Document A.105 · estate inventory · transcription: verbatim
Inventory and widow's set-off in the intestate estate of Roderick D. Cooper of Warren Co., N.J. — NJSA File 3463U; a farm personalty of about $180.
- repository
- New Jersey State Archives
- identifier
- Warren Co. loose probate File 3463U. Ordered as "2463U" per [pr.85]/[A.37]; the file delivered is stamped 3463U — see coverage.the_file_number_was_wrong_in_print.
- date
- 1889
What is transcribed: The inventory and the widow's set-off list. No administration bond, no account, no distribution — and therefore no heirs.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roderick D. Cooper | deceased | Roderick Byanton Cooper 1838–1889 | residence: Warren Co., New Jersey |
| Rosetta C. Cooper | spouse | ||
| Elwood Vasbinder | administrator | ||
| Clinton Kerr | appraiser | ||
| Thomas J. Waterfield | appraiser |
What this document records
The file number was wrong in print
THE ERROR IS IN THE PUBLISHED INDEX, NOT IN THIS CATALOG. The 1913 Aitkin Index of Wills … prior to 1901, Vol. III, Warren section, prints "Cooper, Roerick B., 2463U. Inv. 1889" — verified off the page image at 5× at [A.126]. It gets both the file number (2463U for 3463U) and the given name (Roerick) wrong. Worth carrying past this estate: that index's file numbers are a finding aid, not an authority, and NJSA may need the name and year as well as the number to locate a file.
It names no heirs and that matters
THE ESTATE IS INTESTATE AND THE FILE CONTAINS NO HEIR-NAMING DOCUMENT. This bears directly on [pr.14]: an intestate Cooper with a widow is exactly the shape in which children would be named — in a distribution or a guardianship — and neither is in the file. What it does confirm is the widow, Rosetta C. Cooper, at primary-source grade.
What the inventory shows
A small working farm: a dark roan heifer $20, a white cow $30, a line-back heifer $18, a half interest in a bull $10, a Champion Mowing Machine $20, a Thomas wheel hay rake $15, a fanning mill, six skips of bees $12, an Oliver chilled plow, a bald-face blind mare $5, a cook stove, an iron kettle. About $180 in all.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, the misprinted file number and given name in the published index, the absence of
any heir-naming document, and what the inventory shows are all in the source: and coverage:
headers and are not repeated here.
Data from the document [verbatim]
- Inventory: "A true and perfect inventory and appraisement of all and singular the goods, and chattels, rights and credits, and effects which were of Roderick D. Cooper late of the County of Warren deceased, made by Elwood Vasbinder the administrator, and Clinton Kerr and Thomas J. Waterfield two disinterested appraisers…"
- Farm goods (verbatim highlights): dark roan heifer $20; white cow $30; line-back heifer $18; ½ interest in a bull $10; Champion Mowing Machine $20; Thomas wheel hay rake $15; fanning mill; 6 skips of bees $12; Oliver chilled plow; bald-face blind mare $5; cook stove; iron kettle. Total appraisement ≈ $180. Appraisers: Elwood Vasbinder, Clinton Kerr, Thomas J. Waterfield.
- Widow's set-off: "A true list of the articles included in the annexed inventory, selected by Rosetta C. Cooper, widow of Roderick D. Cooper deceased, to be and remain for the use and benefit of the family" — signed "Mrs. Rosetta C. Cooper."