This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: waroper Surnames: Roper, Harris, Scott Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1898.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: In my prior post "George W. Roper and Roper's Knob," I called attention to the published accounts concerning the George W. ROPER family and Roper's Knob appearing within the article "Archaeological Investigations on Ropers Knob: A Fortified Civil War Site in Williamson County, Tennessee", by Benjamin C. NANCE, Tennessee Archeology, Vol. 2, No. 2, (Nashville: Tennessee Council for Professional Archeology, Fall 2006) pp. 83-106. Since that post, I have been carefully reviewing some of my other notes as well as extant primary source data. I am also indebted to Frank BATCHELOR for sharing his notes with me and in particular for calling my attention to the actual data shown in the 1840 Census enumeration. The Census data seems to call into question several of the statements and conclusions given in Benjamin NANCE's account of the ROPER family. To NANCE's credit, the focus of his article was on the archeological DIG at Roper's Knob and the information given about the ROPER family is to enrich our understanding of the historical background of the site of the dig. Nothing as to the errors noted below would seem to call into question the fundamental timeline as to the occupation and use of the site. For reference, I again extract a part of what I posted above to place the statements I now question into proper context: "Nicholas P. Perkins, a Franklin attorney, paid taxes in 1829 for one free person (himself) and three slaves (Williamson County Tax Records, 1829), and in the following year he paid taxes for five slaves and the 37-acre tract of land that he had purchased from McEwen (Williamson County Tax Records, 1830). Perkins died in 1833 and his heirs, James Perkins, John Perkins, and Ann Elizabeth Knox, began paying the taxes on the 37-acre tract, though none of them lived there (Williamson County Tax Records, 1837-1856). It is shortly after Nicholas Perkins's death that the Roper family shows up in local records. Historian Park Marshall wrote that Roper's Knob was named for a man named Roper who "lived a great many years on Roper's Knob, but he does not seemed to have owned the land" (Marshall 1970). George W. Roper paid a poll tax in Williamson County in 1833 (Williamson County Tax Records, 1833), and he appears on the 1840 Federal Census in the Eighth District (where Roper's Knob is located) with his wife, two sons, and one daughter (Federal Census, 1840, Williamson County, District 8). Roper's wife, Agnes, hanged herself in May 1840 (Lynch 1977:34). The 1850 Federal Census lists George W. Roper and his sons George Jr. and Moody as farmers without real estate. A daughter, Mary Roper, is also listed (Federal Census, 1850, Williamson County, District 8, No. 831). George and Moody also paid poll taxes in 1846, 1849, and 1850, but the Ropers disappear from the local records after 1850. They do not appear in the 1860 census records for Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, or Texas." * * * The first statement that seems dubious is the assertion "It is shortly after Nicholas Perkins's death that the Roper family shows up in local records." A George ROPER seems to have been on the Williamson County Tax List for 1810. A George W. ROPER is shown to have served in 2 Reg't (Cheatham's) West Tennessee Militia during the War of 1812 / Creek War. A George W. ROPER is shown to have given supporting testimony in favor if Revolutionary War Veteran George ROPER's Pension Application in Williamson County in 1824. There are apparently extant Tax Lists for Williamson County for every year from 1800-1841, as well as additional lists for years 1844-1856. While it is certainly POSSIBLE that the Tax Lists show some GAPS or discontinuity in ROPER presence in Williamson, there seems to be NO EVIDENCE that Mr. NANCE consulted the abundant underlying records which seem to show a ROPER presence in Williamson County, though NOT necessarily at the Roper's Knob site, from at least 1810. I do NOT fault Mr. NANCE for failing to do a complete ROPER genealogy, but caution against drawing a conclusion that George W. ROPER first arrived at ROPER's Knob after Nicholas PERKINS' death. Similarly, when NANCE tells us "George W. Roper paid a poll tax in Williamson County in 1833 (Williamson County Tax Records, 1833)," we need to accept this fact as a reference to a SINGEL extant Tax List without making any inferences as to George ROPER's inclusion or omission from other lists. * The most serious error made by NANCE is in this assertion: "he [George ROPER] appears on the 1840 Federal Census in the Eighth District (where Roper's Knob is located) with his wife, two sons, and one daughter (Federal Census, 1840, Williamson County, District 8)." There are several problems with NANCE's statement immediately recognizable to any experienced genealogist. First, the 1840 Census does NOT give us either the NAMES or the relationships of the other householders. Thus, we CANNOT KNOW with certainty the relationships of ANY of the persons shown within the household. Admittedly, presence in a household is most often indicative of membership in the immediate family. But Frank BATCHELOR recently posted the actual 1840 Census record: George W. Roper 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 [Williamson, TN 1840] See: "United States Census, 1840," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHYM-38G : accessed 18 Apr 2014), George W Roper, Not Stated, Williamson, Tennessee; citing "1840 United States Federal Census," Ancestry.com; p. 138, NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 537, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 0024550. * In this record George W. ROPER is shown to be age 40 to 49 (b abt 1791-1800). There are two males in this household shown to be age 15 to 19. This is reasonably consistent with the conclusion that these might be sons of George W. ROPER. But the ONLY female in the 1840 Census record is shown to be age 60 to 69 (b abt 1771-80). It is axiomatic that this female CANNOT possibly be George W. ROPER's DAUGHTER as indicated in Mr. NANCE's article. It seems MORE likely that this is George ROPER's widowed mother or mother-in-law! * NANCE makes a similar mistake in seeking to explain the 1850 Census data: "The 1850 Federal Census lists George W. Roper and his sons George Jr. and Moody as farmers without real estate. A daughter, Mary Roper, is also listed (Federal Census, 1850, Williamson County, District 8, No. 831)." Again, the 1850 Census does NOT give us the RELATIONSHIPS, so any assertions about the relationships of the persons named is conjectural absent some other actual primary data supporting the assertions outside of the Census record. The assertion that George ROPER Jr., age 26, and Moody L. ROPER, age 21, are sons is probably RIGHT. By contrast, the assertion that Mary ROPER, age 22 (b abt 1828), is a daughter seems questionable. Since there were no other females under age 60 in George W. ROPER's household in 1840, we must ASSUME that this Mary ROPER was living in another household IF she is George ROPER's daughter. Not only is this Mary ROPER's presence INCONSISTENT with the 1840 Census record, it is also inconsistent with the 1830 Census enumeration posted by Frank BATCHELOR: George W. Roper 0 - 2 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 0 - 0 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 [Williamson, TN 1830] Mary would have been about age 2 at the 1830 enumeration and therefore would have been include in the Under age 5 category in the 1830 Census enumeration if she was George W. ROPER's daughter. * There is also another clue that Mary ROPER is not George W. ROPER's daughter, though it is an inference drawn upon another inference. We are inclined to suspect that George ROPER married Agnes HARRIS in 1806. We might therefore expect there to have been children born in the period 1807-10. But the eldest children shown in the 1830 Census enumeration are shown to be in the age 15 to 19 (b abt 1811-5) range. But there is a marriage of a Mary ROPER to Moses CLARK on 18 Jun 1830 in Williamson, TN. George W. ROPER is the ONLY ROPER head of household enumerated in Williamson County, TN, in 1830, although Sally ROPER later turns up from Dinwiddie, VA. This, one non-trivial possibility is that Mary ROPER is a daughter of George W. ROPER and Agnes HARRIS born about 1807, who married at a very young age. Tracking Mary Roper CLARK forward should give us some better indication as to Mary ROPER's age at marriage and whether she could have been a daughter of Agnes ROPER. IF the Mary ROPER who married Moses CLARK is George W. ROPER's daughter, then it is highly unlikely that George ROPER had a second daughter named Mary ROPER, born about 1828 who was concealed from the Census enumerators in both the 1830 and 1840 Census. At a minimum, we must conclude that the data does NOT support the conjecture by NANCE that the Mary ROPER, age 22, enumerated in 1850 is a daughter of George W. ROPER. More likely, she is a wife of George W. ROPER, Jr., though there doesn't seem to be a marriage record which seems supportive. Instead, there is a slightly discordant marriage record showing the marriage in Williamson County of George W. ROPER to Nancy SCOTT on 05 Jul 1844. But there is no "Nancy" shown in the 1850 record. * * * I am posting this clarifying information both to immunize researchers against drawing erroneous conclusions from NANCE's otherwise excellent article on Roper's Knob and also to underscore the importance of careful examination of the underlying primary records. Even when someone tells you that THEY have inspected the record, VERIFICATION is still a good idea! I recall President REAGAN's admonition when asked if he trusted the Russians (in respect of a treaty): "Trust, but VERIFY!" 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