Aurelia wrote:
>Although this was the law, there are some instances in VA where the
"bastard" mulatto children of a free white woman were NOT bound into
servitude nor did the woman pay a 15 pounds sterling fine. These children
either were taken over by Overseers of the Poor or remained with the white
mother if she could identify funds to care for the children. At least that
is what happened with my ancestors in the early 1800's. It was the courts
not the church wardens who determined these cases. Any reason for this
exception?

Aurelia,

The answer is relatively simple. Historically, as today, what the laws
decree and what actually happened are often not the same. Antebellum
Alabama, for example, passed a law decreeing that any manumitted slave had
to leave the state within 30 days. Yet in many specific, individual, cases
the law was ignored. Often, the exceptions stemmed from community
connections.

Elizabeth 


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Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Tennessee

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