In a message dated 7/2/2005 10:00:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, COWAN-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: I've heard that folks would contract for, or "rent" the services of slaves from the actual owners. Don't know whether or how that would appear in the records. HI: I just saw "Slavery and the Making of America" on PBS; in recounting the story of Robert Smalls, it noted that the slave owner hired out his services and gave him a cut of the pay. I think these transactions can be found in household records. I have also seen apprenticeship records, post Civil War, in Freedmen's Bureau records. Kberry