Frederick County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1800-1875

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

Frederick County Apprenticeship Indentures related to Black and Multiracial individuals, dated 1803-1875, are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.

Additional unprocessed indentures are open for research. Indentures related to Black and Multiracial individuals may be present in unprocessed records.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Frederick County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1800-1875. Local government records collection, Frederick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Creator:
Frederick County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Frederick County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1800-1875. Local government records collection, Frederick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Frederick County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1800-1875, consist of contracts or agreements binding out white, Black, or Multiracial children, sometimes those who were orphaned, to learn a particular trade or craft. These indentures may be written agreements between the family of the apprentice and those responsible for the indentured. In many cases this includes the direct involvement of the Overseers of the Poor. They typically contain the name of the person or institution binding out, the person to whom bound, the name of the person being indentured, the length of the apprenticeship, and the responsibilities of the person taking on the indenture.

These records are comprised of 173 apprenticeship indentures involving Black and Multiracial individuals, as well as some unprocessed indentures. The person to whom each apprentice was bound committed to "teach, or cause the said Apprentice to be taught" such trades as farming, boot and shoe making, brickmaking, and blacksmithing. Many Black male apprentices were bound out to learn farming. Female apprentices were typically taught "the duties of a housewife" or house maid, like knitting, sewing, spinning, and cooking.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type: In 1765, the General Assembly established that illegitimate children of "woman servants, Negroes, white women by Negroes were to be bound out" until the age of 21 for males and 18 for females. In the late eighteenth century, the General Assembly established the Overseers of the Poor, an appointed body that provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment for people 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 and those who were orphaned through apprenticeship contracts. These agreements arranged for white children to be taught a trade or domestic skills as well as educated in reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1805, the General Assembly amended the previous act to no longer require the master of "black or mulatto orphans" to teach reading, writing, or arithmetic, with the intent that this would prevent Black children from learning these skills.

Locality History: Frederick County was named in honor of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and eldest son of King George II. It was formed from Orange County by a statute of 1738 that stipulated that when the population was large enough the new county government would begin to function. The county court first met on 11 November 1743. Part of Augusta County was added in 1754. The county seat is the city of Winchester.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Frederick County (Va.) as part of an undated accession.
Processing information:

45 Frederick County Apprenticeship Indentures were originally described as part of the Frederick County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1761, 1795, 1820-1861, but were removed to the present Frederick County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1800-1875, record to enhance discoverability in August 2026.

These records have been processed and indexed, and partially scanned, by E. Jordan, S. Nerney, L. Neuroth, and LVA staff for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative.

Encoded by G. Crawford: March 2018; updated by C. Collins: August 2026.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Apprenticeship Indentures, 1800-1875, arranged chronologically.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.9 cu. ft. (2 boxes); 1 folder