Greetings, listers— My g-grandfather, Philip Phelan, and other male members of his family were copper miners at the South Pewabic Copper Co. mine from Sept 1865 to Sept 1870. I know this from entries in a journal kept by Philip's mother. Because the family came from Ireland and then was employed by that company for precisely 5 years, I wonder if their work was by contract. Does anyone know if it was a common practice for copper companies to employ miners for a certain period of time, perhaps in exchange for paying for their passage? Thanks for any help. Judy Phelan _________________________________________________________________ Windows 7: I wanted simpler, now it's simpler. I'm a rock star. http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/windows-7/default.aspx?h=myidea?ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_myidea:112009