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