Sussex County, New Jersey, Orphans' Court Minutes — the manuscript front indexes of volumes A-1 (1804 – Feb 1815), A and B (to Aug 1833), read for the surname COOPER. FamilySearch DGS 8137050 (film 960526), images 7, 8, 246, 247 and 455, with page anchors at images 237, 400, 443 and 732.

What this document records

✅ the three volumes dated and paged

Established 2026-09-08 by reading page headings — NOT inferred from the catalog's 1804-1833, which is the span of all three together. FamilySearch splits the reel into three catalog items and their labels agree with the readings: v. A-1 · 1804 – Feb 1815 · pages 1-408 — last written page = image 237, February Term 1815. (FamilySearch item 1 of 3: "Court Minutes 1804-1816".) v. A · May 1816 – Nov 1823 · pages 1-372 — page 1 = image 252, Sussex Orphan's Court May Term 1816; last written page = image 443, Orphans Court November term 1823. (FamilySearch item 2 of 3: "Court Minutes 1816-1823".) v. B · 1823 – Aug 1833 · pages 1-482 — last written page = image 732, Sussex Orphan's Court: August Term 1833. (FamilySearch item 3 of 3: "Court Minutes 1823-1833".) The reel carries 735 images in total (read off the viewer).

⚠️ a fifteen month gap between v a 1 and v a

v. A-1's last written page is February Term 1815 and v. A's page 1 is May Term 1816. ⇒ The terms between — roughly May 1815 to February 1816 — are not in either book. Whether they were recorded elsewhere, or simply not entered, is NOT established and no explanation is offered here. It is recorded because it is a real hole in this reel's coverage, and any null drawn from these three volumes inherits it.

🎯 the result no cooper

THERE IS NO COOPER IN THE C SECTION OF ANY OF THE THREE INDEXES. ⇒ No Cooper estate, guardianship, division of lands or other proceeding is indexed in the Sussex Orphans' Court across volumes A-1, A and B — 1804 to August 1833. AND ALL THREE ARE NOW EQUALLY CONTROLLED — index start, index end AND volume end located for each. Volume A was the weak one until 2026-09-08; its continuation leaf has since been pulled and it holds one entry, Chapman Charles 358. See the correction key.

What makes this a controlled null and not a glance

A null is worth exactly as much as its coverage, so each volume's coverage is stated separately rather than pooled. Every name below was read at 3× or better off the downloaded full-resolution JPEGs — never off a whole-page view. VOLUME A-1 — COMPLETE, BOTH ENDS LOCATED. Image 7 carries columns A and B; image 8 carries C, D, E and F. The C column's first entry is Crane Moses 6 (5×) and its last is Cummins Elijah, Woolsey, Wesley, Huldah, … & John (minors) 405, with no continuation marker. Image 237 is printed page 408, headed February Term 1815, writing stopping part-way down with the rest of the opening blank — the volume's last written page. ⇒ an index running to p. 405 covers a volume ending at p. 408. VOLUME B — COMPLETE, BOTH ENDS LOCATED. Image 455 is B's thumb-tabbed C opening, and the whole C section sits on that one opening: it runs Cox Benjamin 32 → Christy Alexr 470.480, and the column then STOPS with blank ruled space beneath it — the tell that the section is finished rather than continued. Image 732 is printed page 482, headed Sussex Orphan's Court: August Term 1833, again stopping part-way down with the facing leaf entirely blank — the volume's last written page. ⇒ an index to p. 480 covers a volume ending at p. 482. VOLUME A — COMPLETE, AFTER A CORRECTION. Its C column on image 246 runs Craig Robert 1.9.26 → Cook William 348 and then says Carried on leaf to H. That is a thumb-index device: the overflow is written in the blank space of the leaf tabbed H — image 247, the E·F·G·H opening. Pulled 2026-09-08. The whole C continuation is ONE LINE: Chapman Charles 358., standing alone with blank space above and below and no further carry-forward. The other overflow block on that leaf (Hibbler Samuel L… 300 · Hile Lingfle[?] 306 · Hance Stephen 329 · Hampton Rudolph 329 · Hill Joshua 359.368) was read at 5× and is H's own overflow, not C's. And volume A's end is located: image 443 is printed page 372, headed Orphans Court November term 1823, writing stopping part-way down with the facing leaf blank. ⇒ an index whose C runs to p. 358 and whose H runs to p. 368 covers a volume ending at p. 372.

✅ correction 2026 09 08 volume a was overstated then closed

This entry first reported volume A as swept — " No Cooper there either" — with the only caveat that "its C column runs to about page 306-308 … the final line or two sit just below the last crop and were seen only at 1×." BOTH HALVES OF THAT WERE WRONG. 1. The column does not stop at 306-308. It runs to Cook William 348 — re-read at 4× in three overlapping slices. 2. The line beneath it is not a stray tail. It is a CONTINUATION MARKER, read at 7×: Carried on leaf to H. ⇒ volume A's C section continues on another leaf, and that leaf is not in the maintainer's sample. The B column on the same opening carries the same device (Carried to 8[?]), so this index routinely spills onto continuation leaves. How big is the hole? Bounded, but real. Image 400 is printed page 288, headed August Term 1822 (read at 5×). Volume A occupies images 245-443. ⇒ the unread continuation covers volume A from page 348 to whatever its last page is — plausibly a few dozen pages, but the volume's end has NOT been located and no page count is claimed. This is the failure mode worth remembering, and it is NOT "the image was hard to read": every frame was a clean local file read at magnification. The error was treating a column that LOOKED finished as a section that WAS finished. ⇒ an index null must locate the section's END — a bottom-of-column is not an end — and must locate the VOLUME's end too. A-1 and B pass that test; A does not. CLOSED THE SAME DAY. The marker means what it says — the continuation is on the leaf tabbed H, which is image 247. It was pulled from the FamilySearch viewer, downloaded, filed, and read at 4×: one entry, Chapman Charles 358. Not Cooper. So the overstatement did not change the answer — but it could have. The value of catching it is that the null is now defensible rather than merely correct.**

The c section of volume a 1 verbatim

In the order written — this index is ordered BY PAGE, not alphabetically within the letter: Crane Moses 6 · Coose Christopher 11.21.29.52 · Congleton Levi 16 · Cornikeson Adam 57.92 · Cook Elisha 58 · Couse Ruben 76 · Case Robert (a minor) 123 · Coats Joseph 140 · Case Joseph 141.164 · Coogle Adam 142 · Compton Jacob 164 · Coriell John 176.196.206 · Case Daniel, Elizabeth & Joseph B (minors) 180 · Cook Corned[us?] (minor) 215 · Coursen Polly & Sarah (do) 219 · Coursen Isaac 232.246.266.267.306.370 · Cotanch John W (minor) 247.269.289 · Cron Christopher 248 · Coursen Benjamin (minor) 265[?] · Coursen John I (do) 265 · Coursen Ignice (do) 266 · Coursen John Jr 268.335 · Coursen Isaac Jr 269 · Cashn[?] Robert 271.280 · Corinth[?] Benjamin 280.299.322 · Clark Rachael (minor) 294 · Curling John 315 · Campbell Duncan 319.377 · Cook Elisha 324.338 · Carter Spencer 333 · Cyphus Jacob 340 · Couse Hergey 341 · Cotanch John 344.353.362 · Campbell Duncan 349 · Cummings Jacob 376.388 · Crisman Jacob 381 · Clark James (minor) 391 · Clark Mannith & Green (do) 391 · Coursen Abram 394.406 · Curling William 398.403 · Clark Nehemiah 399 · Coker Joseph 400 · Cummins Elijah, Woolsey, Wesley, Huldah, [Macinnas?], Nancy & John (minors) 405.

Volume a the c column that is present verbatim

Image 246, column 3 of a four-column opening (A · B · C · D), read at 4× in three overlapping slices. No Cooper in any of it — but see the correction key: it is not the whole C section. Craig Robert 1.9.26 · Cole Abram 3.13.27.40 · Clark Nehemiah 4 · Coursen Benjamin 5.225.328.260.267 · Cous[i]n Jacob 5 · Cummins John 5.[?].168 · Cummins Jacob 10 · Coursen Abram 22.27.36 · Coryell Tunis 22 · Cotanch John 23 · Casad Thomas 25 · Creveling Samuel (minor) 44 · Creveling Wm, Emily, Letitia, Sarah & Abm (Minors) 44 · Creveling John W 50.101.127.138.143 · Coursen David 58 · Coursen John Jr 75.79.135.143 · Chamberlain Benjm 80 · Carhart Cornelius 80 · Coursen Allen 85 · Cou[gh]le[?] Phillip 91 · Cole Charles (Decd) 96.106.116 · Connett John 129.139 · Cregar William 143.257 · Clyne Ludeway 148 · Chambers Joseph 149 · Coker Joseph 165.175 · Cook Con[e]ijen[?] 166 · Carhart John 207.213 · Clawson Abm C 211 · Case Daniel 215.241.259 · Castetter John 220 · Coursen Gersham H, Aaron, Phebe & Elizabeth (Minors) 240 · Coursen Ephraim G (do) 240 · Coursen Gersham 242.323.329 · Casad Job 243.307.245.249.275.278 · Corwin William 249 · Crispman John 258.284.288 · Coss Peter 270.308.323.340.355 · Cummins Nancy 286 · Cummins M[egum?] 286 · Cummins John 286 · Cummins Eliza W 286 · Cummins Hulack 286 · Corwin William 287.302 · Creveling Samuel 291.313 · Cole Benjamin 306 · Cook Levi 307 · Cummins Wesley 309.343 · Cudaback James 309 · Cornell Robert 348 · Cook William 348 · Carried on leaf to H AND THE CONTINUATION, on image 247 in the blank space of the H-tabbed leaf, read at 4×: Chapman Charles 358. — that is the whole of it. No Cooper.

Volume b the c section verbatim

Image 455 — volume B's thumb-tabbed C opening. Read at 3-4.5×. NO COOPER. The section is continuous across three columns and they do NOT run in visual order — the page numbers interlock (…206·209 overlap), which is itself the proof nothing is missing between them: right leaf col 1 (pp. 32-209) → left leaf (pp. 206-411) → right leaf col 2 (pp. 419-480), then blank. Right leaf, column 1: Cox Benjamin 32 · Cory Job 47.62.131.133 · Coursen Gershom 52.143 · Covert John 63.81.82 · Carve[r] Lydia 68 · Crampton William 70.297.297.310.379 · Chilester Abner 71 · Cop[e] Diantha (minor) 75 · Caffery Joseph 93.254.252.263.29[4].310 · Cook Levi 94 · Cassedy William 99.123.176 · Carpenter Jacob 112 · Carhart Cornelius 113 · Cook Daniel 117.135.183.184.201.22[1] · Carpenter Abm 118.187.305 · Creveling Samuel 131.306 · Cook William 134 · Cook James 135 · Cramer Jacob 136.143 · Corselious Peter 143 · Corwin William 148.214.220.221.233.243 · Campbell John 152.181.319.353 · Caskey William 162.211 · Carr George C 165.275.285 · Conn James 178 · Coursen John J 184.197 · Coursen John C & Wm N (Minors) 186.1 · Cruger Jane, Wm & Sarah Ann (Minors) 194.395 · Cool William 195 · Coursen Allen & Chilaim[?] 187 · Coursen Allen 200.209 · Couse Peter 200.209. Left leaf: Conkle Phillip 206 · Courtright Jacob 224 · Coursen Richard 228.280.282.292 · Carr William (Minor) 230.466 · Clark Sarah 265.292 · Cranmer Phillip 272.311 · Carr Mary 276.285 · Carr Robert 276 · Creveling John W 279 · Cary Isaac 279.293.299.318 · Cook Euphema & Asa (Minors) 295 · Cox Hanit & Cox Mary (Minors) 309 · Creveling Henry (minor) 312.318 · Creveling Samuel (do) 312.318 · Cox Benjamin 317 · Carpenter Balser 328 · Cook David (Decd) 331.347.360.371.470.480 · Coleman Abagail 338.394 · Criger Jane 342.395 · Cummins John 346 · Case Peter 348 · Cuddaback James 363.380 · Cramer Isaac 364.401.402.403.426 · Coursen Vantile 367.389.470.477 · Coursen Enos 372.373.381 · Coursen Caroline, James Jane & George (Minors) 379 · Campbell Sarah 386.396.415.421.428.442.459.471 · Coleman Isaac 395 · Cummins Nancy 402.403.406.427 · Cummins Ma[r]ina 402.403.405.427 · Cummins John C 411. Right leaf, column 2: Corselious George 419 · Case Stephen & James (Minor) 444 · Cummins Sarah 462 · Cummins Fletcher, Wm & Electa (Minors) 465 · Cummins Samuel (do) 466 · Christy Alexr 470.480 — and then the column stops, with blank ruled space beneath.

📌 the look alikes that make this a real test

These indexes are DENSE in surnames that a careless eye turns into "Cooper", which is why the null is a finding and not an absence of attention: Cook (Levi, Daniel, William, James, David, Euphema & Asa, Con[e]ijen), Cool William, Coose/Couse (Christopher, Ruben, Hergey, Peter), Coursen (a dozen), Cooper's nearest neighbours Coker, Cope, Cory/Corey, Corwin, Coss, Cotanch. Every one of them was resolved at magnification. None of them is Cooper.

🎯 two coriell hits for pr16

[pr.16] is the Cooper–Coriell Y-DNA question, and both volumes index a Coriell: v. A-1 — Coriell John, pages 176, 196, 206 (three appearances). v. A — Coryell Tunis, page 22 (re-read at 4× 2026-09-08). Volume B's C section carries NO Coriell or Coryell at all. Neither has been read — these are index pointers, not transcriptions. They are cheap to pull, being four page references on a reel already identified, and [pr.16] has few Sussex-side anchors.

🎯 2026 09 09 the same indexes swept for parker and there is a hit

This entry's own caveat said a Cooper could hide inside a PARKER proceeding. [K.86] then proved the Parker connection is real — Israel Cooper Israel Cooper's half acre was "part of a lot of land that I inherited of my Father Thomas Parker" ([name.548] Sarah Karr, 1835). ⇒ So the same three front indexes were swept again, for PARKER, on 2026-09-09. VOLUME A-1 — A HIT. The P column is on image 11 (the O·P·Q·R opening; the index runs img 7 = A-B, 8 = C-F, 9 = G-J, 10 = K-N, 11 = O-R). Read at 7×: ⇒ Parker Thomas 113. 124. 190. 302. 322. — FIVE proceedings, all in v. A-1, i.e. between 1804 and February 1815. VOLUME A — NO PARKER. P column at image 248 (the M·N·O·P opening), read at 3.6×: Predmore Benjamin · Phillips Joseph · Paul Thomas · Predmore John · Price Maria & Sarah (minors) · Phillips Conrad · Pembriton [Charles] · Payne Stephen · Prall Aaron Jr · Paridor Joseph · Price John · Pottie Israel · Polhemus Theodorus · Perry Brice · Post Gabriel · Predmore Daniel · Predmore Joseph (minor). No Parker. VOLUME B — NO PARKER. P section at image 470 (thumb-tabbed; O is at 469): Phillips David · Price John · Price Hachanah · Price John 3rd · Parry Adam · Potts Joseph · Price Mary · Price Anna · Pitney Byram · Peters Henry · Pitney Mary Ann & Rebecca (minors) · Phillips Nelson M (minor) · Perry Cathrain (minor) · Perry Anza & Milly · Potter John · Polhemus John I · Price Henry Jr · Polhamus Abraham · Potter Israel, Isaac & Henrietta (Minors) · Post John · Post Ann · Post Gabriel · Price Zachariah & Mary Ann · Price Samuel A · Price Phebe E · Price Sarah. No Parker. HONEST LIMITS ON THE TWO NULLS: volume B's P column was read at 1.6-1.9×, not 3×+, and its tail below Price Sarah was not read at all. ⇒ Volume A's null is solid; volume B's is provisional. Frames filed as (archive file). ⇒ THAT THE HIT IS IN v. A-1 FITS: Thomas Parker's estate ran while the first book was open, and his daughter was still clearing title twenty years later ([K.86], 1835). PULL v. A-1 PAGES 113, 124, 190, 302, 322 — see t5.

⚠️ what a clean index null does not exclude

These indexes list the person whose MATTER it is — the decedent, the minor, the petitioner. A man who appeared as a SURETY on a bond, a WITNESS, an APPRAISER, a purchaser at a sale, or a named next-of-kin inside someone else's proceeding would not be indexed under his own name. ⇒ The null means no Cooper PROCEEDING, not no Cooper MENTION. This matters concretely: Israel Cooper Israel Cooper's neighbours in [K.83] are Thomas Parker and Judge Kinsey, and a Cooper could appear inside a Parker or Kinsey matter without ever reaching the index.

⇒ what it means for israel cooper

Israel Cooper Israel Cooper bought 25 acres in Independence Twp in 1802 ([K.83]) and there is now no Orphans' Court proceeding for him in Sussex through volume A. Taken with the earlier nulls this is a consistent picture, not a series of near-misses: no probated estate in Sussex or Warren ([A.126], [A.141]); no appearance as a grantor in the Sussex deed index ([K.26]); and now no Orphans' Court proceeding. A man with 25 acres and no administration is an ordinary thing — a modest freehold passing to heirs without the court being troubled. But it leaves the catalog with no instrument that names his children, which is the whole object.