Province of the

Massachusetts Bay.

 

Harrision Gray, Esq;

Treasurer and Receiver-General of His Majesty’s said Province,

To the Select-Men or Assessors of the Town or Distract of Salem

Greeting,&c.

I n Observance of an Act of the Great and General-Court or Assembly of the said Province, begun and held at Boston, on Wednesday the Twenty-sixth Day of May, 1762, and in the Second Year of the Reign of his Majesty King GEORGE the Third, entituled, An Act for apportioning and assessing the Sum of Seventy-five Thousand Pounds, &c .

THESE are in His Majesty’s Name to Will and Require you forthwith to assess the Sum of

Fourteen hundred thirty nine pounds,

Eight shillings and nine pence

set upon your Town, District, Parish, or Place, in Manner following, That is to say, To assess all rateable Polls above the Age of Sixteen Years, within your respective Town, District, Parish, or Place, or next adjoining thereto, belonging to not other Town or Place, at Ten Shillings per Poll ; and proportionably in assessing the Fines mentioned in this Act, and the additional Sum received out of the Treasury for the Payment of Representatives ; And the Incomes of all Estates, both Real and Personal, lying within the Limits of your Town, District, Parish or Place, or next unto the fame, not paying elsewhere, in whose Hands, Tenure, Occupation or Possession the same is or shall be found, and also the Incomes or Profits which any Person or Persons (except as in and by said Act is excepted) do or shall receive from any Trade, Faculty, Business or Employment whatsoever; and all Profits which shall or may arise by Money or Commissions of Profit in their Improvement according to their Understanding or Cunning., at Twelve Pence per Pound ; and to abate or multiply the same, if need be, so as to make up the Sum set and ordered hereby for your Town, District, Parish, or Place, to pay : And in making the said Assessment, you are to estimate Houses and Lands at six Years yearly Rent, whereat the same may be reasonably set or let for in the Place where they lye, saving all Contracts between Landlord and Tenant, and where no Contract is, the Landlord to reimburse one half of the Tax set upon such Houses and Lands; and to estimate Negro, Indian and Molatto Servants proportionably as other Personal Estate, according to your sound Judgment and Discretion; as also to estimate every Ox of four years old and upwards at Forty Shillings, and every Cow or Heifer of three Years old and upwards at Thirty Shillings, and every Horse and Mare of three Years old and upwards at Forty Shillings, and every Swine of one Year old and upwards at Eight Shillings, Goats and Sheep of one Year old at Three Shillings each. The several Creatures abovementioned to be taxed to their respective Owners or Occupants. And you are likewise required to make a fair List of said Assessment, setting forth in distinct Columns against each particular Person’s Name, how much he or she is assessed at for Polls, and how much four Houses and Lands, and how much for Personal Estate and Income by Trade or Faculty; and if as Guardians, or for any Estate in his or her Improvement in Trust, to be distinctly expressed. And the List or Lists so perfected and signed by you, or the major Part of you, to commit to the Collector, Constable or Constables of your Town, District, Parish, or Place; and to return a Certificate of the Name or Names of such Collector, Constable or Constables, with the Sum-Total to each of them committed, unto myself sometime before the last Day of November next. Hereof you may not fail as you will answer your Neglect at the Peril of the Law.

Given under my Hand and Seal at Boston, the Fifteenth Day of July 1762, in the Second Year of the

Reign of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Third, of Great-Britain, &c. King.

HGray