Scope and Content: From 1790 to 1837, population censuses in Massachusetts were limited to those taken decennially by the federal government under constitutional provision.  Starting in 1837 the General Court authorized state decennial censuses to supplement the federal ones, for determining representation in the legislature and other purposes.  These state censuses have been conducted by authority of constitutional and statutory provisions under the auspices of the secretary of the Commonwealth.  Amendment Articles 21 and 22 of the state constitution, ratified in 1857, changed the basis of representation in the Massachusetts legislature from inhabitants to legal voters.  The purpose of the 1865 decennial census, authorized by St 1865, c 69, was to enumerate the numbers of both legal voters and inhabitants in each city and town.  The secretary of the Commonwealth provided city and town officials with printed forms to insure uniform results.  The enumeration itself was made under the officials’ authority.  Completed forms were returned to the secretary’s office and bound into the volumes comprising this register.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by county, thereunder alphabetically by municipality
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