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Census returns taken in Nova Scotia date back to those under
French occupation prior to 1750. Information regarding these
records can be found through Acadian
sources. The vast majority of census returns conducted since,
being under British control, have survived and copies are held with
either the Provincial Archives in Halifax [NSARM]
and/or with the National Library and Archives in Ottawa [NLAC].
Many census returns of various years under British
rule are available for Nova Scotia from 1752 onward. The first
census records which include any part of present day Hants
County were recorded in 1770. This early return covered areas
outside of Halifax and included Falmouth, which was then part of
the County
of Kings. Hants County was later established in 1781 out of
part of what had been Kings County [...more].
The first census that included the County of Hants
was taken in 1817. This census recorded only the name of the
head of household and sex, and the ages in the family. These
records are available for research. A
general census of the province was later taken in 1838 and it
was the first to survive almost in its entirety. This census
again recorded only the name of the head of household and
sex, and ages of the rest of the family. The returns for all of
the townships in Hants County did survive.
A provincial census return was taken in 1851 but
very little remains, none of which includes Hants County. Ten
years later, in 1861, another "head of household"
census of the entire province was recorded and it was the final
one taken before Confederation, in 1867, in which Nova Scotia
became one of the founding provinces in the newly formed
Dominion of Canada [...more].
The census returns that have been taken since
Canadian Confederation are complete nominal returns.
These records are detailed about each family member and include
name, age, sex, place of origin, etc. The first Census of Canada
was recorded in the spring of 1871. The Canadian Census returns
have been taken every ten years since. The records for the
census years of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 were transferred to
the National Archives for microfilming and have since been
released to the public. To protect the privacy of individuals,
census records have only been released after ninety-two years
from the time that they were taken. Theoretically, the 1911
Census should be released in 2003.
Census returns after 1901/1906 have been
microfilmed and are in the custody of Statistics Canada, not
the National Library and Archives of Canada [...more].
Confidentiality issues concerning the information recorded in
these censuses and defining if the personal information was ever
to be released is currently being discussed. For the genealogist
or family historian this unfortunately means that all
"post-1901" census records may never be
transferred to the archives and later be released to the public
domain for genealogical research in the future [...more].
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