This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: southard Surnames: CARROLL Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.carroll/7494/mb.ashx Message Board Post: When the last CARROLL message board posting that was gatewayed to the mail list arrived, I was reading on the same subject as stated in that letter, ".... England dumped their orphanages in America." According to Peter Wilson Coleman in his book "British Emigrants in Bondage 1614-1788" which was compiled from several of his earlier books, indeed, in 1597 an Elizabethan Act provided for the banishment of rogues and vagabonds to the American colonies. In the very earliest period men were selected for reprieve from the death sentence based on their ability to work and perform the tasks needed in the colonies. By 1619 the Governor of Virginia and James I agreed to send "desolate persons" to work on the plantations as servants. "This proved, from the Government's viewpoint, to be such a beneficial idea that it was extended in the following year to enable the rounding up and despatch to Virginia of one hundred children from the "swarming multitudes" in London "to redeem so many poor souls from misery and ruin." Coleman footnotes that statement as coming from "Acts of the Privy Council 1620." In his thirty years of searching in British archival records, Coleman has found the names of over 45,000 persons, mostly convicts but also vagabonds and orphans, who were brought to the American colonies against their will. At first they were sent with a person to guard and then dispose of them upon arrival in the colonies. Later the captain on the ship assumed that roll. Some were bound to individuals before sailing to work for a specified period of time and then be set free. Some were actually sold upon arrival in the colonies much as the slaves were. However, the difference was that they must be set free when they had finished their term of service. After the prisons of England were relieved of overcrowding, the Irish convicts were sent to work in the colonies. It sounds terrible, but I think it actually turned out to be a good solution to many problems. The disease infested prisons were emptied of those poor people who could not raise the money to pay their court costs to be released. The new territory had persons to clear the land and start a budding economy. The fresh air, exercise, and fresh food grew strong persons who had learned how to work in order to begin a new country. Why have I written all this?? Because many of us have been looking for our CARROLL ancestors who came on these ships! I know that doesn't set well with most of you!! Nevertheless, I hope you will consider it a badge of honor if you find a name you recognize in the list I will post in another message. Lura CARROLL Southard Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.