The Infortunate: The Voyage and Adventures of William Moraley an Indentured Servant

About this book

William Moraleys autobiography originally published in 1743 provides a rare view of life among the lower classes in England and the American middle colonies during the early eighteenth century. 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. His account brims over with observations about the geography and climate the flora and fauna and the customs politics religions superstitions material conditions and daily lives of the inhabitants of New Jersey Pennsylvania and New York. Of special interest are his comments about servants slaves and Native Americansgroups frequently ignored by early travelers. Moraleys experiences were similar to those of many other eighteenth-century European immigrants who sold themselves into servitude but he is among only a handful of people at the bottom of society who left memoirs of their lives. Smart sassy and articulate Moraley narrates a take of adventure designed primarily to entertain. At times a rogue a drunkard a liar a vagabond and a petty thief he boasts that he could "rake with the best of them." But the autobiography has considerable historical value as well. It depicts the life of a down-and-out artisan whose fortunes like so many other bound laborers did not substantially improve. The reasons for the different career paths of such working people have been the subject of much scholarly debate and these memoirs can more firmly ground that controversy in actual human experience. The substantial introduction by Klepp and Smith reconstructs Moraleys life relates the autobiography to the literary developments of the era compares the careers of Moraley and Franklin and discusses the authors social political and religious worlds. It also identifies and leaves open to differing interpretations a host of issues and paradoxes about eighteenth-century life raised by Moraleys account.