Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed

Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed* Mary Ann Nicholson W ILLIAM TRENT AND SONS MAURICE AND JAMES were prominent and prosperous merchants from Inverness, Scotland, whose business investors included William Penn and James Logan. Their vessels transported cargoes of coal and children to the American colonies and returned with tobacco. Trenton, New Jersey took its name from this family. 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. After Maurice Trent sold his cargo of children, their buyers were obligated to go before a court to have their ages "adjudged" and terms of indenture set. It is from court records and wills that we learn the names of many of these children. Except for a few, their subsequent histories have yet to be discovered. On 3 October 1693, buyers brought eight boys they had purchased from Maurice Trent before the Court of Quarter Sessions of Chester County, Pennsylvania. They were: Alexander Ross, Daniel Macdaniel, James Hercules, George Leacy, Alexander Mecany, Magnin Simson, James Canide and James Driver.' The spelling of the boys' names was subject to the recording clerk's acumen and ability to understand regional accents. Again in 9th month 1695, six more boys transported and sold by Trent were before the same court. Although their national origins were not stated, they would appear to have been from Scotland. Their names were: Andrew Fraisor, James Johnson, Henry Nichols, Robert Flatt, John Mackell and John Robbinson.2 In June 1696, George Robinson, William johnstowne, Thomas Robbinson, Saundy Hunter, Thomas Bullen, jeane Gorden and Margret Chambers were child servants brought before the Chester Court by their masters.' On 14 of 7th month 1697, thirty boys and girls were brought in to have their ages and terms of service established. The girls were to 187 188 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine serve for five years. The boys, including Alexander Stewart, were to serve until "the age of One and Twenty and to have the Custom of the country" at their discharge. Ideally this would mean each fellow received "one new Suite of Apparel, ten bushels of wheat or fourteen of Indian corn, one axe, two hoes: one broad and one narrow"5 Numerous lawsuits resulted from masters' failure to comply. On 5 of 8th month 1697, with terms dating from the 7th month, twelve more children were adjudged by the Chester County Court. One of the three girls was Mary Royle6 who may have been kidnapped. She was bought by the Quaker miller, Caleb Pusey of Upland. He had bought Alexander Ross several years earlier. The Quaker minister and abolitionist, Joshua Brown said that his mother Mary Royle had been born in Scotland and "when twelve to fourteen years of age, she was, with many others, forcibly taken, carried on board a ship and brought to Pennsylvania. She was sold as a servant to Caleb Pusey, near Chester, and served her time out."7 She married William Coale, and later, Jeremiah Brown. Alexander Stewart, Alexander Ross and Mary Royle after their release from servitude went on to live productive lives. Since Ross and Royle had become Quakers, the names of their spouses, children and their positions within their meetings can be found in Quaker archives. "William Cope brought a boy [to Chester Court] whose name is Thomas Harper, who was adjudged to serve five years and three quarters, if he be taught to read and write, or else to serve but five years, to him or his assigns."8 For those who learned a trade or to read and write while indentured, even though it extended their terms of servitude, the future became more propitious than they had faced originally. In 1701, "Henry Nayl brought a servant boy to Court whose name was Alexander Stewart, whose time the said Nayl had bought of Francis Chadsey, and the said boy consents and agrees to serve the said Henry Nayl one year and a quarter above his time by record, if the sd Henry Nayl teach him the trade of shoemaker; if not, the said Nayl to allow the said boy satisfaction for the overplus time as the Court shall allow."9 Henry Haile must have proved to be a good master because in his will of 1714/15, Alexander Stewart referred to Henry "Nayle" as his "father in law".1° Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed 189 Others were not so fortunate. Alexander Mickense ran away from his master and attempted suicide. His term of indenture was increased for such misbehavior. Children who became ill and added extra expense to their masters had their terms extended. Since masters had the right of resale, children were frequently relocated. "Scotch lad" Allixander Mackeene was reassigned by the Chester Court to a master in New Castle, Delaware, for the remainder of his time." In the Bucks County Court, it was reported that in the 7th month 1699, James Hagath, a servant boy belonging to James Scott, was killed by the horse he was using to plow a field.' On 21 July 1697, James Trent had sold five "Scotch boys" to men of Burlington County, New jersey, a few miles up the Delaware river from Chester. They were brought to the Burlington Court to be adjudged. They were: Daniel Camrone, George Douglass, George Slaiter, John Young and James Haddyard.13 Across the river on 18 of 10th month 1697, the Court of Quarter Sessions & Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, set the terms of servitude for three Scotch boys: Neel Grant, John Duncan and John Weire." The 7 April 1699 will of Alice Trumain of h Tush and Ashton, Chester County , named "Scottish children Jon Margaret Chambers."15 Margaret Chambers had been assigned a five and one-half year term of servitude by the Chester Court three years earlier. When John Humphreys of the Welsh Tract made his will 22 of 7th month 1699, he named "James Taate, the Scotch boy."' Robert Barry, an Irish boy, servant of James Plumley, came before the Bucks County Court in 1699 where the boy's age was adjudged to be ten years and his indenture term set.17 Daniel MacCay and John Anderson brought before the Burlington Court in February 1699/1700, were called "Irish boys."18 Alexander Ross, an unsubstantiated tradition claims, was from Ireland although the name Ross is found most often in Scotland. Ships collecting cargoes of children may have stopped at Scottish and Irish ports en route. Procuring or stealing children to sell as servants seems Dickensian to us now, but it was an acceptable and prevalent practice for many centuries. Did America prove to be a land of opportunity for these children? How many of us today can claim "a child stolen or maiden pressed" as a progenitor? 190 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Notes *John Camden Hotter, ed., The Original Lists of persons of quality; migrants, religious exiles, political rebels; serving men sold for a term of years; apprentices; children stolen; maidens pressed; and others who went from Great Britain to the American Plantations I 600- 1700. (London, Eng, 1874). 1. Record of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania 1681-1697, (Phila., 1910), 30,303. 2. Ibid., 361. 3. Ibid., 383-84. 4. Ibid., 355. 5. Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania 1682-1700, (Harrisburg, Pa., 1879), 111. George Smith, M.D., _History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Phil a., 1862), 186. 6. Dorothy Lapp, ed., Records of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania, (Danville, Pa., 1972), 2:6. [It should be noted that this source lists the names of the children brought before the Chester County Court. The names of the buyers and the terms of service are also here] The Court Records were published under the auspices of the Chester County Historical Society. 7. Willard Heiss, ed., Quaker Biographical Sketches of Ministers and Elders, (Indianapolis, 1972), 266. 8. J. Smith Futhey Gilbert Cope, Histoly of Chester County, Pennsylvania, (Phila., 1881), Pt. 1,430. 9. Ibid., 451. 10. Gilbert Cope, Genealogy of the Bally Family of Branham, Wiltshire, England. Descendants °Mel Baily, (Lancaster, Pa., 1912), 20. 11. Courts of Chester County, (1910), 329. 12. Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions & Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, (Meadville, Pa, 1943), 391. 13. H. Clay Reed & George J. Miller, eds. The Burlington Court Book, (Washington, a C., 1944), 197-98. 14. Court of Bucks County, 325. 15. Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 3 (1906):35-36. 16. Ibid., 3 (1907):145-46. 17. Court of Bucks County, 399. 18. Burlington Court Book, 227.