# What does this person mean by "bound out"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-person-mean-by-bound-out/646886>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 11, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-person-mean-by-bound-out/646886 "2013-01-11T18:45:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-person-mean-by-bound-out/646886/1 "2013-01-11T18:45:17Z")

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I ran across this quote by one of my ancestors on [geneology.com](http://geneology.com).

> [@](#):
>
> "I was born in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, was bound out by my father when four years old to one David Reed.

What does he mean by “bound out”? I assume it doesn’t mean sold, as this is a white guy and it was in Pennsylvania. I was thinking maybe it’s an apprenticeship but four years old seems awfully young for something like that.

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**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-person-mean-by-bound-out/646886/2 "2013-01-11T18:48:16Z")

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Quick Google: [here.](http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~seky/folfoot/015.html)

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-person-mean-by-bound-out/646886/3 "2013-01-11T19:51:13Z")

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You are correct, it is apprenticesship - think about Oliver Twist - he was ‘bound out’ by the beedle to an undertaker at [I think, I would have to go back and reread it] something like 6 years old.

Children were treated as miniature adults, kids started doing small tasks around the house at 4 to 5 years old, and were effectively miniature adults by 10 or so. [in general if a kid survived childhood illnesses and whatever diseases were going around until they hit 5, they generally survived well into adulthood]

So the progression would frequently be birth-5 at home as a child, 5-15 apprentice, 15-20 or 25 journeyman, 25 and up lesser master or full master and owning their own business and probably married or considering marriage. A frequent way to get mastery and a business was to marry your masters widow … makes me wonder if there was a sneaky trade in assassination going on in some large cities. Guilds were very restrictive over membership in many fields.

And just because you had a farm didn’t mean that you didn’t get bound apprentices, that is what ‘hiring fairs’ were all about. Maids of all work, dairy maids, scullerys, houseboys, stock boys [livestock that is] any other job that needed little but a healthy body and few skills could be bound at a hiring fair.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-person-mean-by-bound-out/646886/5 "2025-12-13T02:03:48Z")

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