Hi, I just picked this Theodore ROPER posting out of the ROPER-L Archives on Roots Web. I have copied the entire posting to the end of my message. The Theodore ROPER your looking for may have been the one that was overlooked in the 1860 Illinois Census. The index scanner on Ancestry.com does not pick-up this ROPER family. The index is interpreting the p in Roper as the old way to write a double s. If you input the name ROSSER, you will find this ROPER family living in Illinois: Quincy, Adams County, Illinois 1860 - US Census, Ward 6, Page 323, Line 25, 19 July 1860 ROPER, Reuben, 33, M, Mast Plasterer, England ROPER, Elizabeth, 28, F, England ROPER, Theodore, 8, M, Ills ROPER, Amanda, 4, F, Ills ROPER, Cornn, 4/12, M, Ills Note: ROPER, the p is seen as the double ss in the index: ROSSER. This is one of my ancestors, Reuben ROPER. You were pretty close in guessing whom Theodore belongs to. Reuben and Elizabeth are buried in the Bedford Cemetery, Montezuma Township, Pike County Illinois: Cemetery Book, Volume V, covers townships of Detroit, Hardin, Montezuma, Pearl & Springcreek, page 81, ROPER, Reuben, d. 11 Nov 1864 (37-8-24) (y-m-d) ROPER, Elizabeth (wife), d. 19 Aug 1862 (30-7-18). I found this information in a trip to Pike County about four years ago. The ROPER family in 1860 Montezuma Township, Pike County Illinois Census is related to Reuben. 1860 - US Census, Montezuma Post office, house 19, page 649, line 13, image 405, 27 June 1860, ROPER, A., 29, m, Plasterer, England (Albert, Reuben¹s brother) LEWIS, Harriet, 54, f, England (Reuben¹s mother) ROPER, William, 20, m, Plasterer, England (my ancestor William, Reuben¹s brother) ROPER, H. A., f, 15, Missouri (unknown relation) Montezuma Township, Pike County, Illinois 1860 - US Census, Montezuma, house 35, page 651, line 11, image 407, 27 June ROPER, Wade, 25, m, Boatman, $50 personal, England (another ROPER brother) ROPER, Ann, 23, f, England ROPER, Clara E., 3, f, Illinois ROPER, M. O., 1, f, Illinois Here is the proof of connection from the 1841 English Census: Dukinfield Town, Stockport Parish, Ashton-under-Lyne Poor Law Union, Macclesfield Administrative District. 1841 - England Census, Roper Court ROPER, William, M, 35, Plasterer, N (Whether Born in same County) ROPER, Harriet, F, 35, N ROPER, Reuben, M, 15, Plasterer Ap, N ROPER, Sarah, F, 13, Cotton Weaver, N ROPER, Albert, M, 11, N ROPER, Wade, M, 9, N ROPER, Olive, F, 7, N ROPER, Hannah, F, 5, Y ROPER, William, M, 2, Y ROPER, Joseph, F(error?), 25, Plasterer, N I have a page from the William ROPER (born 1839) family bible that states he was born at Stalybridge, England. Dukinfield and Stalybridge are two towns next to each other in Cheshire. After the Civil War, my William and his brother Wade moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa and worked as plasterers the rest of their lives. Albert stayed in Illinois for a couple of decades tried being a farmer but eventually went back to being a plasterer; then he and his family move to Kansas City, then to the Los Angeles area by 1910. I have suspected the Theodore you are talking about is the same Theodore that is the son of Reuben ROPER. In the 1870 Nebraska Census, there is a Theodore living on a farm and it appears the ³Keeping House² wife may be his aunt Hannah. If you look at the 1841 English Census, that Hannah may be the same Nebraska Hannah. I started working on a project to link the ³plasterer² ROPER families in England. I suspect that many are related. The plasterer trade caused the ROPER families to continually move in England to seek work. The same can be said for America, except my William and Wade stayed put in Council Bluffs from 1870 to their deaths in the 1920s. Hope this helps, gary barton ----------------------------------------------------------- "It's never too late to have a happy childhood." Tom Robbins