Below are some excerpts from a book that contained an abstract of an indenture contract for my ancestor. To me, the writing suggests the documents are unique and separate collection. Would anyone care to venture a guess at to where these "original indenture contracts" are now?
[I have tried to condense the following text for brevity but original source attached as file.]
"In November 1946...Records Clerk to the Middlesex County Council, read a Paper on the Middlesex Quarters Sessions Records before this Society. In the course of her remarks she mentioned that amongst the Records housed in the Middlesex Guildhall, Westminster, there was 'a collection of indentures of persons willing to serve in the Plantations in 1683 and 1684, numbering a thousand, coming from various parts of the country....'
...nothing further was heard of these documents until person]...drew the present writer's attention to them.
An inspection of the documents at once showed their importance and as it appeared that the indentures had never been printed an application was made for permission to print abstracts of all of them.... This was courteously granted our thanks were expressed to...the Middlesex County Archivist, and to his Staff...."
Thanks, Keith
