Marian - at the risk of being VERY wrong I'll throw my 2 cents in, and wait to be corrected. My impression from various readings is that there were 3 main scenarios (this refers to Barbados) - indenture was a contract for a matter of years usually about 3-10 with often the promise of "something" at the end - a piece of land. It was a "voluntary" contract. Prisoners also seemed to have been sold for specific time periods with no carrot at the end and it is my understanding that terms could be added onto for various reasons after they were sold. Kidnapped - well - I'm not sure on this one, however it does not seem to be for life or perpetual unless, for infractions, the term was added onto. I don't get the impression that though they were often treated badly & the "carrot" at the end of indenture didn't always materialize, that they were ever considered enslaved for life, unless ill treatment brought and end to their lives prematurely. Of course some of their owners were Irish. Some went on to become land & slave owners themselves. Some to become overseers & militia. Some got their bits of land and hung on or prospered. Many left. It is very difficult to generalize. Lisa J

there are some historical writings of the late 1600 early 1700's which refer to European slaves and endentured labourers in the eastern Caribbean. One writer a Catholic Priest wrote of the plight of endentured labourers. At that time according to him, the death rate was extremely high as the owner got the maximum labour out of them in the 7 yrs he had them --- if they died at 6 1/2 yrs he had not lost any money. Whereas with the slaves they were owned for life and so better care was taken so that full $$ value would be reached. African or European slaves were treated the same --- however as the African were more resistant to tropic diseases they were preferred A callus way prespective from today's viewpoint Lisa wrote: > Marian - at the risk of being VERY wrong I'll throw my 2 cents in, and wait > to be corrected. My impression from various readings is that there were 3 > main scenarios (this refers to Barbados) - indenture was a contract for a > matter of years usually about 3-10 with often the promise of "something" at > the end - a piece of land. It was a "voluntary" contract. Prisoners also > seemed to have been sold for specific time periods with no carrot at the end > and it is my understanding that terms could be added onto for various > reasons after they were sold. Kidnapped - well - I'm not sure on this one, > however it does not seem to be for life or perpetual unless, for > infractions, the term was added onto. I don't get the impression that > though they were often treated badly & the "carrot" at the end of indenture > didn't always materialize, that they were ever considered enslaved for life, > unless ill treatment brought and end to their lives prematurely. > > Of course some of their owners were Irish. Some went on to become land & > slave owners themselves. Some to become overseers & militia. Some got > their bits of land and hung on or prospered. Many left. It is very > difficult to generalize. Lisa J > > ==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ==== > ROOTSWEB MAILING LIST HELP PAGES > What is a Mailing List? > http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/help/mail1.html

What Ms Panton's posting says is true. At the same time there were those who came in under indenture and died rich other immigrants found themselves in such circumstances that they chose to renew and were in that state for much longer.