English: Indenture made in Sussex County, Delaware, on February 1, 1823, for the apprenticeship and education of Evan Morgan, a child of 6 years and 11 months, to and in the service of Alex Fisher, a farmer, for a term of 14 years and one month (to age 21 years), with the endorsement of Evan Morgan, dated March 1, 1837, that the terms of the Indenture had been satisfied.

The Cooper Collection of U.S. Historical Documents

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Transcription:

THIS ENDENTURE WITNESSETH that Nancy Hudson or Shadrach Hudson of Sussex County State of Delaware doth put and bind her son Evan Morgan apprentice, by and with the consent of Tilghman Layton, Justice of the Peace, [to] Alexandrew Fisher of the County and State aforesaid to learn the farming business and after the manner of an aprentice the said Evan Morgan, or apprentice, shall well and faithfully serve from the Day of the Date hereof fourteen years and one month he being six years eleven months old, all which time the said apprentice the said Master shall well and faithfully save his secrets keep, and lawfull commands obey, shall not Do any hurt to said Master, or willfully suffer it to be Done by others without giving notice thereof, the goods of said Master said aprentice shall not Embezzle or lend to any at any unlawful Gains, shall not visit taverns, uping houses, or houses of bad fame, or Contract Matrimony in the term aforesaid and shall not absent himself from said Master without his consent but in all things behave and Demean himself as a good and faithfull apprentice ought to Do During the term aforesaid. And the said Master Doth hereby oblige himself to teach or cause to be taught the art and mystery of the farming business which he now follows to the best of his skill, knowlegde, and ability and the said Master is to find the said apprentice in goods and sufficient clothing, boarding and lodging for such an apprentice to have and to give the said apprentice one years schooling and a suite of clothes when free worth Twenty Dollars or Twenty Dollars in Witness whereof we have hereunder set out hands and affixed our the First Day of February in the Year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and Twenty three 1823.

Shadrach (his "X" mark) Hudson (seal)

Nancy (her "X" mark) Hudson (seal)

N.B. The name Shadrach Hudson was inserted before executed. T. Layton

Alexandrew Fisher (seal)

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presents of:

William Hatman

Mary (her "X" mark) Hudson

Tilghman Layton

[Endorsements]

Sussex Co.

I do hereby certify the withing Indenture Was Duely Executed before me the subsc[riber] to, one of the Justices in the County aforesaid on the First Day of February in the Year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and Twenty three 1823.

T. Layton

Rec'd March the 3rd 1837 of Alex Fisher Twenty Dollars and twelve months schooling it being in full for all this Indenture calls for. Rec'd by me

Evan Morgan

John B. Hemmers