Apparently the purpose of the requirement was to keep blacks off the voting register. "Rockingham County, NC, Permanent Voter Registration, 1902-1908." This registration was mandated by North Carolina in 1902. Any male was eligible to vote if he could read and write or if he had been eligible to vote in 1867 or if he was descended from a man who was eligible to vote in 1867. This record lists the voter's name, his age, the name and residence of the ancestor from whom descended, the date the voter registered and his township. " http://www.usgennet.org/usa/nc/county/rockingham1/local.html Ellen

Yes--that was the infamous "Grandfather clause" used all over the south to keep blacks from voting. An illiterate white could vote if his grandfather could; a black man could not unless he could pass the literacy test, and they sometimes made the literacy test quite hard. Roy Johnson -----Original Message----- From: genealogy@snuffy.britishlibrary.net [mailto:genealogy@snuffy.britishlibrary.net] Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 8:21 AM To: PACE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PACE-L] MCDANIEL PACE b. 1856 Apparently the purpose of the requirement was to keep blacks off the voting register. "Rockingham County, NC, Permanent Voter Registration, 1902-1908." This registration was mandated by North Carolina in 1902. Any male was eligible to vote if he could read and write or if he had been eligible to vote in 1867 or if he was descended from a man who was eligible to vote in 1867. This record lists the voter's name, his age, the name and residence of the ancestor from whom descended, the date the voter registered and his township. " http://www.usgennet.org/usa/nc/county/rockingham1/local.html Ellen ==== PACE Mailing List ==== To share info which may be of interest to others, reply to the mail list (PACE-L@rootsweb.com). To say thank you or otherwise reply personally, reply to sender.