Transcription and notes

Provenance, the file-number ordering that made the read cheap and corrected a plan, and the limits of an index are all in the source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated here.

Where files 1668 and 1669 were — blocks 9 and 10 of this page

[A.132] worked out that the county gave Coopers a contiguous file-number run 1664–1676 and that 1668 and 1669 were unaccounted for, and guessed they would surface on one of the unread given-name pages of the Estate Index (44 G/H, 54 I/J, 64 K/L, …).

That guess was unnecessary. The Proceedings Index is arranged by file number, not by given name — ten consecutive files per page — so 1668 and 1669 were sitting two blocks below Andrew J. all along. 1668 = Edward H. 1669 = Elias.

The general lesson, worth more than the two files: when you have a file-number gap, go to the Proceedings Index, not back to the Estate Index. The Estate Index is keyed by surname and given name, so filling a numeric gap there means guessing the given name and reading a page per guess. The Proceedings Index is keyed by number, so a gap is simply the block in between.

The page [verbatim]

Blocks run 1–5 down the left column, 6–10 down the right, files ascending. Block 1 is Cypher, Jacob (Sr), file 1661, Oxford Tp — the only non-Cooper on the page. Everything else is Cooper.

Block 2 · file 1662 · COOPER, AUGUSTA · d. Aug 25 1922 · Vernon Tp

Alice E Mott & Clara Green Exrxs · App for Probate — PR G 558 — Sep 5 1922 · Will — WB S 298 — Sep 5 1922

Testate. Both executrixes are women, neither surnamed Cooper. → [name.499]

Block 3 · file 1663 · COOPER, AMANDA J · Green Tp (no death date given)

Recpt — Rc O 171 — Apr 1 1916

Blocks 4 + 5 · file 1664 · COOPER, ANN · d. Dec 22 1885 · Sparta Tp

James W Crigar Admr App for Adm & To show cause — PR B 48 — Apr 8 1885 Adm Bond — AB D 148 — Apr 22 1885 · Letters of Adm — LA C 322 — Apr 22 1885 To Limit Cred — OL A 136 — Apr 22 1885 · Inventory — In O 420 — Apr 25 1885 Dec for Insolvency — Mn J 279 — Jun 2 1885 · Fixing Time for Report — Mn J 280 — Jun 2 1885 Order — Mn J 317 — Aug 18 1885 · Hearing Postnd — Mn J 326 — Sep 1 1885 (Continued to next block) — block 5 carries no file number of its own, only "(Continued from block 4)" Order on Excepts — Mn J 326 — Sep 5 1885 · Dec for Insol & Sale — Mn J 330 — Sep 18 1885 Sale Report — Mn J 362 — Dec 22 1885 · Dec Conf Sale — Mn J 363 — Dec 22 1885 Dec Bar Cred — OB A 276 — Feb 2 1886 · Dec Bar Cred — Mn J 403 — Feb 2 1886 Acct — Ac D 246 — Jun 1 1886 Allowing Acct & Dec of Distn — Mn J 469 — Jun 1 1886

This is why block 5 has no file number — Ann's estate simply overran its block. The Estate Index cited her at "2 · 23 · 4" and that is right; a reader who stopped at the block-4 boundary would miss half the estate, including the distribution.

Allowing Acct & Dec of Distn is a NAMING DOCUMENT — a decree of distribution names the distributees. Minutes book J, page 469, 1 June 1886. → [name.498]

Block 6 · file 1665 · COOPER, ANDREW J = [p.1792] · d. Mar 26 1911 · Green Tp

Grant Cooper Admr App for Adm — PR E 21 — Apr 20 1911 · To Limit Cred — OL A 727 — Apr 20 1911 Adm Bond — AB G 101 — Apr 26 1911 · Letters of Adm — LA D 294 — Apr 26 1911 Dec Bar Cred — OB C 192 — Jan 20 1912 Recpts (5) — Rc M 559 — Feb 10 1912

His block number is 6 — [A.132] could not read it (an ink blob on the frame edge) and recorded it [illegible]. Now read.

Block 7 · file 1666 · COOPER, CALEB S = [p.163] · Green Tp (no death date given)

Recpt — Rc O 171 — Apr 1 1916

Block 8 · file 1667 · COOPER, CHARLES A · Penna (no death date given)

Caroline H, Britta M & Chas E Cooper Exrs · App for Probate — PR C 30 — Jul 16 1894 Will (Exemp) — WB K 292 — Jul 16 1894 · Adm Bond — AB E 223 — Jul 16 1894 Inventory — In R 413 — Nov 9 1894

Block 9 · file 1668 · COOPER, EDWARD H · d. Mar 6 1919 · Montg[ue] Tp

Arthur L & Zaida C Cooper Exrs · App for Probate — PR F 595 — Apr 8 1919 Will — WB R 149 — Apr 8 1919 · Recpt — Rc Q 420 — Nov 8 1923

Block 10 · file 1669 · COOPER, ELIAS · Wantg (no death date given)

Matthew H & John J Cooper Admrs · Letters of Adm — LA B 41 — Oct 3 1846 Inventory — In G 429 — Oct 3 1846 · Allowing Acct — Mn D 439 — May [–] 1849

TWO ELIAS COOPER FILES, CITING THE SAME INVENTORY — unresolved

Page 24 block 1 (image 245, read in the same pass) gives:

file 1670 · Cooper Elias · (no residence, no death date) · Leonard & Saml Cole Exrs · Inventory — In G 429 — Sep 30 1846

Set against block 10 above:

Same inventory book AND page, different file numbers, different representatives, dates three days apart, and one says administrators while the other says executors. Both were read from crops; neither is a resolution artefact.

RESOLVED SAME DAY → [A.134]. In G 429 was read: it is the inventory of BENJAMIN SMITH, "made by Leonard Cole and Samuel Cole Executors… this 17th day of September 1846". ⇒ the Cole executors on file 1670 are Smith's, and that block's proceeding line was copied from the wrong estate — which is why it showed executors with no will. File 1669 is [p.399] Capt. Elias Cooper's, administered by his sons Matthew H. and John J., consistent with [A.126]'s intestate reading. Consequence: 1669's inventory citation is contaminated too, so Elias's actual inventory is unlocated — tracked on [p.399].

(Original note, kept because the reasoning that got here is worth seeing:) Not resolved here, and deliberately. Plausible readings include a renunciation followed by re-administration, an estate opened twice, or a clerical duplication when the index was compiled — and the catalog has no basis to choose. What is recorded is that both files exist and both point at the same inventory page.

[p.399] Capt. Elias Cooper died 9 Sep 1846 at Wantage, three weeks before these October proceedings, and Wantage is stated on 1669. The fit is strong enough to note and not strong enough to assert — the index states no death date on either file.

Cross-references

• A.132 — the Estate Index page that produced the 1664/1665 citations and the file-number-gap reasoning this entry answers.
• A.128 — the Estate Index C/D cell (Caleb S 2·23·7, Charles A 2·23·8).
• The v.1–3 reel's page 24 (files 1670–1676) is described in (image held in the family archive) in the artifact folder; this entry verifies its block 1 and block 6 and adds page 23, which that note did not cover.

PAGE 24 — read in full 2026-08-19

Page 24 is the left page of image 245 (its right-hand neighbour is page 25, Crowell). Same layout: blocks 1–5 down the left column, 6–10 down the right.

Block 1 · file 1670 · COOPER, ELIAS (no residence, no death date)

Leonard & Saml Cole Exrs · Inventory — In G 429 — Sep 30 1846

(See the two-Elias problem above.)

Block 2 · file 1671 · COOPER, EFFIE M · d. Oct 18 1918 · Green Tp

Amos K Cooper Admr · Renunc & App for Adm — PR F 472 — Nov 15 1918 Adm Bond — AB G 490 — Nov 15 1918 · Letters of Adm — LA D 496 — Nov 15 1918 To Limit Cred — OL B 85 — Nov 15 1918 · Dec Bar Cred — OB C 270 — Aug 15 1919 Inventory — In V 278 — Oct 24 1919 · Acct — Ac K 310 — Feb 17 1920 Dec of Distn — Mn R 424 — Nov 18 1921

A second decree of distribution, and this one is close to home. The administrator is Amos K. Cooper = [p.185] Amos Kennedy Cooper of Green Twp. A renunciation precedes his appointment — someone with a prior right stood aside. The index states no relationship; that Effie M was his wife is not asserted here.

Block 3 · file 1672 · COOPER, JOHN J · d. Sep 8 1883 · New York

"(See Book 4, page 321, block 9)" · App for Adm — PR B 111 — Oct 11 1884

The cross-reference reads page 321 at crop scale — the folder's (image held in the family archive) had it as "page 32?". ⇒ his estate continues in Proceedings Book 4, p. 321, blk 9, which is a different reel (v.4–5 = DGS 5679624, already used for [A.130]).

Block 4 · file 1673 · COOPER, JAMES H · d. Nov 19 1876 · Wantg Tp

Jno J Cooper Exr · Exr Bond — AB C 164 — Dec 6 1876 · Inventory — In N 55 — Dec 6 1876 Will — WB G 549 — Jan 6 1877 · Acct — Ac B 340 — Sep 10 1878 Allowing Acct — Mn H 569 — Sep 10 1878 · Recpts (2) — Rc E 119 — Sep 8 1878

(His executor Jno J Cooper is the John J of block 3 — the same Wantage cluster.)

Block 5 · file 1674 · COOPER, PHEBE ANN · Minor

John W Cooper Gdn · Dec for Gdn — Mn F 541 — Sep 4 1860 · Letters of Gdn — LA B 295 — Sep 4 1860

Confirms LA B 295, not 285 — the machine transcript's error, already caught once in the folder's (image held in the family archive) and now verified from a crop. This is [p.13] Aaron Cooper Sr's youngest daughter with her brother [p.775] John W. as guardian; see [A.119].

Block 6 · file 1675 · COOPER, ROBERT A · Minor

Amos K Cooper Gdn · Pet & Dec for Gdn — Mn R 425 — Dec 5 1921 Gdn Bond — GB D 319 — Dec [–] 1921 · Letters of Gdn — LA E 6 — Dec 5 1921

(Mn R 425 — the page immediately after Effie M's decree of distribution at Mn R 424, one day apart in the minute book. The same guardian, the same court sitting.)

Block 7 · file 1676 · COOPER, SARAH J · d. Mar 1 1914 · Hardtn [Hardyston] Tp

[Richar]d D Wallace Admr · [App for] Adm — PR E 443 — Jul 31 1914 [Adm Bon]d — AB G 264 — Jul 31 1914 · [Letters] of Adm — LA D 384 — Jul 31 1914

Blocks 8, 9, 10 — NOT COOPERS

THE COOPER RUN IS CLOSED: files 1662–1676, fifteen estates

Bounded on both sides by non-Coopers — 1661 Cypher, Jacob (Sr) below and 1677 Coker/Croker/Cokes, Joseph above — with no gaps left:

What this does and does not mean. It is not "every Sussex Cooper estate". The five 20th-century Coopers already known — 8836 Catharine Jane, 11928 Thomas W, 13756 Clark C, 15323 Clarence, 15839 U. Grant — carry ordinary sequential numbers from when their estates arose. What 1662–1676 is: the complete set of Cooper estates that existed when the Russell index was compiled, gathered into one numbered block. ⇒ the file-number-gap hunt is finished — there is nothing left between 1662 and 1676 to find.

Four naming documents now identified across the two pages

None of the four is in a filmed series — the filmed Sussex run has no Minutes at all, and Receipts stop at volume J (1901). ⇒ all four are Surrogate requests, tracked on [pr.103].