 All free people of color who had come to Texas before March 2, 1836, had the right to remain in Texas, "anything in the laws of the country to the contrary not with standing" "(Shades 74)"

The Ashworths' were a family of mixed race.The family was a mix of Black (African) and Anglo European (White race).The Ashworths' migrated from South Carolina, then moved through Louisiana, and finally ending their journey in the early 1830s in southeast Texas, at the town of Beaumont, when Texas was part of Mexico.