In a much earlier post, we discussed James and Elizabeth---James Tapscott and Elizabeth Percifull. James died young, leaving Elizabeth in Fauquier County with just her kids. She would soon have more. Immediately after that earlier post we should have posted something about Elizabeth without James. But we didn't. Let's do it now.
It is shocking to see that in Fauquier County, Elizabeth owned slaves. In the 1840 census, her household included six male slaves and two female slaves. Some of the male slaves were almost certainly Elizabeth’s paramours. In addition, the 1840 census shows both free white and free colored people in the household, primarily Elizabeth’s children and grandchildren. Under Virginia law, the slave status of a child followed that of the mother (doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem). Offspring of Elizabeth would have been born free, whether the fathers were slaves or not. The numbers and age distributions of the free occupants are almost exactly what would be predicted:
Only the free colored males show a discrepancy from what is expected, likely because the oldest, William, had moved out. By 1840, Elizabeth’s son Telem Plato was married and living in a separate household. And her son Robert Frances was living in Warrenton, probably in the blacksmith shop of James Mclearen. More on Robert Frances, later.
Elizabeth, who arrived in Fauquier County around 1810 appears to have lived out her life there, dying sometime between 1850, when she appears in the census, and 1860, when she is missing from the census.
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