Among the papers of Andrew Eliot, last British Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New York, are census lists prepared in January and August 1778. Eliot took these papers to Scotland in 1783 and they were recently acquired from the Earl of Southesk by the New York State
Library at Albany.
     The earlier returns show individuals and their holdings of livestock and grains; the August returns list the heads of families, number of persons in each family, and data relative to livestock and grain held and an estimate of amounts needed for each household. The August 1778 lists constitute a census of Suffolk County and are given below with additions or variants based on the January returns.