Caroline, Thank you very much.  I will look at Ancestry and see what I can find. I have had a concern with Origins Apprentice database. I have seen a number of my ancestors' entries in the books when in London at the Guildhall last year, however, they do not appear on the Origins site.  This causes me to be concerned that there are others missing in the Origins' database.  The entries I have viewed at the Guildhall, which do not appear on Origins' list, were very clearly written and the ink dark and crisp....so that the image would have been very clear...so puzzles me as to why I do not see them in the Origins database....Will check Ancestry and see if I can find them. Thanks again, Donna  Michigan, USA   The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it will change; the realist adjusts the sails. ________________________________ From: Caroline Bradford <[email protected]> To: Donna Casey <[email protected]> Cc: SFHG List <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2013 1:11 PM Subject: Re: [LON] Apprenticeships London c1600-1700? Hi Donna In the vast majority of cases, apprenticeships were a private matter between master and apprentice (or, more pragmatically, between master and apprentice's parent) so the only records would be original indentures passed down through the family. There are three main exceptions: 1). Those who intended to pursue a craft or trade within (or very close to) the City of London, in which case an apprenticeship leading to membership of the relevant Livery Company would (for the century in question) be required. Livery Company records are, by and large, well preserved and, if the apprentice proceeded (as most did) to gain Freedom of the City, you should be able to find a record of his admission via Ancestry (1681 onwards). 2). Apprenticeships were arranged for those in the care of poor law guardians or private charities. The relevant body may have extant records, though you would need a clue or two about who placed him in order to know where to start searching. 3). For about a century after 1710, there was a tax on apprenticeship indentures. Details of the taxes paid are in IR1 at TNA and are available online via Ancestry.  Like most taxes, this tax was avoided wherever possible, so the records are not wholly comprehensive. Hope this helps Caroline Sent from my iPad On 6 Jan 2013, at 18:31, Donna Casey <[email protected]> wrote: > Aside from Origins.net, is there any other on-line source to search apprenticeships and masters? > > The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it will change; the realist adjusts the sails. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > This mailing list works in parallel with the London surname interest list on the web at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/london.html .  Check for matching interests and add your own ! > > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message