Canada, Manitoba Census Indexes, 1831-1870 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Manitoba Index du recensement

Record Description
This collection includes records from the years 1831-1870.

The records include card indexes to census records from the years 1831-1856 taken by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the 1870 provincial census of Manitoba.

The censuses for 1827-1856 were taken by the Hudson Bay Company. The 1870 provincial census was taken under the direction of Canada's Department of Agriculture.

The first census of Manitoba with names of each member of the household was taken in 1870. There is a surname index to this census. Census returns for Manitoba with names of each member of the household were also taken in 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911.

The pre-1870 census returns of Manitoba (Red River Settlement) list the heads of households and some other information such as, age, religion, country of birth, married or widowed, number of sons and daughters, and agricultural data (for example, the number of livestock, the number of buildings, and the number of acres under cultivation). Almost all of these censuses were taken by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

For a list of records by alphabet and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Record Content
The census records in this collection may contain the following information:


 * Place and date of birth
 * Name of spouse
 * Relationship to the head of household
 * Age at the time of census
 * Household number and page number
 * Citizenship

How to Use the Record
To search this collection, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Name of ancestor
 * Approximate year and place of residence

Search the Collection
To search the collection image by image select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page: ⇒Select the appropriate “Index Year” ⇒Select the appropriate “Surname Range” which will take you to the images.

Look at the images one by one comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Using the Information
Carefully examine all the information on the index card, this will give you more information to add to your family records.

For example:


 * You can use the age to calculate an approximate birth date.
 * Find out where your ancestor was born, which will help you in locating the vital record for that individual.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in French. For help with reading the records, see the following wiki article:

French Wordlist

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Try searching through the birth registers, that will aid you in finding the birthplace, name of the ancestor recorded, and the residence of the ancestor as well.
 * If you can't find your ancestors in this collection, try searching through the Canadian Census collections.

Related Websites

 * Archives of Manitoba
 * Archives of Hudson’s Bay

Related Wiki Articles

 * Manitoba Census
 * Canadian Censuses Online

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the "Show Citation" box. Manitoba, Census Indexes, 1831-1870

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.