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Indentured servitude refers to a contract between two individuals, in which one person worked not for money but to repay an indenture, or loan, within a set time period.However, indentured servants could be sold, loaned, or inherited, at least during the duration of their contract terms.

What Were Indentured Servants. Indentured servants were immigrants who could not afford the costs involved in travelling to North America during the 17th (1600s) and 18th (1700s) centuries. These immigrants signed an indenture contract whereby they agreed to work for 4-7 years for a master.

Other Resources for Researching Indentured Servant AncestorsGo to Cyndi's List and click on the category Servitude: Indentures, Serfs, Apprentices, Etc., and then on Indentured Servants. Some of these resources can be accessed online, while others reference physical texts.

Many indentured servants in the British colonies were working-class white immigrants from the British Isles, including thousands of Irish people. Indentured servants were often treated horribly by their masters, many dying before they were set free. During their period of servitude, their treatment varied widely.

To be indentured is to be forced to work by some contract. It started out as a word for a contract between masters and apprentices. Now it describes anyone bound to work, like it or not, because of some deal.

Indentured servitude differed from slavery in that it was a form of debt bondage, meaning it was an agreed upon term of unpaid labor that usually paid off the costs of the servant's immigration to America. Indentured servants were not paid wages but they were generally housed, clothed, and fed.

Indentured servants could not marry without the permission of their master, were sometimes subject to physical punishment and did not receive legal favor from the courts. Female indentured servants in particular might be raped and/or sexually abused by their masters.