Taking the census was the responsibility of the royal governor. With somewhat more than 30,000 settlers spread out across huge New York colony at the end of Queen Anne's War, getting an accurate count figured to be a daunting task. Throwing up his hands to his superiors in London, Robert Hunter was not the first New York leader to despair of being able to satify a constant demand from the British ministry to know the size and character of the colony's population.
Nevertheless, Hunter did authorize a census to be taken in March 1712. Albany sheriff Thomas Williams was empowered to scour the county and was charged with making an accurate and detailed list. By 1714, the results had been made public.
Expansive Albany County was credited with 3,329 total inhabitants. Beyond that, statistics on gender, age, place of residence, and race were unique features of the census of 1714.
The city of Albany had an overall population
of 1,128. For the first time, detailed statistics were recorded on
Albany's African ancestry population. City slaves numbered 113 - 66
female and 47 male - or 11.28% of the city total. Almost half of that
number (58) were living in affluent First Ward
households. However, female slaves and boys under sixteen accounted
for 84% of the citywide slave total. This distribution stood in contrast
to agricultural Rensselaerswyck
whose 181 slaves were divided 114 male (including 73 over sixteen)
and 67 female. City slaveholders kept women and children as household
servants while adult male slaves were sent to countryside farms.
Although census returns were made several times during the eighteenth century, no comparable population breakdowns are available until the first Federal Census of 1790. After that, census infomation became increasingly comprehensive.
American Population Before the Federal Census of 1790, compiled by Evarts B. Greene and Virginia D. Harrington (New York, 1932), is still the definitive work on the colonial census. The section on New York includes county-level breakdowns and a list of narrative population summaries.
Home | Site Index | Navigation | Email | New York State Museum
first posted: 3/6/00; last revised 8/10/01