Censuses of Canada West and Canada East, 1842 now available online

Sample page 1842 Census Canada West

Great news from LAC (Library and Archives Canada) about new census records online. No, it's not the much anticipated 1921 census of Canada but it's still good news.

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce that Canadians can now access the Census of Canada West, 1842 as well as the Census of Canada East, 1842 online. In 1841, Upper Canada was renamed Canada West, and Lower Canada became Canada East. These two jurisdictions are now known as the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Each census is partly nominal and contains the names of heads of family, their occupation and the number of residents for each family.

Users can search these new databases by the names of heads of family, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names.

I had a search of the Canada West Census and wanted to share with readers that it does not include all of what is now Ontario. Many of the districts are not online, so if you search and don't find your ancestor, it does not necessarily mean he wasn't in Canada West, he may have been living in a district that is not there.  You can see the list of Districts covered at Districts and Sub-districts: 1842 Census (Canada West) and Districts and Sub-districts: 1842 Census (Canada East)

Enumerators visited 17 census districts, divided into sub-districts. These units were made up of cities, towns, parishes, villages and townships. Not all returns have survived. The returns for eight districts and 51 sub-districts have been preserved and are searchable online.