Question about the 1851 Ontario Census

Question

Hi all,

I was working on a profile and found a census from 1851 in Ontario. It has a whole family and other families all in one place and it says inmates. There is nothing on the census I can find that says inmates of where. Would it be the poor farm or something else that I am just not thinking of?

Answer 1

Inmates just means the people who lived at the location, it has nothing to do with anything else.

The 1851 census was actually taken in 1852.

Comments

M Ross is correct.  In this context "inmates" just means residents at that address.

My grandfather often used the term (with a twinkle in his eye) throughout his life until he died (as a willing "inmate" of a retirement home) in the 1980s.

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Alan, Thank you for the best answer star.

Answer 2

can you provide a link to the census or specific location?

Answer 3

Sometimes it is worth looking at the previous pages to see if there's any details about the location when there's a long list of people at the same residence.

Comments

The 1851/52 Canadian census does not have addresses. Many of the places especially outside the very few larger towns were farms on Concession # ? or Sideroad #?

The enumerator went from one farm or habitation to the next, in whatever order made most sense, sometimes alternating the sides of the road.