RHEA-L Archives

From: "Patricia Hall" <>
Subject: Indenture with several meanings
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:21:13 -0500

This was sent to one of the lists I belong to, thought it might be of interest to someone.

Pat

INDENTURE
Of some interest, here, is the old meaning of the term, <indenture>. In the
old meaning, this meant that an original signed agreement was cut or torn in at
least two pieces. The jagged or <indented> edges of the two pieces gave the
name to the document. One would expect that the person with the power in the arrangement
(such as owner of land being sold) would keep the part with his signature. Any
agreement could be treated this way. When the terms of the agreement were fulfilled,
the two pieces would be reunited in possession of the person who was obligated to
pay, or to spend time in labor, or whatever the arrangement was. Possession of
the whole document was the possessor's evidence that the terms of the agreement
had been met.

Land-sale records were called <indentures> until very recently. The act of
cutting the document or <indenting> it became a noun, such that numerous types
of agreements were called <indentures>. From this a different verb was derived,
<to indenture> meaning roughly to obligate, and by the early 19th century
<to indenture> meant more specifically to bind someone or one's self to servitude.

There were at least two types of such indentures to servitude. One was the general
case, where an impoverished person agreed to work for someone under stated conditions
that might include a minimum wage, lodging, food, washing and might even include
providing minimum shoes and clothing. A common sub-set of this type would be where
Overseers of the Poor (or, earlier, Church Vestrymen) would put a child to such
service, usually with provision that she or he receive some skill training (whether
farming, spinning, blacksmithing, weaving, etc.), room and board and laundry, minimum
clothing. The agreement might include a freedom suit of clothing or minimum money
amount at the end of the term of service. It might specify that the child receive
formal education, such as that he attend school three months in the year, or be
taught arithmetic to the "rule of three". The end of the term would be
the date of the child's coming of age, or date of marriage, whichever came first
(many!
indentures specified that the person could not marry during the term of service,
but if a child was put to a friend or relative a marriage was more possible).

The second type of child-indenture was where a parent wanted a son to learn a skilled
trade, such as silver- or black- smithing, weaving, cabinet-making, etc. Such an
agreement would likewise include some or all of the above conditions. This could
be done at any time during the child's life. Such provisions might be mandated
for one or more children in a Last Will and Testament.

If a child was put in care of Vestrymen or Overseers of the Poor in order not to
become a "charge on the County," these officials were supposed to oversee
the conditions of the indenture. They did not always, but sometimes abusive conditions
were such that either relatives, neighbors, or the officials themselves pressed
the County Court of Common Pleas (later, the circuit court) to remove the child
from charge of one person and put them out to a different person. This might also
occur if the person in charge of a child were going to move out of the County.
There might be a Court record of this. I found a record in Harrison County where
one of my little cousins was very badly treated and the Court record suggests there
was a hearing where the child and witnesses gave evidence as to the situation; some
of the grisly details were actually put in the Court record.

lSo it's worth a search during the term of the indenture, to see if someone stepped
in to enforce terms of the agreement. But usually what you'll find in Monongalia
Co. is only an order by the Court for the Overseers of the Poor to indenture the
child to a certain individual for a certain duration. In Monongalia Co. the Court
didn't even always determine the child's exact age, so the date of expiration of
the agreement might not have been certain. This might occasionally be the cause
of a next-friend of the child's going to court to have the indenture terminated,
but I have not seen this in the order books I looked at.

This thread:

• Indenture with several meanings by "Patricia Hall" <>