Apprenticeship Indenture Records   Save
Ohio History Connection
Description: This volume measuring 13.25 by 8.5 inches (35.5 by 21.5 cm) contains contracts for apprenticeship indentures in Fairfield County from 1824-1830. Children and young persons named in the book ranged in age from 1 to 19 years. Males were usually indentured through the age of twenty-one and females until they were eighteen. Twenty-five pages of the 171-page volume are shown here. Boys had the opportunity to learn many trades including farming, cabinet making, blacksmithing, hat-making, and shoemaking. Girls typically learned "the art and mysteries of housewifery." Parents frequently bound their children into an apprenticeship to learn a trade. Orphaned or poor children were bound by "overseers of the poor." The apprentice promised good behavior and not to marry or divulge family secrets during the term of his or her indenture. The tradesmen promised to provide food, shelter, and clothing for the child. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1387_1503348_001
Subjects: Ohio Government; Business and Labor; Daily Life; Indentured servants; Children
Places: Fairfield County (Ohio)