Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Arlington County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1797-1869, related to Black and Multiracial individuals are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Arlington County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1797-1869. Local government records collection, Arlington County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

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

Arlington County (Va.) Reel No. 226 was filmed in July 1986.

Alternative Form Available

Arlington County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures are also available on microfilm, Arlington County (Va.) Reel No. 226. See microfilm for one indenture not located with the physical material.

Processing Information

One Arlington County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indenture was originally described as part of the Arlington County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1788, 1801-1802, 1850-1860, but was removed to the present Arlington County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1797-1869, record to enhance discoverability in February 2025.

During the redescription process, Local Records staff reviewed Arlington County (Va.) Reel No. 226 and found a duplicated apprenticeship indenture, as well as an indenture not located with the physical material.

These records were processed, scanned, and indexed by L. Neuroth and LVA staff for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative circa 2018.

Encoded by G. Crawford: April 2018; edited by C. Collins: February 2025.

Historical Information

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: Arlington County was originally named Alexandria County. It was formed from a portion of Fairfax County that Virginia in 1789 ceded to the federal government for use as the site of a new national capital. In 1801 the area officially became part of the District of Columbia, although Congress named it Alexandria County. By an act of 9 July 1846, Congress returned the county to Virginia, and the General Assembly extended the commonwealth's jurisdiction over the region effective 20 March 1847. By an act of assembly passed 16 March 1920, the county's name was changed to Arlington, the name of the Custis family mansion (the home of Robert E. Lee), which is located in the county. An urban county, Arlington contains no incorporated towns or cities. The county courthouse is in the county.

Scope and Content

Arlington County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1797-1869, 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 six folders of apprenticeship indentures. Around 26 indentures, dated 1841-1864, are related to Black and Multiracial individuals, many of whom are referred to as "free Blacks" and "free persons of color." The majority of the apprentices are identified as orphans and were bound out as house servants, seamstresses, waiters, rope makers, farmers, coopers, and carpenters.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Arlington County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1788, 1801-1802, 1850-1860

Records related to free and enslaved people of Arlington County (Va.) and other localities are available through the Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website.

Additional Arlington County (Va.) Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data