Amongst the extant deed records for Lincoln County, North Carolina, is a single ancient deed reflecting the sale of Charles ROPER's 100 acre Lincoln parcel to a Conrod [sic] SELLERS.

This image is readily available for download directly from the web site of the Lincoln County, NC, Register of Deeds (Danny R. HESTER at the date of this post):

http://www.courthousecomputersystems.com/lincolnnc/

The Index Entry may be found using the "Old Index Books" tab.

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The Lincoln Grant Books (Recorded NC Grants)

It perhaps bears initial mention that the Charles ROOPER Land Grant does NOT seem to appear within the Indices to the Lincoln "Grant" Books. There seem to be THREE Grant Books shown at the Lincoln County Register of Deeds site: Books "1", "2", and "3".

I did NOT make a page by page inpsection of the underlying images.

What I am garnering from the abstracted information is that there is an extant North Carolina Grant Book in which the Charles ROOPER Grant probably appears, perhaps at Book 75, Page 73 [Grant No. 506]. It APPEARS that those receiving a North Carolina Grant then further RECORDED their grant in the LOCAL land records. Thus, my impression is that the Lincoln Grant Books 1, 2 and 3 reflect the LOCAL recording of the original grants.

It may be that Charles ROPER NEGLECTED to locally RECORD his grant. OR there also might be an entry in one of the three extant Lincoln Grant Books which is NOT reflected in the Index. The Lincoln grants seem to appear in the Lincoln grant books in the order of LOCAL RECORDING rather than the DATE OF THE ORIGINAL GRANT, though these are roughly colinear.

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The Conveyance To Conrod SELLERS

While there is NO INDEX ENTRY showing the recording of the Charles ROOPER grant, there IS an Index Entry for the further conveyance of this parcel to Conrad SELLERS.

To view the Charles ROOPER Index entry, use the "Old Index Book" tab and select Index Type "Deed." While I would certainly encourage anyone to explore and reverify my research to be better assured that I didn't MISS anything important, to locate the Charles ROOPER deed to Conrad SELLERS, look in party type "Grantor" for Date Range "1769-1880." A search on the name "ROPER" should put you at Index Page 35. The Charles ROPER entry is two pages thereafter at Index page 37 about three quarters of the way down the page. You should also be able to navigate directly to Page 037 by directly entering this page number with the correct Index selected.

The Index entry shows Charles ROPER as grantor for a transaction date in 1796 (this date seems to be INCORRECT as the actual record shows a conveyance in 1792). Conrad SELLERS is shown to be the grantee. The transaction type is shown as "Deed" and the index identifies Deed Book 21, Page 654, as the location where the conveyance can be found.

The Mecklenburg Register of Deeds online facility then allows one to pull up the images of the ancient deed, still using the "Old Index Book" tab, by using the "View Document Image" option in the upper right corner, selecting Book Type "Deed," Book = 21 and Page = 654.

Given the importance of this record to the Pendleton Pickens families descended from Charles ROPER, I am further transcribing this record below.

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CHARLES ROPER's DEED

As a preliminary matter, it bears mention that the Charles ROPER deed is a little unusual for two reasons. First, though the instrument is shown to be dated 13 Aug 1792, it seems to have been recorded some fifteen years later in April 1807. Second, the information appearing on the original deed seems to be copied onto a form in which certain conveyance information is inserted, but this form almost certainly did NOT exist at the date of the conveyance, as the pre-printed information showing the conveyance to be dated in year "one thousand eight hundred and ___" is interlineated to change the preprinted "eight" to say "seven." Thus, the form seems to have been created after the turn of the century, apparently as an aid to the record transcription of conveyances, but the information must have been copied onto this form from the original deed dated 13 Aug 1792 BEFORE this form existed.

The record says:

"THIS INDENTURE, made the 13th day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety two between Charles ROPER on the County of Rutherford, in the State of North Carolina, of the one part, and Conrod SELLERS, of the County of Lincoln, and the State aforesaid, of the other part,

WITNESSETH: That the said Charles ROPER for and in consideration of the sum of thirty pounds to him in hand paid by the said Charles SELLERS, the receipt whereof the said Charles ROPER does hereby acknowledge, hath given, granted, bargained, and sold, alienated and confirmed and by these presents doth give, grant, bargain and sell, alien, and confirm unto the said Conrod SELLERS his hers and assigns forever, all that tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the County of Lincoln, Containing as appears by a patent originally granted to the said Charles ROPER Being date the 17th of November A.D. 1790 One hundred Acres Beginning at a post oak Balser SIGMANS old corner thence East 89 poles to a stake John JONASES old line thence with said line South 4 East 106 poles to a white oak on Palser [sic] SIGMANs other line then with said line West 98 poles to SIGMANs other corner then with said SIGMANs other line North 176 poles to the Beginning.

and all the woods, ways, waters and watercourses, and all and every the apputenances thereto belonging, or in any wise appertaining, and the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders, rents, issues and profits of the said lands and premises, and every part thereof, and all the estate, right, title, interest, property, claim and demand whatsoever, of the said Charles ROPER of, in and to the land and premises hereby granted.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the aforesaid lands and premises, with teh appurtenances, unto the said heirs and assigns, to the proper use and behoof of the said Conrod SELLERS his heirs and assigns, forever; and the said Charles ROPER for himself and his heirs, the aforesaid lands and premises, and every part thereof, against him and his heirs, and against the claim or claims of all and every other person or persons whatsoever to the said Conrod SELLERS his heirs and assigns, shall and will forever warrant and defend these presents.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the said Charles ROBER [sic] hath hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal, the day and year first above written

Charles [c] ROPER [SEAL] (written)
his mark

SEALED AND DELIVERED
IN PRESENCE OF

James COWAN
JORG GESS?

State of North Carolina
Lincoln County, April Session, A.D. 1807.

The within deed was proved in open Court by the oath of James COWAN and recorded and ordered to be registered.

Witness Lin HENDERSON Clk.

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NOTES:

1. The single most significant feature of this deed would seem to be the express indication that the Charles ROPER who owned land in Lincoln and made this conveyance was then a resident of Rutherford County, NC. We had previously INFERRED that the Charles ROPER shown in the Lincoln records was probably one and the same as the Charles ROPER shown in Rutherford land records and in the 1790 Census based upon PROXIMITY, however, this inference was far from absolutely conclusive.

2. The SALE of the land in Lincoln in 1792 would seem to be consistent with Charles ROPER's further migration to Pendleton, SC, though this is necessarily still merely an inference as there is no single specific record which conclusively shows the Charles ROPER resident in Pendleton, SC, in 1800, to be the very same Charles ROPER who resided in Rutherford in 1790.

3. Also perhaps significant, there is NO INDICATION that Charles ROPER's wife also signed this conveyance. This may be some evidence that Charles ROPER's wife was dead by 1792. Charles ROPER's 1790 Census record shows five females residing within his household:

Charles ROPER: 1 - 2 -- 5 -- 0 - 0 [Rutherford, NC 1790]

The 1800 Census record is somewhat more consistent with the presence of a wife age 26 to 44 (b abt 1756-44), showing:

Charles ROPER: 2 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 -- 4 - 2 - 0 - 1 - 0 -- 0 - 0 [Pendleton, SC 1800]

Charles ROPER seems to be already age 45 or more (b bef 1756) There are a total of six children shown to be under age 10.

4. The fifteen year delay in recording this deed is rather curious. One possibility is that the failure to locally record the original grant was viewed as something that needed to be first cleared up BEFORE recording the conveyance. However, this would be somewhat legally erroneous. If the deed was recorded BEFORE the land grant, this would create an out of sequence recording with some possiblity to confuse, but failing to record the deed at all put the purchaser Conrad SELLERS at some peril should Charles ROPER have made another later conveyance to someone else.

Another possiblity is that Conrad SELLERS might have wanted to CONCEAL his ownership of this parcel. This might sound peculiar, but bear in mind that in this era there were some continuing recriminations regarding seizure of land owned by Revolutionary War Loyalists. If, for example, Conrad SELLERS had been a Loyalist, he might have viewed recording his deed as putting the property at peril and purposefully DELAYED the recording. Perhaps there was also some danger of seizure if Charles ROPER was a Loyalist. This is somewhat less intuitive. But Conrad SELLERS might have occupied the property and paid the taxes with no one really bothering to verify the continuity of the ownership, while he held a secret deed from Charles ROPER which might be recorded when the ferver in seizing Loyalist holdings passed.

There seems to be some indication that a deed conveying Charles ROPER's Rutherford land was also recorded very late, though I have never seen the Rutherford deeds.

5. Although the 18 Apr 1786 Land Entry seems to have been for a slightly different parcel and this Land Entry seems to have lapsed, the legal description of the 18 Apr 1786 Land Entry also is shown to abut "Simon JONAS + Balsir SIGMANS." The land entry was for 54 acres of land on Lyles Creek abutting these neighbors. The 1792 deed doesn't mention Lyle Creek, but shows Balser SIGMANS and John JONASES as neighbors. This would seem to support a very strong inference (a) that the 100 acre land grant was very near the 54 acre 18 Apr 1786 Land Entry and (b) the land entry for the 100 acre parcel was probably very near in time to the known 18 Apr 1786 Land Entry.

6. Charles ROPER's interest in this land appears to have been relatively brief, probably from a Land Entry in 1786 and a grant apparently dated 17 Nov 1790, through the 13 Aug 1792 sale, and the indication that Charles ROPER resided in Rutherford would seem to suggest that Charles ROPER never actually RESIDED on this parcel. This may be some indiction that the Thomas ROEPER shown in the 1790 Census residing in Lincoln might have been a son of Charles ROPER:

Thos. ROEPER: 1 - 1 - 3 -- 0 - 0 [Lincoln, NC 1790] (Image 7 of 11)

Thomas ROPER appears immediately adjacent to a B. ABERNATHY.

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Comments and analysis of this deed record and my own notes is solicited and appreciated!