to Ancestry.ca subscribers and through a 14-day Free Trial.

Comments

[minnekimba]

I was able to see the index but I was unable to view the image using Mozilla Firefox. Apparently, their enhanced viewer only works in Internet Explorer and the basic viewer couldn't view the images either. Once I tried it using IE I was able to see the image just fine. Just a tip for those who may run into the same problem.

[C Wright]

The images won't load with Mac OS X running Mozilla or Safari.
There are major errors in transcription, even higher than the usual sloppiness expected from Ancestry. Many of the transcribed names are gibberish. The entire population of over 10,000 people of one of the counties in the province of New Brunswick has been listed as belonging to an entirely different province, Manitoba.

[C Wright]

The images won't load with Mac OS X running Mozilla or Safari.
There are major errors in transcription, even higher than the usual sloppiness expected from Ancestry. Many of the transcribed names are gibberish. The entire population of over 10,000 people of one of the counties in the province of New Brunswick has been listed as belonging to an entirely different province, Manitoba.

[C Wright]

The images won't load with Mac OS X running Mozilla or Safari.
There are major errors in transcription, even higher than the usual sloppiness expected from Ancestry. Many of the transcribed names are gibberish. The entire population of over 10,000 people of one of the counties in the province of New Brunswick has been listed as belonging to an entirely different province, Manitoba.

[Diane]

For some reason, when the religion is clearly shown as "Presbyterian" on the images, the search result shows "Free Church". Since most of my relatives were Scottish, they were almost all Presbyterians. I found this result in Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. Where did this change originate?

Firefox frequently used to crash when viewing any census images; unfortunately, this is not a new problem. I just stopped using Firefox for Ancestry.com searching--I have to use Internet Explorer.

[Joan Armistead]

I am running OSX version 10.5.4 and the images are loading for me with Firefox and also with Safari. Don't know if anything has changed since 11:30 last night but...

[John Brebner]

Having just spent an hour looking at this latest ancestry offering, I have to admit that I didn't think it possible to produce a census transcription more plagued with errors than their previous offerings. I was wrong!

I was unplesasantly surprised to find that many of the images are very poorly scanned to the point of illegibility... and yes,I know that some of the originals ARE faded, having spent many hours in at the Archives in Ottawa looking at many of these original records. Many of the Quebec record scans that I looked at are simply out of focus. That's simply not acceptable with today's technology.

As to the accuracy of those transcriptions, I can only suggest that a number of Pine Creek, Alberta records are shown to be in Quebec province. What's worse, the actual images fail to appear so that confirmation of the actual information is impossible, making the whole process an exercise in futility.

When the partnership between ancestry.com and Archives Canada was announced two years ago, I had misgivings about the results that seem to have been wholly founded. Some of you may remember that the justification for shorter visiting hours at the Ottawa facility was the increased availability of digital records online.

And no, I won't send a complaint into ancestry... the last three complaints received were another exercise in bafflegab and misdirection that a number of e-mails failed to produce any satisfactory answers.

All I can say is that I hope other genealogy services step up to the plate and provide a superior service. I for one would be happy to pay for GOOD QUALITY scans, ACCURATE indexing and RESPONSIVE and SPECIFIC answers to customer concerns.

John Brebner

[M. Diane Rogers]

And then there are the Toronto, Ontario people who are indexed as living in Prince Edward Island!

[Lindsay]

The version of the press release posted here:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2008/22/c6397.html

says:
"The Generations Network Inc. acquired the online rights to the 1891 Census of Canada from the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC) in Ottawa, Ontario."

Which can be read to say that they acquired exclusive online rights. If that's the case LAC should be ashamed. There is nothing on the LAC site about this deal.

[Marian Powell]

The 1891 Canadian Census has been a major gap in the online censuses; however, it received major indexing activities by genealogical societies at the time of its release on microfilm. The results of all this work continues to be available in paper from many of the local societies. Although the indexes are scattered across the country, the level of accuracy in transcription is generally very high. It is to be hoped that Ancestry's digitization together with these local indexes will serve the genealogist well.

Regina Branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society has published four volumes of five anticipated volumes of the North West Territories everyname index. All published volumes are currently available. The last volume is in preparation and includes the Unorganized Territories, which presents a significant challenge in transcription.