Indentured Service was used in the 13 Colonies to provide opportunity to those who wanted to go to America but couldn't afford the passage and living expenses to get started and a labor pool for the business and farm communities. On the other hand, both France and England "impressed" persons into service in the early settlement days. De Monts was given authority to "round up" derelicts and petty thieves. Crozat and later the Company of the West Indies were authorized to round up petty criminals and prostitutes to send to Colonial Louisiana. England routinely "impressed" or kidnapped young men to serve in the Navy. The War of 1812 began because England was stopping American ships at sea and "impressing" into service those it claimed were British. Stanley LeBlanc http://www.thecajuns.com

Definition of indenture: bind as servant or apprentice to master. To be "bound" is to be "owned". While the Acadians were exiled to many of the children were "apprenticed" and they were "indentured" - the term used did not matter a whole lot it all meant the same thing in the end. If they managed to escape they would put an ad in the local newspaper advertising a reward for their return.. call it indenture, call it slavery there wasn't much difference back then. All they usually owned was the clothes on their backs. We try to think of things as we know society today - the British were very harsh in how they kept or indentured their prisoners and remember that they hated the French and they feared the Papists. It was others who reached out to the Acadians. People like Antoine Benezet in Philadelphia who was a Quaker, had gone to Philadelphia as a Huguenot and could not stand slavery in any form. He reached out to the Acadias of Philadelphia with blankets and housing with the help of other Quakers. Children were the ones mostly indentured - some English would change the names of the children to their surnames - some children never saw their families again. Some were not even allowed to leave their place of exile with their families when they left because they were "apprenticed" - so you see words are just words. What happened was the reality. Children ripped from their families is why so many petitions were filed by the Acadians to the various Councils wherever they were in exile. Lucie LeBlanc Consentino Acadian Ancestral Home www.acadian-home.org ACGS Drouin Primary Records www.acgs.org -----Original Message----- From: Stanley LeBlanc [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 9:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ACADIAN-CAJUN] Impressed into Service Indentured Service was used in the 13 Colonies to provide opportunity to those who wanted to go to America but couldn't afford the passage and living expenses to get started and a labor pool for the business and farm communities. On the other hand, both France and England "impressed" persons into service in the early settlement days. De Monts was given authority to "round up" derelicts and petty thieves. Crozat and later the Company of the West Indies were authorized to round up petty criminals and prostitutes to send to Colonial Louisiana. England routinely "impressed" or kidnapped young men to serve in the Navy. The War of 1812 began because England was stopping American ships at sea and "impressing" into service those it claimed were British. Stanley LeBlanc http://www.thecajuns.com ==== ACADIAN-CAJUN Mailing List ==== The number one rule of this list is no flaming. If something is posted to the list that disturbs you, bring it to the _admin._, not the list or the person who posted. Your concerns will be addressed. ============================== Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. New content added every business day. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx