Elizabeth Roper (1632 - 1656)

Born 1632 in Wellhall, Eltham, Kent, England

Ancestors

Died 1656 at about age 24 in Fulham, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Elizabeth was the daughter of Anthony Roper and his second wife, Dorothy Hold.

With her sister she entered an order of Franciscan nuns in Nieuport, Bruges Belgium Her entry is recorded in the clothing book immediately following the entry of her half sister Mary Roper who entered on the 13th January.

In the Yeare 1648 the 16 day of January Elizabeth Roper in Religion Called Sister Elizabeth Barnard tooke the habitt of Probation in the 17 Yeare of her age at the hands of the very Rnd Fa Hirom of St Bonauentura P She was Daughter to Mr Antony Roper and hr mothers name was Dorothe Holt and she her selfe was halfe Sister to the afore named Mary Roper and was borne also at Well hale at Eltum in Kent .^[1]

There is no mention of her dowry but her sister was said to have brought £3000 which perhaps was for both of them.

There are no further mentions of Elizabeth in the published records. The researchers from the 'Who were the Nuns? research project have included the following further information about Elizabeth.

Probably left for health reasons. Died of illness in 1656. See note.

She was the half-sister of Mary Roper.

She was the cousin of Barbara Constable, Margaret Roper.

Sources: BC: 30.

Family tree (Roper, barons Teynham)

Notes:

The Will of an Anthony Roper of Eltham dated 24 Mar 1642 and proved in February 1648, shows him with three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth and Anne and a son William*, all minors at the date of his Will, when his wife was Margaret Compton (TNA PROB 11/203). Mary and Elizabeth were both clothed by the Franciscans in the first half of 1648...

...She is probably identical with the Elizabeth Roper of Eltham daughter of Anthony whose Will (TNA PROB 11/258/361), made in her final illness, is dated 25 Sept 1656 and was proved on 4 Oct 1656. She was then living with her friends John Payne and his wife in Fulham. She left bequests to her servant Ann Betty and her loving cousin Thomas Gee of High Holborn. The Will of Thomas Gee(TNA PROB 11/356/38) was proved 15 Jan 1678^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Trappes-Lomax, Richard,The English Franciscan nuns, 1619-1821, and the Friars Minor of the same province, 1618-1761 The Catholic Record Society 1922 page 29 archive books
2. ↑ Who Were the Nuns? data base online( Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License) Ref BF282)