Polls, as used in early tax records, denoted a taxable person, a person eligible to vote. Polls indicated the number of male inhabitants living in a family, from age 21-60. If no poll was indicated, it meant that the head of family was older than 60, younger than 21, or female.

In 1775, Rehoboth had six assessor districts. Each district also had a military company. Tax lists were originally organized by military districts in which each captain was responsible for the listing of every male within his district. The military companies of Swanzey and Rehoboth made up the 1st Regiment of Bristol County. Between 1775-1783, the town of Rehoboth supplied nearly 1500 men to the navy, militia, and continental services.  The 1775 census shows the number of polls eligible for service at the start of the American Revolution.

Annual tax lists provide a substitute census for town residents--and some non-residents. These "tax lists" were sometimes used in selecting jurors and in eligibility for voting.

Bliss Family researchers may be interested in these polls for several reasons:

1. to determine which Bliss heads-of households resided in Rehoboth in 1775

2. to determine which Bliss neighbors and families of families of spouses resided in Rehoboth in 1775; neighbors and families who intermarried often migrated with each other to a new location

3. to determine Titles (Captains, Widows, Ensigns, Lieutenants, and Deacons) of Rehoboth residents in 1775.

The 1775 Census of Rehoboth, Massachusetts was compiled by Robert Sheldon Trim in 1976 and is housed at the Blanding Library in Rehoboth, MA.