Mary Farrel, Indentured Runaway Servant: Irish Women of Massachusetts

Mary Farrel

(1725)

Little is known about Mary Farrel, apart from a New England Courant advertisement on January 29, 1725, describing her as a ‘runaway Irish servant maid’ with a reward for her return. When she absconded on a cold winter night, Farrel was wearing only ‘a black Griffet Gown, an old grey Petticoat, and a pair of Ticken Shoes with red heels.’ Thousands of Irish boys and girls came to America in the 1700s as indentured servants. Some of them came voluntarily, while others were kidnapped by marauding British soldiers as cheap labor in the colonies.

Mary Farrel is part of BITA's 2019 Irish Women of Massachusetts series in celebration of Irish Heritage Month and Women's History Month.

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