Jamaica Census, Abstract, 1670

Census of Jamaica

Abstract of the Whole: 23 September 1670

Parishes Acres Patented Familes Persons
St. Thomas’ Parish   14,825½   59      590
St. David’s Parish   11,946¾   80      960
St. Andrew’s Parish   29,199¾ 194   1,552
St. Katherine’s Parish   68,590 158   2,370
St. John’s Parish   25,197¾   83      996
Clarendon Parish   39,260¾ 143   1,430
Note 1       2,500
Note 2   20,000     1,500
  209,020½ 717 11,898
More: We calculate of Persons in the Towns of Port Royal
and St. Jago to be no less than, men, women and children
 3,300
  15,198

Note 1: We likewise calculate the Privateers, Hunters, Sloop, and Boatmen which ply this Island, and are not reckoned in any of the above Parishes, to be at least 2,500 lusty able men.

Note 2: The four Parishes on the North Side, vizt., St. George’s, St. Marie’s, St. Anne’s, and St. James, and the Leewardmost parish, St. Elizabeth, hath not been yet collected, as not worth it, by reason of its distance and new settlements, where we find about 20,000 acres patented, and calculate there cannot be less than 1,500 people

Sainsbury, W. Noel, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 7), America and West Indies, 1669-1674, Preserved in Her Majesty’s Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1889. pp. 98-104.

More information about Jamaican history can be found in the books:

Documents of West Indian History: From the Spanish Discovery to the British Conquest of Jamaica

and:

From Occupation to Independence: A Short History of the Peoples of the English-Speaking Caribbean Region

Leave a Reply