This document is a piece of Underground Railroad history. Signed by Francis Hopkinson (1737 - 1791), the note reads "Exchange 36 Dollars at five Livres Tournois Dollar Numb 456 United States of AMERICA 9th Day of April 1781 At Thirty Days Sight of this Fourth Bill, First, Second and Third not paid, pay to Jonathan Stone or Order, Thirty-six Dollars, in One Hundred and Eighty Livres Tournois, for Interest due on Money borrowed by the United States. To the Commissioner or Commissioners of the United States of America, at Paris." (At this time, the Commissioner of the United States of America at Paris was none other than Benjamin Franklin.) . The party in question for this loan is Jonathan Stone (1751 - 1801). ----- From the West Virginia News & Sentinel: "For more than 200 years the Capt. Jonathan Stone House has stood near what is now Blennerhassett Avenue in Belpre. It was a safe haven for escaped slaves on their way to Canada. The house on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. “It was built down on the river and moved up here around 1825.” Jonathan Stone, builder of the home, was born in 1751, served in the Continental Army and was a Revolutionary War veteran. He was also a surveyor and moved to Belpre in 1789. Stone constructed Stone’s Garrison in 1793 and built the house around 1798. Stone’s son, John, became a conductor for the Underground Railroad sometime before 1820. Though the house was moved back from the river by teams of oxen, it was still a hot spot for hiding slaves traveling north toward Canada, said Nancy Sams, president of the Belpre Historical Society. “The Underground Railroad was neither underground, nor a railroad,” Sams said. “Aunt Jenny (a famous area conductor) lived over in Marrtown, in what was then Virginia (across the river from the Stone house). They had a series of bells and whistles all along this area, and probably the Ohio River. When Aunt Jenny had passengers for the Stones to help, she’d make some kind of signal. They would have come across and remained hidden until it was safe (to move farther north).” Jan said a room hidden at the top of a slim, steep staircase hid many slaves in need. “There’s a room above the kitchen and that’s where they hid the slaves,” she said. Though the room has recently been sealed by the Barretts, it is a reminder of the history behind the house, which they say is an interesting part of living there." From the Francis Hopkinson Family Archives