Hi Beverly: The United States did not begin keeping lists of foreign passengers aboard ships until 1820. If your ancestor came to the American Colonies prior to the American Revolution: If they were English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh- they were British Citizens and would not have to give allegiance to the British Crown If they were German, as in your case, they may well have gone to England before coming to America. They probably would have given their allegiance to the British Crown in England. They would have sailed aboard a British flagged vessel.Because they were sailing from a British port to a British port, there would have been no passenger list. The only colony I know of that required oaths of Allegiance at immigration time to the colony was Pennsylvania. Many of those oaths are published in Rupp's 30,000 (something like) Immigrants to Pennsylvania. It is possible Germans coming to Pennsylvania may well have moved on down to Virginia. I would think they probably would have served out their indentureship, if any, in Pennsylvania. It is possible the person who bought their indenture might have moved on to VA and brought the indentured person with them. If this happened they may well have come down the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley. There were some Germans in the early years of Virginia brought over by Gov Spotswood. These were the Germana Colony Germans. They would have been in Eastern-Central VA. I forgot the exact years, but, I would say your people were too young to have been a part of this group. You need to check Cavaliers and Pioneers (about 6 volumes) and Adventures of Purse and Person and Greer's Early Virginia Immigrants for lists of people whose passage to Virginia was paid for by others. These ARE NOT immigration lists. They are lists of those who paid the passageof others and were getting land from the government for payment for the passage money. Thirdly, there were many German immigrants coming into Maryland. There are lists of people who received land for paying the passage of others.-similar to Virginia. First you asked about indentures 1700-1735 and then say your people were born in the 1740's. Indentures were contracts. The indentures, if you find them will be in the county records. As another note on Germans. The first mass migration of Germans to America was in 1709 in New York. You should check books compiled by Hank Z Jones. He has done a remarkable job tracing many of these families backward from New York to their place of immigration in Germany. Good Luck, MIC Mic Barnette writes a genealogy column in the Houston Chronicle. Read it at http://barnettesbooks.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Beverly Barnett <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 5:54 PM Subject: Re: indentured > > Greetings: > > Has anyone discovered BARNETTs among the immigrant passenger lists 1700 > > to 1735? My BARNETT was an indentured servant in Virginia 1735. I was > > hoping to find her among the passenger lists, but I have not been > > successful yet. Anyone else had any luck? > > Charles > > > My emigrants were also indentured in Virginia. > Mine came from Germany with the name of Philip > Berndt which was changed to Barnett and his future > wife was Barbara Huter. He was born 1746 and she > 1749, They both arrived as indentured servants, > but I don't know when. > > Beverly Barnett >