Documents & Records

1881 Census of Canada

Basics

The 1881 census was the first Canadian census to cover British Columbia, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories, which then included modern Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as Yukon and Nunavut. It was held on April 4, 1881.

The 1881 census provided information about each member of every household but did not record the relationship between individuals in a household. Thus, it cannot be used to reconstruct family groups with certainty, although it may provide good clues.

Personal information about each enumerated individual was recorded under the following column headings on the 1881 federal census returns:

Names
Sex
Age
Born within last twelve months
Country of Province of Birth
Religion
Origin

"Origin" meant the country of origin of the paternal emigrant ancestor of each person, and was usually recorded as an adjective, e.g. Chinese. Although sometimes recorded as the name of the country, it was not the country of birth of the enumerated person.

Profession, Occupation or Trade
Married or Widowed

The extract from the 1881 census seen at the left shows Won Alexander Cumyow - the first Chinese baby born in Canada - at the age of 20, living in the New Westminster census district in British Columbia. The household in which he was living included an male adult (Won Liu Ling, age 57) and a female adult (Wong Shee, age 38) -- probably his parents -- as well as five other people ranging in age from 7-18. These younger people were probably Won Alexander Cumyow's brothers and sisters.

Finding the Records

At the Vancouver Public Library

A full name index for the Census of Canada, 1881 is available on the Ancestry Library Edition electronic database. Links to digitized images of original records are provided. Free access to Ancestry Library Edition is available at any location of the Vancouver Public Library. Remote access from home is not available.
The Vancouver Public Library collection includes microfilm copies of all 1881 Canadian census records. The census microfilm collection is located in Fine Arts and History on Level 6.

1881 British Columbia census records are on microfilm reels C-13284 and C-13285.

On the microfilms, records are arranged by census district and subdistrict. In 1881 B.C. was divided into five districts and twenty-seven subdistricts. The census districts were:
- Cariboo
- New Westminster
- Vancouver
- Victoria
- Yale
Note that the census district names listed above do not reflect modern B.C. political divisions in B.C. For example, the Vancouver census district included a large portion of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, as well as the City of Vancouver. The New Westminster census district included the northern end of Vancouver Island.

A searchable Catalogue of Census Returns on Microfilm 1666-1901 (Library and Archives Canada) may be useful in identifying the subdistrict in which a particular city or town was located and finding it on the microfilms.
The Vancouver Public Library owns a set of CD-ROMs with a fully indexed electronic transcription of the entire 1881 Canadian census. Although the database is also available for free on the FamilySearch website (see Online, below), the CD-ROM version provides a more powerful search interface. In particular, it allows searching by Ethnic Origin and Place of Birth and does not require the entry of a personal Last Name or Given Name. This makes it possible to retrieve and browse a list of all the individuals of Chinese origin living in a specific location.

The CD-ROMs contain records of over 4500 people of Chinese Ethnic Origin living in Canada at the time of the 1881 census. All but a few resided in British Columbia. To search the CD-ROMs, please request the 1881 Canadian Census at the Information desk on Level 6.

Online

In addition to Ancestry Library Edition (see above), a large amount of free 1881 Canadian census information is available online. Individuals of Chinese origin have been identified in the following databases:

Census of Canada, 1881 (Library and Archives Canada)
This is a free fully indexed electronic transcription of 1881 census information with links to corresponding digital images. The search interface requires the entry of a first and/or last name. Alternative search interfaces are available on a CD-ROM version (see At the Vancouver Public Library above and at FamilySearch).

Living Landscapes (Royal BC Museum)
Provides access to indexed electronic census information for the Yale District. The district encompassed a large portion of the southern Interior of B.C., ranging from Hope north to Kamloops, east to the Alberta border, and south to the U.S. border. The database includes records of 8951 individuals, of whom 1169 reported China as their birthplace.

Vancouver Island 1881 Census (Malaspina University-College and the University of Victoria)
Provides a searchable indexed transcription of the 1881 Vancouver Island census. Vancouver Island comprised the Victoria census district, and parts of the Vancouver and New Westminster census districts. There are 979 records for individuals of Chinese origin in this list.

Photo banner: Detail from VPL Historical Photograph 78362