I have a question for all you well-informed, helpful individuals out there. I have come across a record in a court order book for PE County for the Jan. Court of 1770. It references bounding out an individual, who was an apprentice, from St. Patrick's Parish. I do happen to know that this particular family has many blacksmith's in it. Now whether this individual was a blacksmith or not, I don't know. My question is how old might this individual, who was apparently already an apprentice, be? Any rough ideas??? (Come on, Paul...I know you know this!) Thanks! Happy Memorial Day to all of you! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

Hi Shelly. Most boys, unless they were orphaned or family members, were not bound out till they could nearly undertake their tutors' tasks in strength and size - usually 9 to 12; i.e., it depended much upon their size and the work they were to perform. So, the decisions and the requirements of any apprenticeship were mutually agreed upon and varied widely. Exactly as we would now; if you were about to take a youngster on as an apprentice, your purpose would be to have an assistant, and in return your obligation would be to teach him your trade and provide some "bed and board." Thus it was that (unless it was an intra-family matter) such as a blacksmith, sawyer, joiner, carpenter, cooper, or a wagon maker would be quite unlikely to take on a boy who was not big enough to handle the heavy tools usual in those callings. But note that such as a druggist, pewterer, silversmith, tobacconist, or house painter might well consider acceptable a smaller and younger boy who was particularly bright or (and) had exceptional manual dexterity. In short, it was said that the "tools decided the boy"; heavy tools, big boy, small instruments, little boy, etc. All that said, notice that in a small town where boys might be scarce, even a little fellow might well be taken on (as it was called) by a joiner, tanner, roper, dry goods merchant, bookkeeper, etc. I hope I have come close to answering, and Happy Memorial Day to all. Don't forget to mention "why" we have Memorial Day to your nieces, nephews, kids, gkids, etc. Paul :) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shelly Murphy" <ssmurphy5@hotmail.com> To: <VA-SOUTHSIDE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 11:33 AM Subject: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] Apprenticeships/Bonding > I have a question for all you well-informed, helpful individuals out there. > > I have come across a record in a court order book for PE County for the Jan. > Court of 1770. It references bounding out an individual, who was an > apprentice, from St. Patrick's Parish. I do happen to know that this > particular family has many blacksmith's in it. Now whether this individual > was a blacksmith or not, I don't know. > > My question is how old might this individual, who was apparently already an > apprentice, be? Any rough ideas??? (Come on, Paul...I know you know this!) > > Thanks! Happy Memorial Day to all of you! > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > > ==== VA-SOUTHSIDE Mailing List ==== > USGW Archives Pension Project > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pensions/ > > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F1 1HB >