On Thu, 24 Sep 1998, EUGENE W. HELMS wrote Yes, what great fortune it was to find Rubygene Knapp, sound of mind and body at age 97! And good fortune to receive your commentary on the "bound boy" terminology. I appreciate your clarifying the distinctions between indenture and apprenticeship. I believe Ezra Knapp's status must have been an apprenticeship, from what you wrote. But I was not aware that these agreements would have typically been made by the father. Do you have any idea at what age a carpentry apprenticeship would have begun? Yes, I would very much like to see the explanation of the legal origin of the term "indent", if you don't mind. If you want to post it on the Knapp list, maybe others would be interested, too. ***Per Gene's request, I will post the "historical" information requested on the subject of indenture as a legal term as its origins. (This is probably an appropriate followup to the posting several months ago concerning the "Oath of a Freeman.") Salt this one away in your "history notes"! The information below is from "Black's Law Dictionary", 6th edition, 1990. "INDENTURE /indentyer/. In business financing, a written agreement under which bonds and debentures are issued, setting forth form of bond, maturity date, amount of issue, description of pledged assets, interest rate, and other terms." "INDENT, v. To cut in a serrated or wavy line. In old conveyancing, if a deed was made by more parties than one, it was usual to make as many copies of it as there were parties, and each was cut or indented (either in acute angles, like the teeth of a saw, or in a wavy line) at the top or side, to tally or correspond with the others, and the deed so made was called an "indenture". Anciently, both parts were written on the same piece of parchment, with some word or letters written between them through which the parchment was cut, but afterwards, the words or letters being omitted, indenting came into use, the idea of which was that the genuineness of each part might be proved by its fitting into the angles cut in the other. But at length even this was discontinued, and eventually the term served only to give name to the species of deed executed by two or more parties, as opposed to a deed-poll (q.v.). 2 Bl.Comm. 295." "DEED POLL. A deed which is made by one party only. A deed in which only the party making it executes it or binds himself by it as a deed. It was originally so called because the edge of the paper or parchment was "polled" or cut in a straight line, wherein it was distinguished from a deed indented or indenture." -Stephen