This is some of my family history from Westmoreland County. This line of my family served indentures for several generations. 

One of my ancestors, Mary Monroe (b. 1710), was indentured at birth in Westmoreland County. Her mother was a white woman, (Lydia Hilliard), and her father an unknown Negro man. Lydia Hilliard was serving an indenture to William Monroe Senior, at the time she bore her child. Mary Monroe had a daughter, (Mary Bowden,b. 1730), by William Monroe Junior, who was not indentured until she was seven years old. Mary Bowden was indentured to George Washington's family in 1737, and had a daughter named Patty Bowden, while she was under indenture to the Washington family. Patty was immediately indentured to the Washington family. The last of the Indentures in this line was Patty's daughter Delphia, who was indentured to Alexander Spotswood at birth. Patty also had another daughter, Ann Webb who was indentured out at birth. 


Anita Wills 
 

 
 
 
 

















Mary and Patty Bowden Foundation


Anita Talks Genealogy - Blog Talk Radio

 
"If you believe people have no history worth mentioning, it's easy to believe they have no humanity worth defending."
— William Loren Katz
June 18, 2009



>________________________________
>From: Aurelia Brooks <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 2:57 PM
>Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] indentureships in VA
>
>Elizabeth,
> 
>Although this was the law, there are some instances in VA where the "bastard" mulatto children of a free white woman were NOT bound into servitude nor did the woman pay a 15 pounds sterling fine. These children either were taken over by Overseers of the Poor or remained with the white mother if she could identify funds to care for the children. At least that is what happened with my ancestors in the early 1800's. It was the courts not the church wardens who determined these cases. Any reason for this exception?
>Aurelia
>
>From: Elizabeth Shown Mills <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 1:07 PM
>Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] indentureships in VA
>
>>To ensure the welfare of the child but more definitively to ensure that the
>child did not become a burden of the parish, Margaret's child, as all
>illegitimate children of indentured servants, was bound out. Margaret had no
>way to support the child since she was being supported by her master. 
>
>
>
>Several good answers have been provided to the original question. The above
>well applies to white children born of white indentured mothers. However,
>the original question stated that Margaret Shaw's child was "mulatto," a
>description that changes the situation radically.
>
>The Library of Congress has an easily accessible essay that relevant to this
>issue, in its "American Women" module of _American Memory_.
>http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awlaw3/slavery.html .
>
>
>"Slavery and Indentured Servants"
>
>"Virginia passed its first miscegenation law in 1691 as part of "An act for
>suppressing outlying Slaves."
>
>"Another section of the law closed the loophole created by the 1662
>birthright law, which mandated that children born of a free white mother and
>Negro father were technically free. This amendment stated that a free white
>woman who had a bastard child by a Negro or mulatto man had to pay fifteen
>pounds sterling within one month of the birth. If she could not pay, she
>would become an indentured servant for five years. ****Whether or not the
>fine was paid, however, the child would be bound in service for thirty
>years.*****
>
>The law is cited here as follows:
>"Act XVI, __Laws of Virginia,__ April 1691 ( __Hening's Statutes at Large__,
>3: 87). This section of the law with its amendments remained in force until
>the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in __Loving v.
>Virginia,__ 388 U.S. 1 (1967)."
>
>Elizabeth 
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
>Tennessee
>
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