Ole Bull, you proved my point. Note that the comment I made above was about a 5-string banjo which was supposed to have been developed in by Joel Walker Sweeney in 1830 in America (Apottomax VA as I recall), which predates your 1842 documentation. I have seen the Sweeney story cited in several banjo books, sometimes as fact, sometimes as conjecture.
Here is a web page of banjo history that debunks the Sweeney story.

Jon W.