These abstracts are drawn from apprentice indentures, those documents which formally place a child under a master's tutelage and obligate the master to answer to local authority. Omitted are all other types of apprentice records, such as bonds not to remove a black apprentice from a given jurisdiction, complaints by master and apprentice, and the many apprentice matters entered in court minutes. Only indentures made in or before 1850 are here included. Abstracts are arranged first by county in alphabetical order, then by the stack file numbers used in the North Carolina State Archives (where all these records are to be found), and lastly by the order in which they appear in the source. Abstracts appear under the following format: Date of indenture; Name of apprentice, with any data on status, race, or age; Name of master; Trade or occupation; Names of signatories, usually the master and the Chairman of the County Court or some other magistrate; Name of witness, usually the Clerk of the County Court. BERTIE COUNTY (Apprentice Indentures, 1800-1810, stack file C.R..010.101.9) (The abstracts below were made from the loose papers contained in folders marked "Apprentice Indentures 1800-1801" and "Apprentice Indentures 1802-1804." Folder contents are not in strict chronological order, and there are many duplicated and incomplete indentures. 'The retention in public custody of two copies of a single indenture, especially where both lack the master's signature, may indicate the apprenticeship never went into effect. The 1802-1804 folder also contains a grand jury presentment of orphans not bound and many bonds intended to prevent the removal of black orphans out of the county; these are not abstracted.) 13 August 1804. Agga WILLIAMS, about Four Years of Age. bound to Hodges HARRELL. Weaving, Spinning, knitting & Sewing. Signers: Hodges (+) HARRELL, Tim(oth)y HUNTER. Witness: Jos. BLOUNT. 12 May 1800. Miles MIERS, about eighteen years of age. bound to Nathan MIERS. cooper. Signer: W(illia)m GRAY. Witness: none. 10 February 1800. Hannah BURK, about seven years of age. bound to Winifred COOK. weaving, spinning, sewing & knitting. Signer: W(illia)m GRAY. Witness: none. 10 February 1800. Cader POWELL, about twelve years of age. bound to George RYAN. cooper. Signer: W(illia)m GRAY. Witness: none. [blank] November 1800. Arthur DAVIS, Orphan, Age about sixteen years. bound to John HARRISON. house carpenter. Signer: W(illia)m GRAY. Witness: none.