1861 Census of Nova Scotia - Cumberland County Index
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This file is intended as a supplement to Don Lewis' 
excellent (and far more extensive) collection of 
transcriptions covering the censuses of 1871, 1881, 
1891, and 1901 for Cumberland County.  These can be 
found on-line at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nscumber/sources.html

Hopefully this file will eventually be found there, 
too.

You are free to copy, print, and distribute this 
file as you please.  It was produced in the hopes 
of aiding all genealogists.  So by all means, feel 
free to donate a copy to your local library or 
family history center.  My only request is that this 
help file be included and that I be given credit as 
the sole transcriber.

Technical Notes

This file was produced using Microsoft Excel, but has 
been saved in comma-delimited format in the same 
fashion as Don Lewis' files.  It should be readable 
by most spreadsheet programs.

Explanation of Contents

This file is NOT a complete transcription of all the 
information contained in the 1861 census.  It is an 
INDEX ONLY.  I have copied the names of all heads of
household as they appear in the LDS microfilm of the 
census (FHL film #0865081).  In some cases, as with 
any hand-written document, interpretation was 
required.  The first column lists the Polling District 
number in which the person resided; the second column 
lists the abstract (page) on which his or her name 
appears; and the third column lists the line number. 
The first number following the name is the number of 
male residents listed for that household; the second 
is the number of female residents.

Not included here is information pertaining to the 
ages of the various residents, deaths that occurred 
within the year prior to the census, and literacy 
information.

It is hoped that with the name of the household head 
and the numbers of male and female residents, most 
people searching for specific individuals will be 
able to narrow their search to one or at least a 
handful of likely candidates (depending on the 
frequency of the surname in question.)

Problems of Transcription

I am not a Nova Scotia resident, nor do I have 
extensive experience with Nova Scotia genealogy. 
I do not claim to know all the common surnames of 
Cumberland County, much less the obscure ones. 
However, in an attempt to account for this 
deficiency, I have consulted Don Lewis' 1871 
census transcription as often as possible when 
interpreting unusual names or illegible writing. 
In some cases no clear match could be found, in 
which case I have made my best guess.  In others 
I was able to locate a likely candidate and thus I 
hope provide a more accurate transcription.

I have erred on the side of faithfulness to the 
original document.  For example, in Polling District 
11, Abstract 6, on line 5, you will find the name 
"LEWIS MCNAMARA."  I happen to be a descendant of 
the McNamaras, and I believe this entry to be an 
erroneous return for Denis McNamara, husband of 
Amy Atkinson.  I base this suspicion on the fact that 
Denis does not appear anywhere on the 1861 census, 
and that I have never encountered the name "Lewis 
McNamara" anywhere else in my research.  But rather 
than emend the entry, I have recorded it as it 
appears in the original document.  Thus you may find 
other errors or spelling variations which I have 
elected to transcribe literally, rather than correct 
them for ease of use.

The result of this policy is that a careful search of
spelling variations or likely errors should be made 
if a particular individual proves difficult to find. 
For example, "Burns" may also be found under "Burnes" 
or "Byrns."  "Comeau" may be found under "Como" 
(similarly "Barteau" and "Barto").  "Dixon" may be 
found under "Dickson."  The possibilities are too 
numerous to list them all here, but most genealogists 
are familiar with the various ways in which their 
families' names have been distorted in public records. 
This census is no exception.

If you are searching for an especially unusual name, 
or having no luck even with the usual variations, you 
might try using your program's "Find" function to search 
for entries that are noted with a question mark.  
Question marks indicate one of two things: that the 
entry in question was ambiguous or illegible, and I 
have simply hazarded a guess as to the letters; or that
the entry appears similar to one in Don Lewis' 1871 
transcription, and I have acceded to his more practiced 
eye in the interpretation.  Names followed by question 
marks are subject to radical reinterpretation, so if 
you see one even vaguely similar to the name you are 
searching for you may well want to consider it.  Also, 
if you know that your name has been mistranscribed in 
Don Lewis' 1871 index, then you may want to check that 
spelling in this 1861 file as well, since I have relied 
on him for troublesome entries.

I cannot discuss the specifics of all the problems here, 
but a few difficulties were consistent throughout the 
document.

Firstly, capital letters.  The difference between capital 
L's and S's was generally hard to distinguish; ditto for 
T's and F's.  In most names, context was sufficient to 
decide, but you will find that many names include middle 
initials that are followed by question marks, usually L's, 
S's, T's, or F's.  In addition, the census-taker or 
transcriber in Polling District 11 had very similar 
capital I's and J's.  I believe that in all cases I have 
assumed these letters to be J's, since that is by far the 
more common initial.  But the name Isaac appears frequently 
as well, so J may not be correct in all cases.

Also, the cursive double s (ss) occasionally resembles the 
cursive p.  Again, context was usually sufficient to 
distinguish them, but not always.

All letters followed by periods (.) should be considered 
initials or abbreviated names (e.g. JAS. for JAMES) with 
the following exceptions:

SR. = "Senior"
JR. = "Junior"
MS. = "Miss" or "Mrs."
2ND = "II" ("the second")
3RD = "III" ("the third")

I have not used apostrophes in names such as O'Brien 
(OBRIEN) and O'Donald (ODONALD).

The census simply leaves the entry blank when the 
number of males or females is "none."  I have inserted
zeroes (0) in these boxes in order to assure the user 
that I have not simply overlooked a particular entry.

Polling Districts

In Polling District 11, Abstract 5 is labeled "Halifax" 
instead of "Cumberland."  I assume this to be an error, 
since the abstract is in the proper location and includes 
surnames typical of Polling District 11.

Below is a list of the Polling Districts and approximate 
locations for all of them.  I stress that this list is NOT 
in any way official - it is my own guess based on where 
the majority of the names seem to appear in Don Lewis' 1871 
transcription.  This is an extremely unreliable guide.  
But I have included it for the sake of completeness.  I 
suspect one could find out more precisely (and accurately) 
the locations of the various polling districts by 
contacting the Nova Scotia Archives (PANS).  The LDS 
microfilm I used did not include a map of the districts.

The names I use here are based on the district names used 
in Don Lewis' 1871 census transcription.

Here is my GUESS as to the locations of the districts:

District 1: Amherst
District 2: Westchester
District 3: Head of Amherst
District 4: River Philip
District 5: River Hebert
District 6: Maccan
District 7: Pugwash
District 8: Wallace
District 9: Wentworth
District 10: Advocate Harbour
District 11: Mill Village

Thanks and Conclusion

First I should thank Don Lewis, for providing both the 
inspiration and the model.

I should also thank Brian Paul, for running the 
excellent Cumberland County GenWeb page, which is 
what got me into this pursuit in the first place.

I hope this file proves useful to you and leads you 
to new avenues of research on your family.  If so, 
the effort has been worthwhile.

Jim McGrath
New Jersey, USA
10 March 2000