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The Edward Corder Senior Memorial Library, a
Digital Archive
A collection of digitized documents relating
to Edward Corder Sr. and his descendants
Established January 2007, organized
and maintained by Laura Henderson
This collection is intended for educational
use by genealogical researchers of the Corder family and allied
lines. Please do not copy or distribute these resources, or use
them for commercial purposes or in publications of any kind without
permission from the original sources or copyright holders.
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Research and Working Documents
Organized by Subject/Individual, Topic,
and Date
Please contact
me if you can provide additional information or details relating
to any of these topics.
Subject:
Edward Corder Senior (b. ca. 1700 England - d. ca. 1770 Frederick
Co., VA)
Topic: Transportation and Indenture
“Sir, they
are a race of convicts and ought to be content with anything we
may allow them short of hanging.”
-- Dr. Johnson, 1769
"In what can Britain
show a more sovereign contempt for us than by emptying their jails
into our settlements; unless they would likewise empty their [privies]
on our tables!"
--The Virginia Gazette, 1751
"I sentence you, but
to what I know not: perhaps to storm and shipwreck, perhaps to
infectious disorders, perhaps to famine, perhaps to be massacred
by savages, perhaps to be devoured by wild beasts. Away! Take
your chance! Perish or prosper, suffer or enjoy. I rid myself
of the sight of you."
-- Jeremy Bentham, English Social Reformer (1748-1832)
"All the states of
horror I ever had an idea of, are much short of what I saw this
poor man in; chained to a board in a hole not above sixteen feet
long, more than fifty with him; a collar and padlock about his
neck, and chained to five of the most dreadful creatures I ever
looked on."
--Visitor to a convict ship
1718
Notes
on the Transportation Act of 1718 [76K PDF]
Compiled by Laura Henderson,
2007
A brief collection of notes regarding the causes and effects
of the Transportation Act passed by the British Parliament in
1718. The Act allowed Britain to send its convicts to America
as indentured servants, causing Benjamin Franklin to compare
the practice to "packing up North American rattlesnakes
and sending them all to England." I cannot recommend strongly
enough that those interested in the penal practice of transportation
and its social and economic effects on Britain's colonies read
Bruce Kercher's article Perish
or Prosper: The Law and Convict Transportation in the British
Empire, 1700–1850 (especially the section "Transportation
to the American Colonies").
Relevant to:
Edward Corder I
1721
& 1722
Passenger Lists, Gilbert [84K PDF]
Transcription by Sheila Tate,
a member of the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, 23 April
2000
Notice that Edward Corder does not appear on the first passenger
list, but only on a secondary list which bears the caveat"These
could be additional passengers for Ship Gilbert dated 31 January
1721 but were recorded separately". Note
that the first passenger list (which, again, does not contain
Edward's name) was compiled between 10 October 1720 and
12 November 1720 and dated 31 January 1721 for departure on
or around that date -- nearly eleven months before Edward Corder
was arrested on 2nd
November 1721, and tried on 6 December 1721. The January
1721 voyage of the Gilbert arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, in
May of that year and . This was nearly eleven months before,
so I believe that the second list was actually from the January
1722 voyage of the Gilbert (Capt. Darby Lux) which arrived in
Annapolis in July of that year and was known to carry Edward
Corder, William Cryer, Walter Shelton, John Green, Anne Merritt
(Walden) and others.
Relevant to: Edward
Corder I
1721
& 1724 Statistics
on the Ages and Occupations of Passengers Transported aboard
the Gilbert and the Jonathan, [132K PDF]
Compiled by A.
Roger Ekirch from records of the Guildhall Library of London
Statistics from
a 1721 voyage of the Gilbert and a 1724 voyage of the
Jonathan to the colony of Maryland show that most of
the convicts fell between the ages of 15-29, and about 50% were
low-skilled or unskilled laborers. Not surprisingly, there were
no "landed society" on either ship, and only two "wealthy
tradesmen". Note
that I believe that Edward Corder was actually a passenger on
the 1722 voyage of the Gilbert, a passenger group not represented
in this set of data, but probably of similar composition.
Relevant
to: Edward
Corder I
1722
A
Study of the Fates of the Felons Sentenced and/or Transported
with Edward Corder Sr., London, 1721/1722, [112K PDF]
A working document compiled
by Laura Henderson, 2007
My attempt to analyze
relevant sentencing and passenger lists in order to determine
whether there are patterns or similarities which might provide
clues to the immediate fate of Edward Corder after he landed
in Annapolis, Maryland, July 1722 aboard the Gilbert. My hope
is that by researching records pertaining to those who were
sentenced or transported with Edward, I might find leads in
my search for the purchaser of his indenture. Surnames include:
Alcock, Anderson, Angel, Andrews, Beton/Beaton, Bickerton, ,
Bindly/Brinley/Brindley, Cropper, Clopper, Cryer, Ellen, Fairborn,
Farthing, Foxwel, Gill, Graham/Grimes, Goulston, Graystock/Graystoke,
Hargrove, Hart, Harvey/Harvy/Harvie, Herbert, Hogg, Hogrel,
Holmes, Irvenoner, Langly/Langley, Laws, Lee, Mason, Merrit/Watson,
Mob/Mobbs, Moore, Nash, Nichols, Overy, Pain, Parker, Pool,
Salner, Scoon, Seaton, Sergeant, Simpson, Slater, Swann/Graves,
Sweetman, Thomas, Veal, Walton, Warminger, Williams, and Wingfield/Wingfoild/Winfield.
As of January 2007,
a lot of interesting information but no viable leads.
Relevant
to: Edward
Corder I
Related
resources: White
Servitude (article)
Subject:
Edward Corder Senior and/or Edward Corder Jr.
Topic: Life in the Colony of Virginia
1744
& 1769 Edward
Corder referenced in Frederick County, VA Road Orders
[76K PDF]
Transcribed from Frederick
County Road Orders 1743-1772 by G. Luckman and A.B. Miller,
2005
Two 1744 road orders
referencing Edward Corder (including other familiar local names
such as Samuel Earle, John Hite, and William Ramey, progenitor
of the 19th c. allied line of Ramey), and a third 1769 order
in which Corder is mentioned. None of the records specify Sr.
or Jr.
Relevant
to: Edward
Corder I and/or Edward Corder II.
This collection is intended for educational
use by genealogical researchers of the Corder family and allied
lines. Please do not copy or distribute these resources, or use
them for commercial purposes or in publications of any kind without
permission from the original sources or copyright holders.
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