Virginia Occupation and Business Records

United States Virginia  Occupations



Tobacco was Virginia's major domestic product. It was shipped to Europe and the Caribbean during colonial times. Before the Civil War, plantation owners relied on slave labor to produce their crops.

Many Virginia colonial settlers could not afford to pay the passage from Europe to America and labored without wages for a set number of years (usually four or five) once they arrived as indentured servants.

Blank identifies many Virginia colonists who served apprenticeships, though the list is far from complete.