George,

Below is a Judge's ruling on the white/non-white issue. This ruling took place in Ohio, when the Black Codes/Laws were being enforced. Another example of the indignities suffered by FPOC's

Art Thomas
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An abstract from the 1881 Baskin- Batty edition of HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY,
page 248.

" At another time a larceny had been committed in Medina, and Joseph RENO, a colored man, had ferreted out the thief and arrested him, and fearing that he might not be allowed to testify on account of his color, so induced the
criminal to confess in the presence of a white witness as to effect his conviction.
RENO was offered as a witness, and the State offered to show he was more than half white, but Judge Dean would not hear any such proof and
decided that , by "inspection," RENO was a "negro " and refused to allow him to testify. At that time, by the laws of Ohio "negroes and mulattoes" were not competent witnesses where a white man was a party"
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Art's notes: Joseph RENO was a son of Francis & Rachel Magee RENO and a brother-in-law and brother to Lewis & Susan ADAMS. He was born in Champaign County, OH ca 1812 and migrated to Medina County, OH following his trade as a barber..
Rachel Magee RENO died in the home of her son (Joseph) at Medina, OH on 22 May 1864 .