Note 32 — Chapter III · DOMESTIC SERVICE DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD
Reading edition
A well-known case was that of Thomas, son of Sir Edward Verney, who at the age of nineteen wished to marry some one of lower rank than himself. He was sent to Virginia to prevent the marriage, not, however, as himself a servant. Verney Papers, Camden Society Publications, vol. 56, pp. 160-162.
A niece of Daniel DeFoe is said to have been sent to America as a redemptioner for the same reason.
The Sot-Weed Factor says of a maid in a Maryland inn,
“Kidnap’d and Fool’d, I hither fled, To shun a hated Nuptial Bed, And to my cost already find, Worse Plagues than those I left behind.
These are the general Excuses made by English Women, which are sold or sell themselves to Mary-land.” p. 7.