My Farming Families in 1871 Quebec - The John Deans

I have long wanted to know what the Deanholme Farm was like back when it belonged to my 2nd great-grandfather, John Dean. Four non-population schedules from 1871 have given me part of that answer.

John purchased the farm on May 1, 1868¹. When he was enumerated in the 1871 census the dwelling house was a log cabin built by a previous owner². Living here were:

John Dean - 32 yrs

Elizabeth Dean (née Nimmo) 29 yrs - who was likely about 2 months pregnant

Samuel Dean 15 yrs - John's brother who was also enumerated at his parents' farm.

James Dean 8/12 yrs (8 months) - John and Elizabeth's son

Elizabeth Nimmo (née Louden) 67 yrs.- Elizabeth's mother³

Schedule No. 3 - Public institutions, Real Estate, Agricultural Vehicles and Implements⁴

Grand total of acres of land owned - 163

Number of dwelling houses owned - 1

Number of barns and stables owned - 2

Number of carriages and sleighs - 2

Number of cars, wagons and sleds - 2

Pleasure or common boats - 0

Number of ploughs and cultivators - 1

Reapers and mowers - 0

Horse rakes - 0

Thrashing machines - 0

Fanning mills - 0

Schedule No. 4 - Cultivated land and products⁵.

Range - 5, Lot 25

Total number of acres occupied - 163

Number of acres improved - 20

Number of acres in pasture - 8

Number of acres of salt or dyked marsh - 0

Number of acres in gardens or orchards - 0

Wheat

Number of acres of wheat - 1/4

Bushels of spring wheat - 10

Bushels of autumn wheat - 0

Bushels of barley - 0

Bushels of oats - 200

Bushels of rye - 0

Bushels of peas - 6

Bushels of beans - 0

Bushels of buckwheat - 50

Bushels of corn - 10

Root Crops

Acres of potatoes - 1

Bushels of potatoes - 200

Bushels of turnips - 180

Bushels of mangel wurtzel and other beets - 0

Bushels of carrots or other roots - 12

Hay crop

Acres - 20

Tonnes - 20

Bushels of grass or clover seed - 0

Bushels of flax seed - 0

Plants, fruits or other products

Pounds of flax and hemp - 0

Pounds of hops - 0

Pounds of tobacco - 0

Pounds of grapes - 0

Bushels of apples - 0

Bushels of pears, plums, and other fruits - 0

Pounds of maple sugar - 200

Schedule No. 5 - Livestock, Animal Products, Home-made fabrics and furs⁶

Live stock

Horses over 3 years old - 2

Colts and fillies - 0

Working oxen - 0 

Milk cows - 5

Other horned cattle - 6

Sheep - 7

Swine - 1

Hives of bees - 0

Animal products

Cattle killed or sold for slaughter or export - 2

Sheep killed or sold for slaughter or export - 7

Swine killed or sold for slaughter or export - 1

Pounds of butter - 300

Pounds of home-made cheese - 0

Pounds of honey - 0

Pounds of wool - 43

Home-made fabrics

Yards of home-made cloth and flannel - 17

Yards of home-made linen - 0

Furs

Beaver's skins - 0

Musk rats - 0

Minks - 0

Otters - 0

Seals - 0

Martins - 0

Foxes - 0

Bears - 0

Moose, caribou and deer - 0

Number of all other furs - 0

Schedule No. 7 - Return of Products of the Forest⁷

Square pine - Number of cubic feet

White - 0

Red - 0

Cubic feet of square oak - 0

Cubic feet of square or sided tamarack - 0

Cubic feet of square or sided birth and maple - 0

Cubic feet of square elm - 0

Cubic feet of walnut

Black - 0

Other species - 0 

Cubic feet of hickory - 0

Cubit feet of all other square or sided timber - 0

Number of census standard pine logs - 0

Number of census standard spruce and other logs - 0

Number of spars and masts - 0

Thousands of staves -0

Cords of lath-wood - 0

Cords of tall-bark - 0

Cords of fire-wood - 225

Remarks - ______ (Blank)

There were a few things I am surprised were not part of this census. One was milk production. It also would have been interesting to know if there were chickens or turkeys on the farm and if the John Deans were selling eggs.

This summer I was fortunate to find a small news item regarding the local market in May of 1887⁸.

This lets me know that with further newspaper searches and some luck I may find more information about how John Dean's crops made it from his farm to local tables. And the local historical and genealogical societies are still an untapped resource for me as well.

Of course, there is a part of me that wishes all of this information would come to me all at once like a book, but really, what would the fun be in that?

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1. Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records 1637-1935, Repertoire et index de notaires>Saint-Francois>Felton, Edouard Pellew (1861-1907) Digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed April 5, 2018) Sale dated May 1, 1868, from Gilbert Emery to John Dean. I haven't ordered the contract yet but these details match oral family history.

2. Reg Conner, The Vine and the Branches (North Hatley, Quebec, 1898), 99.

3. 1871 Census of Canada, Sub-district "d" - divn No 1, Stanstead County, Quebec; population schedule p. 51, dwelling 189 and family 191, John Dean household, digital image Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed April 13, 2018,) citing Statistics Canada Fonds, Microfilm reel C-10089.

4. 1871 Census (Canada), Stanstead County, Province of Quebec, Tableau No. 3 Etablissements Publics, Propriété Foncières, Voitures et Instruments d'Agriculture [Return of Public Institutions, real & personal estate], District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication C-10089, page 571 of 670.

5. 1871 Census (Canada), Stanstead County, Province of Quebec, Tableau No. 4 Terres cultivées, Produits des Champs, Plantes et Fruits [Return of cultivated land and products], District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication C-10089, page 577 of 670.

6. 1871 Census (Canada), Stanstead County, Province of Quebec, Tableau No. 5 Animaux vivants, Produits animaux, Etoffes de Ménage et Fourrerres [Livestock, animal products, home-made fabrics and furs], District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication C-10089, page 583 of 670.

7. 1871 Census (Canada), Stanstead County, Province of Quebec, Tableau No. 7 Produits de Forëts [Return of Products of the forest], District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication C-10089, page 591 of 670.

8. "The Market," Sherbrooke Weekly Examiner, 6 May 1887, p.2, col. 3; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 17 June 2017.)