These notes commence by continuing from the notes of Thomas Bicknell'sspouse, Rachel (Sparks) Bicknell, daughter of William Sample Sparks,taken from an article in THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1997, Whole No.178, pp. 4809-4826. The initial portion of the article appears in thenotes for Rachel's brother, George, and continues in her notes. Thearticle continues here at the bottom of page 4822:
"Also, Rachel's name does not appear as head of a household anywherein a state census taken in North Carolina in 1787, nor on the NorthCarolina census of heads of families in 1790. Samuel Bicknell,brother of Rachells late husband, appeared as "Samuel Bucknall" on the1790 census of Wilkes County; he was in the "Seventh Company," whichappears to have involved the same area as had the District underCaptain Alexander Gordon where he and Rachel had appeared on earliertax lists. His household in 1790 consisted of three white males age16 and over; two white males under 16; four white females; and oneslave. (White females were not divided in any way by age group on the1790 census.)
"Samuel Bicknell continued to live in Wilkes County until his death in1819. In his will (Wilkes County Will Book 3, p.314), he named hiswife, Elizabeth, and children: Thomas, John, Sinsfield, Benjamin,Randolph, Nancy Camp, Jane Huland, Rhoda Brown, Hannah Stanley, and"my wife's five children, Lewis, Larkin, Escenith, Clara, and Dolly."Elizabeth had been his second wife, by whom he was the father of theselast five children.
"In her declaration for a pension in 1845, Rachel Bicknell stated thatshe was then living with her daughter, Mary, whose husband was DavidRoper, "on their charity." Fortunately, the marriage bond for MaryBicknell and David Roper has been preserved among the early survivingrecords of Burke County following the courthouse fire in 1865. Mostrecords were destroyed then, including all land records, makinggenealogical research in Burke County very difficult. The marriagebond of David and Mary (Bicknell) Roper is dated January 23, 1816,with Solomon Roper as bondsman and J. Erwin as witness.
"If Rachel Bicknell's statement is correct, that her daughter, Mary,had been born four months and fifteen days following her husband'sdeath on December 31, 1780, then Mary had been born on May 15, 1781.This means that she was 34 years old when she was married to DavidRoper, well beyond the typical age for women to marry in those days.David Roper, according to census records, had been born between 1760and 1770, and was thus from 12 to 24 years older than Mary. He was awidower with a large number of children.
"David Roper was probably related to the James Roper who was bornabout 1766 in that part of Orange County, North Carolina, that becameCaswell County, in 1777; James Roper died in Burke County, NorthCarolina, in 1853. Of interest is the fact that a son of James Ropernamed Benjamin Roper, born between 1780 and 1790, moved to PickensCounty, South Carolina, as did David Roper. (A descendant of JamesRoper, Mr. L. David Roper of Blacksburg, Virginia, has done extensiveresearch on the descendants of this James Roper.)
"David Roper's name did not appear on the 1800 census of Burke County,although James Roper was shown heading a household and living near thehousehold headed by William Sparks, Jr. and Jeremiah Sparks, sons ofWilliam Sparks (born ca.1725) who had joined his relatives in theForks of the Yadkin in 1764. This William Sparks, son of WilliamSample Sparks, died in Surry County, North Carolina, in 1801/02. (Seethe Quarterly of June 1991, Whole No. 154, pp.3751-3798, for anarticle about William Sparks, born ca.1725, and his family.)
"The 1810 census of Burke County has become so faded that much of itis impossible to read, but, fortunately, pages 342 and 348 arelegible, and on the latter page appears the name of David Roper, withan enumeration of his household. On page 342 is clearly legible thename of Rachel Bicknell. They were obviously neighbors.
"David Roper was shown on the 1810 census in the 26 to 45 agecategory, as was a female, who was surely his first wife. They thenhad ten children, four sons and one daughter between 10 and 16, andthree daughters and two sons under 10 years. We can imagine that hismarriage to Mary Bicknell in 1816 followed rather closely his firstwife's death. (It is our assumption that the children in David'shousehold were his own children; it was not until 1880 that thedecennial federal census provided for the relationship of householdmembers to, or their connection with, the head of that household.)
"As noted, Rachel Bicknell was living near David Roper in Burke Countyin 1810; she was shown in the enumeration of her household in the"over 45" age category. Living with her was a female between 16 and26 who was doubtless her youngest daughter, Mary Bicknell. Mary wasactually 29, but she probably fibbed to the census taker when he askedher age. There was also a male child, shown as under 10 years of age,in Rachel Bicknell's household in 1810. We wonder whether he mighthave been a grandson.
"Also appearing on a legible portion (page 27) of the 1810 census ofBurke County, was a household headed by "WilHam Bucknell.11 "Bucknell"was a frequent misspelling for Bicknell, and we believe that this wasRachells son who, with her son Micajah, had signed the 1797 deed withher, selling Thomas Bicknell's land in Wilkes County. MicajahBicknell may well have appeared on the 1810 census heading a householdin Burke County, also, on one of the many illegible pages. Wilham'sage category was given in 1810 as between 26 and 45 (thus born between1765 and 1784), as was that of the female in his household who wassurely his wife. There were also one male and two females under theage of 10, and one male between 10 and 16.
"Living not far from Rachel Bicknell in Burke County in 1810 wasElizabeth Sparks (recorded as "Eliza."), widow of John Sparks,grandson of the William Sparks, born ca.1725, whom we believe to havebeen Rachells half-brother. John Sparks had followed his father,William Sparks, Jr., to Burke County shortly after 1800. (See theMarch 1996 issue of the Sparks Quarterly, Whole No. 173, pp. 4603-10,for an article about this John Sparks and his widow, Elizabeth.)
"When the 1820 census was taken of Burke County, "Rachel Becknell" wasshown on page 95 as heading her own household, consisting now of onlyherself and a male child under ten; perhaps this was the same childwho had also been shown as under ten on the 1810 census--a grandson,perhaps.
"David Roper appeared, also, on page 95 of the 1820 census of BurkeCounty, heading a household that was enumerated as follows:
1 male, 45 & up (himself) 1 female, 26 to 45 (his wife, Mary)
2 males, 16 to 26 3 females, 16 to 26
2 males, 10 to 16 1 female, 10 to 16 1 male,under 10 1 female, under 10
"Some of David Roper's older children by his first wife had likelyleft home by 1820; we can be sure that at least those in 1820 who werethen under ten years of age were Mary's. A question on the 1820census asked for the number of persons in each household engaged invarious specified fields of labor. David Roper reported the fivemembers of his household were engaged in agriculture.
"Also shown on the 1820 census of Burke County, on page 15, was"William Becknell" with a large family, whose name had been spelled"Bucknell" on the 1810 census. We are confident that he was Rachellsson. The enumeration of his
household in1820 was as follows:
1 male, 45 & up 1 female, 26 to 45
1 male, 26 to 45 1 female, 16 to 26
1 male, 16 to 26 2 females, 10 to 16
1 male, 10 to 16 2 females under 10
1 male under 10
"We have found neither Rachel Bicknell nor David Roper as head of ahousehold on the 1830 census of Burke County, North Carolina. DavidRoper had moved to Pickens County (called "Pickens District") in SouthCarolina by that time, as was probably also true of his mother-in-law,Rachel Bicknell. Located in the northwest corner of South Carolina,Pickens County had been part of Pendleton District until it had beencut off in 1825. Today its northern border adjoins TransylvaniaCounty, North Carolina, although in 1830 that portion of NorthCarolina was contained in Buncombe County.
"Unfortunately, the 1830 census of Pickens County is in very poorcondition, with large portions of a number of its pages faded beyondlegibility. Nevertheless, the surname of eleven heads of householdsis discernible as "Roper," including David Roper (page 317), whose agewas marked in the 1160 to 7011 category. On the same page, indicatinggeographical proximity, are the names Singleton Roper and WilliamRoper, both enumerated as between 20 and 30 years of age. We maywonder whether they could have been sons of David Roper by his firstwife. Each had a wife in the same age category as himself, with smallchildren. Curiously, no female in David Roper's household wasenumerated that would fit the age of his second wife, Mary (Bicknell)Roper, although the enumeration section of this page, as is truethroughout this census, is especially faded. It is clear, however,that there was one male between 15 and 20 and two females between 10and 15 living with David Roper in Pickens County, South Carolina, in1830. Where Rachel Bicknell was living in 1830 is not known; perhapsshe was with one of her other children, or appeared on one of theillegible pages of the 1830 census.
"David Roper was among fifteen men and four women named Roper whoappeared as heads of households on the 1840 census of Pickens County.David Roper's name is on page 370; he was now shown in the 70 to 80age category. The female in his household shown as between 50 and 60was doubtless his wife, Mary, while the female shown as between 80 and90 was surely his mother-in-law, Rachel (Sparks) Bicknell. Five yearslater, in 1845, in her declaration seeking a pension, Rachel statedthat her daughter, Mary, had been married to David Roper, and that"she now lives with her, on their charity" in Pickens County.
"As was noted earlier, in her 1845 application for a pension, RachelBicknell stated that proof she was the widow of the Revolutionary Warsoldier named Thomas Bicknell, was "herewith forwarded." That proofwas not obtained, however, until 1851.
"It was on October 15, 1851, that Rachel Bicknell's application, withits four supporting documents, was sent by a Washington, D.C., lawyernamed Thomas LumpIdn to the Commissioner of Pensions, James E. Heath.Lumpkin must have been engaged by a member of Rachells family toperform this service.
"We have xerox copies of all the papers in the pension file of RachelBicknell from the National Archives. The only document created by theBureau of Pensions in this file is a form designed to show the receiptand disposition of pension applications; it was only partiallycompleted for Rachel. Fo]Llowing the number assigned to her (Rl2399),it was stamped "REJECTED," without date or explanation. We can onlyconjecture why.
"David Roper apparently died sometime before 1850, and when the censusfor that year was taken in Pickens County, his widow, Mary (Bicknell)Roper, now 70 years old, was shown as living with Mead and MargaretSmith, aged 29 and 31 respectively, in the Eastern Division of thecounty (page 496). (It was the 1850 census that included for the firsttime, the name, age, and place of birth for each member of eachhousehold.) Besides her age as 70, Mary Roper was reported as being anative of North Carolina; she could neither read nor write, owned noproperty, and had no occupation.
"The Smiths, with their eight children, were natives of SouthCarolina. What the relationship between Mary Roper and this Smithfamily may have been, if ' any, is unknown. On the 1860 census ofPickens County (page 163A) Mead Smith was identified as "WashingtonSmith," age 51, and a native of "Pickens, S.C." The age of his wife,Margaret Smith, was given as 50; she, also, had been born in"Pickens," as had their children, four more of whom had been addedsince the 1850 census.
"Although Rachel (Sparks) Bicknell must have been living with arelative somewhere in South Carolina or North Carolina when the 1850census was taken, she has not been found in either of the indexespublished for those states. We hope that a record may exist somewhereto reveal the place and date of her death, as well as a complete listof her and Thomas Bicknell's six children. We know the names of onlyher two sons, William and Micajah, and that of her youngest daughter,Mary. Because only William and Micajah had been involved with theirmother in the selling of Thomas Bicknell's land in Wilkes County,North Carolina, in 1797, we believe that her three other children weredaughters, if still living then.
End of article in SQ Whole No. 178.