Found another interesting ancestor: Alexander Thompson, Englishman, born 03 Sep 1651 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England; Alex fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie against the Cromwellians who had beheaded King Charles. Defeated, all officers and 1 out of 10 soldiers were executed. Alexander Thompson, imprisoned, was, along with 300 other pows, transported to the colonies to be sold as indentured servants. 272 survived the trip, arrived in Boston. Alexander was indentured for 8 years to a local property owner. Very, very many of the folk of Massachusetts came as indentured, either indenturing themselves to pay the cost of a ticket to the colonies, and some under Thompsons circumstances. Along with date of arrival of an individual in the Colonies, is recorded the freeman date, the date on which the time was served and the indenture was cancelled. Not everybody was running about in Pilgrim garb being a landowner. Jane and I both have a number of these, ranging from a guy who skipped out on an apprenticeship and indentured himself to get to the Americas, to an indentured sailor who jumped ship after his second voyage on a typhoid-cursed crossing, and settled in Virginia.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 04:51:42 +0000