Date: 1871 to 1871
Location: Canada, ON, PQ, NS, NB

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Background 3 Methodology 4 Sources

Introduction

The information in additional schedules of the 1871 census is useful and enlightening for individuals as well as for the community in which they live. Useful information available within these schedules include residence, property ownership, wealth, acreages, crops, livestock, occupation and so on. Schedule 2, Deaths in the last 12 months, and Schedule 6, Return of industrial establishments, are tied to the census division as a whole, and not to any individual. Schedule 3, Return of public institutions and personal estate, itemizes public buildings such as churches as well as individual properties.

These archived schedules are not indexed, so the user must transcribe the entries. Schedules 2-9 are keyed on the head-of-household only; there is nothing in the additional schedules for non-head individuals.

Background

This free space page documents a procedure for extracting useful genealogical information from Schedules 1-9 of the 1871 census of Canada. The original architects of the 1871 census set out the organization of divisions within sub-districts, sub-districts within districts, districts within provinces. See this organization here. The original paper census returns would have been stored in this order.

Notice that the microfilm reel numbers progress in the same order beginning with reel # C-9888 in Ontario district 1, Essex, and continuing through 293 reels to Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia district 206, Richmond, reel C-10570.

There is a pdf version of this [xxxxxxxxxxxxxx here.]

Schedules 1 - 9 for each census division have been microfilmed as a block and organized alpha-numerically by sub-district letter within each district, and by district number within each province, and then by province, in the order Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Each microfilm reel holds roughly ten or so divisions, depending on the size of the divisions..

The Schedule 1 image is also included within each block; it is the same image displayed and transcribed in normal search results. We will need an image and transcription of a Schedule 1 individual to find the necessary pointers to that person's Schedule 2-9 images. This procedure is based on using the Library and Archives of Canada transcriptions. Family Search transcriptions use some different terminology. See the example below.

Methodology

1. From the main census page^[1], select either the 1871 Census, Canada^[2] or1871 Census, Canada: Ontario, Heads of Household^[3] transcriptions if you are doing an Ontario search. The Ontario Heads of Household transcriptions offer this advantage: All of the parameters needed for a thorough search can be found on the transcription page - no need to look for the division number in the image. Also, if 'your' head isn't found in this database, it's likely 'your' Schedules 2-9 don't exist either. At least you know.
2. Search for the person (head) of interest. View the head's transcript and image. Sometimes, FamilySearch.org and the commercial genealogical websites offer better search results. You can use the information you find there (if sufficient) or use that information back in Library and Archives of Canada to improve your advanced search. For instance, knowing exact age often helps, as does knowing the District and sub-district names and/or numbers.
3. On the head's transcription, note the microfilm reel number, province, district, sub-district, and division. (Some transcriptions don't provide the division number. In that case look at the top right of the image or neighbouring images.)reelNo = C-___________
4. We also need two very important bits of information to link the head in schedule 1 to the head's entries in Schedules 2-9. That information, extracted from your head's Schedule 1 page, consists of the page number and line number found in the original document. Sometimes this can be found in a transcription of the page; if not, it can be seen in the image of the original. There are no names used in Schedules 2-9. The linkage is established by the page/line number pair from Schedule 1.The number pair for your subject is _________________.
5. Viewing the Schedule 1-9 microfilm reel identified above is possible at this point, but it is a very cumbersome process because each reel contains upward of 600-1500 images which you may have to step through one at a time until you find your district, sub-district, and division. Even then it is not clear sailing: Schedule 1 may be 100 images long while other schedules may be just one or two images, and yet others may be 10 to 20 images long. Further, some images may contain one original document, others may contain two.
   Here is a technique to narrow the search:
   1. Open the listing of reels sorted by reel number here^[4]. (Caution: There are other lists of reels organized by county and district. They are not useful in this case because they don't have the division number.
   2. Expand the district number decade which includes your district number .
   3. Search (Ctrl-F) for your Reel number. reelNo = C-___________
   4. Count the number of rows that have the same reel number. NumRows = ___________
   5. Your division is on the n^th row of those that have the same reel number. rowNo = ___
6. Open the microfilm viewer app here^[5].
   1. Click on your reel number "C-nnnn" to open the image viewer at that reel. (There are 6 pages listing census reel numbers. Page forward (>>), if necessary, to the page containing your reel number.)
   2. In the image viewer, at the top right, look at the total number of images. (ie) page number X of _Total images. TotImg = ______________
7. Calculations to find your schedules 1-9 within the reel:
   1. Using the values we collected above, estimate the starting image number for your division within the reel:(rowNo-1)/NumRows x TotImg = _________Type this value into "page xx of TotImg box". Examine this image. Is it within your division? Yes? page back until you come to page one of schedule 1. No? Page forward. Record this image page number:divPg1= __________
8. Calculations to estimate each schedule within your division can be worked up.

Sources

1. ↑ Main Census page at the Library and Archives of Canada
   : * Main Census Page
2. ↑
   1871 Census, Canada
3. ↑
   1871 Census, Canada: Ontario, Heads of Household transcriptions
4. ↑ Microfilm organized in reel number order
5. ↑ Microfilm Viewer app - 6 pages of census reels