Mar 11, 2016 Orange County Review
John Mercer Langston: another remarkable individual
Recent research has introduced me to yet another remarkable individual and a fabulous story! How I came to discover this information will be revealed at another time and I can promise you that that part of the telling is a ground-breaking story. You will have to be as patient until all that information is researched and well documented. For now, let me share the story of John Mercer Langston.
Langston was born a free black child in 1829 in neighboring Louisa County. That fact in and of itself is unremarkable however, the nature of his parentage is worth our knowing.
Langston’s mother was a former enslaved woman from Louisa County whose name was Lucy Jane Langston. The father of John Langston was Captain Ralph Quarles, a celebrated American Revolution War soldier and a wealthy land and slave owner, born in Spotsylvania County who would later establish his home in Louisa County. Again, as has been documented repeatedly, the fact that Quarles fathered a child by an enslaved woman that he owned, is not exceptional, but there is so much more to the story!
Captain Quarles emancipated Lucy Jane Langston, believed to be of both African and Native American ancestry, and their daughter Maria in 1806. During a 25-year relationship, Lucy would become the common-law wife of Ralph Quarles, move into his home and the couple would subsequently raise four children: three sons and the one daughter.
For those readers unaware of Virginia law, miscegenation that included marriage between a white person and a person of color was illegal until a ruling by the United States Supreme Court on June 12, 1967. That date is not a misprint; watch for the release of the new movie about the Loving Story: a true accounting of a couple in Caroline County.
Additionally, the laws of Virginia determined the legal status of any child born in the Commonwealth prior to the passing of the 13th Amendment in 1865 abolishing slavery, to follow the legal status of the mother. Thus, if she were a free woman as Lucy Langston was after 1806, any child born to her would be legally free regardless of the status of the father. Though the three sons of Ralph Quarles and Lucy Langston were born into freedom, they would continue to be handicapped legally, socially and in almost all other aspects by the fact that they were classified as blacks.
Future opportunities were largely impacted by their father; a man of awareness, perhaps of a rebellious spirit, who possessed the resources to counter the obstacles that lay before his children.
Quarles acknowledging his own age and health asked his friend William Gooch a Quaker to become their guardian upon his death. Ralph and Lucy both died in 1833 and the children inherited significant funds from his estate.
They would subsequently move with their guardian to the free state of Ohio.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story.
Until next week, be well.