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West Tennessee's Forgotten Children: Apprentices, 1821-1889West Tennessees Forgotten Children: Apprentices, 1821-1889, Alan N. Miller. Paperback, 230 pages, 2010 repr.
This book marks the third and concluding volume in Dr. Alan N. Millers series of extractions of Tennessee apprenticeship records. Just as he did for the 29 counties of East Tennessee and 35 counties of Middle Tennessee, Dr.Miller has sifted through the apprenticeship records of West Tennessee and brought them within the reach of the genealogy researcher. This third volume of Tennessees "forgotten children" contains some over 4,000 apprenticeship records scattered among the minutes of the county courts for West Tennessee. These records span the period from 1821-1889 and list in tabular form the apprenticeships created in the following 19 Tennessee counties: Benton, Carroll, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Shelby, Tipton, and Weakley. The institution of apprenticeship was a common means of providing for the maintenance and future self-reliance of orphaned children as well as for any children whose parents had abandoned them or otherwise refused to support them. Apprenticeship records ( which ordinarily take the form of bonds and indentures) are ordinarily buried among volumes of original county court minute books. They are nonetheless valuable to genealogists because they establish the existence of young people who might otherwise go undetected in the more conventional genealogical sources. |