This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: waroper Surnames: Roper, Perkins, Hardeman, McEwen Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1898.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Civil War historians are well aware that Roper's Knob played a pivotal role in observation and signaling during the Civil War campaigns near Nashville, TN. However, Roper family historians haven't done a very good job researching, analyzing or discussing Roper's Knob and the history of the ROPER family presence there. Happily, the National Park Service and Tennessee archeologists have done some pretty good research, supported by relatively recent excavations and digs. A full account of these excavations was written by Benjamin C. NANCE in 2006 and published in Tennessee Archeology. I would encourage those interested in the Williamson, TN, ROPER family, in Tennessee ROPER genealogy, Civil War history or archeology to read the entire article cited and linked below. For the convenience of those ONLY interested in the information given about George W. ROPER, of Williamson, I have included the portion of the article which discusses the family presence at Roper's Knob: "Early History of Roper's Knob The hill that would become known as Roper's Knob (this name first appears in an 1859 court document) was part of a 2,660-acre land grant that James Robertson, known by most as one of the founders of Nashville, Tennessee, received for service in the American Revolution (Davidson County Deeds, Book D, p. 97). Subsequent land sales broke up the large tract, and in May 1823 John and Cyrus McEwen evenly divided a 310-acre tract that they had inherited from their father David McEwen (Williamson County Deeds, Book G, pp. 378-379). John McEwen's portion of this tract included Roper's Knob, and in 1829 he sold 37 acres, including the knob, to Thomas Hardeman, County Clerk of Williamson County, in trust for Nicholas P. Perkins (Williamson County, Chancery Court Minute Book, 1857-1867, Vol. I, p. 435). The deed from McEwen to Hardeman failed to mention the trust, which would later result in a court battle over ownership of the land (Williamson County Deeds, Book K, p. 208). 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 heirs of Nicholas P. Perkins and Thomas Hardeman went to court in 1859 to settle a dispute over ownership of the 37-acre tract of land. The Perkins heirs won the dispute, and the land was subsequently surveyed and sold (Williamson County Chancery Court Minute Book, 1857-1867, Vol. I, p. 435). These court records provide the first documented use of the name "Roper's Knob." W.H.S. Hill purchased the Roper's Knob tract in April 1860 having bought the adjoining tract to the south in the previous year (Williamson County Chancery Court Minute Book, Vol. I, pp. 450, 524; Williamson County Deeds, Book Z, p. 58-59). Hill, a farmer and surveyor, lived in the East Subdivision of Williamson County in 1860, and owned Roper's Knob throughout the Civil War." [Pages 83-4] "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 http://www.sitemason.com/files/lotmCs/Volume2Issue2.pdf 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>