USA > Massachusetts > Early census making in Massachusetts, 1643-1765, with a reproduction of the lost census of 1765 (recently found) and documents relating thereto > Part 5
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is about 40 miles above fort Halifax are about 10 families; The Penob- fcots who live about 50 miles above Fort Pownall with the Machiafes who live in a bay of that name are about 40 families & the Paffimaquod- ies who live on the Weft Side of the Bay of S! Croix about 30 families : and yet thefe People complain of the Englifh fettling their Country. The Nature of the Subjection of the Indians to the Englifh Government, notwithftanding the many Treaties they have had with this Government has never been explained nor rightly underftood : nor does it fignify much now whether it ever is -
" 14. By the Terms of the late happy treaty this Province is freed from the Neighbourhood of foreign fubjects. The neareft foreign Settle- ment is that of St. Peter & Miquelon. What effect that will have on his Majefty's Provinces, time muft difcover.
" 15. Impofts & Excifes have been laid by Temporary Acts of Affem- bly which are renewed from time to time. The Impoft is upon Wine, Rum & other Spirits & 2 } Cent upon all Goods from Great Britain which are not the produce or manufactures thereof. This brings into the Treafury about {2250 fterl: { Annum. The Excife is upon Wine & fpirituous Liquors fold by retail & Lemmons & Limes. This brings in about {1300. fteri: { Annum. There is a farther Excife upon Tea, Coffee & China Ware which brings in about {1500. fterl& p. Annum. The further charges of Government which in times of peace may amount to near {20,000 Sterl: + Ann. are raifed by a Tax upon Polls & Eftates. The Province is in Debt about {220,000 Ster! borrowed of the Inhabi- tants for which the Treafurer gives his notes or obligations from fix pounds to a thoufand or upwards upon Intereft; which notes are not negotiated or Current as money or Bills of Credit but lye in the pro- prietors hands as any private Securities would do & upon a transfer bear a premium. The Revenue is appropriated to fuch Grants & Services as are or fhall be made & ordered by the General Court. The Treafurer's accounts are annually audited by a Committee of the Houfe of Repre- fentatives & another of the Council, but he is not difcharged without a Vote of the whole General Court.
" 16. The principal Officers of the Government are the Governor
[the
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the Lieut. Governor & the Secretary appointed by the King; The Treaf- urer the Commiffary General & the impoft officer elected by the joint ballot of the Council & Houfe of Reprefentatives & confented to by the Governor; but the Commiffary, as his office is mixt with the Military Service receives alfo a commiffion from the Governor ; The Chief Iuftice & 4 other Judges of the Superior Court & the Attorney general appointed by the Governor with the Advice of the Council. The Governor with the Advice of Council appoints all Judges Iuftices & Officers belonging to the Courts of Iuftice; Other Officers efpecially thofe belonging to the revenue are elected by the two houfes & confented to by the Governor. The Governor with the Council has the cognifance of caufes of teftacy & inteftacy by charter & of caufes of Marriages & Divorce by a provincial Law. But the former jurifdiction is executed by inferior judges of pro- bate or rather Surrogates who are appointed by the Gov! & Council one for each County with a Regiftrar under him. Thefe inferior Courts of probate are not eftablifhed by any written Law but by a long ufage only ; they are in fome manner confirmed by being mentioned in feveral Pro- vincial Acts as legal Courts & the fees being afcertained thereby ; & are fubject to an appeal to the Gov. in Council. Thefe Judges fees are ac- cording to the County from £10 to {60 p St", the regiftrars about half as much more. There are alfo in every County 4 Judges of Common pleas from which Court there lies an appeal to the Superior Court: their fees amount to according to the County from five to £45- fter! each. There is alfo in every County a Sheriff: his fees in the three principal Counties, Suffolk, Effex, & Middlefex amount to from {150 to {200 St: each. In other Counties it is lefs, decreafing according to the Size or populoufnefs of the County. The Superior Judges hold two terms a year in the three principal Counties & one in each of the other Counties, except Lincolnfhire & Berkfhire, who upon Account of their remotenefs join in the bufinefs of the fuperior Court with the Counties next to them ; So that they are from home near half the year. Their Salaries which de- pend upon the Affembly & fees together do not amount to {140. Ster' each ; half of which is expended in travelling charges. The Attorney General ufed to have a falary but of late that has been refufed by the [Affembly
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Affembly upon a pretence of their having a right to join in his appoint- ment : but they fometimes pay him for public bufinefs tho' in a fcanty manner. The principal Officers of the Government are as follows The Governor, Salary {1000, fees under f100- £1.100 Ster: The L: Gov! Tho! Hutchinfon Efq: no falary or fees ; when he takes the chair the Af- fembly makes him a fpecial grant. The Secretary Andrew Oliver Efq falary & fees {250. The Treafurer Harrifon Gray Efq. for himfelf & Clerks falary £375 -the Commiffary Tho! Hubbard Efq Salary £112. 10'/. the impoft Officer Iames Ruffell Efq. Salary & fees £90- The chief Iuftice is Tho! Hutchinfon Efq. the Lieut. Governor ; the other Judges are Benjamin Lynde Iohn Cufhing Chambers Ruffell & Peter Oliver Efquires, The Attorney general is Edmund Trowbridge Efq. Their Commiffions & all others under the Seal of the province were re- newed upon the prefent kings acceffion. The inadequatenefs of the Governors Income to the importance of his charge & the care & trouble attending it has been a fubject of frequent obfervation. This has arifen from the pains that have been taken in former times by acts of afcertain- ing fees & by other means to reduce the Governor's perquifites as low as poffible, fo that they are now under £100 - a year, & never like to be more: and yet the Salary is no more than what is allowed by his Majefty to the fmalleft Government paid by him. The infufficiency of the Judges Salaries affords great caufe of complaint. To have Gentlemen of the firft rank & ability dedicate their whole time to the Service of the public & not have {80-a year clear of expences for their trouble is difgraceful & injurious to the whole Province. And for this, they are dependent every year upon the Affembly, where frequent attempts are made & fome- times fuccefsfully, to lower even this poor pittance. To do this, the very Judgements of the Court, where they have been unpopular, have been ufed as means to lower the Salaries of the judges. Indeed the prefent Judges are fuperior to influence of this kind, but then they fuffer for it. The Attorney General has had no Salary allowed him for feveral years, becaufe the Affembly claim a right to elect him infifting that he is not an Officer belonging to the Courts of Iuftice. Great & many are the incon- veniences which arife to the public as well from the infufficiency as from [the
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the precarioufnefs of the Salaries of the chief Officers; which will never be remedied but by the eftablifhment of a fufficient & independent Civil lift, out of which his Majefty may affign to the public officers fuch Salaries as the Dignity & Duty of their offices fhould require: a regulation ex- tremely wanted in America, for which it would be very eafy to provide a proper fund.
" 17. The conftitution of the Government will appear beft from the Charter, which is duly carried into execution. I know of no Colony where the Compact between the King and the People is better obferved. The Royal Rights are never openly invaded : the utmoft that is done, is to difpute what are royal rights. Whereas in fome other Governments the general Affembly in fome cafes take upon themfelves the executive part of Government appointing fpecial receivers difburfers & expenditors of the public money & making them accountable for the fame to them only exclufively of the Governor. This is never done here, no money being ever iffued but by the Governor with the advice of Council. The chief difference between this Government & the meer royal ones, is in the appointment of the Council or middle part of the Legiftature, in the Governor's not exercifing the power of Chancellor, & by his being obliged to have the Concurrence of the Council in many acts, which the meer royal Governors can do alone. It was, in my opinion, an unfortunate error in the forming this Government to leave the Council to be elected by the Representatives of the People &c & that annually. Being thus conftituted & continually renewed, their complexion is much too popular for them to be, as they ought to be, mediators between the Crown & people. The influence which their re-election is fuppofed to have on them is fo well underftood that It is a common practife, whenever any popular bufinefs is to be carried through, contrary to the Sentiments of the Government, to bring it into the Court as near as poffible before the general Election. It is true that the Gentlemen of the Council give fre- quent proof of their fteadinefs & independence : but it is impoffible to fay that the re-election may not create fome bias, tho' they may not be fenfible of it themfelves : at leaft it is highly indecent that they fhould be publickly threatened to be turned out for what they do in Council, [altho
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altho they are known to act under the fanction of an Oath as well as a fenfe of their duty : This has not been uncommon within my obferva- tion. On the other hand it would be objected on the behalf of the Peo- ple to have a Council appointed & removeable by the Crown : it would be faid that fuch a Council would be no more a proper Mediator between the Crown & People than a Council elected by & removeable by the people. And it has feemed to me that in the meer royal Governments, the removability of the Council, altho' fo feldom excerfifed as to be almoft merely nominal, has a tendency to diminifh their weight with the people. I cannot but think that the middle legiflative power in a provincial Affembly fhould be made to refemble as near as poffible, the houfe of Lords. The Dignity fhould be derived from the King, as the fountain of honour, & granted for life defeafible for notorious mifdemeanor. It would not be amifs if fome title for Life (for this Country is not ripe enough for hereditary honours) fuch as Baron or Baronet was annexed to it. Such a conftitution would add great ftability to the Government : Thefe Councellors would naturally fupport the rights of the Crown, & being independent of it, would not incur the jealoufy of the people. It would induce people of confequence to look up to the King for honour & Authority, inftead of endeavouring to raife themfelves by popular Altercations. I am inclined to think that fuch an alteration might be made agreable to the people, I am allmoft fure it would be for the public good, but I apprehend It would require the Authority of the Parliament to carry it into execution, tho' the confent of the Province fhould be firft obtained for that purpofe. At the fame time It would deferve confideration whether it would not be proper to make the fecond Legiflative power & the privy Council two diftinct bodies as they are in England : in fuch Cafe the latter fhould be wholly appointed & remove- able by the King. It might have been made a queftion whether the Governor of this Province has not the power of the Chancellor delivered to him with the great Seal, as well as other royal Governors: but it is impracticable to fet up fuch a claim now, after a non ufage of 70 years, & after feveral Governors have in effect difclaimed it by confenting to bills for eftablifhing a Court of Chancery which have been difallowed at home.
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A Court of Chancery is very much wanted here, many caufes of confe- quence frequently happening in which no redrefs is to be had for want of a Court of Equity. I am inclined to think that if a Complainant in a matter of Equity arifing within this Province fhould file his bill in the Court of Chancery in England fuggefting that there was no provincial Court in which he could be relieved, that the bill would be retained ; in the fame manner as I fuppofe a Libell in the high Court of Admiralty would be admitted, if there was no inferior Court of Admiralty in the province. But this practife would be very burthenfome to the Province, unlefs it was ufed only to inforce the neceffity of eftablifhing a provincial Court of Equity. I have been the more particular upon thefe Subjects not only to point out what feems to me to be the defects of the Confti- tution of this Government but alfo to fhew how few things are wanting to make it compleat. If thefe great Matters were regulated leffer things would mend themfelves. In fine, A Civil lift, an independent middle legiflative power & a Court of Chancery, with a few other regulations which would follow of courfe, would give this Government as good a conftitution as any in his Majefty's American Dominions : efpecially as the People in general are as well inclined to his Majefty's Government & as well fatisfyed with their fubordination to Great Britain as any Colony in America; the prejudices which have heretofore occafioned their being reprefented as otherwife difpofed being wholly or allmoft wholly wore off.
" All which is humbly fubmitted
" Bofton Sep. 5. 1763
"endorfed : Maffachufets
" Governor Bernards Anfwers to Heads of Enquiry relative to the State of that Province.
" Recd- " Read " LI. 67 "+ 68."
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As before stated, the act of 1765, as well as the original order of 1764, required separate returns to be made by the select- men of each town and district. The returns under the order of 1764 were to be made "into the Secretary's office," and the returns under the act of 1765 to be " unto the sheriffs of the several counties respectively," with no provision whatever as to what the sheriffs should do with the returns received by them, and no provision was made by either the order or the act for making any compilation of the returns.
No compilation of the returns showing the result for the entire Colony exists in any public records of the Commonwealth, and it was not known until 1822 that any such compilation was ever made.
In 1822, however, Judge Samuel Dana of Groton found a manuscript purporting to be a compilation of these returns among papers of a deceased friend, which then came into his possession. Judge Dana sent the compilation to the Columbian Centinel of Boston with a letter, which was printed in the Centinel of August 17, 1822, as follows: -
"OLD CENSUS OF MASSACHUSETTS
" MR. RUSSELL .* - Among the papers of a deceased friend, which lately came into my hands, I found a CENSUS, purporting to have been taken in the years 1764-5. I am not sufficiently versed in our history to know, whether a Census was then taken under the authority of the late Province of Massachusetts Bay; - if it was, the evidence of it will, probably, be found in the office of the Secretary of State. As this doc-
* Benjamin Russell was the founder of the Columbian Centinel and its editor for more than forty years. He was the Author of the terms " Gerrymander " and " Era of Good Feeling." He died in Boston January 4, 1845.
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ument carries with it marks of accuracy and has only three or four defects, I have sent it to you for publication entire, in order to multiply the number of copies, and gratify the curious. After which I wish, through you, to present the original to the Antiquarian Society, that it may be deposited in their archives. I am respectfully your obedient servant,
" SAMUEL DANA.
" Middlesex, 1822."
.
The Centinel made the following comment on this matter :
" We have made inquiry at the Secretary's office, and find, that in Feb., 1764-5 an order passed the Legislature for an enumeration of the · People of the then Province ; but we could not ascertain that any record of the Census had been placed on the public files .- The document, there- fore, furnished by our correspondent, is probably the only one extant on the subject. Mention is made in the papers of 1764-5, that the enumera- tion had been made, and that some difficulties had occurred in it ; many conscientious People believing, that as the enumeration of God's chosen people of old was forbidden on divine authority, it was sinful for any People who had pretentions to that character, to make an enumeration ; and that they feared that famine and pestilence would follow it. - It ap- pears, however, that this weakness was not extensive, for there are returns from all the towns then incorporated, with the exception of only four or five; and there was no evidence that even these towns refused to make returns.
"In the above document the totals in the respective towns were omitted to be computed .- We have computed and annexed them ; and, as items of reference, have added the Census of the old towns in 1820. It will be remarked, that some alterations have taken place in the Coun- ties, as well as towns. Suffolk, in 1764 contained 18 towns, now it con- tains only one city and one town, Boston and Chelsea. The other towns form the County of Norfolk, incorporated 1793, excepting Hingham and Hull, which have been annexed to Plymouth County. There have
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been incorporated since 1764, four towns of Essex, nine of Middlesex, four of Hampshire, two of Plymouth, eight of Bristol, three of Barn- stable, twenty-two of Worcester, twenty-seven of Berkshire, fourteen of Franklin, and nine of Hampden. It will also be seen, that in 1764 (not 60 years ago) there were only 20 incorporated towns in Maine, with a population of 20,788 ; now there are more than 200 incorporated towns, and a population, by the last Census, of 297,839. Besides Norfolk, the counties of Hampden and Franklin, have been incorporated since 1764. The population of Massachusetts proper, in 1820, was 523,287."
Judge Dana in his letter to the Centinel requested Mr. Russell to present the original manuscript, after it was printed, to the Antiquarian Society, to be deposited in their Archives. He prob- ably meant the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester. This request, however, does not appear to have been complied with, for the document cannot be found among the manuscripts in the possession of that Society, and there is no record of it among the accessions to the manuscripts of that Society at that time. Doubt- less after the manuscript had been used as copy by the printers it was thrown away as seeming to them to have no further value. The printed copy in the Centinel, therefore, became the only authentic evidence of the figures of the census of 1765, and the figures from the Centinel have been taken, up to the present time, as showing the aggregates of population by towns in 1765.
Mr. Joseph B. Felt, librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in his very valuable article on " Statistics of Population in Massachusetts," published by the American Statistical Asso- ciation in 1845, adopted the figures from the Dana Manuscript, as printed in the Centinel, as the basis of his calculations and state- ments as to the population of the Colony in 1765. And the
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State Census Report of 1865, and the subsequent State censuses in 1875, 1885, and 1895, used the same figures as representing the population in 1765.
It has also been assumed that none of the original returns of the census of 1765 existed in the Archives of the Commonwealth, it being supposed that they were lost amid the confusion of affairs which prevailed at the time of the Revolution .*
About two years ago Mr. Zenas Crane of Dalton gave me a manuscript purchased by him in New York which upon exam- ination I was led to believe was an original compilation of the lost census returns of 1765. I examined the Archives of the Commonwealth to ascertain whether any of the original returns from the towns of the enumerations made under the act of 1764 still existed, and I found original returns from all the towns in Worcester County except one, and the original return from the town of Woburn in the County of Middlesex. Comparison of these returns with the manuscript given me by Mr. Crane shows that the manuscript corresponds with the returns in the Archives, except that the Archives lack the return from Fitchburg, the figures for which appear in the manuscript, while the manuscript lacks the figures for the return from Dudley which is in the Archives ; and that as to Woburn, the manuscript lacks the figures for the French neutrals which appear in the returns from that town in the Archives.
Comparison of the Dana Manuscript as printed in the Centinel with the returns in the Archives and with the Crane Manuscript
* "The First Census of Massachusetts," Publications of the American Statistical Associ- ation, Vol. II, p. 182 (1891).
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shows that, except in the Counties of Middlesex, Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, and Berkshire, the Dana Manuscript wholly omits the figures for French neutrals which are given in the Crane Manuscript and in the returns now in the Archives ; and that the separate figures for "Indians" and for "Negroes," which are given both in the Crane Manuscript and in the returns now in the Archives, are combined under the gen- eral head of "Negroes" in the Dana Manuscript as printed in the Centinel.
It also appears from the comments of the Centinel upon the Dana Manuscript that it did not contain the totals in the respec- tive towns which the Centinel says "we have computed and an- nexed." The Crane Manuscript does contain these totals with few exceptions.
The Crane Manuscript carries the names of the following towns in the margin of the compilation, but has no returns of houses, population, etc., carried out against the names, to wit: Dracut, Sunderland, Greenwich, Huntstown, Dudley, Hanover, Swanzey, Freeton, Narragansett No. 1, Gorham, Windham, Pear- sontown, Egremont, and New Marlboro' No. 4, while the Dana Manuscript carries the names of most of these towns in the margin of the compilation, but carries returns of houses, popula- tion, etc., from Greenwich, Dudley, Swanzey, and Freeton only.
The Crane Manuscript gives the number of houses in Methuen as 158, in Natick as 71, in Brimfield as 121, in Mendon as 284, in Arundel as 124, in Sherburne as 413, in Sheffield as 126, in Falmouth* as 160, and the total number of houses in the Com-
* In Maine.
F.
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monwealth as 33,438. It gives the number of families in Natick as 91, in Barnstable as 361, in Stockbridge as 34, in Scarborough* as 210, in Brunswick as 73, and the total number of families in the Commonwealth as 40,999.
The Dana Manuscript gives the number of houses in Methuen as 130, in Natick as 62, in Brimfield as 120, in Mendon as 228, in Arundel* as 127, in Sherburne as 414, in Sheffield as 125, in Falmouth* as 460, and the total number of houses in the Com- monwealth as .34,284. It gives the number of families in Natick as 85, in Barnstable as 369, in Stockbridge as 39, in Scarborough* as 201, in Brunswick* as 173, and the total number of families in the Commonwealth as 41,956.
In neither of these manuscripts is the total population com- puted, but computations from them show that they differ in population, as, for instance, the computation of the total white population by the Crane Manuscript is 238,226, by the Dana Manuscript is 240,220. Other differences of minor importance will appear by comparison of the two manuscripts.
It thus appears that the Crane Manuscript is not the lost Dana Manuscript, but is a more complete compilation from the original returns under the act of 1764.
There was no provision in the act of 1764 or in any other statute, requiring any official compilation of the returns from the towns, and neither of these compilations is certified by any official.
It is a fair conclusion, I think, that compilations from the returns were made by persons interested as they desired, and that both the Dana and the Crane Manuscripts were original compila-
* In Maine.
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tions from the returns as they existed when the compilations were made.
The compilation given me by Mr. Crane, however, as tested by the lost Dana compilation as printed in the Centinel, and especially as tested by the original returns now remaining in the Archives, is so clearly an original and accurate compilation of the original returns that it should be taken as an original of the lost census of 1765.
I have given it to the Public Library of the City of Boston, but in order that accurate copies of it may be accessible, I here reproduce it in facsimile.
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Massachusetts Bay number'd
bounty of
houses families
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