This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Roper, Stanley Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kgDBAEB/761.1.1.1 Message Board Post: Julia: My congratulations on a very thorough investigation to date!! No, this is NOT my ROPER line and I have no speciifc information about about these ROPERs readily available. I am descended from a David ROPER (b 1744, d 1808), of Charles City County, Virginia. The old ROPER Plantation on the Chickahominy in Charles City County, first Patented in 1714, came down my line through Rev. David ROPER, of Richmond, Virginia, though he sold his interest in that plantation to his brother when he settled in Richmond. I am descended from Rev. David ROPER through his son Benjamen Eliscus ROPER, who migrated from Virginia, briefly through Hinds County, MS, to Harris County Texas about 1848. But I certainly AM willing to help to the extent that I am able. I have quite a few notes on various ROPER families and am also knowledgable and skilled at using various available online resources. * I want to begin by REVIEWING some of the information you have Posted. I like to get a firm grounding in the facts before trying to leverage those facts in further investigations. You mention the 1850 Census record and assert that it shows John H. ROPER residing with a wife you identify as E. May A. ROPER. I read that name DIFFERENTLY. Thename I believe appears in teh 1850 Census image is Cintha A. ROPER. Here is what I perceive the Census record to actually sayL United States Census -- 1850 DeSoto Parish, LA (Page 382, following the page imprinted "191") 10 Oct 1850 Line 25, Dwelling 459, Family 445, John H. ROPER, Age 36, Male, ?? Right, Born TN Line 26, Dwelling 459, Family 445, Cintha A. ROPER, Age 26, Female, Born TN Line 27, Dwelling 459, Family 445, Martha P. ROPER, Age 12, Female, Born MS Line 28, Dwelling 459, Family 445, Eliza A. ROPER, Age 10, Female, Born MS Line 29, Dwelling 459, Family 445, Leonora ROPER, Age 4, Female, Born MS [Image 20 of 43 at the Ancestry.com presentation of the 1850 Census data for this jurisdiction.] * This may be a very minor point, but as you are looking for a marriage record or other records, I think you should be looking for a "Cintha"! Check the underlying image or if you do NOT have ready access to these images let me know and I will e-mail that Census page to you. * * * I AGREE with you that the place of bith of the children suggests that the place to find John ROPER in the 1840 Census is in Mississippi. And the Census record you identified in Madison County, MS, rather precisely matches the age and gender distributions we find in the 1850 Census record, EXCEPT that the female in the household is then shown to be age 20 to 30 and we find Cintha A. ROPER to be age 26 in 1850. I would call your attention to the fact that the eldest child Martha P. ROPER would seem to have been born when Cintha was only about age 14, which is a little on the early side even in those times in the South. I would call your attention to the six year age gap between Elizabeth and Leonora and suggest to you that it is more likely that Cintha is the SECOND wife and that the first wife died in Childbirth after 1840. Cintha more than likely married John H. ROPER in Mississippi about 1845. * John H. ROPER owned no slaves in 1840 and the Census record says one member of his household engaged in "Agriculture" and another engaged in "Commerce". It seems that John ROPER and his young wife both worked. * * * It is perhaps noteworthy that there are only FIVE (5) ROPER households enumerated in Mississippi in 1840, including that of "Jno. H. ROPER". Two other ROPER households were in Attala County, MS. One of these was headed by Charles B. ROPER, who died that same year. Daniel C. ROPER is shown in Attala records to have administered his estate on 04 Aug 1840. My ROPER ancestor arrived in Hinds County a couple of years later, but was already in Texas by the date of the 1850 Census. It appears that John H. ROPER was following the migration along what was known as the "Natchez Trace". * I think that it is quite LIKELY that the land record you see which says John W. ROPER may very well be John H. ROPER. Sometimes in older handwriting an H. can look like a "W". In fact, for some years I had difficulty locating either my great grandfather's or my great-grandmother's death certificates in Texas because they are indexed as "George W. ROPER" and "Mrs. George W. ROPER", though my great grandfather's name was George Henry ROPER! When I finally received the death certificates, I could see how this mistranscription had happened. I would encourage you to obtian the land grant cited. I think that you are likely to find that it really says "John H. ROPER". * Similarly, I would encourage you to take a look at the DeSoto DEED records. * However, there is also an argument AGAINST this land transaction applying to John H. ROPER. That is the fact that NO REAL ESTATE is shown to be owned by J.H. ROPER in his 1860 Census record. * * * As you point out John H. ROPER is enumerated in Mansfield, De Soto Parish, LA, in 1860. His Census record is at Line 14 on the page numbered "897". This is image "57" of "99" at the Ancestry.com presentation of the Census data for this jurisdiction. I am inferring that Mary L., age 14, is Mary Leonora ROPER. I read her age as "14" rather than "16", but would agree that the handwriting is a little ambiguous. Since Cintha ROPER is NOT shown in the 1860 Census record, I am a little uneasy with the assertion that an Eliza A. May Roper lived to 13 DEC 1890. If this is actually the case, I would be inclined to suspect that this was John H. ROPER' THIRD wife. * One record that might deserve some further scrutiny is the 1880 Census record of a Mrs. M. E. ROPER, age 64, born LA, residing with daughter Kate, age 16, in Natchitoches Parish, LA. She is shown to be widowed. The AGE is NOT prcisely correct, nor is the birthplace, but this may simply reflect the fact that someone else (such as the daughter) may have answered the questions for the Census enumerator. There are really NOT very many ROPERs over age 55 residing in LA in 1880. * I have a very SPECULATIVE possibility for Mary Leonora ROPER in the 1870 Census. There is a Mary MATHUS, age 23, born MISSISSIPPI, enumerated with her husband, John MATHUS, age 26, and children, Cintha, age 6, and Charlie, 7/12. John MATHUS was a grocer. There are only thirteen white (13) Marys residing in De Soto Parish in 1870 who were born in Mississippi. Only four of these are about the right age, of which only ONE resides d in Mansfield. This one HAPPENED to have a daughter named Cintha, which I would say is one heck of a coincidence if she is NOT Mary Leonore ROPER. This is something that you can probably invesitgate further. There is als a Kate ROPER, age 16, on this same Census page who seems to be attending a boarding school run by Charles and Lizzie STEWART. [See Image 10 of 21 for Mansfield, De Soto Parish, LA.]