This first paragraph in the notice about Langston that has begun this conversation reads: "LOUISA, Va. -- Planted in the lawn at the courthouse on West Main Street here is a gray historical marker that draws little attention. It proudly proclaims that the country's first black elected official was native son John Mercer Langston, born in this central Virginia county, the son of a wealthy white planter and an emancipated slave of Indian and black ancestry." I think that there's merely a keyboarding mistake at fault here in the form of an erroneous "r." The second sentence should probably begin, "It proudly proclaims that the county's first black elected official," not the "country's." $0.02 worth from Brent Tarter The Library of Virginia [log in to unmask] Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at http://www.lva.virginia.gov ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html