David Minor,

I am not aware of any population count for 1650. The problem of getting a count
even approximating accurate is the lack of tax list, complete ships' passenger
lists, or even church membership lists for the period. Moreover, the court of Fort
Orange and Beverwijck had not yet been established  (it was in April, 1952), so one
is left with what can be divined from the Rensselaerswijck court records and the
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts. Even then there is a great deal left unrecorded.

In my dissertation ("A Civil Society: Court and Community in Beverwijck, New
Netherland, 1652-1664", 1993) I estimated that the population of Beverwijck in 1660
was probably 1,000. This was based on an arduous count of names from court records,
land records, wills and any available primary material. Dealing with Dutch names is
also complicated by variations in spelling, the use of the patronymic, and
diminutives. Similar names required checking handwriting, death notices and
numerous other records to determine if one is dealing with one or two (or in some
cases, three) different people.  As I noted in the dissertation, the work on
population needs much more work to refine the statistics, if indeed it is possible
to come close. And I am not sure that I could define my 1993 count today, as I know
much more than I did when I wrote the dissertation. But I suspect it would be
close.

Martha Dickinson Shattuck



David Minor wrote:

> List members,
>
> I'm looking for the approximate population of Albansy in the year 1650.
>
> TIA,
> David Minor
>
> David Minor
> Eagles Byte Historical Research
> Pittsford, New York
> 716 264-0423
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> includes NYNY, a series of timelines covering New York City and State, from
> approximately 1,100,000,000 BC to 1990 AD.
>
> "I would undertake to supply your demands if your generosity is equal to them."
>         -John Bartram, U. S. naturalist