The Infortunate: the voyage and adventures of William Moraley, and indentured servant

Yvette Duarte
HPSC 106
Book Review
October 24, 2010
“The Infortunate: The Voyage and Adventure of William Moraley an indentured servant”
The book that I read was “The Infortunate: The Voyage and Adventure of William Moraley an indentured servant” edited by Susan E. Kleep and Billy G. Smith. This book was written to help students and teachers in university, colleges, and high school courses to read and interpret this rare memoir of an eighteenth- century indentured servant. This book is an autobiography by William Moraley, an indentured servant, who ventured from England to the American colonies in 1729. The book first starts with an introduction and some notes from Kelpp and Smith. Kelpp and Smith gave brief summary of Moraley’s life and compared his lower class experiences in England and the colonies, to the fabulous success of Benjamin Franklin.
This book was written by William Moraley because it was his autobiography, so he gets to tell his experiences as an indentured servant. Also in the book he tells that after his father death in 1725, William was only left with little money and limited artisanal skills. He did not take advantage of the academic and vocational opportunities provided by his father, who worked as a clockmaker. He said that after his father death since that which time to date all his misfortunate. In 1729, Moraley ventured as an indentured servant from England to the 'American Plantations,' where he worked in various jobs, rambled about the countryside, and mingled with white and black bonds people, laborers, artisans, Indians, and other common folk. Moraley first arrived in Philadelphia, where he agreed to work for Issac Pearson, who was also a clockmaker in nearby Burlington, New Jersey, for a term of five years. Unfortunately, her mother distrusted him and left him very little. Disappointed, Moraley decided to go back to England where he has a possibility of obtain some estate from his mother's third marriage or identified and opened discussion for many issues raised by Moraley's account. Moraley's primary focus was to entertain audiences through his adventured. But his writing sometimes can be confusing because something that he wrote would not be related to what he was saying. Like for example, he would be telling his story when he would start talking about other thing, and then he would finish telling that he would get back in track of what he was writing.
One quote that I like from the book was “But adverse fortune is become familiar to me, by series of misfortunate; so had rather leave a place where I have no prospect of advancing myself, than to continue here where I have no friends to relieve me.” (pg. 15, 16). For these reason William Moraley decided to go to America. For him there was nothing that was holding him back in England. He wanted to see is he would have good luck in the new place he was going. Sometimes when you see your self in a situation like these and there is someone offering you to go to another country to work for them, it is easy for you to accept. For example William had a series of misfortunate there, and he doesn’t have the help of friends and family that he can count with. In addition, I get to know what the difference between a slave and indentured servant. An indentured servant is a contract formed by the individual who indentured themselves contracted with their employer or a ship’s captain for the payment of passage and the provision of food, clothing and shelter. In return the individual provided themselves as a labor source. The term period of an indentured was usually 4 to 7 years. A slave was consider personal property and were bought and sold.