Did you have ancestors living in Canada in 1911? Discover your ancestor’s residence, birth place and year, and marital status in the 1911 census.
Did you have ancestors living in Canada in 1911? Discover your ancestor’s residence, birth place and year, and marital status in the 1911 census.
Transcripts of the census have been provided for each result, along with a link to the image of the actual census (which will open in a new tab in your browser). Transcripts will include the following information:
Name
Relationship
Marital status
Sex
Birth year
Birth date (month and year)
Birth place
Race or Tribe
Immigration year
Naturalization year
Link to record image
District name
District number
Subdistrict name
Subdistrict number
Film
Page number
Family number
Province
Country
Other household members
Images will often provide you with additional information, such as occupation. Where individuals are employees or boarders in an establishment their relationship to the head of household is not listed, instead, it lists their occupation (also recorded in occupation field).
To assist you in deciphering the images, which are somewhat poor in quality, we have provided a list of the column headings below.
Column 1 – dwelling house
Column 2 – family, household, or institution
Column 3 – names of individuals in family, household, or institution (listed last name, first name)
Column 4 – place of habitation
Column 5 – sex
Column 6 – relationship to head of house
Column 7 – marital status—single (s), married (m), widowed (w), divorced (d), or legally separated (l.s.)
Column 8 – birth month
Column 9 – birth year
Column 10 – age at last birthday (as of 1 June 1911 and fractions are used for those under the age of one, such as 4/12 for 4 months old)
Column 11 – place / country of birth
Column 12 – year of immigration to Canada (if applicable)
Column 13 – year of naturalization (if applicable)
Column 14 – racial or tribal origin
Column 15 – nationality (for non-Canadians, birth country or country of professed allegiance is listed)
Column 16 – religion * B.C. – Bible Church * C. (of) E. – Church of England * C. (of) S. – Church of Scotland * E.M.C. – Episcopal Methodist Church * F.C. – Free Church (Presbyterian) * M.E.C – Methodist Episcopal Church * P.C.L.P. – Presbyterian-Canada and Lower Provinces * P.F.C. – Presbyterian Free Church * R.P. – Reformed Presbyterian * U.P. – United Presbyterian * W.M. – Wesleyan Methodist
Column 17 – chief occupation or trade (for everyone 10 years or older and income listed for those on an independent income)
Column 18 – living on own means (for those 10 years or older who have some form of employment or occupation that supplement their earnings. A three-part numeric code is used for this column; the first number relates to the general field of occupation, the second to the class of worker, and the third to the trade. See the occupational codes chart in the Useful links and resources section for a full breakdown of the number codes.)
Column 19 – employer
Column 20 – employee (w listed for wage earner)
Column 21 – working on own account, meaning employed in gainful occupation but not an employer or employee (o.a. listed for own account)
Column 22 – physical place where person is employed
Column 23 – weeks employed in 1910 at primary employment
Column 24 – weeks employed in 1910 at employment other than primary employment (used if column 18 was utilized)
Column 25 – hours of average workweek at primary employment
Column 26 – hours of average workweek at employment other than primary
Column 27 – total earnings of 1910 from primary employment
Column 28 – total earnings of 1910 from employment other than primary
Column 29 – rate of earnings for those paid by the hour-cents
Column 30 – life insurance held at date, value of the policy in force as of 1 June 1911
Column 31 – accident or sickness insurance held at date, value of the policy in force as of 1 June 1911
Column 32 – total cost of insurance from 1 June 1910 to 1 June 1911
Column 33 – months at school in 1910 (for individuals ages 5 to 21)
Column 34 – whether individual can read
Column 35 – whether individual can write
Column 36 – language commonly spoken (E for only English, F for only French, E and F for both English and French, and if a language other than English or French, it was written out in full.
Column 37 – cost of education in 1910 for those older than 16
Column 38 – blind (the condition needs to reach the level of incapacity to be recorded. If developed in childhood, child with the age at the time of infliction is noted)
Column 39 – deaf and dumb (the condition needs to reach the level of incapacity to be recorded. If developed in childhood, child with the age at the time of infliction is noted)
Column 40 – crazy or lunatic (the condition needs to reach the level of incapacity to be recorded. If developed in childhood, child with the age at the time of infliction is noted)
Column 41 – idiotic or silly (the condition needs to reach the level of incapacity to be recorded. If developed in childhood, child with the age at the time of infliction is noted)
All ten provinces and two territories (Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories) are represented in these census records.
The census was begun on 1 June 1911 (earlier for the territories). The head of house would be listed first and be responsible for providing the details of all the household members. Individuals would be enumerated at their usual place of residence even if they were not currently there on the day of enumeration. The head of house would be asked a list of questions regarding the household and its inhabitants (an abbreviated version for residents in the territories).
A. Ross Tilley was one of the first to specialize in plastic surgery in Canada. During World War Two, Tilley became the Principal Medical Officer. In 1942, he was working at Queen Victoria Hospital and while there he pioneered burn treatments for airmen. His patients, who received experimental reconstructive plastic surgery, created a social network called the Guinea Pig Club.
In the 1911 census, Tilley is living with his family in the district of Durham. His birthday is listed as November 1904, which means he was six years old at the time the census was taken in June.
William Avery (Billy) Bishop was a Canadian flying ace and Victoria Cross recipient of World War One. He was credited with 72 victories. In 1911, he joined up at the Royal Military College of Canada. With the outbreak of World War One, he joined up with Mississauga House cavalry regiment, eventually being transferred to the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles.
At the time of the census, Billy is recorded as living with his family, including his parents, William and Margaret, in Grey North district.
You can learn more about Billy’s service and commendations by searching for him in our extensive newspapers collection. The Lethbridge Herald on 22 June 1917 printed the following under the heading of "Brave Aeronaut": "The distinguished Service Order has been awarded to Captain William Avery Bishop, Canadian cavalry and flying corps. While in a single-seated airplane he attacked three hostile machines, two of which he brought down although in the meantime he was himself attacked by four hostile machines."
Colonel Lawrence Cosgrave was both a soldier and a diplomat. At the end of World War Two, he was one of the signatories to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, which formalized the Japanese Empire’s surrender to Allied forces. Signatories from various counties were included. In his capacity as a signatory, Cosgrave represented the Dominion of Canada.
As a soldier serving in World War One, Cosgrave was awarded the Distinguished Service Order twice. His role during World War Two was as the Canadian Military Attache to Australia. Cosgrave was friends with John McCrae, a Lieutenant Colonel, and claims that McCrae’s poem In Flanders Field was written on paper using his back as a writing surface during a downtime in action on 3 May 1915.
In the 1911 census, Cosgrave, whose last name is mistakenly written as Cosgrove, is listed as a student in Ontario. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1912.