Paul, Thank you for clarifying that for me. Anita >From: Paul Heinegg <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history > <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Indian servants & the Courts >Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:47:13 -0500 > >Both white and mixed-race children were bound out by the Virginia courts. >White boys til twenty-one and white girls in some colonies to 16 and in >others to 18 years. If the mother was a servant, she had to serve extra >time for "the trouble of her master's house" and receive lashes or pay a >fine for the offense. Sometimes her master would agree to an additional >year of service in return for payment of the fine. > >A special law of 1691 ordered the mixed-race children of white women bound >out for thirty years (later thirty-one if I remember correctly) and the >woman was to pay 15 pounds currency or be sold for 5 years. Servant women >could not pay 15 pounds currency, so they were sold, often to their former >master. It was clearly a punishment. > >In Maryland white women were sold for 7 years, but it did not deter >hundreds of them from having mixed-race children. At least one woman was >sold for 28 years. >Paul _________________________________________________________________ Make every IM count. Download Messenger and join the i’m Initiative now. It’s free. http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_June07