Bruce wrote:
Bowen explains the term servant
as follows: "Three hundred years ago anyone who was a "servant" who
worked
for another whether in the capacity of farmhand or lawyer." (p. 113).
That definition leaves out a crucial word. A servant could indeed be
described as someone who worked SOLELY for another person. The status
of a servant was thus that of a dependent serving a master, not to
mince words. Of course, an INDENTURED servant is bound to that status
for the term of his indenture, but he's a free man after that. It's
that simple.
For both men one wonders how they
accumulated their money. One suspects some manner of patronage arrangement
with their employers.
Don't forget that money "grew on trees" in those days. Even servants
get some time off, and an energetic man could obtain a grant of
wilderness land and turn it into a farm on his own account.
John Chandler