A Character of the Province of Maryland. George Alsop
to America was effected by what was called the redemption system. Under this, one disposed to emigrate, but unable to raise the £6, entered into a contract in the following form, with a merchant adventurer, ship owner or ship master, and occasionally with a gentleman emigrant of means, under which the latter gave him his passage and supplies:
THE FORME OF BINDING A SERVANT.
[From A Relation of Maryland, &c., 1635.]
This indenture made the … … day of … … … . … . in the … … … yeere of our Soveraigne Lord King Charles &c. betweene … … … . … . of the one party, and … … … . … . on the other party, Witnesseth that the said … … … . … . doth hereby covenant, promise and grant to and with the said … … … . … . his Executors and Assignes, to serve him from the day of the date hereof, vntill his first and next arrivall in Maryland, and after for and during the tearme of … … yeeres, in such service and employment as the said … … … . … . or his assignes shall there employ him, according to the custome of the countrey in the like kind. In consideration whereof, the said … … … . … . doth promise and grant, to and with the said … … … . … . to pay for his passing and to find him with Meat, Drinke, Apparell and Lodging, with other necessaries during the said terme; and at the end of the said terme, to give him one Whole yeeres provision of Corne and fifty acres of Land, according to the order of the countrey. In witnesse whereof, the said … … … . … . hath hereunto put his hand and seale the day and yeere above written.
Sealed and delivered in the presence of
The term of service, at first limited to five years (Relation of Maryland, 1635, p. 63), was subsequently reduced to four (Act of 1638, &c.), and so remained into the next {12} century (Act of April, 1715). Thus a woman in the Sot Weed Factor, after speaking of her life in England, says:
Not then a slave for twice two year,
My cloaths were fashionably new,
Nor were my shifts of linnen Blue;
But things are changed; now at the Hoe,
I daily work and Barefoot go,
In weeding Corn or feeding Swine,
I spend my melancholy Time.
Disputes arose as to the time when the term began, and it was finally fixed at the anchoring of the vessel in the province, but not more than fourteen days were to be allowed for anchoring after they passed the Capes (Act of 1715). When these agreements were made with the merchant adventurer, ship owner or ship captain, the servants were sold at auctions, which were conducted on the principle of our tax sales, the condition being the payment of the advances, and the bidding being for the term of service, descending from the legal limit according to his supposed value as a mechanic or hand, the best man being taken for the shortest term. Where the emigrants made their agreement with the gentleman emigrant, they proceeded at once to the land he took up, and in the name of the servant the planter took up at least one hundred acres of land, fifty of which, under the agreement, he conveyed to the servant at the expiration of his term of service.
Alsop seems to have made an agreement, perhaps on the voyage, with Thomas Stockett, Esq., as his first letter from America mentions his being in the service of that gentleman. His last letter is dated at Gravesend, the 7th of September, and his first in Maryland January 17 (1659), making a voyage of four months, which he loosely calls five, and describes as “a blowing and dangerous passage.” {13}
Through the kindness of George Lynn Lachlin Davis, Esq., I have been enabled to obtain from J. Shaaf Stockett, Esq., a descendant of Captain Stockett, some details as to his ancestor, the master of our author, during his four years’ servitude, which was not very grievous to him, for he says, “had I known my yoak would have been so easie (as I conceive it will) I would have been here long before now, rather than to have dwelt under the pressure of a Rebellious and Trayterous government so long as I did.”
A manuscript statement made some years later by one Joseph Tilly, states: “About or in ye year of or Lord 1667 or 8 I became acquainted wth 4 Gentn yt were brethren & then dwellers here in Maryland the elder of them went by ye name of Collo Lewis Stockett & ye second by ye name of Captn Thomas Stockett, ye third was Doctr Francis Stockett & ye Fourth Brother was Mr Henry Stockett. These men were but yn newly seated or seating in Anne Arunndell County & they had much business wh the Lord Baltimore then ppetor of ye Provinces, my house standing convenient they were often entertained there: they told mee yt they were Kentish men or Men of Kent & yt for that they had been concerned for King Charles ye first, were out of favour wth ye following Governmt they Mortgaged a Good an estate to follow King Charles the second in his exile & at their Return they had not money to redeem their mortgage, wch was ye cause of their coming hither. JOSEPH TILLY.”
Of the brothers, who are said to have arrived in the spring or summer of 1658, only Captain Thomas Stockett remained in Maryland, the others having, according to family tradition, returned to England. As stated in the {14} document just given, they settled in Anne Arundell county, and on the 19th of July, 1669, “Obligation,” a tract of 664 acres of land was patented to Captain Thomas Stockett, and a part still after the lapse of nearly two centuries remains in the family, being owned by Frank H. Stockett, Esq., of the Annapolis bar.
By his wife Mary (Wells it is supposed), Captain Thomas Stockett had one son, Thomas, born April 17, 1667, from whose marriage with Mary, daughter of Thomas Sprigg, of West River, gentleman (March 12, 1689), and subsequent marriage with Damarris Welch, the Stocketts of Maryland, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey are descended.
The arms of this branch, as given in the family archives, are “Or a Lyon rampant sable armed and Langued Gules a cheife of ye second a castle Tripple towred argent betwixt two Beausants—to ye crest upon a helm on a wreath of ye colours, a Lyon Proper segeant supporte on a stock ragged and trunked argent Borne by the name of Stockett with a mantle Gules doubled Argent.” These agree with the arms given by Burke as the arms of the Stocketts of St. Stephens, county of Kent.
Thomas Stockett’s will, dated April 23, 1671, was proved on the 4th of May in the same year, so that his death must have occurred within the ten intervening days. He left his estate to his wife for life, then his lands to his son Thomas, and his posthumous child if a son, and his personal estate to be divided among his daughters. His executors were his brothers Francis and Henry and his brother (in-law) Richard Wells. His dispositions of property are brief, much of the will consisting of pious expressions and wishes. {15}
To return to the early Maryland emigration, at the time there was evident need for some popular tract to remove a prejudice that had been created against that colony, especially in regard to the redemptioners. The condition of those held for service in Maryland had been represented as pitiable indeed, the labor intolerable, the usage bad, the diet hard, and that no beds were allowed but the bare boards. Such calumnies had already been refuted in 1656 by Hammond, in his Leah and Rachel. Yet it would seem that ten years later the proprietor of Maryland found it necessary to give Alsop’s flattering picture as a new antidote.
The original tract is reproduced so nearly in fac simile here that little need be said about it. The original is a very small volume, the printed matter on the page being only 2 18 inches by 4 78. (See note No. 1).
At the end are two pages of advertisements headed “These Books, with others, are Printed for Peter Dring, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the Sun in the Poultrey, next door to the Rose Tavern.”
Among the books are Eliana, Holesworth’s Valley of Vision, Robotham’s Exposition of Solomon’s Song, N. Byfields’ Marrow of the Oracle of God, Pheteplace’s Scrutinia Sacra, Featly Tears