Morris County, New Jersey — the ADMINISTRATION BOND from loose probate file 672N: Peter Cooper, William Cooper and John Cooper of the Town of Morris bound to Governor William Livingston in £1,000 for the administration of the estate of Daniel Cooper Jun'r of Morristown, 10 July 1787. Ancestry collection 8796, DGS 005657785, image 881.

What this document records

🎯 the bond verbatim

Printed text in roman, manuscript insertions in bold, read at 2.2×: "KNOW all Men by these Presents, That We Peter Cooper, William Cooper and John Cooper of the Town of Morris in the County of Morris and State of New Jersey are held and firmly bound unto His Excellency William Livingston Esq'r Governor &c in the Sum of one thousand Pounds, Proclamation Money, to be paid to the said William Livingston Esq'r, his Successors or Assigns: To which Payment well and truly to be made, We bind ourselves, our Heirs, Executors and Administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these Presents. Sealed with our Seals, and dated the tenth Day of July Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and eighty seven." "THE Condition of the above Obligation is such, That if the above bound Peter Cooper and William Cooper Administrat[ors] of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits of Daniel Cooper Jun'r of Morristown aforesaid deceased, do make, or cause to be made, a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased, which have or shall come to the Hands, Possession or Knowledge of the said Peter Cooper and William Cooper, or into the Hands of any other Person or Persons for their Use, and the same so made, exhibit or cause to be exhibited into the Registry of the Prerogative Court, in the Secretary's Office at Burlington on or before the tenth Day of January next ensuing; and the same Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased, at the Time of his Death… do well and truly administer according to Law; and farther do make or cause to be made, a just and true Account of their Administration, within twelve Months from the Date hereof…"

✅ it confirms a10 and adds five things

[A.10]'s published abstract is confirmed word for word on the points it carries — the date 10 July 1787, Peter Cooper and William Cooper as administrators, John Cooper as the third bondsman, and Daniel Jr "of Morristown". What the original adds that the abstract does not: ▸ The penalty: one thousand Pounds, Proclamation Money. A bond is conventionally set at about double the estate's value, and [A.10]'s inventory is £450.14.8 — consistent, and offered as context, not as a rule this catalog can vouch for. ▸ The obligee: His Excellency William Livingston Esq'r Governor — Livingston was NJ's governor 1776-1790. ▸ All three Coopers are of the Town of Morris in the County of Morris — the abstract says only "all of said place". This puts Peter, William and John Cooper together in Morristown in July 1787. ▸ The inventory was due at Burlington by 10 January 1788, and the account of administration within twelve months. ▸ John Cooper is a co-obligor on the bond itself, not merely a witness.

🎯 the administrators oath images 879 and 880 verbatim

A second document of the file, read 2026-09-10 — and the sheet is stamped 672 N with a sideways endorsement Dan'l Cooper Jr 1787, which fixes the file identity beyond doubt. "Morris County ss. Peter Cooper and William Cooper, Administrators within named, being duly sworn did depose and say that they will well and truly administer all and singular the goods, chattels, rights and credits of Daniel Cooper Jun'r within named deceased, which have or shall come to their hands or possession or to the possession of any other person or persons for their use; and that they will make a true and perfect inventory of the said goods, chattels, rights & credits and exhibit the same into the Prerogative Office at Burlington, and render a just and true account of their administration. Sworn at Morristown the 10th day of July 1787 before Jabez Campfield, Sur[rogate]" — signed Peter Cooper and William Cooper. BOTH MEN SIGNED IN THEIR OWN HANDS. That makes this frame an Image-hunt item for Peter Cooper Peter and William Cooper William — a signature is second in the preference order, and no likeness of either man is likely to exist. [name.569] Jabez Campfield, Surrogate — the Morris County officer.

⚠️ images 879 and 880 are two exposures of the same sheet

They are NOT two documents. Their md5 hashes differ — so a file-level check says distinct — but the CONTENT is the same oath, shot twice by the camera operator. 879 is the cleaner and more complete exposure; 880 is cropped tighter and slightly darker. This is exactly the duplicate-frame trap that put "images 122 AND 123 both show Stiger" into the catalog on 2026-09-09 ([[feedback_download_before_reading_never_read_off_the_viewer]]). ⇒ A differing checksum is NOT evidence of a different document. Compare what the page SAYS.

🔴 boundary correction 672n ends at 881 not 885

CORRECTION 2026-09-10, to this entry's own first draft. It recorded that "image 886 is a cover sheet stamped 673 N, so 672N ends at 885". That was wrong, and backwards. Image 882 is a BLANK FOLDED WRAPPER also stamped 673 N — read at 0.5×. ⇒ 673N BEGINS at 882, and its cover appears again at 886. ⇒ File 672N ENDS AT 881, and runs BACKWARD from there. Confirmed by content: 881 is the bond, 880 and 879 are the oath, both stamped 672 N. And images 883, 884 and 885 belong to 673N, NOT to this file — 884 is the will proof of Benjamin Corwin, sworn 30 April 1787 (executrix Mary Corwin, executor Abner Corwin; witnesses William Woodhull, Susanna Luther, Abraham Dickerson). ⇒ 673N is the Corwin estate. The lesson worth keeping: a stamped number on a wrapper marks the START of its file, not the end of the previous one.

📜 the whole file as filmed read 2026 09 10

File 672N has now been read end to end as it exists on the film. Six frames, 876-881, and the reel photographs each sheet TWICE (see the double-exposure note): | frame(s) | document | |---|---| | 876 & 878 | the appraisers' affirmation + the administrators' inventory oath — one sheet, two exposures | | 877 | the file wrapper / endorsement | | 879 & 880 | the administrators' oath — one sheet, two exposures | | 881 | the administration bond | | (882) | a wrapper stamped 673 N — the Corwin estate begins | Image 875 could not be loaded (Ancestry's viewer stalled repeatedly) — so the file's front boundary is inferred from the wrapper's position, not read.

📜 the file wrapper image 877 verbatim

Read at 0.5× — the endorsement panel of the folded file: "Daniel Cooper Jun'r / Int. Inv'y & Adm'n / Morris 1787 / Adm'n Granted / Recorded in Lib. N° 29 Page 472 / Examined [flourish] / 672 N" Lib. N° 29 Page 472 confirms [A.10]'s citation exactly. AND Int. Inv'y & Adm'n IS THE CLERK'S OWN CONTENTS LIST FOR THE FILE — intestacy, inventory, administration. No account. No distribution.

🎯 the appraisers affirmation and inventory oath images 876 and 878 verbatim

Two documents on one sheet, both sworn at Morristown 10 July 1787 before [name.569] Jabez Campfield, Sur[rogate]: "Morris County ss. Benjamin Vail, one of the appraisers of the within inventory, doth declare and affirm that the goods, chattels & credits in the said inventory set down and specified were by him appraised according to their just and true respective rates & values after the best of his judgment and understanding, & that Ephraim Martin the other appraiser whose name is thereto subscribed was present at the same time and consented in all things to the doing thereof, and that they appraised all things that were brought to their view for appraisement." — signed Benjamin Vail. "Morris County ss. Peter Cooper & William Cooper, administrators of the personal estate of Daniel Cooper Jn'r deceased within named, being duly sworn did severally depose & say that the within writing contains a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods, chattels [rights] and credits of the said deceased as far as have come to their knowledge and possession or to the possession of any other person or persons for their use." — signed Peter Cooper and William Cooper. Confirms [A.10]'s appraisers, Benjamin Vail and Ephraim Martin — and note Vail is the same man the abstract lists as the BOND's witness.

⛔⛔ the itemised inventory is not on the film

The £450.14.8 itemised list is NOT among the filmed frames. The affirmation sheet says the WITHIN inventory and the WITHIN writing contains a true and perfect inventory ⇒ it is the ENDORSEMENT SIDE of the inventory, and the list is on the other side of that sheet, which the camera did not photograph. This is a filming gap, not an archival one — the sheet exists; only one face of it was shot. See t3 for the two routes to the list.

⛔ and ann coopers renunciation is not on the film either

[A.10]'s abstract records 1787, July 10. Renunciation by Ann Cooper, widow of Daniel Cooper, Jr. — and NO frame in 876-881 is a renunciation. Same pattern as the inventory: the abstractor saw the paper; the camera did not shoot it, or shot only its blank face. Her signature or mark remains an Image-hunt gap.

📷 the reel photographs each sheet twice a navigation fact

Established twice over on this file: 876 and 878 are the same sheet; 879 and 880 are the same sheet. Their md5 hashes differ — different exposures, different framing and density — but the CONTENT is identical. ⇒ A six-frame file on this reel holds about THREE documents, not six. Budget frames accordingly, and never infer a document count from a frame count. And never trust a checksum to tell you two frames differ in substance — it is the same trap as the 2026-09-09 (archive file) duplicate, and here it would have inflated the file's apparent contents by 100%.

🚫 what it does not do

IT DOES NOT NAME THE HEIRS. A bond names the administrators and their sureties — it never lists next of kin. So [A.171] t1's question — who were Daniel Cooper Jr's children? — is still not answered by this document. AND AS OF 2026-09-10 THE ANSWER IS SETTLED: THE FILE CONTAINS NO ACCOUNT AND NO DISTRIBUTION. The wrapper's own contents list reads Int. Inv'y & Adm'n, and the six filmed frames bear that out — wrapper, bond, administrators' oath, appraisers' affirmation and inventory oath, and nothing else. ⇒ [A.171] t1's question — who were Daniel Cooper Jr's children? — CANNOT be answered from this file. It needs a different record; see t3.