Agnes Thank you! Sometimes I struggle with wording something that I understand but yet find that putting it across in writing for everyone's comprehension a monstrous task! Agnes Cloninger <agnesec@cableone.net> wrote: Elizabeth Well done - I also looked in Black's Law Dictionary and although their definition was clear to me I was unable to couch it in terms that would be generally understood. One does tend to automatically append the word 'servant' to 'indentured' and that does not necessarily describe the precise intent of the contract. Thank you, Agnes On Apr 14, 2007, at 1:04 AM, dutch-colonies-request@rootsweb.com wrote IN PART: > Perhaps I could just say that an indenture is a form of a > contract and without knowing the contents of the contract, one > knows nothing about the purpose or obligation inherent in the > contract. Thus, the combining of the two words indentured and > servant based upon a document associating the word "indentured" > with a name means nothing unless the contents of the indenture are > known. Case in point, a man contracts with another for the > production and delivery of beer for an 8 year period in exchange > for certain goods and properties. In these same documents, this is > later referred to as an indenture. The next reference I see to > this in another book, refers to the man as an indentured servant > and cites the above reference. > > And the other option is to trash what I have written and start > over....Bah Humbug.. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time. > > Elizabeth ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUTCH-COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I think you will find that the word "indenture" itself comes from the Latin for tooth or toothed. An "indenture" was in its simplist form a way of ensuring the authenticity of a document. A contract, mortgage, or other agreement would be written in two copies on a single sheet of paper or parchment, with a space between the copies. They would then be cut apart in a jagged (toothed) line (or sometimes just a "wavy" line), and each side would keep one part. The proof of authenticity would be that the two parts matched. Presumably, in the case of an indentured servant (like Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance) both master and servant would have a copy, and thus irrefutable proof of the agreement and whether or not it had come to an end. Hugh MacDougall, Cooperstown, NY