The entries in George Folliot's journal are generally quite brief, but paint a picture of the substantial and diverse financial interests of a thoroughly well-heeled New York Tory. The journal was kept sporadically from July 6, 1771 through March 24, 1775 and includes records of rents collected, leases and mortgages, expenditures, accounts and invoices, along with occasional brief commentary on a miscellaneous range of subjects of interest largely to his personal finances and land holdings.
Of greatest interest in the journal are the entries regarding his landholdings in northern New Jersey and the mid-Hudson river counties of New York -- both places that experienced severe and often violent struggles between landlord and tenant. Folliot recorded sketchy, but important records of rents paid, leases signed, and accounts settled, and included occasional comments on his tenants and their maintenance of his property. James Palmer, for instance, is "a shuffling fellow, concerning the keeping of my Mare," while another tenant, Silas Anson, was recorded as keeping a farm with a broken chimney and a shed in bad order. One of the more unusual entries is a copy of a notice issued to his New Jersey tenants forbidding them from cutting green wood for timber (September 21, 1771).
Prior to the Revolution, George Folliot, a general merchant in New York City, held extensive land interests in northern New Jersey and Dutchess County, New York. Folliot appears to have derived a substantial income from tenants in both locations, and may have supplemented this income by managing, or assisting in managing, parts of the estates of others. Little else is known about Folliot, other than that he was a slave holder and sided with the Loyalist cause during the Revolution.