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Archiver > VAESSEX > 2000-07 > 0963024026


From: "G. Lee Hearl" <>
Subject: Re: [VAESSEX] Importation of persons into colony
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 21:40:26 -0500


To JMB:
The Virginia Colony gave land to those who would pay the transportation
costs for bringing people into the colony.. The amount varied from time to
time but the usual amount was 50 acres for each person imported.. The
passage was paid by someone and the land was granted, then the person whose
passage had been paid sometimes became an indentured servant for several
years.. This furnished labor to the plantation owners and encouraged them to
pay peoples passage.. As land opened for settlement across the Blue Ridge
Mountain in Virginia, many indentured servants ran away from the plantations
on the coast and went there.. Some of them were indentured for ten or
fifteen years just for a trip across the ocean, so I don't blame them for
running away!
G. Lee Hearl
Authentic Appalachian Storyteller
Abingdon, Virginia

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