This manuscript is entitled "The Number of Polls and the Value of rateable Estates within the Province of Massachusetts-bay during the year 1771." The figures are presented by county, with each county divided into towns; totals for each town and county are provided, as are totals for the entire colony, multiplied by current tax rates to provide a proportional and total amount of taxes owed in 1771. The information was presented to the House of Delegates.
"Polls" by county:
- Suffolk: 8,446 (including Boston's 2,876)
- Essex: 11,697
- Middlesex: 8,987
- Hampshire: 6,779
- Plymouth: 6,163
- Barnstable: 3,478
- Bristol: 5,842
- York: 3,368
- Dukes: 692
- Nantucket: 1,130
- Cumberland: 2,683
- Lincoln: 1,844
- Worcester: 9,697
- Berkshire: 2,773
A "Recapitulation" shows a total count of 73,478 polls and a total estate value of £549,001 17s. 4d. Taxes accrued equal £382 14s. 0d. from polls, £617 12s. 6d. from estates, and £1000 6s. 6d. total.
This manuscript, entitled The Number of Polls and the Value of rateable Estates within the Province of Massachusetts-bay during the year 1771, may be in the hand of George Chalmers. George Chalmers was born in Fochabers, Scotland, ca. 1742, the son of village postmaster James Chalmers and Isabella Ruddock. He studied at the University of Aberdeen and later read law at Edinburgh University. In 1763, he left for Maryland to assist his uncle with a legal dispute. A Loyalist, he practiced law in Baltimore until 1775, when he moved to London, England, amidst growing colonial unrest. In 1777, he began an authorial career aimed at provoking British opinions against the revolting American colonists, and he wrote several works about North American and British history. In 1786, he was appointed chief clerk of the Privy Council's committee for trade and foreign plantations, and in 1792 he became agent for the Bahamas. He continued writing during this period and won admittance to several antiquarian societies; his major work of the period was the multivolume Caledonia, a history of Scotland. He died a bachelor in London, England, on May 31, 1825.
