Washington DC - Genealogy Trails - T. Ashing, Apprentice Indenture

Washington District of Columbia

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Apprentice Indenture Documents
from the District of Columbia Archives

Furnished by : John Sharp ©

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[APPRENTICESHIP No. 402(Vol. II. 5)] Thomas Ashing } We the subscribers, Justices of the peace in and for the county of to } Washington, by virtue of an Act entitled "A Supplemental to the William Parsons } act entitled an act for the Better regulation of apprentices" have }bound out and placed and by these presents do bind out and place }as an apprentice ( with the consent of his mother ) Thomas Ashing an orphan age twelve years on the first of November last unto William Parsons Cordwainer until he the said assume to the age of twenty one years during which time, he shall well and truly behave conduct and demean himself in every respect as aa good and faithful apprentice ought to do towards his said master, and the said master shall furnish and provide for his said apprentice good and sufficient meat, drink, clothes, washing, lodging and other requisite necessities, during his apprenticeship to cause him to be taught to read and write and cast up accounts, and also to teach him the act or trade of a Cordwainer in the different braches thereof and when free to give his said apprentice a suit of clothes worth thirty dollars current money in testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 7th day of Dec. 1811 To the register of will for the } (signed) W. Ott {SEAL} County of Washington - } (signed) Richd Parrott {SEAL} Recorded the 16th - day of January 1812

Note:
In early 19^th century America, a cordwainer, was someone who made shoes and other articles from fine soft leather. The term "cordwainer"is an Anglicization of the French word cordonnier, introduced into the English language after the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The word is said to derive from the city of Cordoba, in the south of Spain. The English term "cordwainer", meaning shoemaker, first appears in 1100. By the late 13^th century a distinction grew in England between cordwainers and cobblers. Early Washington DC like the rest of America kept the distinction between cordwainers (fine shoemakers) and cobbler (those who repaired shoes) lasted until the late 19^th century when new technology made the cordwainer trade obsolete.