The Poor Akley Family

Back in April, I started to look into the men Owen Richards sued for tarring and feathering him on 18 May 1770.

The first and easiest to track was Joseph Doble, both because he came from a fairly prominent maritime family and because he spelled his name only two ways.

The next name on my list, Joseph Akley, has been more difficult. I’ve found his family name spelled Akly, Akeley, Aikley, Aykley, and even Heakley. In later life he used Ackley, but his mother and his widow chose other forms. One influential source appears to have remembered him as Eckley. I’m going to stick with Akley just because I’ve already created a label for him under that spelling.

Joseph Akley’s story starts on 8 June 1750 when the Rev. Dr. Joseph Sewall married Francis Aikley (or Akley) and Tabitha Bull (or Buell) at Old South. I can’t find any period mention of Francis Akley’s profession. [ADDENDUM: It looks like he was a wheelwright.]

Francis and Tabitha started to have children on a regular basis. According to the New South Meeting-House records, its minister baptized:

• Francis, Jr., on 19 May 1751
• Joseph, 5 July 1752
• Tabitha, 9 Dec 1753
• Thomas, 25 May 1755
• John, 4 Sept 1757
• Sarah, 25 Mar 1759
• Mary, 18 Jan 1761
• Samuel, 13 May 1764

In addition, there was a William born in 1769.

The Akleys had trouble caring for all those children, which provides a second set of records about them—from Boston’s Overseers of the Poor.

The first sign of the family intersecting with those town officials was on 14 Oct 1762 when Joseph, aged ten, was bound out to Timothy Winship of Boston until 10 June 1773, which would be when he turned twenty-one.

The following May, older brother Francis was indentured to Edward Houghton of Lancaster until 16 Mar 1772. He was to be trained as a cooper. That indenture appears above, courtesy of Digital Commonwealth.

The next year, the family needed more support. On 5 Jan 1764, Overseer Benjamin Dolbeare authorized the almshouse to take in “Tabitha Akley And 4 Children.”

In October the Overseers indentured the other two Akley boys. Thomas was sent to the Rev. Jason Haven of Dedham, probably as a household servant, to serve until 3 Oct 1777. This relationship was legally renewed on 6 Feb 1771 and then again in duplicate on 6 Nov 1771. Perhaps the Akleys or Haven grew dissatisfied and ended the arrangement but then went back to it. 

On 11 Oct 1764 the Boston Overseers bound seven-year-old John Akely out to Samuel and Lucy Williams of Springfield to work until 1 Apr 1779. Williams was identified as a gentleman, and he didn’t promise to teach John any trade, just “to Read Write & Cypher,” which suggests the boy was to be a household servant. Williams also promised to give John £13.6s.8d. when he came of age. The Akley children were being dispersed far across the province.

For the next four years the diminished family appears to have eked by, but on 1 Apr 1768 Overseer John Bradford sent “3. Children of Francis Akley” to the almshouse. Those three children were sent out of town in the following months:

• In May, nine-year-old Sarah Akley was bound out to Joshua Clap of Scituate to learn housewifery until 1 Mar 1777.
• In June, four-year-old Samuel was sent to John Merrill of Topsham, Maine, to be trained as a wheelwright until 17 June 1785.
• In September, seven-year-old Mary was indentured to Edward Russel of North Yarmouth, Maine, to learn housewifery until 20 Dec 1780.

On 11 Aug 1769, “Tabitha Akley & Child” came into the house “from Workhouse.” On 20 August, Overseer Samuel Partridge sent “Willm. Akley a Child” there.

About a year later, on 17 Sept 1770, Overseer Royall Tyler authorized “Tabitha Akley & Child” to be admitted into the almshouse, and on 26 October Joseph Waldo did so again. On 7 Feb 1771, Edward Richardson “Discharg’d Tabitha Akley to Workhouse.” (This might have been the daughter Tabitha, who turned eighteen that year.)

On 16 Sept 1772, Overseer John Leverett admitted the father Francis Akley into the workhouse, designating him as “Lame.” On 23 Oct 1773 Tabitha Akley was moved from the workhouse to the almshouse by order of Overseer Samuel Whitwell.

The last mention of the family in the surviving Overseers of the Poor records came when those officials bound out William Akley from 6 Oct 1774 to 15 Feb 1790 to learn navigation from Capt. Shubael Downes. Back-calculating from his date of majority, William was then five years old; he had first entered the almshouse as an infant.

TOMORROW: Joseph Akley’s new master.