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/1939.9/mb.ashx Message Board Post: The 1783 Brunswick, Virginia, Personal Property Tax Lists show both William ROPER and David ROPER residing in Brunswick, VA, that year: William ROPER: 1 - 1 - 2 - 10 David ROPER:.. 2 - 5 - 5 - 16 The categories seem to be Number of (Adult) Tithes (both White and Black), Number of Taxable Persons, Horses, and Head of Cattle. See: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vabrunsw/taxlist/1783_10.pdf David ROPER (b 29 Jun 1742 - Bristol Parish, VA) is shown to have TWO tithable males in his household that year and a total of 5 taxable persons. One of the two tithables would have been David himself. Another may have been David's eldest son, in which case David might have have a son born before 1763. Perhaps more importantly, David ROPER is shown to own slaves named Tom, Sarah, Charles and Abram. I believe that the number of Taxable persons included ALL slaves plus males age 16 to 20, but I am UNSURE about this. IF I am correct, then in 1783, David ROPER had one male over age 21 residing within his household, PLUS the four named slaves and implicitly then, one additional male age 16 to 20 (b abt 1763-7). Note that David ROPER would have turned age 41 in 1783. Since NO SLAVES are identified by name, William ROPER (b 26 Jun 1753) in turn would seem to have had one male age 16 to 20 (b abt 1763-7). This seems likely to be a nephew or an unrelated farm laborer rather than a son. This young male may very well have been David ROPER's son Benjamin ROPER (b abt 1767, d 23 Oct 1845 - Edgefield, SC), who later married his cousin, William ROPER's daughter. Benjamin would have been about age 16 in 1783. 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>