Last year, Frank Batchelor presented the thoughtful post shown above discussing possible connections between William ROPER, of Sumner, and the William ROPER known to have married Keziah YATES in Caswell County, NC. Frank relies heavily upon the connection of James YATES to Caswell.
Within the initial post, Frank observes:
> What is the connection between James Yates of Sumner County, TN and the William
> Roper of Sumner, TN? James Yates was the witness to the deed that William Roper
> (m. Keziah Yates) of Caswell County, NC gave to his parents David Roper and Sarah
> in 1792:
> “Caswell Co. Deeds: H:85. 25 Sep 1792. 50 acres. William Roper of Caswell Co. "for
> Love Goodwill & Effection that I bear unto David Roper & Sarah Roper my father &
> mother" Land in Caswell on Rattlesnake Creek; land where on said David Roper now
> lives; "beg. Edmund Alleys SW corner runing E. 61 poles thence S. with Edward Swans
> line to my corner thence W. with Hubberts line to Rattle Snake Creek then down the creek
> to white oak Saplin neare the upper part or fence of my plantation thence meare a NE
> Course to the first Station". "During their natural life" Test: Edmd. Alley, James Yates
> William X Roper” (L. David Roper database)
> James Yates is probably related to Keziah Yates, wife of William Roper. Secondary
> sources state that they were brother and sister and the children of John Yates of Caswell,
> NC. I have not independently verified this.
> This is the last appearance of William Roper in Caswell County, NC. I have long suspected
> that William was disposing of his property because he was planning a move to another
> County or State. I think a case can be made that he moved to Sumner County, TN sometime
> after September, 1792.
I certainly cannot argue with any of Frank's logic. It seems most likely that the deed of the Caswell land to David ROPER was in contemplation of a MOVE to another location. As Frank notes, WIlliam ROPER did NOT appear thereafter in the Caswell records and therefore a removal from Caswell seems quite likely. But WHERE did William ROPER go?
I have long advocated simply INSPECTING the extant Tax Lists for each Virginia county. Tax Lists are available for almost EVERY county for EVERY YEAR from about 1782 through 1850. Since copies of these records were maintained by the state in addition to the county, MOST of these records for MOST COUNTIES survived the several courthouse fires and destruction of records due to the Civil War. Thus, determining the presence of a person heading a household, this is the FIRST PLACE TO LOOK.
In respect of William ROPER, I also expressly pointed out that there was KNOWN TO BE a WIlliam ROPER who resided in Pittsylvania County Virginia in 1800. This was shown in Binns Tax Lists readily available online.
See:
"William ROPER, of Pittsylvania Co., VA (1800)" (27 Aug 2014 4:14PM GMT)
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1915.3/mb.ashx* * *
Pittsylvania County was an OBVIOUS PLACE to look for William ROPER, since Keziah (Yates) ROPER is KNOWN to have been from Pittsylvania County. We KNOW THIS from the Revolutionary War Pension application of John YATES who SWORE in court that he was born in Pittsylvania County.
Frank's response was that this William ROPER was probably the William ROPER KNOWN to have been involved in a message divorce from Polly ROPER in Tennessee.
See Frank's post:
"Re: William ROPER, of Pittsylvania Co., VA (1800)" (28 Aug 2014 7:56AM GMT)
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1915.3.1/mb.ashxI think that Frank may be correct about this. However, this does NOT preclude a conclusion that the William ROPER, of Pittsylvania, was the son of David and Sarah ROPER.
I have previously pointed out that the ABSENCE of Keziah ROPER's signature on the deed of conveyance to David and Sarah ROPER almost surely means that Keziah was then already DEAD. It would therefore be unsurprising if William ROPER were to subsequently remarry.
* * *
I personally inspected the Pittsylvania Personal Tax Lists for years PRIOR to 1800. Those list furnish some interesting additional evidence and show rather preciseley what I expected they would show.
Although I have noit yet inspected the annual Tax Lists for years 1782 though 1791, there is NO William ROPER shown as a taxpayer on the Pittsylvania Tax Lists for 1792, 1793 or 1794. (I do NOT really need to look at the earlier years, since we already KNOW that William ROPER was residing in Caswell, NC, before his removal to Pittsylvania, VA.) WIlliam ROPER first appears on the Pennsylvania Tax Lists beginning in 1795 and thereafter appears in each list through 1800.
Here is what the Tax Lists show for William ROPER, of Pittsylvania for years 1795 to 1800:
William ROPER: 0 - 0 - 1 - 1 [1795] (Page 15)
William ROPER: 1 - 0 - 4 - 2 [1796] (Page 17)
William ROPER: 1 - 0 - 4 - 2 [1797] (Page 15)
William ROPER: 1 - 0 - 3 - 1 [1798] (Page 25)
William ROPER: 1 - 0 - 3 - 1 [1799] (Page 25)
William ROPER: 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 [1799] (Page 16)
Each of these counts represent:
[1] White males above 16
[2] Blacks 16 and over
[3] Blacks under 16 and over 12
[4] Horses & colts
There are also several over categories for which William ROPER never shows any counts and therefore presumably the count is implicitly ZERO. These include
[5] Carriage wheels
[6] Ordinary Licenses
[7] Stud horses
Apparently cattle were not taxable in Pittsylvania during this interval.
I should also add that each of these Tax Lists is in quasi alphabetical order by first letter of the surname. William ROPER appears with others with surnames beginning with the letter "R".
* * *
One curiosity is the indication that William ROPER has ZERO white males above age 16 in 1795. One interpretation of this would be that this William ROPER had not yet turned age 16. There seem to me to be two other possible interpretations.
One is that this William ROPER was also resident in another county in the Commonwelath of Virginia. Virginia taxpayers were only liable for payment of a poll tax in a single county. Thus, IF William ROPER had paid a poll tax ELSEWHERE, then he wouldn't have also been liable in Pittsylvania, though he would still be liable for taxes on his PROPERTY in that county.
Another possibility is that William ROPER was ABSENT FROM THE COUNTY and the STATE during this period. For example, if William ROPER had left his children in the care of his sister or brother-in-law, perhaps he ventured over the mountains into Kentucky or Tennessee.
These are each speculative possibilities. Suffice it to say that the indication is that William ROPER did NOT pay a poll tax for himself in Pittsylvania County in 1795.
* * *
One might surmise that the appearance of William ROPER in Pittsylvania county is at least CONSISTENT with the possibility that he removed to Pittsylvania from Caswell after the September 1792 Caswell deed.
Of course, this does not readily explain the absence of a William ROPER from the Pittsylvania records in 1793 and 1794.
* * * * *
However, further inspection of the Pittsylvania Tax Lists gives at least some further clue as to the absence of William ROPER from the Tax Lists during 1793 and 1794.
This requires inspection of the Pittsylvania Tax Lists for years beginning with 1791. This is a somewhat more complex and nuanced story both due to the number of YATES households, but also due to loss of data at the edges of a page and due to an ink stain. Even so, the data is sufficiently consistent that it at least presents a mosaic of the YATES' family's presence in Pittsylvania.
Here is what the YATES Tax List data shows:
Stephen YATES: 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 [1790] (Page 20)
John YATES: 1 - 1 - 0 - 3 [1790] (Page 20)
[torn top of page]
YOUNG, William, Sugartree: 1 - 0 - ? - ? [1791] (Page 25)
YEATES, Elizabeth & Elijah: 1 - 6 - 2 - 7 [1791] (Page 25)
YEATES, John, Dan River: 1 - 0 - 0 - 4 [1791] (Page 25)
YEATES, George: 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 [1791] (Page 25)
TOTALS for "Y": 6 - 7 - 2 - 21
[Implicitly missing are entries reflecting two white males counted within the "Y" surnames, owning one (1) black above 16 and ten (10) hourses.]
YEATS, John: 2 - 2 - 0 - 2 [1792] (Page 17)
YEATS, Elizabeth & Elijah: 1 - 7 - 1 - 5 [1792] (Page 17)
YEATS, John, Dan River: 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 [1792] (Page 17)
YEATS, George: 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 [1792] (Page 17)
YATES, John: 2 - 1 - 0 - 2 [1793] (Page 24)
YATES, E.: 1 - 9 - 1 - 4 [1793] (Page 24)
YATES, John, Dan River: 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 [1793] (Page 24)
YATES, George: 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 [1793] (Page 24)
YATES, Stephen: 2 - 0 - 0 - 3 [1794] (Page 28)
William ROPER: 0 - 0 - 1 - 1 [1795] (Page 15)
YATES, Stephen: 1 - 0 - 0 - 3 [1795] (Page 19)
YATES, Charles: 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 [1795] (Page 19)
YATES, Samuel: 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 [1795] (Page 19)
* * *
Now it is impossible to know for certain, absent the discovery of additional evidence (which no one seems to want to actually search for), but I would submit that this data is consistent with the possibility that William ROPER moved in with his SISTER Jemima and brother-in-law John YATES after the death of Keziah (Yates) ROPER.
This would explain the presence of 2 males above age 16 in John YATES' household beginining in 1792 and perhaps as early as 1791. William ROPER might have even relocated to Wilkes, NC, with John and Jemina (Roper) YATES in 1794 and then later elected to return to Pittsylvania, VA.
Elizabeth YATES, possibly John and Keziah YATES' mother and a widow seems to have either died or left Pittsylvania with her son after 1793.
Of course, any responsible genealogist would simply obtain and inspect the Pittsylvania and Wilkes deed records and probate records. But ROPER family history Fictionalists have instead invented a fictional account of William ROPER and seemingly have no interest in either the evidence or the truth.
* * * * *
Admittedly, this evidence admits a variety of other possibilities. For example, there might be some OTHER William ROPER heretofore UNKNOWN to ROPER genealogy who secretly lived ELSEWHERE prior to 1795 and then chose to relocate to Pittsylvania County to confuse and befuddle modern family historians.
However, NO ONE has yet identified any evidence that such another William ROPER ever existed. Occam's Razor suggests that we should accept the simplest explanation of this data.
We can either reasonably conclude that William ROPER of Pittsylvania crossed the Dan River and relocated as few as five or ten miles, settling in the county from which hsi wife is KNOWN to have been born and raised and where his sister Jemima (Roper) YATES was KNOWN to reside. This explanation of the data fully explains the ABSENCE of another candidate William ROPER prior to 1795 and also the absence of other records for David and Sarah ROPER's son William ROPER after 1792. This EXPLAINS EVERYTHING and harmonizes the data.
Alternatively, we can accept the Fictionalist accounts that William ROPER relocated to Kentucky or Tennessee with various children born out of wedlock prior to his marriage with Keziah YATES and ASSUME that there is ANOTHER DIFFERENT William ROPER who settled in Pittsylvania and that ALL of the records supporting this bizarre Fictionalist construction were lost or destroyed.
In my view, the Fictionalist accounts of this William ROPER support ONLY the conclusion that there are a troubling number of dishonest ROPER family historians!