Most ancestors born in the late 1700s had NO MIDDLE NAMES. Adoption of middle names became more commonplace as the popoulation grew, particularly in families with very common surnames.

Do you have a photo of Jesse ROPER's (b 26 Aug 1781 - Powhatan, VA, d 03 Sep 1861 - Howard, MO) grave marker? I do not recall having seen it.

I should caution you that several modern descendants of various ROPER ancestors have been erecting NEW grave markers at various cemeteries, sometimes relying upon unevenly researched information or even the fraudulent accounts of the ROPER Family History Fictionalists. In a number of cases, the FIctionalists now point to these recently erected grave markers as "evidence" in support of their Fictional accounts of the ROPER family.

Also, some modern decendants of ROPER ancestors are CREATING FInd A Grave records purporting to memorialize that a particular ancestor is buried in a particular cemetery based simply upon their GUESS that the ancestor might be buried there, absent ANY burial record, church record, obituary, probate record or death certificate which would support even an inference or "guess".

In several instances, I have found these posted Find A Grave Memorials which publish clearly FALSE INFORMATION which is contradicted by extant primary records.

IF you have a photo of Jesse ROPER's grave marker and the grave marker can be seen by shape, type or rock, style and weathering to be an ancient grave stone, which shows a middle initial "M.", I would readily accept the possibility that Jesse ROPER (b 26 Aug 1781 - Powhatan, VA, d 03 Sep 1861 - Howard, MO) might have had a middle name.

If you learned that Jesse had a middle initial "M." from web posting or the discredited privately published compilations of one of the ROPER family history Fcitionalists, I would simply discount this information, as it is highly unlikely to be reliable. The dishonesty of these people is simply stunning!