This article discusses the practice of sending children from Britain to America to be indentured servants. It cites court records in the late 17th century that document the indenture process required of the persons who purchased the children in America. " It was a common practice to ship young children to America where servants were in demand. Overseers of orphanages and workhouses and poor parents were thus relieved of the expense of a child's maintenance. Some children were simply kidnapped....Procuring or stealing children to sell as servants seems Dickensian to us now, but it was an acceptable and prevalent practice for many centuries."
Record of indentures of individuals bound out as apprentices, servants, etc., and of German and other redemptioners in the office of the Mayor of the city of Philadelphia, October 3, 1771, to October 5, 1773. With a new index
At head of title: Supplement to the Yale review, vol. X, no. 2, August, 1901.
Bibliography: p. 120-125.
Summary
Written in 1901, this books describes the systems that were developed to bring willing workers to the American colonies from Europe when they did not have the money to travel and to establish themselves in a new home.
