In 18th century America it was not uncommon for children to be bound into an apprenticeship. For many parents, this offered an opportunity for a child to learn a craft outside their own. Probably the most famous apprentice was Benjamin Franklin, who used the skills he had learned at a printer’s to become one of the most famous and wealthy men in America. In the indenture shown here, Michael Gilson of the part of Northfield, Massachusetts, that would become Westmoreland, New Hampshire, bound his son Zechariah (1736-1803) over to John Belding of Hatfield, Massachusetts. Zechariah was to learn husbandry, or the care of horses and other large farm animals. However, at the age of 19, at the start of the French and Indian War in 1755, he became a soldier. He was at Ft. William Henry in New York when it was forced to surrender to the French and their Indigenous allies in August of 1757. Although the French had guaranteed their safety and allowed the British to leave the fort with their arms and possessions, the Indigenous soldiers refused to recognize that agreement, and in a famous ambush killed and captured most of the British, including Zechariah. This episode was told in James Fenimore Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans. Gilson was taken to Canada as a captive. He returned to Westmoreland after his release and later settled in Westminster, Vermont.
Belding, John. Indenture of Zechariah Gilson of Northfield. March 11, 1744. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l01-086/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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