"Transcribed by R. Hargreaves-Mawdsley."
In 1654 the city "Council had ordained that, before embarkation, persons bound as servants were to be articled and enrolled as were the city apprentices. 'Servants to foreign plantations' were the fair copies of this system of enrolment. They were kept with the other Apprentice and Burgess books in the Chamberlain's office... The last ... [regular entry] appears in February 1685, after which the enrolment ceases," though there were some "scattered entries: Mar. 27, 1680-June 12, 1686." cf. p. viii-ix, and 171-182.
"Though [these colonists were] known officially as 'servants of the plantations,' this name was a misnomer in the vast majority of cases. In the earlier days of the Virginia company, their 'servants,' in return for their labours on the public land, received an allotment for themselves, and in course of time ... became landholders."--p. 15.