Every 10 years, beginning in 1790, Federal Census takers have enumerated residents, including Black, Indigenous and People of Color. There are also some mid 19th-century Massachusetts state censuses. HeritageQuest and Ancestry.com both provide access to the Federal Census and Ancestry has the state census records. Both can usually be accessed using your public library card (sometimes in-library only – both are available at Abbot Public Library) or by subscription. Marblehead Museum has pdf copies of the census records from 1790-1830 that can be shared. Fill out a Research Request Form to receive these documents.
Populations of Free and Enslaved People of Color
1765 Massachusetts Census
Read the complete book, J.H. Benton, Jr., Early Census Making of Massachusetts, 1643-1765, with a Reproduction of the Lost Census of 1765. Boston: Charles E. Goodspeed, 1905. Google Books.
1790 Federal Census
87 “all other free persons” (non-whites) of 5660 total = 1.5% of the population.
1800 Federal Census
68 “all other free persons” (non-whites) of 5211 total = 1.3% of the population.
1810 Federal Census
64 “all other free persons” (non-whites) of 5850 total = 1.1% of the population.
1820 Federal Census
20 “all other free persons” (non-whites) of 5631 total = .36% of the population.
1830 Federal Census
6 People of Color listed
1840 Federal Census
5 People of Color listed
1850 Federal Census
7 People of Color listed