CARPENTER-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: Irish Waifs
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 22:42:22 EST

Bruce writes:

<< To imply that my ancestor James Redway was an Irish waif is unfair and
probably not
historically accurate. >>

I have no idea what prompted this, but I neither said nor implied any such
thing. I said that Redway (who is my ancestor, also) arrived in Massachusetts
as an indentured servant ("for the terme of three yeares") but nevertheless
rose to the status of yeoman. This was in partial demonstration of the fact
that the New England class structure was never as rigid as that of Old
England.

Although Redway's immediate origin was Dublin, it is certain he was *not*
Irish: the obituary of editor and publisher George7 Redway (1835-1923)
indicates that his father’s family was from Devonshire, England (_Medina [Ohio]
Gazette_, 7 Dec. 1923); a survey of IGI entries for England indicates that those
bearing his surname and its variants (Reddaway, Radway, Ridway, etc.) were
concentrated in that county. In any case, the depiction (real or imagined) of a
person as an Irish waif would only seem "unfair" to someone with a low
opinion of the Irish and/or of waifs.

It seems to me that any further discussion of Redway family history on the
Carpenter mailing list would be inappropriate.

Gene Z.

This thread:

• Irish Waifs by "Bruce E. Carpenter" <>

  • Re: Irish Waifs by