This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: waroper Surnames: Roper, Gantt, Fell, May, Rainsford, Longstreet Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1880.3/mb.ashx Message Board Post: In previous posts, I have shown that Elizabeth Adams ROPER was Daniel ROPER's widow and that she subsequently married Thomas MASTERS. However, I overlooked calling attention to this abstracted records, which also nicely laces up and confirms the inferences which can be made from the Drury ADAMS Will and extant Census records. Dave ROPER shows this abstract at his South Carolina Roper Family page, citing Edgefield County South Carolina Deed Books 39 and 40 abstracted by Carol Wells 2006: "Richard Gantt to Elizabeth Roper et al. For one hundred dollars, Richard Gantt sold to Elizabeth Roper, widow, and Goodwin, John, William, Mary A, Elizabeth, children of Danl Roper, deceased, the moiety of a tract of land held by Richard Gantt, originally to William W. Fell but my bond for title to sd Fell set p.94 over to Stephen May and Daniel Roper now both dedc, on waters of Horns Creek joining the moiety of sd tract now belonging to the representatives of Stephen May, deceased, and on lands owned by Thomas Rainsford, Jas Longstreet, containing one hundred thirty acres. 10 March 1821. /s/ Richard Gantt. Wit: /s/ William Nivvs, /s/ Christian Breithaupt." See: http://www.roperld.com/rsc18.htm * * * Note that this record confirms Elizabeth as Daniel ROPER's widow, shows that this Daniel ROPER was already dead at 10 Mar 1821 (thereby confirming the information in the Ryan Journal and the 1820 Census record), and IDENTIFIES Daniel and Elizabeth ROPER's children: Goodwin ROPER (b abt 1816-20) John ROPER (b abt 1816-20) William ROPER (b abt 1810 - SC, d 07 Feb 1892 - Forsyth County, GA) Mary A. ROPER (b abt 1810-20) Elizabeth ROPER (b abt 1810-20) * We KNOW from William ROPER's (b abt 1810 - SC, d 07 Feb 1892 - Forsyth County, GA) 's 1850, 1860 and 1870 Census records that he is born about 1809. But we also think that perhaps he had been confused about or persistently fudging his age a little on the high side, since he doesn't appear in Daniel ROPER's 1810 Census record. Note that we also know the age distribution of these children from Elizabeth ROPER's 1820 Census record: Elizabeth ROPER: 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 -- 0 - 2 -- 3 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 [Edgefield, SC - 1820] Taken at face value, Elizabeth ROPER's Census return seems incompatible both with the count of children, both male and female, and with William ROPER's age. There is one too few boy and one two few girls. It is also somewhat difficult to reconcile William ROPER's 1850, 1860 and 1870 Census data, which suggests he was born about 1809, with the 1810 data for Daniel showing NO CHILDREN and the 1820 Census enumeration showing ONLY two boys under age 5. While it is easy to imagine that if William was born in 1810 AFTER the Census enumeration that he might exaggerate his age by a year or even two. But it is somewhat more difficult to imagine that Elizabeth erroneously told the Census enumerator that a nine or ten year old boy was under age five. It seems somewhat more likely that young William had moved in with an uncle or grandparent as his mother struggled to cope with her household of youngsters as a widow. If William was actually age nine or ten, then the children shown in the deed must NOT have been listed in age order. Note that this record also lists only ONE daughter for Elizabeth ROPER, a child under age 5. There are two possibilities. One is that an older daughter, closer in age to William, had also been syndicated out to an aunt, uncle or grandparent. Alternatively, Elizabeth could have been pregnant with her fifth child when Daniel ROPER died on 17 Jul 1819. The latter presupposes that the 1820 Census enumeration was completed by about April 1820. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board. <br>