This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: waroper Surnames: Roper, Ainsworth Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1925.1.1.1.1.2.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Kellie: It is unclear to me whether you have yet had occasion to read the other elaborating and correcting posts within this thread. But by looking a little closer at the data, I have found that the John S. ROPER shown to have married Mary Ann ROBESON was probably a RAPER rather than a ROPER and in any case did NOT die before 1850 leaving a widow named Mary. The Margaret ROPER who married Richard BROWN in Jefferson, TN, is NOT the Margaret ROPER shown in James and Margaret McNally ROPER's hosuehold in 1850 or in the McLEMORE household in 1860. Thus, there is really NO EVIDENCE to support the ascription that Mary ROPER is a daughter-in-law and much reason to suspect that Mary ROPER was James ROPER's DAUGHTER. * However, in my view, your identification of an enlistment of a James R. AINSWORTH, age 19, in Roane County, TN, on 09 August 1861 is CONCLUSIVE. This wouldn't be the case if his surname was SMITH. This might not be as conclusive IF the enlistment had taken place in a large populated place like Philadelphia or New York. In assessing the significance of the enlistment, we must first appreciate that there were only 1,242 AINSWORTHs or AYNSWORTHs NATIONALLY in 1850 out of a total population of upwards of 20 million or about 0.00621%. Of these AINSWORTHs or AYNSWORTHs, only ELEVEN (11) are shown to be residing in Tennessee and ALL of these in 1850 are shown to reside in Montgomery County. This is out of a total Tennessee population of in excess of 763,623 or about 0.0014% of the Tennessee population. Of the 1,242, only twenty five (25) are shown to be born in 1842 and only thirteen (13) of these are MALE nationally. About 563,447 of the total 1850 population of the U.S. was born in 1842 (~2.91%). Thus, AINSWORTH is NOT a particualrly common name and it was MORE uncommon in Tennessee than in New England or America as a whole. Although I do NOT have the published Census counts for Roane County in 1860, a search in Ancestry turns up 11,917 people living in Roane County that year. 5,993 of these are shown to be FEMALE. There are shown to be precisely 157 males residing in in Roane, TN, in 1860, one of which is James A. ROPER. The chance that there would RANDOMLY APPEAR in Roane County amidst this small population ANY AINSWORTH of precisely the SAME AGE as James ROPER is exceptionally small. The probability that this AINSWORTH would also have the given name "James" is even smaller. That he would have a middle initial "R" (suggesting that he might have been named for James ROPER) is even smaller. (Out of a total Tennessee population of about 839,239, 804 are shown to have given names "James R.", about 1 in a thousand.) Assuming independence of these variables, the probability of the random appearance of a James R. AINSWORTH, born in 1842, in Tennessee in 1860 would be about 0.00000004% or less than ONE in a billion, given the incidence of the AINSWORTH surname, given name "James R" and likelihood of being born in 1842. This is about as good as a DNA match! My original thesis when I couldn't find him after 1860 was that James ROPER didn't survive the War, but I didn't even bother to look for him amongst Civil War enlistments. The enlistment of a James R. AINSWORTH in the small county of Roane in 1861 can certainly be treated as conclusive that James R. AINSWORTH is one and the same as James A. ROPER. Welcome to the ROPER family! 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>