Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/75

DOCUMENTS Diary of John Harroivcr, ijy^-iyyS That indented servants were a large class among the emigrants to the American colonies is well known, but it is not to be expected that we should ever obtain a large amount of knowledge of the fortunes of a class so obscure and inarticulate. It is known, also, that of the many Scottish indented servants who came to Virginia before the Revolution, some were employed as schoolmasters. But it was by no means to be expected that we should be able to print, not only the actual diary of an indented servant, but that of one belonging to this peculiarly interesting class. That we are per- mitted to do so is owing to the kindness of Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins, assistant librarian of the Virginia Historical Society. The document, printed with necessary omission of portions not now interesting, affords most valuable glimpses into the life of an in- dented servant in America, even though the writer was plainly above the average of that class in intelligence and not all his exper- iences are typical. The book in which the diary is written is a small quarto volume (about 8x6 in.) bound in vellum, and con- taining at present 145 pages. It once contained a few more. It was found among the papers of the Corbin family, of Moss Neck and Farley Vale, Virginia. Diligent efforts have been made to discover something of the earlier history of John Harrower, of Lerwick in Shetland. These have been seconded, with the utmost kindness, by James M. Goudie, Esq., of Lerwick, a devoted student of Shetland antiquities, and by Francis J. Grant, Esq., Rothesay Herald, Edinburgh. But little has been found. Mr. Goudie has obligingly sent a series of contributions by him to the Shetland Times, embracing extracts from the kirk-session records of Lerwick, and others entitled " Annals of the County of Zetland," edited by another hand. These cast light upon some of the friends mentioned by Harrower, they illustrate the surroundings from which he emigrated, and they to a certain ex- tent exhibit his points of contact with America before he thought of coming here. Thus, on October 15, 1773, only seven weeks before he left his home, a letter from the sheriff substitute is laid before the kirk -session asking charitable aid for the many destitute VOL. VI.— 5. ( 65 )