Manuscript document. Morgan County, Illinois, 13 November 1833. 2 pages, folio, 7 1/2 x 12 1/4 in.

A rare and fascinating document detailing the indenture of an orphaned African American boy in Illinois. 

The document records that George Reavier and Mathew Stacy, Justices of the Peace by "the authority Vested in them to find out such poor Children of said County as shall be unable by reason of Infancy to take care and support themselves, and by and with the consent of the Judge of Probate do bind unto" Daniel and Deborah Smedley, "an infant negro boy commonly called William alias William Baker twelve years old the twenty seventh day of July eighteen hundred and thirty four, as an apprentice to the business to the business of farming untill he shall arrive at the age of twenty one years, to wit, untill the twenty seventh day of July Eighteen hundred and forty three, and do covenant and agree that said William shall faithfully serve said parties of the second part from the date above until the twenty-seventh day of July Eighteen hundred and forty three as a farming servant..."

The document further stipulated that the couple would have to supply " fit and suitable clothing, food and lodging and that they will treat him with humanity and cause him to be taught to read and furnish him at the expiration of his time of Service with two new suits of clothing suitable to his condition and New Bible."

Illinois has a complicated history with slavery and indentured servitude, existing for much of its antebellum existence as a quasi-slave state. Beginning as a French colony, slavery was introduced to the territory, and French "Code Noir" laws were adopted. The 1787 Northwest Ordinance stated that there would be neither slavery nor indentured or involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, but the institution remained contentious. Even after statehood in 1818, loopholes were codified into law, often redressing enslavement with the formalities of indentured contracts, often for time periods measured in decades, some even exceeding 99 years. This was particularly relevant to the southern area of the state, flanked by slave states Kentucky and Missouri. 

In June 1827, the Illinois General Assembly passed "An Act Concerning Minors, Orphans, and Guardians" that empowered probate courts to appoint guardians for orphans under the age of 14. Although a minor and an orphan, it is clear that young William was given no agency and was thus bound to the Smedleys for over a decade, until he was 21 in 1843. 

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