Kitty,
Although your response to the identity of Free People of Color is very thorough and detailed, it is not the only definition. Free People of Color were not only those of Creole descent. The fathers did not always take care of them and send them abroad nor did they always free them and they were not always privileged. What you describe is one kind of Free People of Color. Also Free People of Color were not always mixed blood or noticeably so. There are many definitions and FPOC came from various backgrounds, various states in the U.S. and universally.