This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Roper, Cowley Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kgDBAEB/804 Message Board Post: Jesse ROPER was mentioned in an advertisement appearing in the 22 Nov 1770 edition of the Virginia Gazette [at Pag e2, Column 3]. The extant film image of that ad is very difficult to read. What I am able to readily make out seems to say: "To Be RENTED, THE ORDINARY in Richmond town formerly kept by Mrs. Mary Cowley, deceased, and now by Mr. Jesse Roper. ... ???????? to me in Chesterfield or to Mr. Roper ??? ????. ABRAHAM COWLEY." * * * This Jesse ROPER seems most likely to be either Jesse ROPER (b 31 May 1751), son of Charles ROPER and Anne GOODWYN, or Jesse ROPER, son of Shadrach ROPER. A careful study of the personal property tax records for Chesterfield, Henrico, Powhaton and Richmond may distinguish which Jesse ROPER lived in Richmond and once ran the Ordinary. * Another Virginia Gazette entry transcribed and Posted by Dr. L. David ROPER at his ROPER Family History web site shows: "The Virginia Gazette newspaper of Richmond City on 11 May 1782: John Brooke, administrator, at Henrico, advertises for sale to the highest bidder before Mr. Jesse Roper's door in Richmond, on 23 inst., a large quantity of household and kitchen furniture, the personal estate of Abraham Cowley, deceased." It would seem that the COWLEYs and ROPERs continued to have a close relationship in the decade following the ad I have posted above. It seems possible that Jesse ROPER might have been married to a COWLEY or that Abraham COWLEY might have been married to a ROPER. * It is also noteworthy that two decades following the ad, a John ROPER is shown to have an ordinary license in Richmond. It appears likley that the ordinary advertised in 1770 ultimately continued to be operated by a member of the ROPER family. Close scrutiny of personal property tax records may give us a clearer understanding of this ROPER family.