The Population of Boston — By Dr. Chickering’s recent pamphlet, we perceive that 45.73 per cent, of our inhabitants are foreigners, or immediate descendents of foreigners, and 54.27 per cent., or a little more than one-half, of American origin. The females exceed the males by 6, 644. Five-sixths of the foreign population (foreigners and their children) are Irish. Of the Americans, so-called, 1.50 per cent. are colored. The children of foreigners are more numerous than American children, in proportion to the whole of each class of the population. The Americans have decreased 2.27 per cent since 1845.
(Liberator, Jan 9, 1852, pg 3)