I've been following this thread with great interest and would like to add my take on FPOC's from a perspective of my family history.

My family lines of Lewis Adams & Frank Reno/Reyno were listed as "other free persons" in the 1820 Census for Champaign County, Ohio, but their freedom came from two differing circumstances.

Lewis was manumitted in 1813 from the State of KY and Frank & his wife Rachel Reno were freed by the Simcoe Act which abolished slavery in Canada (West) ca 1792.

The children of Lewis Adams, his wife Susan, a daughter of Frank and Rachel Reno and Susan's Reno siblings all born 'free' in Ohio between the years 1815 & 1839 found and married the children of other FPOC's prior to the Civil War in Ohio.

Research indicates the life of these and other FPOC's in Ohio was much less free and more restricted than their non-FPOC fellow Ohioans. Following Statehood in 1803 Ohio immediately (1804) passed their "Black Codes".

Here are some links to data found on AfriGeneas and other sources that give testimony to my Adams/Reno research.

1) Adams - from the Slave Data Collection..Adams-Ky-1807, 1808, 1813,1820 & 1838
http://www.afrigeneas.com/slavedata/names-a.html

2) Rachel Reno - from the Mail List Archives
http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/199709/msg00305.html

3) Lewis Adams - Registration in Ohio as an FPOC
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/h/o/Arthur-L-Thomas/FILE/0006text.txt

4)Joseph Reno - Black Codes of Ohio..Court Case
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/h/o/Arthur-L-Thomas/FILE/0012text.txt

5) Deed of Conveyance - Lewis Adams 1829
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/h/o/Arthur-L-Thomas/FILE/0009text.txt

One other situation... I can't find the Tax Duplicates at the moment, but the land Lewis Adams bought in 1829 showed his paying for a School Tax and his children were not allowed to attend the public schools. Hence, he and other members of St. Paul A.M.E. church in Urbana, Ohio established a school for the "colored children" of Champaign County in 1844.

There are many other examples I could post, but I believe these are sufficient to show the life of my FPOC ancestors in Ohio.

Thanks for allowing me to share some of my Ohio FPOC research with you.

Art Thomas