1802, January 7

To the Selectmen of Epsom. Gentlemen; I have a child under my care about seven years old, of who I am the mother and find myself not able to support the child in such a manner as it ought to be. I therefore desire that you Gentlemen, as Guardians of the poor and indigent of the town, would bind said child to some suitable person, and your Petitioner begs leave suggest that she thinks James Moses a suitable person to take said child.
Hannah (X - her mark) Bickford

This indenture witnesseth: that the Selectmen of Epsom, viz James Harvey McClary, Thomas Babb and Josiah Sanborn, have bound unto James Moses of the same Epsom, a boy by the name of Isaac Towle, by and with the consent and desire of Hannah Bickford, widow, and mother of the said boy, do bind the said boy on Apprentice to the said Moses and to Elizabeth his wife, till the time said boy shall arrive to the age of twenty one years, to be learnt the common art of husbandry during which time the said Apprentice, his said master and mistress faithfully shall serve, there secrets keep and lawful commands __ where obey, he shall do no harm to his said Master or Mistress, he shall not waste his said Master's or Mistress' goods nor lend them unlawfully to any, he shall not commit fornication nor contract matrimony within said terms; at cards or any other unlawful game, he shall not play; He shall not absent himself by day or by night from his said Master or Mistress without their leave; nor haunt taverns, but in all things behave himself as a faithful apprentice ought to do towards his Master and Mistress during said term. And the said James Moses and his Wife doth hereby covenant and promise to teach and instruct or cause to be taught and instructed in the calling of common and good husbandry and to find and provide for said apprentice good and sufficient meat, drink, appard, washing, lodging and necessary physic during said term and to give unto said apprentice within said term twelve months schooling and such schooling as shall be kept in the District in which I reside. Six months of said schooling to begin to said boy after he arrives to the age of fourteen years. And the said James Moses for himself and wife promise and engages to give to said Boy at the time he arrives to the age of twenty one years two good suits of wearing apparel, one suitable to work in and the other for Holy Days and also fifty dollars worth of Neat Stock at the time; at the common cash price - In witness whereof, we the parties to the present have interchangeably set our hands and seals this seventh day of January 1802.