Many children worked during the 19th and 20th centuries. In the early part of the 19th century, children were often apprenticed to a skilled tradesperson. In exchange for their labor, they were taught a trade. Other children worked doing household chores, on farms, in mills, in stores, or for home-based industries to help their family make ends meet. For the middle-class Dana children, their work included helping in their father’s store, gardening, doing yard work, hauling water, cleaning stables, caring for animals, and gathering wood.

Work

For many years, children routinely worked legally. Age, size, and acumen in performing the labor required were the deciding factors of whether a child was ready for work. A family’s income was also a major factor in determining whether a child worked. The 1870 federal census found that 1 out of every 8 children was employed. This rate increased to more than 1 in 5 children by 1900. Between 1890 and 1910, no less than 18 percent of all children ages 10‒15 worked. Nineteenth-century reformers and labor organizers sought to restrict child labor and improve working conditions.  

A boy stands on top of the pug mill at the Taftsville Brickyard. His job was most likely to ensure that the horse continued pulled the sweep to grind the clay.

Household chores

Girls were generally assigned household chores such as washing and mending clothes, making soap, collecting firewood, cooking, and cleaning. Boys were expected to tend the livestock, split and gather the firewood, maintain the yard, plant and weed the garden, repair the tools, and even help run the family business.

“Milking, when my turn came, was not so nice, and to this day I distinctly do not care for milk. Picking up chips, cutting kindling, bringing in wood, —seven stoves almost warmed the house even at 20 below—feeding the pigs and cows, feeding and currying the horse and cleaning out his stall, and weeding the garden, all of them, as seen sixty years after, are remembered with pleasure. Memories of hateful labor have not survived. Certainly, the habit of doing things, of taking part in housekeeping mechanics, had later its helpful reactions.”

John Cotton Dana

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships provided a way for children to learn a skilled trade. The terms of the apprenticeship were written out in advance, including what the apprentices would receive at the conclusion of their years of service. In many cases, they were given clothes, tools, or other items by their “masters” so that when their apprenticeships were completed, they’d be prepared to start out on their own. In Woodstock, there were a number of “masters” and “mistresses” looking for apprentices to help in a variety of fields, including cabinet making, bookbinding, and tailoring.

Indentures

In contrast to an apprenticeship, where the person was a trainee, with an indentureship, the person was bound to work for a “master” for a specified period of time. It appears that not all indentured servants were treated well, as there are a number of ads in newspapers for runaway indentured servants.

Home workshops

Many children in the 19th century worked at home, assisting adult family members in producing items such as clothing.  These home-based businesses increased the country’s productive capacity as well as the earnings of individual families.

Farm Work

For many families, especially those on a farm, children were essential to a family’s prosperity.  On a farm, there were always animals to be fed, fences to be mended, pens to be cleaned, cows to be milked, and gardens to be weeded. With so much work to be done, children were a critical part of the labor pool, and they were able to do more than simply earn their keep. Consequently, the prevalence of large farm families can be attributed to economics, as well as the dictates of religion and the fear of high infant mortality.

Mills

Many of the workers in mills, particularly those making textiles, were women and children. The workers in these mills often worked 14 hours a day under harsh conditions that included the deafening noise of the machines, temperatures during the summer of over 90 degrees, and poor air quality that contained dust and bits of fiber.

It is no wonder that “the girls” (many of whom were adults) at the Solomon Woodward Mill in Woodstock decided to go on strike in 1866, demanding that their hours be reduced from 14 hours to 11 hours a day.

Addie Card.

Addie Card working in a cotton mill in Vermont (North Pownal) in 1910. Addie quit school after the fourth grade to work in the mill. Photo taken by Lewis Hine. Library of Congress.