Children at Work

The New York City records of indentured servitude show the contracts made between young people, their parents, and business owners across the city. They give us a rare glimpse into the lives of working colonial children.

These indenture contracts should not be confused with those signed by immigrants to the American colonies. Those indentured servants agreed to work for their masters for a set number of years in exchange for their passage across the Atlantic. The children in these records are entering an indenture of apprenticeship. All kinds of tradespeople took apprentices—carpenters, blacksmiths, seamstresses, shoemakers, wigmakers, barbers, merchants, and many other types of business owners can be found in the records. The apprentice-master relationship was complex. Masters and mistresses were required to provide room, meals, clothing, and training in “the art and mystery” of his or her trade. Many contracts also required that the master or mistress teach their indentured apprentice to read, write, and do basic math. In exchange, the indentured apprentice agreed to work and obey the master’s rules for a set period of time. The records show that almost all New York City apprentices were not allowed to drink, gamble, or get married during their term, and there were more specific rules included depending on the master or their trade.

Elizabeth Fortune was nine years old when she signed her nine-year indenture contract. Her contract notes that her parents, John and Maria Fortune, were members of New York’s community of free Black people. Her father was a cooper. Elizabeth’s new mistress was a spinster named Elizabeth Sharpas. The contract states that while Elizabeth works for her mistress, she will learn housekeeping as well as reading and writing. The record does not say why the Fortunes felt the need to indenture their daughter. Did they lack the money to keep her at home? Or perhaps they wanted to give their young, free Black daughter a better chance of earning a living in her predominantly white, slave-owning colony.

• apprentice: A person who is learning a trade from a skilled person.
• cooper: A person who makes barrels.
• indentured servant: A person under contract to work for another person for a definite period of time without pay, usually in exchange for transport to a new place or training in a trade.
• spinster: An older, unmarried woman.