In some cases, as it was with the white servants, Negroes were given written indentures, of which Russell gives several examples. It was an early practice of the colony to allow "head rights," a certain number of acres of land for every servant imported. In 1651 "head rights" were allowed on the importation of a Negro whose name was Richard Johnson. "Only three years later a patent calling for one hundred acres of land was issued to this negro for importing two other persons. Hence, it appears that Richard Johnson came in as a free negro or remained in a condition of servitude for not more than three years."[54] It was a practice also of those who held servants to allow them the privilege of raising hogs and poultry and of tilling a small plot of ground. The court records show that by this means John Geaween, Emanuel Dregis, and Bashasar Farando, as Negro servants, between 1649 and 1652, accumulated property. Again, there are cases illustrating that the Negro servant received "freedom dues" as the white servants at the close of the term of service.[55] Thus the first and early Negroes of Virginia were servants, not slaves. They were not only servants at first, but also servants in general for a period of years. FOOTNOTES: [A] In the preparation of dissertation the following works were consulted: Ballagh, James Curtis, _White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia_ (J. H. U. Studies, Thirty-first Series, 1913), and _History of Slavery in Virginia_ (J. H. U. Studies, Twenty-fourth Series, 1902); Bassett, John Spencer, _History of Slavery in North Carolina_ (J. H. U. Studies, Seventeenth Series, 1899), and _Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina_ (J. H. U. Studies, Fourteenth Series, 1896); Beatty, William Jennings, _The Free Negroes in the Carolinas before 1860_ (1920); Brackett, J. R., _The Negro in Maryland_ (J. H. U. Studies, Seventh Series, Extra Volume, 1889); Brown, Alexander, _The Genesis of the United States, 1605-1616_, Two Volumes (1890), and _The First Republic in America_ (1898); Bruce, Philip Alexander, _Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century_, Two Volumes (1896); Buckingham, J. S., _The Slave States of America_ (1842); _Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1798_, Edited by Wm. P. Palmer, Six Volume (1875-86); Carroll, Bartholomew Rivers, _Historical Collections of South Carolina_ (1836); Daniels, John, _In Freedom's Birth Place, A Study of Boston Negroes_ (1914); Doyle, J. A., _English Colonies in America_, Five Volumes (1889); DuBois, W. E. Burghardt, _The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America_ (1896); Eddis, Wm., _Letters from America, 1769-77_; Hazard, Willis P., _Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time_ (1879); Henry, Howell Meadows, _The Police Control of the Slave in South Carolina_ (1914); Henning, William Waller, _Statutes at Large of Virginia, 1623-1792_, Thirteen Volumes (1812); Hotten, J.