Listers: I ran across this while perusing the papers of Orange County: "We promise to pay to William Graves Senr . . . nine hundred Dollars Currant [sic] money of Virginia, it being for the hire of nine negroes for the year 1851 at $100 each to work on the plank road from Chancellorsville to Orange Court house . . . said negroes not to be worked with Irishmen nor foreigners . . ." The interpretations are myriad and interesting. Enjoy. The citation: Graves's admr. V. Ellis etc., Orange County, (VA), Circuit Court Judgments, Oct 1853. Pardon the x-post. Jim Watkinson James D. Watkinson, Ph.D. Archives Library of Virginia [log in to unmask] 804.692.3804 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html