[Mrs. Don-o]

One of my great-grandmothers came over here from Rheinpfalz in 1870 on an indenture contract to an undertaker.

I don't know much about it, but the story is that after working at the funeral home without pay, just room and board (how many years I do not know) she absconded with the man she loved --- a wine and beer-barrel maker, (also from Rhineland-Palatinate) and they went to another state and got married.

Don't know why she was never caught. I'm pretty sure that legally she could have been dragged back to her employer or imprisoned.

It has all the elements of a happy story, though. True love, a thrilling escape, and beer.

[SuperLuminal]

"One of my great-grandmothers came over here from Rheinpfalz in 1870 on an indenture contract to an undertaker."

Have a couple of relatives (they were brothers) who came to the colonies in the late 1600's as indentured servants... The contract was for 5-years, although it appears as if they only spent 3-years before becoming free...

By the mid-1700's the family & descendants had built an entire town in MA and were considered, at that time, to be almost wealthy...

[Elsie]

It has all the elements of a happy story, though. True love, a thrilling escape, and beer.

Proverbs 31:6-7 NIV

Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish!