Redemptioner facts for kids

Redemptioners were European immigrants who traveled to the American Colonies, mostly in the 1700s and early 1800s. They couldn't pay for their ship journey across the Atlantic Ocean. So, they agreed to work as indentured servants when they arrived in America. This work paid back the shipping company for their trip.

Most British indentured servants didn't arrive this way after the early colonial period. This was because British laws gave them certain protections. Redemptioners, however, were often at a disadvantage. They had to agree to their work terms right after a long, difficult ship journey, with no way to go back home.

A Look Back in Time

Before the American Revolutionary War, some people who had committed crimes in the United Kingdom were sent to the American Colonies. They worked as indentured servants to earn their freedom. There was a big need for workers in North America. So, free people were also encouraged to come.

People who couldn't afford their trip came as indentured servants. This meant they had to work without pay until their travel costs and other expenses were covered. Sometimes, people were tricked or even forced onto ships. Because of these problems, the British Parliament made laws to protect British citizens. These laws said that a judge in Great Britain had to approve the work agreements. If an agreement didn't have a judge's approval, it couldn't be enforced in the colonies. This made British indentured servants less appealing to potential employers in America.

However, non-British immigrants didn't have these protections. If they used the redemptioner system, they had to agree to their work terms at the worst possible time. They were often still on a crowded, dirty ship after a long journey before they were allowed to leave.

How the System Grew

In the early 1700s, some German-speaking immigrants to America would later pay for family members to come over. They would agree with shipping companies to "redeem" their loved ones from the arriving ship by paying their fare. It was a bit like "cash on delivery" for people.

Ship owners quickly saw this as a way to make money. They started encouraging Europeans to travel without paying upfront. Anyone in the new world could then pay for the travelers. The shipping company set the price. The person who wanted to hire the immigrant would then bargain directly with them. They would decide how many years the immigrant would work to pay off the "loan" for their trip.

More than half of the German-speaking immigrants in the 1700s and early 1800s came as redemptioners.

The "New Worlders"

To fill their ships, poor Europeans were recruited in places like Rotterdam. These recruiters were called "Neulaender," or "new worlders." They had often worked as indentured servants themselves in the colonies. Neulaender earned money for each person they brought to a ship. This meant they didn't always tell the whole truth about how the system worked. They would dress in fancy clothes to impress the villagers as they traveled around German-speaking areas to find recruits.

Most of these poor travelers who came to "pay later" were not actually paid for by family members. So, the name "redemptioner" can be a bit misleading. Most of them paid for their journey with their own hard work, tears, and sometimes even their lives. In America, their labor was seen as something that could be bought and sold legally until their work agreement ended.

Redemptioners vs. Enslaved People

There were big differences between redemptioners and enslaved African people. Redemptioners chose to come (even if they were misinformed). They also had some legal rights and a specific date when their work agreement would end. Enslaved people had no choice, no rights, and no end date to their servitude.

For example, a 1662 law in Virginia said that both enslaved and indentured servant women who had children with their masters had to work for an extra two years for the local church. However, another Virginia law from the same year stated that any servant who complained about harsh treatment, lack of food, or other needs could get help for their problems.

Life on the Journey and After Arrival

Life on the ship for redemptioners was often very hard. If someone died halfway across the Atlantic, their family members who survived still had to pay for the deceased person's trip, as well as their own. The ship's crew often stole their belongings. Many travelers started their journey with enough money to pay their way. But they were often charged too much, so they still arrived with a debt to pay. If a ship needed to sail before all the passengers' work agreements were sold, an agent in the American port would keep them confined until someone bought their labor.

Redemptioners who became indentured servants worked as farm laborers, household helpers, in workshops, and even as store clerks. They were usually not allowed to marry until their work term was over. When their contract ended, they often received a suit of clothes and sometimes tools like a shovel or an axe. Some contracts also required the master to teach the servant to read and write using the Bible. Conditions could be very tough, and newspapers from that time often had ads looking for escaped servants.

Ships from Rotterdam always stopped first in the U.K., often at Cowes, to clear British customs before sailing to the Colonies. A list of work agreements registered in Philadelphia from 1772 to 1773 shows that most people worked five to seven years to pay off their masters. The Bible allowed no more than seven years for any contract, and this influenced both the law and public opinion.

Personal Stories

Only two first-person stories from redemptioners have survived. They were published in 2006 in a book called Souls for Sale: Two German Redemptioners Come to Revolutionary America. By chance, both of them arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Sally in the fall of 1772. John Frederick Whitehead and Johann Carl Buettner were recruited in cities near the Baltic Sea. They were shipped as if they were prisoners to Rotterdam. They were originally supposed to go on ships of the Dutch East India Company heading to Indonesia. But their handlers missed that chance, so they sent them on a ship going to Pennsylvania instead.

Over time, Germans who had finished their indentured service formed German-American societies. One important thing they did was to push for fairer rules and better control over shipping companies.

Gottfried Duden, a German immigrant to Missouri, wrote letters that were published in 1829. These letters encouraged many German-speaking people to move to the U.S. in the 1800s. He wrote about redemptioners: "The poor Europeans who think they have purchased the land of their desires by the hardships endured during the journey across the sea are enslaved for five, seven, or more years for a sum that any vigorous day laborer earns within six months. The wife is separated from the husband, the children from their parents, perhaps never to see each other again."

By the time Duden published his letters, the redemptioner system was almost gone. However, as many as 50% to 70% of Germans who came to America in the 1700s arrived as redemptioners.