Over four years ago, I posted the transcription of the Will of Shadrach / Shadrack ROPER shown above, together with several notes relating to Shadrach.

I recently gave the data a fresh read and have some different assessments and conclusions, particularly as to the ages of Shadrach's younger children.

I have never been particularly comfortable with the interpretation of the Will of Susannah ROPER (d abt 1790 - Powhatan, VA). I have posted Susannah's Will together with some notes and analysis in another thread "Will of Susannah ROPER (d bef 16 Mar 1791 - Powhatan, VA)" [13 Sep 2010 1:41AM GMT] at this message board [ http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.roper/1666/mb.ashx ].

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In his Will, Shadrach ROPER tells us he has three children: William, Jesse and Mary. Later, he mentions a son Samuel. It now seems to me clear from the context that Shadrach is distinguishing the MINOR children from his one adult son, Samuel. Shadrach also wants his property kept together until his daughter Mary reaches the age of 18. We can reasonably surmise that William, Jesse and Mary were under age 21 at Shadrach’s death in 1784 (that is, all b aft 1763), as he calls them his “children”, distinguishing his adult child as his “son”. It is also reasonable to infer that the children are listed in their sequence of age. This is reinforced by the indication that the estate is to be sold when Mary – implicitly the youngest and the last listed – is age 18. We may also assume that Mary is not yet age 18 (b aft 1766).

Based solely upon the information within the Will, I would infer the ages of the children as William (b aft 1763), Jesse (b aft 1764), Mary (b aft 1766). But we can improve upon these estimates.

With respect to Shadrach ROPER’s son William P. ROPER, it is useful to note that the 1830 Census enumerates William as W. P. ROPER in Fleming County, Kentucky, and shows this William to be age 50 to 60 in 1830 (b abt 1771 to 1780). In the 1820 Census, William P. ROPER is shown to be age 26 to 45 (b abt 1775-94).

Based upon the combined information of the Will and the Census information for William P. ROPER, I infer the DOBs of the minor children as: William P. ROPER (b abt 1775-80) [combing the 1820 and 1830 results], Jesse ROPER (b abt 1776-81), and Mary ROPER (b abt 1777-82). It is apparent that these are all of these dates are MORE precise than the information which could be reasonably inferred from the Will alone. And they are all VERY DIFFERENT from the dates previously shown in Dr. L. David ROPER's database.

Dave was also previously incorrectly showing Jesse ROPER's DOB as 31 May 1751. This is the KNOWN DOB of Charles and Ann Goodwyn ROPER's son Jesse ROPER.

After making these corrections to Dave's data, it became apparent that the records Dave was showing for Jesse [Mims] ROPER (b 26 Aug 1781 - Powhatan, VA, d 03 Sep 1861 - Howard, MO) and Mary Ann ROPER (b 22 Apr 1784 – VA) had been MISASCRIBED. These were being shown as children of Joseph ROPER, of Chesterfield. When you compare the DOBs appearing within these records with the estimates above, it is very clear that these are Shadrach ROPER's younger children.

[Please also note that the inclusion of Mims as a middle name for Jesse ROPER is UNSUPPORTED by Shadrach ROPER's Will or any of the decenniel Census records. Jesse Mims ROPER was this man's grandson, but a secondary source seems to incorrectly ascribe this same middle name to the Shadrach's son. I have asked Dave to REMOVE "Mims" from Jesse's record.]

Clearly, the Mary Ann ROPER (shown within Note 6) who married Joseph MEREDITH in 1787 is NOT Shadrach's youngest daughter Mary.

Shadrach ROPER's daughter Mary ROPER, married Richard BASTIN on 18 Jan 1806.

Similarly, I no longer believe that Kisiah / Kesiah / Keziah ROPER is a daughter of Shadrach ROPER's. I believe that we have been allowing Susannah ROPER's Will to CLOUD what Shadrach expressly told us.

If one reads Shadrach's Will precisely and exactly, ALL of the information checks out and there is no reason to believe that Shadrach had ANY living children other than those shown in the Will.

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Dave's database also shows these additional children for Shadrach: Susannah ROPER, Kisiah ROPER and Elizabeth ROPER.

I believe that these are probably ERRONEOUS ascriptions based upon the interpretation of Susannah ROPER (d abt 1790) as a daughter of Shadrach. I have encouraged Dave to leave these records in place at present, while noting their questionable ascription.

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I have several other new pieces of data relating to Shadrach and his family which I will post as additional messages within this thread.