A. BINDING OUT AND OUTDOOR RELIEF
Care of dependent children in Virginia, 1748-1785
1. Church wardens to bind out poor and neglected children, 1748
W. W. Hening, ed., Statutes at Large of Virginia, VI (Richmond, 1819),32; hereafter cited as Va. Statutes at Large.
. . . To prevent the evil consequences attending the neglect or inability of poor people to bring up their children in an honest and orderly course of life…where any persons or persons shall be, by their county court, judged incapable of supporting and bringing up their child or children in honest courses, or where it shall appear to the court that he, she, or they neglect to take due care of the education of his, her, or their child or children, and their instruction in the principles of Christianity, in any such case it shall be lawful for the churchwardens of the parish where such child or children inhabit, by order of their county court, to bind every such child or children apprentices, in the same manner, and under such covenants and conditions as the law directs for poor orphan children.
2. Outdoor relief, 1748-1753 C. G. Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish (Richmond, 1940), pp. 202-205, 324-327, 332-333.
Despite the law of 1748 parishes continued to rely on families for the care of poor children and assisted parents of handicapped or defective children. The figures represent pounds of tobacco. [1a]
At a vestry held for St. Paul's Parish, November 18, 1748.
Present: The Reverend Patrick Henry, John Henry, Thomas Anderson, John Bickerton, Robert Jennings, Barttelot Anderson, John Darracott, William Taylor Gent.
The following charge was brought in against the said parish and levied on the inhabitants thereof:
To Matthew Wellman for keeping a bastard child and clothing it. 800
To Richard Anderson to maintain his daughter 500
To Richard Humphreys for nursing Robert Nairn 250
To Edward Lankford for keeping a bastard child a year. 800
To Samuel White for keeping James Axley's two children 51/2 months. 700
To Henry Wood for keeping his son a year 800
To Sarah Blalack for keeping six poor people one year. 4200
. . . . .
At a vestry held for St. Paul's Parish, November 20, 1749 . . .
To Matthew Wellman for keeping a bastard child a year. 800
To Richard Anderson towards maintaining his daughter. 500
To Henry Wood for keeping his son a year 800
To Sarah Blalack for keeping six poor people a year. 4200
. . . . .
At a vestry held for St. Paul's Parish, November 6, 1750 . . .
To Matthew Wellman for keeping a bastard child a year. 650
To Richard Anderson for keeping his daughter a year. 500
To Henry Wood for keeping his son a year 700
To Mary Garratt for keeping a bastard child a year. 700
. . . . .
At a vestry held for St. Paul's Parish, October 15, 1751 . . .
To Joseph Allen for keeping and burying Esther Wood's child. 300
To Matthew Wellman for keeping a bastard child a year. 500
To Matthew Wellman [1b] for keeping two mulatto children a year. 700
. . . . .
At a vestry of St. Paul's Parish held. . . on Saturday the 20th day of October, 1753.
To Esther Watson for keeping Mary Hogg, a bastard child one year. 700
To Henry Wood for keeping David Burnet's son 500
To John Barker for keeping Sinclair children 500
To Matthew Wellman1 for keeping a bastard child one year. 400
1a. In Virginia, because specie was scarce, tobacco receipts circulated as money. The estimated price of tobacco in 1748 was 4 cents per pound. Howard Mackey, "The Operation of the English Old Poor Law in Colonial Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, LXXIII (April 1965), 33-34; Arthur W. James, "Foster Care in Virginia--1679- 1796," Public Welfare, VIII (March 1950), 60.
3. Overseers of the poor supersede churchwardens, 1785
"An act to provide for the poor of the several counties within the commonwealth," 1785--ch. 4, Va. Statutes at Large, XII (1823), 28.
After the disestablishment of the Church of England the poor-relief duties formerly performed by churchwardens were assigned to the overseers of the poor.
And be it enacted, The overseers of the poor in each district, shall monthly make returns to the court of their county of the poor orphans in their district, and the said court is hereby authorized to direct the said overseers, or either of them, to bind out such poor orphans, apprentices to such person or persons as the court on due enquiry shall approve of, and the indentures of such apprentices shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county, and not transferrable to any person whatsoever, without the approbation of the court. The said overseers shall, on or before the tenth day of August annually, make up in a book to be kept for that purpose, an exact account of the persons to and for whom such monies are to be paid, the purposes for which, and the particular sums, a transcript of which, they shall once in every year return to the court to be there entered of record; a copy of which they shall also, on or before the same day, deliver to the collector of the public taxes, who is hereby authorized and required to collect the same, together with the list of persons chargeable with the poor rates, and of the sum each person is liable to pay; which collector shall give bond with good security to the court for the faithful discharge of his duty herein, and shall have the same powers to collect the said poor rates, and have the same commission, and be subject to the same fines, forfeitures, and prosecutions, as in the case of county levies. The said collector shall pay the money or tobacco, as the case may be, to the several persons, or to their order, for whom it was levied, on or before the first day of October in every year; and in default thereof, it shall be lawful for the court of the county to render judgment for the same, with costs on complaint of the party, or on motion by the overseers: provided that the collector has ten days previous notice of such motion.
Binding out poor children in Massachusetts
1. "An act for the support of the poor," 1781
Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1788-1789 (Boston, 1894), p. 99.
. . . the Overseers of the Poor in any Town or District where such Officers are chosen, otherwise the Selectmen or the Major part of them, are hereby fully Authorized & Impowered by and with the Assent of two Justices of the Peace, to set to work, or bind out Apprentice, all such Children, whose Parents shall in their Opinion be unable to maintain them (whether they receive Alms, or are chargeable to the Town or District or not) . . . Male Children until they arrive to the age of twenty one years, and Females to the age of Eighteen, unless such females ate sooner married, which binding shall be as good and effectual in Law to every intent & purpose, as if such Child being of full Age, had by Deed of Indenture or Covenant bound himself: Provision to be made in the Indenture for instructing the Males to read, write & cypher, and Females to read & write, as they respectively may be capable; And it shall be the duty of the Overseers or Selectmen, to make enquiry into the treatment of Children, bound out by themselves, or their Predecessors in Office, And if they find them at any time injured, to seek a redress thereof. . .
2. Protection of indentured children in Boston, 1792
Letter of Stephen Miller, Jr., to his uncle, Col. Edward Winslow, New Brunswick, Canada, in MHS Proceedings, n.s., II (1866), 242.
Boston, Nov. 15, 1792
Dear Sir,--I have waited on the principal Overseer of the Poor in this place for the purpose of knowing the conditions on which I could procure a lad or two for you, but find them as follow, viz.: that they must not go out of the State, must either be taught some mechanical profession, or have twenty pound's when free, and the person who takes them must have a recommendation from the selectmen of the town. These circumstances preclude the possibility of procuring any from the almshouse. But you may depend on my best endeavors, sir, to procure some from another quarter, in which, if I succeed, shall inform you. With my best respects to Aunt Winslow, and love to your little family, I am, with much respect,
Your affectionate nephew,
Stephen Miller, Jr.
Instructions for apprenticing poor children, Maryland, 1793
"An act for the better regulation of Apprentices," 1793--ch. 45, Laws of Maryland…(Baltimore, 1811), II, 202-203.
Most states and even territories had laws authorizing overseers of the poor to bind out poor orphans or children whose parents were unable to support them. The Maryland law paid more attention to the interest of the children and the wishes of parents than was customary.
Whereas, it has been found by experience, that poor children, orphans and illegitimate children, for want of some efficient system; have been left destitute of support, and have become useless or depraved members of society: and whereas it would greatly conduce to the good of the public in general, and of such children in particular, that necessary instructions in trades and useful arts should be afforded them; therefore,
Sec. 2. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the justices of the several and respective orphan courts, shall and may bind out as an apprentice every orphan child (the increase or profits of whose estate, whether real or personal, is or are not sufficient for maintenance, support or education, of the said child) to some manufacturer, mechanic, mariner, handicraftsman, or other person, at the discretion of the said justices, until such orphan child, if a male, shall arrive to the age of twenty-one years, or if a female, to the age of sixteen years; and the said justices are hereby directed, in all cases where they can, to make it a part of the contract on the part of the master or mistress of such apprentice, that he or she shall give such orphan child reasonable education in reading and writing, or in reading, writing and arithmetic, to be particularized therein, and also teach such orphan, especially if a male, some useful art or trade, and in all cases supply suitable clothing and maintenance; and the said justices shall and may also bind out as apprentices, such children as are suffering through the extreme indigence or poverty of their parents, also the children of beggars, and also illegitimate children, and the children of persons out of this state, where a sufficient sustenance is not afforded, in like manner, and on like terms; provided always, that when any child is about to be bound out, the parent or parents of said child, if living in the county, shall be summoned to appear before the said justices, and the inclination of the said parent or parents so far as is reasonable, shall be consulted in the choice of the person to whom the said child shall be bound out; and provided always, that when any child shall be before the court for the purpose of being bound out as an apprentice, if any relation or other person will, with good and sufficient security, enter into bond in the penalty of one hundred pounds, for the due and comfortable maintenance, and for the providing sufficient and proper clothing for such child till of age as aforesaid, and also for the reasonable schooling and education of such child, then the court shall not proceed to bind out such child as aforesaid. [2a]
2a. In 1819 Maryland provided for the binding out of free Negro children on the same terms as white except that the period of service of Negro girls was extended to eighteen years of age and judges were authorized to substitute payment of $30.00 in extra freedom dues for the requirement of instruction in reading and writing.
The short and simple annals of the poor, North Carolina, 1796-1797
Person County [North Carolina], Wardens of the Poor Records, 1792-1831, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
17 September 1793: Ordered that James Jones be allowed the Sum of Ten Pounds for the support of a base begotten child of Mary Dixon from Easter 1793 to Easter 1794.
25 April 1795: Ordered that Robert Jones be allowed the sum of Ten Pounds for the support of a base begotten child of Mary Dixon providing that no person will do it for less from Easter 1795 to Easter 1796.
June 1, 1795: Ordered that Elizabeth Long be allowed the sum of eight pounds ten shillings for the support of a base begotten child of Mary Dixon. . . from Easter 1795 to Easter 1796.
December 7, 1795: no order shall be issued to Elizabeth Long for supporting a base begotten Child which is now dead until she shall bring in her charge before the Board of Wardens.
March 28, 1796: Ordered that Elizabeth Long be allowed the sum of seven pounds for the support of a Bastard child of Mary Dixon, now deceased for seven months from Easter 1795--.
. . . . .
March 6, 1797: Ordered that Robert Jones be allowed the sum of thirteen shillings for the support of a base begotton child of Mary Dixon a small time in the year 1796.
New York City seeks permission from state legislature to bind out poor children outside the city, 1812
N.Y.C. Council Minutes 1784-1831, VII (1917), 83-84.
Your Memorialists [mayor and aldermen] further represent to your Honorable Body [state legislature] that the number of Poor children under the care of the Commissioners of the Alms House & Bridewell of the City of New York is and hath heretofore been so great that the said Commissioners have not been and are not able to bind the whole of them as Apprentices or Servants in the City and County of New York, and that they have therefore occasionally bound out some of them in other parts of this State and in the States of New Jersey & Connecticut. Your Memorialists therefore pray that your Honorable Body will be pleased to confirm the same, and to permit the Commissioners hereafter to bind the said poor children to persons residing in any part of this State or in the States of New Jersey or Connecticut.
The vendue system of poor relief
1. Massachusetts, ca. 1817 Rev. A. P. Marvin, History of Winchendon, Massachusetts (Winchendon, 1868), pp. 267-268.
The next step in the way of supporting the poor, was the singular, and now almost forgotten practice of having them put up at auction, and bid off to the lowest bidder. This was sometimes called "selling the poor." Careless readers of the Records might hastily infer that this was a relic of white slavery, when it was simply a mode of providing homes for the weak and indigent. Suppose a family consisting of an infirm man, who yet might do some slight work; of an old woman, who could render a little aid in the household; and a boy old enough to drive the cows and drop corn. How shall they be provided for? Instead of going from house to house, to find a home for them, this course was pursued. On an appointed day, a vendue was held, and men were called upon to say what they would charge for the support of the family, for one year. The bidders would take into consideration their own conveniences for having, such a family in their houses; what their board and clothing would cost; how much they could reasonably expect to get in return by way of labor; and putting all things together, they made their bids. He who would take the family for, the least sum of money, had them put into his charge, by the Selectmen, or the Overseers of the Poor. But they exercised their discretion. If the man who made the lowest bid was not of good character; if he were hard and cruel; if he was one who would scrimp and abuse the poor, the officers could decline to deliver these wards of the town to his keeping. Besides, it was often stipulated that children thus "bid off," should have so many weeks or months of schooling, annually. In addition to these safeguards, an enlightened and humane public sentiment went far to guard the poor from ill-treatment. It was competent for the Selectmen, at any time, to take the custody of the poor into their own hands, if they were subject to abuse or unkindness. Perhaps this was the best policy that could be pursued before the towns entered upon the more modern plan of providing houses and farms for the support of the poor.
2. New York, 1820
Samuel Hopkins Adams, "Grandfather Attends a Vendu," in Grandfather Stories (New York, 1955), pp. 282-287. © 1955 Random House, Inc.
Rome, New York, in 1820, was a very active and affording town, Grandfather said. On an October morning he rode Spiderfoot into the village without a care in his twenty-one year old head but to turn an honest dollar into two. At the town hall, he reined in to look over the hoardings, for one never could tell what matter of interest might turn up: offers of reward for fugitive slaves; sales of furs, fish, cattle and rope; postings of errant wives whose husbands would no longer be responsible for their debts; the parmateering appeals of political candidates; sheriffs' warnings of jail-broken criminals; notices of runagate apprentices; and bids for "mechanics" to work on the swiftly progressing canal. One printed broadside caught Grandfather's eye. The Rome selectmen, having voted the sum of five hundred dollars for the relief of the poor, had resolved that "said poor be set up at Public Vendu by the Overseers, and go to the lowest bidders." The vendu was set for that very afternoon, and Grandfather resolved to go.
John said, "Lowest bidders? Didn't it mean the highest bidders, Grandpa?"
"Not at a poor vendu," the old gentleman replied. "At a poor vendu, the person on the block went to the bidder who offered board, lodging and care at the lowest rate per month, a sum the selectmen were obligated to pay from the fund they had voted."
"Just like slavery!" Jenny said indignantly.
"Not very different," Grandfather agreed. "The occupants of the poor-bench, when I arrived, looked quite as wretched as slaves."
"Couldn't the poor people do anything about it, sir?" John asked.
"Oh, yes," the old gentleman said. "If they did not choose to be bid off, they could lie out and starve or freeze. Humane persons did not approve of these pauper auctions. Nevertheless, they went on for many years. The 'New England system,' it was called. I suppose the custom derived from there. It was so well established in this region that a farmer of my acquaintance used to bid for the entire pauper list of Amsterdam, New York. Three hundred and fifty dollars per annum was his stated offer. Nobody ever underbid him, so he got the lot, year after year."
"Why did you go to the auction, Grandpa?" Charlie asked. "Did you want to buy a poor?"
"I had no such conceit at the time, Charles," said Grandfather. "I went there out of idle curiosity."
The Rome town square, the old gentleman continued, was shrouded in dreary, October fog. Sixty or seventy townsfolk stood about paying little heed to the auctioneer, a facetious fellow named Schley. It was an unpromising vendu, Grandfather thought. A scant dozen figures were huddled on the poor-bench. An obliging bystander identified several of them for the stranger's benefit. There were two recent widows, the local half-wit, a pock-marked redemptioner who had been turned out of the farmstead where she worked as not worth her keep, a county pauper who was not properly a town charge, a rheumatism-doubled cripple, and a befreckled urchin of ten or eleven, unknown to the informant. Among the whole sorry lot, this boy was the only one who kept a straight back.
As Grandfather dismounted, Auctioneer Schley was exercising his wit upon a bleary and tremulous crone who could hardly stand upright, she was so weak from hunger.
"Exhibit B for Beauty," the auctioneer said merrily. "Any traveling poppet show would hire her on sight. How old are you, Mrs. Nosegay?"
The answer was an unhappy mumble. Taking her chin between thumb and forefinger, Schleypulled down her jaw. "Look!" he cried. "No teeth! Can't eat! Cheap to feed! What's the offer?"
After a few scattered bids, the woman was knocked down to the lockkeeper's wife for twelve shillings, and her place on the block was taken by the frightened young redemptioner. On her quavering admission that she could cook and wash, she went to a quick-bidding canal-labor contractor and was led away weeping. The rheumatic cripple followed, and was offered by Schley with the cunning suggestion that whoever got him would not have to keep him long. Bored and depressed, Grandfather was about to re-mount and go his way, when the auctioneer's raised voice checked him.
"Here's a fine bit of goods!" Schley called. "Up with you, spratling!"
The urchin rose and walked, straight, steady, and scowling, to the block. He was skeleton thin. Shapeless pantaloons of well-worn fustian flapped around his legs. His coat was fashioned from a large jute bag. Oversized wooden shoes were held on his meager feet with strings. His wretched and defiant look moved Grandfather to a kind of admiration.
"How old are you, brat?" Schley began. "Dunno."
"Come on! Make a guess, young Web. That's your name, ain't it?" he added, consulting his auction list.
"Yup." "What's the rest of it? Web what?" "Web Loakes."
"Loakes, hey? Where's your folks-y, young Web Loakes-y?"
Amidst the paroxysms of merriment provoked by this sally, Grandfather heard the boy mutter, "Ain't got any."
"Well, well! Foundling, huh? Nobody around to stir up trouble about you. That's good. And you don't know how old you are. Call it ten. How you been living?"
"Traveling circuit with a show," said the boy. "Poppet and animal. I tended the bestial."
"What happened? You run away?"
"No. Monkey died. Bear bit the boss. Show busted."
"So you get you on the poor rates. Can you read?"
The boy stared at him. "No," he grunted.
"Well, I wouldn't expect it of you. Write nor figger, neither, I reckon."
The boy shook his head.
"See?" the auctioneer said to the onlookers. "No book learning to set him above his vittles. A stout fellow, too; stout and willing, ain't you, boy?"
"No," the boy said.
"Yes!" Mr. Schley corrected, cuffing him beside the head. "Now, what's the bid on this brisk spratling?"
A scissors-grinder opened with thirteen shillings, which pleased the auctioneer, though he feigned disappointment.
"You could keep him a year on that!" he cried.
The local whitesmith, who was looking for an apprentice, bid twelve. A taproom keeper cut a shilling under. A motherly-looking boarding-house mistress sent to ten.
"Nine shilling!" came a bellow from a hulking citizen in a painted castor hat, who had been lolling against an oak.
Grandfather, who recognized him as Dunk Snedeker, captain of the line boat, "Try and Catch Me," felt sorry for any human chattel who might fall into the Captain's brutal hands. It was none of Grandfather's business, however.
A Peter Funk--a spurious bidder, the accomplice of the auctioneer--now offered eight-and-six. Captain Snedeker underbid him, and was, himself, capped by the scissors-grinder. Again the Captain shouted a bid, and the Peter Funk kept the bidding going once more. It was now down to five-and-six.
"Five, blast ye all!" Dunk Snedeker bawled, glaring about him. "Any man unders that, he'll have me to deal with."
"That's no manner of talk," protested the official, discountenanced. "Don't let him scare you off, folks. Next bid?"
Nobody responded. The Captain was an ugly customer.
"Do I hear the four?" the auctioneer cried. "Well, four and the penny? Four and tuppence? Going, once. Going--Hey, grab him!"
The merchandise had plunged from the platform and was scrambling through the crowd. He was tripped, collared and dragged back. Grandfather caught sight of his face. It was filled with hate and terror.
"One shilling!" Grandfather called, startled to hear his own voice.
"Who spoke?" the auctioneer asked, peering around.
"One shilling," Grandfather repeated firmly.
"Done!" cried the auctioneer. "Get down, boy. The next article is--"
Grandfather heard no more. He was making for his mare, with one eye out for the Captain and one hand on the collar of the boy. He swung into the saddle, and the boy swarmed up behind him. Captain Snedeker was pushing through the crowd toward them. There was no chance of evading him. Grandfather pulled the mare around, set her straight at the Captain, and bowled him over like a ninepin.
"And that," the old gentleman told us, "is how I got my first apprentice."
"I think it was noble of you, Grandfather," Jenny said.
"Why, I was rather of that opinion myself," said Grandfather.