The 1790 U.S. Census Information for the Township of Pelham

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Only seven years after the end of the Revolutionary War and two years after the formal creation of the Town of Pelham, the federal government performed its first U.S. census. Below I have created a "cut-and-paste" image that combines data spread across two pages of the 1790 U.S. Census, New York State, Westchester County, Township of Pelham (pages 141 and 142). That image appears below.

The handwritten titles of the five columns are somewhat difficult to read. They are, from left to right, the following:

"Free White Males of 16 Years Upward Including Heads of Families"
"Free White Males Under 16 Years."
"Free White Females Including Heads of Families"
"All Other Free Persons"
"Slaves"

The census shows 45 free white males sixteen years or older, 31 free white males under sixteen years old, 84 free white females, 1 "other free person" (likely an emancipated slave) and 38 slaves for a total population of 199 persons.

The names of those listed in the census are well known to students of Pelham History including, among many others:

Philip Pell, Esq. (Revolutionary War Hero)
Benjamin Guion (Well Known Tavern Owner)
David J. Pell (Descendant of John Pell, 2nd Lord of the Manor; Became Owner of Pelhamdale)
James Pell (Descendant of John Pell, 2nd Lord of the Manor)
James A. F. Prevost, Esq.
Thomas Pell (Descendant of John Pell, 2nd Lord of the Manor)
Samuel Rodman (Rodman's Neck)
William Bailey (Bayley - Uncle of St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton; Owner of the Kemble House)

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.

Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."