4. 'A poor lad' born 1706 'about whom nothing more
in known'
5.
6. Ships masters: Mr John Gilchrist; Mr Mottrom Wright
7. Transported May 1767
An indentured servant is a labourer
under contract of the employer for some period of time, usually three to
seven years, in exchange for such things as ship's passage, food, land
and accommodations.
Unlike a slave, an indentured servant was required to work only for a
limited term specified in a signed contract.
A major problem with the system of indentured servitude was that in
many cases, an indentured servant would become indebted to their
employer, who would forgive the debt in exchange for an extension to the
period of their indenture, which could thereby continue indefinitely. In
other cases, indentured servants were subject to violence at the hands
of their employers in the homes or fields in which they worked.
The labour-intensive cash crop of tobacco was farmed in the American
South by indentured laborers in the 17th and 18th centuries.[1]
Indentured servitude was not the same as the apprenticeship system by
which skilled trades were taught, but similarities do exist between the
two mechanisms, in that both require a set period of work.
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