Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show aside to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her that one of those heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are al...
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Get to Know bac-lac: Canadian Census Records (Part IV)

In Part III of this series I talked about how occupational codes can tell us more information about someone's occupation. Specifically I used the example of how the term 'farmer' had been used as broad terms to describe anybody who lived off the land or cultivated something. The farm and goods census (1851 and 1861 only) served as a pre-cursor of sorts to occupational codes. 

The farm and goods census record provided information such as:

  • total lot size
  • number of farm hands (male and female)
  • how the acreage was divided between crops, pasture, residential, and bush land
  • acres occupied by each crop and how many bushels were produced of each
  • number of livestock
  • income from the production of commercial goods (candles, shoes, leather, etc.)

The above information was to be provided by the owner of the farm with production values given for the previous year of operation. 

Before finding the person in the farm and goods census be sure to find them in the general population census. There are two reasons why you want to do this: so you know where they are living, and so you know how many people of the same name live in that area. As the census name implies, it focuses on farm operations and the production of goods as opposed to who the owner was. As a result of this there is little information about the actual farmer. The census only lists the name of the farm owner (head of the family) and not the other members of the household. For the most part the names all belong to men, however there are also a few widows. 

If you search for the farmer and can't find them in the census its most likely that there name was abbreviated. For example the first name William was often recorded as Wm. You can try to search for the abbreviated first name or try searching with the surname and location information (province, district, sub-district). 

Related Posts:

Canadian Census Records (Part I)

Canadian Census Records (Part II)

Canadian Census Records (Part III)

Canadian Immigration Records (Part I)

Canadian Immigration Records (Part II)

Was Your Ancestor Double Enumerated?

New Release: The 1931 Canadian Census

Tips for Finding Your Family in the 1931 Canadian Census

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