This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: waroper Surnames: Roper, Masters, Adams Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1880.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Almost a decade ago, I posted a transcription of the Census record of William ROPER (b abt 1809 - SC, d 07 Feb 1892 - Forsyth County, GA): "1850 Census Record for William ROPER (b abt 1809 - SC, d 07 Feb 1892 - Forsyth County, GA)" (28 Dec 2004 1:25PM) http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.roper/52.64/mb.ashx Within this William ROPER's household was an Elizabeth MASTERS, age 70 (b abt 1780 - NC). This Census record had not escaped the earlier notice of other researchers, who had apparently made the inference that this Elizabeth MASTERS was the MOTHER of William ROPER's wife Susan, age 41, born South Carolina. * In a separate follow-up post, I noted that William ROPER and Susan ROPER were shown to have been interred at the Friendship Baptist Church in Forsyth County: "Grave of William ROPER (b abt 1809 - SC, d 07 Feb 1892 - Forsyth County, GA)" (25 Jan 2005 1:41PM) http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.roper/52.64.1/mb.ashx * * * The ascription of Elizabeth MASTERS as Susan ROPER's Mother, apparently made based upon the bare inference that an older woman with a different surname living within the household of a couple a generation younger must be the WIFE's mother, shows the DANGER of making an ascription based upon such thin evidence. In this instance, it turns out that there is an ABUNDANCE of extant evidence that would have allowed for a correct ascription if researchers had simply looked a little further at the records! * * * The correct ascription is both quite easy and rather conclusive if one just scratches a little beneath the surface of pure conjecture and guesswork. Elizabeth MASTERS gives us ALL of the necessary clues within her own Revolutionary War Pension Application to which William and Susan ROPER were supporting witnesses! Will GRAVES has posted a partial transcription of the Pension Applications of Thomas MASTERS and his widow Elizabeth MASTERS at this URL: http://revwarapps.org/w13688.pdf Thomas MASTERS' Pension Application begins: "State of South Carolina Greenville District: On this Third day of November 1818 before me the Subscriber Judge of the Court of Sessions and Common Pleas in the State of South Carolina aforesaid, personally appeared Thomas Masters aged Sixty four years resident in the District of Greenville aforesaid ..." Thomas MASTERS' initial application seems NOT to have been acted upon and he thereafter made a supplemental application (or additional deposition in Court) in support of that application: "On this fourth day of April in the year of our Lord 1821 personally appeared in Open court being a court of Record of General Sessions of the Peace, and Common Pleas held for the district of Greenville in the State of South Carolina, by & before Daniel E Hugee Esquire one of the associate Judges of the said State, Thomas Masters age sixty six years, resident in Greenville district in the said State, who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath declare that he served in the Revolutionary war as follows, to wit, that he enlisted for the term of 18 months, on or about the year before Charlestown South Carolina was taken, in Rockbridge County in the State of Virginia, in the company commanded by Captain Adam Wallace, in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Ab. Bluford, in the line of the State of Virginia on the (11th Regiment) Continental establishment, that he continued to serve in the said Corps for 18 months ..." Thomas MASTERS goes on to describe his family in this way: "A Family consisting of 3 children, namely George aged 20 years, Margaret 17 years, & Polly 14 years, and I the said Thomas Masters do further swear that I am so infirm in body from age & other causes, being a cripple (merely able to walk) that I am unable to support myself by manual labor, farming being my principal Occupation; that I have barely supported and existence by the help of my Children, the 2 first of whom are probably able to support themselves." * Will GRAVES' transcription then further informs us of the supplemental application of Elizabeth MASTERS: "On October 6, 1854 in Forsyth County Georgia, Elizabeth Masters, 75, made application for a widow's pension under the 1853 act stating that she is the widow of Thomas Masters, a revolutionary war pensioner at the rate of $96 per annum; she thinks he died August 26, 1838; that she married him in Greenville District South Carolina January 1, 1822; that they were married by John Roberts, JP; that her name prior to her marriage was Elizabeth Roper. She signed her application with her mark." * Note the exactness of the conformity of the Pension Application information to the information appearing in the 1850 Census enumeration. Elizabeth MASTERS' made her application in Forsyth, Georgia, the precise place where she was enumerated in 1850. Elizabeth identifies her own age at she was age 75 at 06 Oct 1854, compared to age 70 in the 1850 Census enumeration. Elizabeth identifies he "name prior to her marriage" as Elizabeth ROPER. Note that Elizabeth does NOT state that this was her MAIDEN NAME. This is because Elizabeth was a WIDOW and William ROPER, of Forsyth, Georgia was her SON rather than Susan being her DAUGHTER. Thus, the widespread ascription that Susan ROPER's maiden name was "MASTERS" is almost certainly erroneous. Elizabeth helps us to understand that she married Thomas MASTERS on 01 Jan 1822 in Greenville, South Carolina, and that Thomas MASTERS died on 26 Aug 1838. Will GRAVES' transcription also shows that BOTH Susan ROPER and William ROPER made supporting affidavits and that they also reside in Forsyth, Georgia. That both request pensions were granted reflects that the War Department found both applications to be meritworthy. * * * Once one realizes that Elizabeth MASTERS was Elizabeth ROPER prior to her marriage, we are presented with the rather trivial problem of finding her in the 1820 Census where she was enumerated in Edgefield, SC. * * * The 1850 Census record for William ROPER (b abt 1809 - SC, d 07 Feb 1892 - Forsyth County, GA) shows ALL of the older ROPER children, including Joseph ROPER, age 6, as born in South Carolina. The two youngest children -- Claiborn ROPER, age 3, and Jesse ROPER, age 7/12 -- are shown to be born in Georgia. Thus, William ROPER seems to have migrated to Georgia between 1844 and 1847. * * * Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. 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