State of North Carolina, Wilson County  }

On this the 24 day of April 1866 the undersigned a Justice of the peace in and for said County proceeded to take examination of Delpha Locus whereupon she declares upon her oath that she has bin deliverd of a Child which child is a bastard and liable to become chargeable to said County her child Edwin is a male bastard of the age of two years and eight month old being less than three years old,

She further declares that Nathan A. Blackwell is the father of her said child.   Delpha (X) Locus

Taken and subscribed before me     Jos. F. Mercer {seal}

——

It appears that Edwin was reared by his father. In the 1870 census of Black Creek, Wilson County: 31 year-old farm laborer Nathan Blackwell, 42 year-old Mary Blackwell, and 6 year-old Edwin Blackwell. Ten years later, however: Nathan Blackwell, 40; his wife Mary Blackwell, 55; 36 year-old servant Delpha Lassiter; Harriet Lassiter, 14, and Nathan Lassiter, 4; Charlotte Baker, 70; and Edwin Blackwell, 17.

Delpha Lassiter and Delpha Locus were the same person. She was also known as Delpha Simpson, daughter of Orpah Simpson Lassiter, and married Matthew Lassiter (brother of her stepfather Silas Lassiter) on 7 December 1866 in Wilson County. They appear in the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Mathew Lassiter, 47, Delphy, 24, Harret, 3, infant, 1 month, and Thomas Lassiter, 2.

On 12 May 1889 in Gardners township, Wilson County, Ed Blackwell, 27, son of Axum [sic] Blackwell and Delpha Locus, married Cherry Farmer, 24, daughter of Rhoda Bynum.

Nathan Blackwell and Delphia Lassiter married 30 January 1890 in Wilson County. In the 1900 census of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana: 59 year-old day laborer Nathan Blackwell; wife Delpha, 53; daughter-in-law [stepdaughter?] Harriet, 33; and Harriet’s children James, 16, Jonas, 13, Martha, 11, and Peter, 10. Delpha Blackwell died 2 April 1902 in Indianapolis.

Bastardy Bonds, 1866, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.