Connie Lenzen has written another great genealogy article for The Columbian (Vancover, WA), This time it’s about Differing forms of money found in old records, and covers something many of us don’t pay attention to when scanning through old records – money. She also brings up something else besides the varieties found – inflation. Even through the 1860s you will find lots of localized forms of currency.
Excerpt from the article:
(Thomas) Jefferson’s proposal for dollars, dimes, and cents took a while to put in place, and we find old monies used for a number of years. In 1785, Henry Goodman and Thomas Barnes of Gates County, N.C., put up a marriage bond for “Five Hundred Pounds, current Money of the State Aforesaid.” In 1810, James Carty and Sally his wife of Cumberland County, Ky., sold 40 acres to William Ryan for $166 Kentucky money.