11 William Byrd II to William Beckford, 6 Dec. 1735, Tinling, ed., Correspondence of the Three William Byrds, II, 464.

12 In the elections of Burgesses during the year 1755, turnout in tidewater Virginia was as follows:

 

Percent of White Adult Males Voting:

County

1742

1752

1755

1758

1771

Accomac Co.

49%

43%

48%

50%

 

Amelia Co.

 

 

 

50%

 

Brunswick Co.

46%

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth City Co.

 

 

 

45%

 

Essex Co.

53%

44%

53%

53%

33%

Fairfax Co.

42%

 

36%

 

 

Henrico Co.

 

58%

 

 

 

King George Co.

 

34%

45%

 

 

Lancaster Co.

58%

50%

39%

60%

46%

Northumberland Co.

 

 

 

45%

39%

Prince Edward Co.

 

 

27%

45%

 

Prince George Co.

 

 

 

55%

 

Richmond Co.

 

45%

37%

40%

37%

Spotsylvania Co.

46%

35%

42%

 

49%

Surry Co.

 

 

 

 

44%

Westmoreland Co.

53%

57%

48%

 

 

Sources include Robert J. Dinkin, Voting in Provincial America (Westport Conn., 1977), 148-49; Lucille Griffith, The Virginia House of Burgesses, 1750-1774 (revised ed., University, Ala., 1970), 168. These may be understood as upperbound estimates, which require correction for under-enumeration of tithables, a problem as yet unsolved.