Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia© 2010 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Library of Virginia staff/Ed Jordan
There are no restrictions.
For barcode numbers 1121822 and 1121823, use microfilm copy, Accomack County (Va.) Reel 345.
Accomack County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1786-1872. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Accomack County.
The microfilm was generated by Backstage Library Works though the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program.
Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. One of the original eight shires established in 1634, Accomac County (spelled without a k) became Northampton County in 1643. The present country was formed from Northampton about 1663. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the county's present spelling.
In 1780 the Virginia General Assembly replaced the Anglican vestries and churchwardens of the colonial period with elected bodies called Overseers of the Poor. The Overseers provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment for the persons who were too poor to support themselves or too ill to provide for their basic needs. They also bound out children whose parents could not support them or who failed to educate or instruct them, as well as orphans to become apprentices. The boys learned a trade and the girls learned domestic skills.
The Accomack County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1786-1872, are are bonds and contracts of apprenticeship given by the Overseers of the Poor, showing the names of master and apprentice, the trade to be taught, details of the contract, the amount of the bond and the names of sureties. Many of the apprentices bound out prior to 1866 were free African Americans.
Barcode 1134357 includes facsimiles of apprenticeship indentures found in the two volumes as well as original apprenticeship indentures.
Chronologically arranged.
Additional Accomack County Overseers of the Poor Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm"