It’s census time. Once every ten years, the United States Bureau of the Census tries to count every person in the United States. The census is mandated by the U.S. Constitution and has occurred every 10 years since 1790. It is vitally important for all New Yorkers to be counted. Census information is used to determine the City’s fair share of billions of dollars in federal funds for public education, affordable housing, infrastructure, and more—as well as the number of seats we have in Congress. In the 2010 Census, the City’s self-response rate was less than 62%, compared to the national average of 76%. Let’s do better this time!  For the first time, the census can be filled out online. Here is the link to the census site: https://my2020census.gov/

In the past, New Yorkers loved a census. The Municipal Library and Municipal Archives holdings include information about several State and local census dating from the first decades after Independence. The earliest reference to a census can be found in Article 5 of the New York State Constitution of 1777: 

“That as soon after the expiration of seven years (subsequent to the termination of the present war) as may be a census of the electors and inhabitants in this state be taken, under the direction of this legislature.”  Subsequently, electoral censuses were conducted in 1795, 1801, 1807, 1814, and 1821 “in compliance with this law.”

This requirement was only to count those eligible to vote—white men who had achieved full age and who possessed between 40 shillings and had paid taxes (to vote for Assembly members) and 100 pounds (to vote for Senators).  In addition, the Constitution provided that men in Albany and New York City who had been designated “free men” before October 14, 1775 were allowed to vote in Assembly elections. 

New York City was counting all of its voters. The summary schedule from 1786, submitted by the sheriff, totaled 23,614 residents including four “Indians who pay Taxes.” The census was broken down by ward and categorized by “Citizens and Inhabitants” and “Slaves” and further enumerated by gender and age. The count shows 2103 enslaved people lived in the City. Among the interesting facts about this census is the inclusion of non-enslaved African Americans in the “Citizens and Inhabitants” categories. At this point the wards of the City also were named, not numbered including Montgommery Ward, Dock Ward, and Out Ward along with the East, West North an South Wards.

By 1806 the City had renamed the wards more prosaically—one through ten. The format of the census document also changed to include multiple new categories including People of Color, Free Negros, and Slaves in the population total of 75,770 residents. It also showed out-migration from the City due to the “prevalence of the malignant fever of 1805.” And it included the number of Aliens (immigrants) residing in the City but who were not yet included in the population count. Written on the back of the document is the note, Increase of population in 5 years at the rate of 25 percent or 15,201 people.

The Census of the total Population of the City and County of New York dated December 1813 includes information about those who conducted the count in each ward. Abel W. Hardenbrook was a tinner, Abraham Booker a cooper, John Anderson a carpenter and John Kiser a gentleman as well as several others. There also is what is akin to a draft, and then a more polished final version. The City’s population was 92,448. The number of enslaved people dropped to 1076 residents while the number of “colored inhabitants” increased to 7786 people.

On April 15, 1814, the New York State Legislature passed “An Act for Taking a Census of Electors and Inhabitants of this State,” which mandated that all areas of the State follow the City’s lead and include information about all inhabitants—women, children, slaves and all other free persons, not just the electors.

The Municipal Library collection includes the printed Sessions of the Legislature. NYC Municipal Library.

In 1816 New York City conducted yet another census, generally referred to as the Jury Census. Newly-elected Assistant Alderman Elisha W. King presented a resolution at a meeting of the Common Council on January 29th, for a “census of inhabitants and an accurate list of Jurors qualified to serve in the different Courts…” which was agreed upon by the Council. A committee was formed that included Asst. Alderman King, Alderman Augustine H. Lawrence, and Richard Riker, Recorder “to carry the same into effect.”

On May 17, 1819, the Council established a committee to again conduct a census to create a “Jury and Census list.” The census results were published in the Minutes of the Common Council on November 15, 1819. 

A document dated June, 1821 is a scrawled “Account of Census of Population of City of New York from 1756 to 1819. Penmanship makes the author’s name difficult to decipher. Even without the detail from the census reports, the document chronicles the City’s growth from a population of “15,000 souls” (10,468 whites and 2276 Negros) in 1756 to 119,657 residents in 1819. The New York State census of 1821 was also an electoral census (as had been in 1814), however, it introduced additional questions regarding agriculture and manufacturing. There was a special meeting of the Common Council on June 4, 1821 “for the purpose of Complying with the provisions of the Late act of the Legislature… by appointing Persons in each Ward to take the Census of said Ward.” In the meeting of June 11, 1821 there is discussion and resolutions made with the Finance Committee regarding compensation for the census takers.

Based upon the information in the Minutes of the Common Council both the 1816 and 1819 Jury Censuses were mandated by the Council. The 1821 Census was mandated by an act of the NY State Legislature and the Council complied with the directive from the state.

The extant census records created under the direction of these Common Council resolutions are in the Municipal Archives. They have been digitized and can be viewed in the Archives gallery.

The collection consists of 21 bound volumes containing tally sheets of returns for the City and County of New York, organized by ward. There are tallies for 1816, 1819, and 1821. The tallies were taken to determine if residents were eligible for jury duty and include varying degrees of descriptive detail. For example, for 1816 and 1819 the returns are given in a double-page tabular format with column headings for the following categories: names of inhabitants, number of houses, name of street, occupation, freeholds of $150, age, reason for exemption from jury, total number of jurors, the number of male and female white inhabitants, aliens, colored inhabitants not slaves, slaves, freeholders of £100 and upwards, freeholds of £20 and under £100, tenants renting $5 per annum, total number of inhabitants, plus a column for remarks. For the 1821 census, the returns, in similar format, include data in these categories: name of the head of each family, number and street of residence, number of male inhabitants of the same family age 21 or upwards in four classifications according to value of freeholds and debts, military service and tax exemption or commutation. Other data includes: number of acres of improved land occupied by each person, as well as tallies of cattle, horses, sheep, and yards of various types of cloth manufactured by each family, and a count of mills, factories, distilleries, asheries (a place where potash is made), and machinery. Each tally is identified with this description: “RETURN, made pursuant to the Act, entitled, ‘An Act to provide for taking a Census, and for other purposes,’ passed March 16, 1821, from the City and County of New-York.