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THE PICTURE IS MY G-G-GRANDPARENTS MARTIN JOHN LOCUS AND DELPHIA TAYLOR LOCUS, DELPHIA IS THE DAUGHTER OF DEMPSEY TAYLOR AND ELIZA LOUISA PACE TAYLOR.

Europe Ahmad Farmer submitted this picture and his fascinating ancestry. He can be contacted at eafahmad(AT)yahoo.com

Here is his family story:

The Taylor family

Dempsey Taylor appears as the first free person of color with the Taylor surname in Nash County on the 1840 census. His origins are a mystery, although he most likely was related to the Nash County Taylors counted as white in previous records. The FPC Dempsey is just one of several Dempsey Taylors who were contemporary to one another in Nash County in the 1800-1850 time period.

 Dempsey married Eliza (Louisa) Pace in 1843. Families with the Pace surname appear in the area variously as white, black, and FPC (Free Person of Color) , and are also difficult to trace in the records due to confusion with the variant names Peace, Pase, Paste, Pease, Payce, Pearce, Pierce, etc. Dempsey and Eliza had the following children: Margaret, Sarah, Delphia, Rilda, and Joel. Delphia married into the Locus/Lucas family.

[Note: Ahmad sent further information that Eliza (Louisa) Pace is listed variously in the records as FPC (free person of color) and mulatto.]

He listed his descent down to the present. I will post it at the bottom; he has traced back to 1665.

Now here is his fascinating story of a tri-racial group of people in the upper south that as the above shows included Paces in its number, although the Pace name is not mentioned in the following narrative:

A Privileged Family

 A long time ago there lived a free triracial family of Charles City, New Kent, Henrico, West Moreland, and King George Counties of Virginia. By the 1700s some of them left Virginia and moved to Graville, Halifax, Nash, and Wilson Counties in North Carolina and later to South Carolina. The Locus/Lucas family was English. They began to mix with blacks and Indians. The following tribes are believed to have mixed  with this family: Chickahominy, Pamunky, Nasemond, Tuscarora, Croatan, and Lumbee.

 These light skinned free African Americans formed the triracial isolates of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Louisana.

 The Locus/Lucas family had money, owned real estate, and they could vote, etc. At the beginning they were born of free white mothers and into freedom. Their fathers were black, Indian, white, and a mixture of any and all of the three. They were beautiful people, most of them looked a mixture of Indian and white. They were the largest free [non-white] family in Nash County, North Carolina. The bloodline of the family crosses many lines: the Deans, Wiggins, Pullies, Taylors, Wells Blackwells, Colstons, Richardsons, Brantleys/Howards, Highs, Williams, Haggans, Evans, Taybornes, Eatmans/Eatmons, Vaughns, Stricklands, Joneses, Pridbens, and Allans, etc.wn a

 There were some members that went on to pass as Indian and white. By the late 1920s a lot of them began having children with blacks and in many cases marrying them. This was not acceptable among families of the time. This indeed would change the family forevermore. Even though they were triracial they [would be] identified as black. Most triracial families are either black or white identified. Genetically and historically they are triracial.

 Many of them experienced name calling and much jealousy and felt they were caught between three worlds.

 The term “Free People of Color” did not pertain only to blacks or those of black/white heritage, but to taxpaying Indians and all other racial minorities that lived in the area. Early census years did not distinguish between blacks, Indians, etc. Instead, races were listed as white or other free people, and slaves. This was the case from 1790-1840. In 1850 the term mulatto replaced free persons or free people of color and free colored persons.

 Tracing the heritage of the upper south as I have done is one of the most challenging areas of black/Indian/white genealogy.

 February 22, 2008

Europe Ahmad Farmer

Closing note: he sent a number of pictures of his ancestors showing a fascinating variety of complexion and ethnicity. What an interesting ancestral line! Usually I do not post contemporary pictures but I will make an exception for this line. The persons shown are all Pace descendents.

Europe Ahmad Farmer	His mother, Aleazar Farmer	Unidentified 1	Unidentified 2
Unidentified 3	Unidentified 4	Unidentified 5	Unidentified 6

 

 

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