Local History: The Historical Practice of "Bound Out" Children in DeWitt County
- Terri
- 7 hours ago
- 10 min read
The term "bound out" historically described the practice of placing children with another family to serve as indentured servants or apprentices. In return for food, shelter, and a basic education, the child would learn a trade to become a productive member of society. Children in DeWitt County were "bound out", but where did they end up? With a little digging, Terri shares some of their stories in this week's blog.
The Historical Practice of "Bound Out" Children
The social services we are familiar with today were essentially non-existent before 1900. Almshouses or poor houses were commonplace and housed many types of individuals such as ones who were too old or disabled to support themselves or those who suffered from mental illness. Many were children who were orphaned or abandoned by their natural parents. Even if they still had a mother at their side, they would often end up at the poor house, as mothers had no legal recourse to keep their children with them and rarely had the means to support even themselves. In the early 1600’s, the rapidly expanding demand for a work force in the American colonies and the extreme overcrowding of London almshouses resulted in hundreds of children being shipped across the ocean as indentured labor. They were to be apprenticed to severe masters so that they “may be brought to goodness.” In return, their masters were to provide food, lodging, basic education and religious training and be taught a trade so that they would be productive citizens upon the fulfillment of their period of servitude. Laws varied over time and between locations, but children might be apprenticed at age 8 or 10, usually until age 21. Perhaps your own genealogy research hits a brick wall in, say, 1640 Boston – maybe because your ancestor came to America as a frightened pre-teen apprentice, as if he had materialized out of thin air. Two hundred years later, orphaned children were still subject to being “bound out,” or assigned by the court to live with a family within its jurisdiction. As we learned in last month's blog (Local History: The Legacy of Levi Davenport and His Little Table at the Library), Levi Davenport was placed with a cabinet maker at the age of 9 after his father died in his natal state of New York. It turns out some of the earliest DeWitt County court records addressed this same issue.
According to one of our DeWitt County history books, the children bound out here were done so with the following understanding: Boys were to be taught the art of farming and were to receive a Bible, horse, saddle and bridle at the expiration of their term, which was age 21. Girls were to be taught the secrets of housekeeping and also the arts of a spinster, until the end of their term at age 18. (“Spinster” isn’t what you think it means. It refers to spinning wool, a chore traditionally done by young, unmarried women. It eventually became a term used to describe old unmarried women.) Several of these indentures were recorded among the earliest court proceedings in our county, which was created in 1839. They would have taken place in the first courthouse, pictured below.
1840 – K. Poff bound out to D. S. Ely
“K. Poff” is apparently John K. W. Poff. According to trees on Ancestry, he was born in 1837, the son of John Poff, Sr. and his wife Emily Woodward. Emily died in 1837, probably in childbirth, then John Sr. married Rachel Despain in Macon County. They had one child together in 1839, then it would appear that John Sr. died soon after. In the 1840 Census, Rachel Poff is listed as head of household with four boys and one girl under the age of twenty. John K. W. Poff, age 13, is found in the 1850 Census in the household of David S. Ely, his wife Lucy, and their four children. Lucy Ely’s maiden name was Woodward, and she was Emily’s sister, John’s aunt. In the 1860 Census,
John is living in Santa Anna Township with the William H. Taylor family. He is now 23 years old and is listed as a saddler. William is 28 and also listed as a saddler, so it’s probably a safe bet that they were in business together.
On 26 Sep 1860, John married Harriett Williams, unknown if they had children. John volunteered for the Union in 1862. His record describes him as 25 years old, married, 5’9”, light hair and complexion, hazel eyes, with the occupation harness maker. He was to serve 3 years with Company I, 107th Illinois Infantry, but he is marked as deserted in February of 1863 at Woodsonville, KY. Apparently, he deserted his family as well, as Harriett filed for divorce in 1865.
1840 – William Bromfield to G. B. Lemon
“William Bromfield” is William Brumfield (sometimes seen as Broomfield), born in 1827. He would have been 12 or 13 when he was bound out to George B. Lemon. He married Elizabeth Scott in Pike County in 1848, and in the 1850 Census, they are living in DeWitt County with one child. By 1860, they had moved to Daviess County, MO, and had five children. In 1861, William volunteered for the Union and served with several Missouri units until he mustered out at the end of the war in June of 1865. He was known to be a bully with a volatile temper. Once, he had someone point out a former Confederate soldier, a total stranger to him, at a picnic they were both attending. He walked up to the man, who was standing under a tree with a couple women, and shot him dead. In 1868, he got into a dispute with one of his associates and threatened to kill him. The associate took the threat seriously, and when William was apparently trying to hunt him down in Gallatin, he got the drop on him and unloaded a double-barreled shotgun on him as he strode down the street. William suffered 54 wounds and died immediately. The shooter gathered up his family and fled to Texas, never to return. William left behind a grieving widow and at least 8 children.
1843 – Henry and Charlotte Winkle to Abram Bash
Henry and Charlotte Winkle were fortunate to be placed together in the home of Abram Bash. In the 1840 Census, Abram Bash is listed next to a Henry Winkle, presumably their father. The Winkle household lists one male and one female age 20-29, and one male and one female both under five. It appears that young Henry was recorded with the incorrect given name in the court record, because in the 1850 Census he is listed as George Winkle. He and Charlotte appear in the Bash household, but they have moved to Logan County. In 1860, George is working as a farm laborer in Waynesville Township, age 23. There he met and married Elizabeth Lane on 24 July 1862, and just eight days later, he joined the Union Army. His military profile describes him as a farmer, 5’11” and ½, light hair and complexion, with gray eyes. He served 3 years with Company D, 107th Illinois Infantry and mustered out 21 June 1865. Elizabeth died 24 April 1865, and it is unknown if George was able to attend her funeral. They had one son together, George Washington Winkle, born in 1863 and subsequently raised by his mother’s family. Father George moved west to Missouri, where he married Margaret Pickerel and had at least two more children. He died in 1887, Margaret in 1917, and they are buried together in Cass County, MO. Charlotte Winkle, as we have established, appears in the Abram Bash household in the 1850 Census. Unfortunately, I found no additional information for her.
1843 – Peter Bellew to E. W. Wright
1843 – James J. Bellew to Jacob Harrold
Peter Bellew and James J. Bellew were very likely brothers. Neither boy appears in the 1850 Census in the households to which they were assigned in 1843, likely because they had reached adulthood. There are Civil War records for both a Peter and a James Bellew, but the details don’t quite match. The most promising one is for Peter, listed as a 33-year-old farmer from McLean County, married, 5”8” and 1/2, light hair, fair complexion, with blue eyes and living in Lexington, IL. If he was 33 when he enlisted in 1862, then he would have been about 14 when he was bound out and 21 by the 1850 Census. This Peter Bellew was married to Sarah Ford in 1852, and during the war, he served with Company C of the 94th Illinois Infantry until his death from disease at Lake Springs, MO, on 10 April 1863. His remains were brought home and buried at Lexington. The military record for James Bellew says he was just 18 when he enlisted in 1864, which would make him about 7 when he was bound out in 1843 and still a minor in 1850. James also joined the 94th Illinois Infantry, though at a later date than Peter, then was transferred to Company G of the 37th Illinois Infantry. He was also from McLean County, and his physical description is similar to Peter’s. I think the only way he could be Peter’s brother is if his age is mistakenly recorded as 18 and was actually 28. He would still be a minor in 1850, but it’s possible that Peter, being 21, took
him into his household. None of that can be verified at this point, as I could find neither of them in the 1850 or 1860 Census.
1845 – Emeline Winslow to Orin Wakefield
1846 – Albert Winslow to James Shinkle
Emeline and Albert Winslow left a more definite footprint in history. Jeremiah Winslow and his wife Clarissa had a small farm in DeWitt Township where they raised nine children. They came to Illinois after 1840, and by 1845 they were both deceased and are buried at McCord Cemetery near Farmer City. Emeline is no longer in the Wakefield household in 1850, but by 1854, she is married to Benjamin Day. After he died, she married John Johnson, who died in 1893. She then married James A. Hall in 1911 and outlived him, too. When Emeline “Emma” Winslow Day Johnson Hall died in 1917, she was 81 years old and had also outlived two of her five children. Her brother Albert had a twin named Alfred, but they were not bound out together. Albert can be found in the 1850 Census in the household of his older brother William, who is now married and living in DeWitt Township. Emeline and Alfred are not with them, however. (Another brother, Edmond, who was 14 when his father died, is living with a Cheney family in McLean County in 1850.) Albert married Lurinda Brooks in 1858, but after bearing three children, she died in 1863. Then Albert left DeWitt County and eventually reunited his family when he married a much younger Mary Frances Cooley in Christian County, IL. They moved to Missouri before 1900 and raised ten children in addition to Albert’s first three. He died in Sparta, MO, in 1921 at the age of 81. Albert’s twin Alfred seemed to live a tumultuous life, being married three times, listed as divorced in the 1880 Census, and dying in 1881, age 42. Interesting insight into the Winslow siblings: Sylvia and Phoebe married brothers William and John Newberry. Jeremiah Winslow Jr., Emeline and Alfred married siblings Martha Jane, Benjamin and Rebecca Day.
1846 – Isaac Blankenship to B. L. Cundiff
Isaac Blankenship is a mystery. There was a Noel Blankenship in the 1840 Census in DeWitt County who might be his father, but the only other male in his household is in his 20’s. There are no Cundiff households in 1850 or 1860 that have someone with the surname Blankenship.
1847 – Mary Baker to James McCord
Mary McCord was born in 1842, and in the 1850 Census, she is found in the household of James A. and Mary McCord, her maternal grandparents, in DeWitt County. Her mother died in 1846, then her father gave her and her brother to the McCord family to raise. He soon left the area, remarried and raised a large family. James A. and Mary both died before 1860, and I couldn’t find Mary in the 1860 Census, but in 1866, she married John Wilson North and had two children. By 1900, they were living in California, where they spent the remainder of their days. The real story, though, is Mary’s brother, James Washington Baker, commonly called Washington or simply “Wash.” Their mother died when Wash was just nine months old, and he was taken in by James W. McCord (James A.’s son, whose middle name was also Washington) and his wife Julia. According to Wash’s obituary many years later, Aunt Julia was credited with being a true second mother, though she had nine children of her own and died in 1853 when Wash was about 8 years old. In 1860, Wash was living with another branch of the McCord family, then in 1864, he enlisted in the Union Army, having not yet reached his 19th birthday. His physical description was thus: 5’9”, light hair, fair complexion, hazel eyes, occupation farmer. With the Civil War nearly over, he mustered out in December of 1865. In 1870, he married Hattie Weedman, and they lived in Piatt County for a number of years until migrating to Holyrood, Kansas, in 1886. There, he became involved in real estate and raised three children. Upon his death, a glowing obituary was published in both the Holyrood Banner and the Farmer City Journal. He was a highly respected (and wealthy) businessman, but was also known for his kindness and fair treatment of his clients. It was pointed out that he held several mortgages on which, during a recent economic downturn, he could have foreclosed, but he refused to do it, so that those mortgage-holders wouldn’t lose their homes. Wash Baker passed away in 1905, and his remains were transported back to Farmer City for his funeral, then interred at Maple Grove Cemetery.
1848 – Elizabeth Holsey to Samuel Spencer
Last, and maybe even least, Elizabeth Holsey was bound out to Samuel Spencer in 1848. In the 1850 Census, Elizabeth, just age 3, is listed in the Spencer household in DeWitt County. That is the last trace of her that I could find.
Google an individual born after 1950 and see how much information comes up. Much different times we live in now!
References
History of DeWitt County Illinois, Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910, Vol.1
History of Daviess County Missouri, Birdsall & Dean, Kansas City, MO, 1882
UC Berkeley Law at www.law.berkeley.edu
Ancestry.com
Newspapers.com
Illinois State Archives
Terri Lemmel was born and raised in DeWitt County near Kenney. Upon completing her education at Clinton High School, she lived in Bloomington for several years before returning to Clinton in 1990. Her interest in genealogy was piqued in the mid-90s when she found unidentified obituaries in her late grandmother's scrapbook that family members could not identify. While she initially dabbled in the subject, it wasn't until her retirement in 2018 that she jumped in with both feet. Terri joined the Genealogical Society and has been serving as its President since 2022. Research is a passion of hers, and there are lots of interesting stories to uncover! You can find Terri in the DeWitt County Genealogical Society room at the Vespasian Warner Public Library every Thursday completing research and helping others with their family and local history research.
To learn more about the DeWitt County Genealogical Society, feel free to reach out to them via phone at 217-935-5174, email at dewittcgs@gmail.com, their website, or their Facebook page.
The Vespasian Warner Library, located at 310 N. Quincy St. in Clinton, IL, features an extensive collection of local history and archives. To learn more, visit our Local History Page on the website or stop by in person! We are always excited to showcase our local history resources and discuss DeWitt County's local history.
Until Next Time Library Friends!