Fourth Generation Inclusive

“Facts in matter of James Lamms Children –

“Joe Horne – Great Grandmother of these children was Ezrit Locas _ She was about [sic] _ I think her father was a white man _ Grandmother was Wealthy Locas Think her father was a white man _ Know mother of children, Jane Lamm. Think her father was a white man _ said to be Van B. Carter _ Father of children James Lamm white _

“H.M. Rowe – Know Ezrit Locas _ she was fully 5/8 white _ her father a white man _ Grandmother is practically white. Her father was a white man. Mother of child, her father was a white man _ Jane Lamm father white _ Jane Lamm Great Grandmother was 5/8 white at least _ Grandmother _ Her father was Dallas Taylor a pure blooded white man _ Mother of child _ Her father pure blooded white man.”

This unsigned handwritten note is found among papers related to the matter of James Lamm v. J.S. Horne, Fred B. Boswell, A.A. Aycock, School Committeemen of Black Creek Township, filed in November Term, 1909, in Wilson County Superior Court.  Lamm complained that his children had been barred from the white public school in Black Creek, though they had attended for many years prior.  Based on the evidence above, a judge determined that the children, though descended from free women of color, were sufficiently white to attend white schools, and so ordered.  School Records, 1909; Wilson County Miscellaneous Records; North Carolina State Archives.

In the 1900 census of Black Creek, Wilson County: James Lamm, born 1837; wife Jane, 1869; and children Robert L., 1890, James C., 1892, Mamie, 1895 and Leona, 1897; all described as white.  Nearby: Wealthy Locas, born 1849, single, mother of eight (six living), and her children Zacariah, 1886, and Fannie, 1890; all black.  

Jane Carter Lamm died 21 February 1945 in Wilson, Wilson County.  Her death certificate lists her parents as Van Carter and Wealthy Joyner, and she is classified as white.