Census records are house to house inventories of the residents of Canada taken every 10 years. People are not listed alphabetically. Printed indexes for Oshawa and Whitby are available to aid in locating families in these records. These are listed below.

Resources in our Collection

Researching Canadian Census Records (book)

The McLaughlin Branch Library holds Census records on microfilm for:

1842 Carleton, Durham, Gore, Haldimand, Home, Lincoln, Newcastle, Northumberland, Ottawa District, Simcoe, Toronto City, York

1848 Durham, Leeds, Northumberland

1851 Durham, Hastings, Northumberland, Ontario, Peterborough, Prince Edward

1861 Dundas, Durham, Elgin, Hastings, Norfolk, Northumberland, Ontario, Oxford, Peterborough, Prince Edward, Renfrew, Toronto City

1871 Bothwell, Durham, Hastings, Kent, Lennox, Northumberland, Ontario, Peterborough, Prince Edward, Toronto City, Victoria

1881 – 1911 All of Ontario

Census Indexes can aid in locating families in census records. Indexes for Oshawa/Whitby are available at the Reference Desk of the McLaughlin Branch for the following years:

1851 – Township of Whitby
1861 – Township of East Whitby
1861 – Village of Oshawa
1878 – Village of Oshawa
1881 – Town of Oshawa
1881 – East Whitby township
1891 – Town of Oshawa
1891 – Township of East Whitby
1901 – Township of East Whitby
1901 – Town of Oshawa

Selected Websites

Check the various census research tools at ArchiviaNet.

Here you will find: Catalogue of Census Returns on Microfilm 1666-1901

This allows researchers to identify relevant microfilm reel numbers for census returns they wish to search.

Microfilms for all of Canada can be borrowed from Library and Archives Canada through our interlibrary loan service.

1851 Census (images only, no index)
1871 Census of Ontario (index only, no images)
1901 Census of Canada (images only, no index)
1906 Census of the Northwest Provinces (images only, no index)
1911 Census of Canada (images only, no index)

Census of Ireland, 1911 - National Archives of Ireland
Search the 1911 census for Ireland. The records include all 32 counties for Ireland during that period, and is searchable by all 18 fields, including religion, occupation, county or country of origin, and literacy status.

Online Indexes

1871 Census of Ontario
1881 Canadian Census
1901 Canadian Census
1911 Canadian Census

Ancestry Library Edition (Available only in Library)
This extensive database carries indexes and images for the 1851-1911 Canadian census. The Oshawa Public Libraries offers access to this resource, but it is only available within a library branch.

Last modified: 04.08.11 by LocalHist