New York (N. Y.)

The New York Militia account book is comprised of financial records for a volunteer militia based in New York City. The book spans the years 1802 to 1814, though, since it contains legacy records from an "Old Account Book," the militia was likely established earlier than 1802. In the early 19th century, each state maintained compulsory and voluntary militias to protect against foreign attack and to uphold domestic order. The volunteer militias were often called "uniformed militias" since they purchased their own, often elaborate, uniforms. After the War of 1812, most local militias were replaced by the national United States Army.

For a list of militia members see additional descriptive data below.

In 1834, New York's 7th Ward fronted onto the East River southeast of Division Street in the lower east side of Manhattan. Its 15,873 residents lived in conditions that were poor and steadily declining, with open prostitution and slum development at either end. A $532 per capita income (in 1830) places the 7th Ward in the lower middle of all wards in the city, well below the $820 median income, and less than 30% of the income of the affluent 1st Ward. The 7th, in fact, had a lower average income than the neighboring 6th Ward ($628), which included the notorious Five Points Slum, though still double the income levels of its desperately poor neighbors to the north, the 10th and 13th Wards.

In the hotly contested elections of the 1830s and 40s, the 7th Ward was a key to victory. It came out with one of the highest Tammany votes in the presidential election of 1828, but swayed between the major parties for the next two decades in both local and national elections. For the national elections of 1840 and 1842, the ward was nearly evenly split between the Democratic and Whig Parties, though in the mayoral elections of those years, Whigs fared poorly, with the vote split between Democrats and the remnants of the National Republicans.

Children in New York from the eighteenth through the twentieth century were often placed under the care of the state because of the sickness, mental illness, or the imprisonment of the parents, or because of the general poverty of the family. Commissioners of the Almshouse oversaw the city's charities concerning the care of "insane, feeble-minded, sick, infirm, and destitute persons" and were supposed to care for children until they could be indentured, adopted, given back to a parent or family member, or until they turned sixteen.

Many children under the state's care were placed in orphan homes or "baby farms." Although it differed with time and in each borough, when a child was found, the child was generally sent to a specific hospital or the city nurse for care. The child was then transferred to a private foundling home or orphan asylum, often one that corresponded to what was perceived as the child's religion. These asylums received public subsidies and relieved the state of the burden of the children. These children placed in orphan homes often faced serious health issues and many times death.

It was also common practice to relieve the city of the burden of caring for children by indenturing them out. Children in New York City had been apprenticed since colonial times as a way to receive training in a particular trade or skill. Although some indentured children were from stable families who wished their child to be indentured, other children apprenticed were under the care of the almshouses or public charities. These indentures were often made under the objection of parents.

Although the conditions of the indentures varied over time, most colonial and post-Revolutionary apprentices were provided with clothing, food, lodging, some schooling, and training in a trade in exchange for a promise not to "commit fornication nor contract matrimony" as well as refrain from "Alehouses, Taverns, or Playhouses" and vices such as cards and dice. At the end of their term, an apprentice was generally given a new set of clothing and a bible. Children were indentured at ages ranging from a few weeks old to their teenage years; boys were apprenticed until they were 21 years old and girls until they were 18 years old. While a boy apprentice was supposed to learn the trade of his master, a girl apprentice was expected to do mostly housekeeping and sewing and functioned as a servant. The children of New York City were apprenticed in New York City as well as to families in New Jersey and places elsewhere in the country.

While some apprentices were well cared for and perhaps even adopted by their masters, other apprentices faced cruel or lazy masters and ended up living the life of a slave. Although the indenture was a legal contract, many were cancelled due to a master's cruel treatment or his unhappiness with the child as well as for an apprentice running away or getting married. The Commissioners of the Almshouse were responsible for disputes between masters and apprentices as well as for the investigation of accusations of mistreatment and violation of agreement. In 1849 laws were passed giving parents the right to break an indenture and resume care of their child.

In 1860, the Department of Public Charities and Correction of the City of New-York took over the functions of the Governors of the Almshouse, and the Commissioner of Public Charities became responsible for the indenturing of children. The agency eventually became the Department of Welfare in 1936. Although an exact date is unclear, children in New York City were apprenticed until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Sources:

Peterson, Arthur Evert and George William Edwards. New York as an Eighteenth Century Municipality . New York: Longmans, Green & Company, 1917.

Romanofsky, Peter. "Saving the Lives of the City's Foundlings" New-York Historical Society Quarterly v. 61 (January/April 1977), 49-68.

Klips, Stephen A., Institutionalizing the Poor : the New York City almshouses, 1825-1860 . Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1981.

Richard Varick served during the Revolutionary War as an aide to General Benedict Arnold. After the war, in addition to serving in various posts in New York state government, he helped found the American Bible Society.

The origins of the New York City Fire Department trace back to 1648 when the first fire ordinance was adopted in the city then known as New Amsterdam. Fire fighting equipment (buckets, ladders, etc.) was purchased with funds derived from fines on dirty chimneys, and an eight-man "fire watch" was established. The first New York fire brigade entered service in 1731, the city's first firehouse was built in 1736, and the following year the Fire Department of the City of New York was officiall established. The department was an all-volunteer force until 1865, when state legislation created the Metropolitan Fire Department (MFD), staffed with paid professionals.

[Adapted from information found on the FDNY website at http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/history/fire_service.shtml .]