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| Judge Paul L. Brady in his books notes that PearlaLee's mother was named Lucy Totty, which has prompted us to speculate that Lucy may have been Lucy Lee who was living as a free colored woman in Chesterfield County Virginia per the 1810 census, and then moved to North Carolina for marriage and life as a White woman. We know from Pearlalee that her mother was named Lucy Totty. Another and more likely possibility is that Pearlalee was conceived by Lucy Lee via union with a Cherokee native in North Carolina before her later marriage to William Totty. See link below regarding offspring of Frank and Lucy Lee displaced from Mount Vernon. "1760-1765 Birth of William TOTTY, Chesterfield County, Virginia. Notes: This William was the son of Francis TOTTY and his wife believed to be Precilla [Gill?]. According to the Deed abstrated in Dec. 1810 in Halifax County, NC. William was married to Lucy Unknown. Research still in progress to identify who the parents of Lucy _____ Totty were. If you can identify Lucy, Please let us know." Our speculation is that Lucy in question above likely considered herself married to William Totty, and may have been Lucy Lee who was living as a free colored woman from the estate of George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon, ... and had been one of the slaves disposed of by Bushrod Washington following Washington's death in 1799. Virginia's laws were such that a free colored person had to register with the county sheriff each year as gainfully employed and taxable or risk being sold back into slavery or bonded servitude. Most free colored women had no choice but to pass for white by marriage to a white man or accept bonded servitude for themselves or an offspring who had prominent colored features and unable to pass.
NOTE: Sandal Andrews TOTTY is NOT living in hh according to this transcriber's copy of census, she has most probably died before 1820. Unless some one has documentation that she was alive after 1820, if so please let us know, Thanks. Nancy Totty was married on Oct 16, 1816 and is no longer living in hh of her father, and son's Matthew and William had died in war of 1812.
Both the surname Totty and first name of Pearlalee (name of Paul Brady's great grandmother) coupled with her small size are good indicators of early 19th century Cherokee origins in eastern Tennessee, western Virginia and North Carolina wherein many thousands of Cherokee plantation owners emulated Whites in their attitudes and habits, ... and owned slaves of African heritage.
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