This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: waroper Surnames: Roper Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1932.12/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Frank: I wanted to call you your attention that a transacription of the 1782 Dinwiddie Personal Personal Property Tax Lists was published in the William and Mary Quarterly edition of October 1, 1917, beginning at page 96 in an article entitled simply "Personal Property Tax List Dinwiddie 1782". A copy of this article is available online at the Archives.org website: https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1914860/1914860#page/n0/mode/1up The introduction to this article gives a good overview on the extant records available for Dinwiddie County. You cited from (I think) Dave's summarization of the 1782 Dinwiddie data: "A 1782 tax list for Dinwiddie County lists: free male, negro >21, negro <21, horses, cattle Charles Roper Jr 1 - - 2 10; Charles Roper Sen 2 2 1 4 17" However, inspection of the William & Mary Quarterly transcription shows the omission of one rather critical detail. In 1782, Charles ROPER, Sen., is shown to have TWO tithables (over age 21) residing within his household and the OTHER tithable is actually identified BY NAME: https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1914860/1914860#page/n8/mode/1up The OMITTED NAME is that of Daniel FERGUSSON, who is rather clearly residing within the Charles ROPER household, though his relationship is unclear. He isn't shown to have been married to any of Charles ROPER's daughters, though perhaps he was. He could be a nephew or cousin. Or he may simply have been the Overseer of Charles ROPER's plantation. It bears mention that Charles ROPER's SON Josiah ROPER (b 26 Apr 1760), about whom little is known, would seem to have been age 22 by this date and therefore Josiah probably should have appeared BY NAME if he was still residing with his father. By contrast, Charles ROPER's youngest son, Joel ROPER (b 26 Jun 1766) would have been only about 16. We would expect Joel to first appear in the Personal Property Tax lists beginning about 1787. We can reasonably infer from the 1782 Dinwiddie Personal Property Tax List that ALL of Charles and Ann Goodwyn ROPER's eldest sons had LEFT the household and probably LEFT DINWIDDIE by 1782: David ROPER (b 29 Jun 1742) Jesse ROPER (b 31 May 1751) William ROPER (b 26 Jun 1753) Allen ROPER (b 03 Apr 1756) Josiah ROPER (b 26 Apr 1760) Charles ROPER, Jr. (b 19 Apr 1758) had left the household but REMAINED in Dinwiddie and is therefore still shown in the Tax Lists. As mentioned above, Joel ROPER (b 26 Jun 1766) was then still too young to be shown in the Dinwiddie Personal Property Tax Lists. 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>