I believe the word is vendue: "2 Articles of vendue" misspelled "vandue." "Articles to vendue the Poor belonging to the Town of..." It means articles sold at a sale at public auction, particularly a sale made under authority of law, as by a constable, sheriff, tax collector, etc. Cf. Black's, Rev. 4th, p. 1726. ----- Original Message ----- From: Poor House Lady <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 9:04 AM Subject: Auctioning of the Poor -- Legal term > We are trying to transcribe a document which is a record of the auctioning > of the poor of a town in 1832. (This is for posting on the history page of > our website called The POORHOUSE STORY -- which is a clearinghouse for > information about 19th century American poorhouses.) > > It is easier to SHOW you what I am working with rather than just telling you > about it. So, if you would be so kind as to go to > http://www.poorhousestory.com/AUCTION_POOR.htm you can view the document. > > The Title of the document, written in the usual place on the back of the > tri-folded paper, and the first phrase use a term with which I am > unfamiliar. And, of course, I have the usual dilemna ... how do you look it > up (to check the spelling) if you don't already know how to spell it! > > The title looks like ... Articles of Vandice > And the opening phrase looks like ... Articles to vendice (sp?) > > We believe that it and the opening phrase in the body of the document > (below) are related to the derivation of the word "vendor" -- > Main Entry: ven.dor > Pronunciation: 'ven-d&r, for 1 also ven-'dor > Function: noun > Etymology: Middle French vendeur, from vendre to sell, from Latin vendere > Date: 1594 > Variant(s): also vend.er /-d&r/ > > Any help verifying this term would be greatly appreciated. > > PS I could e-mail a larger and somewhat clearer scan of the document than > was feasible to post on the website. > PPS We are also having trouble deciphering the name of the town and are > uncertain what state it was in. Sigh. > > Thanks, > Linda Crannell > (aka=The Poorhouse Lady) >