Hunterdon Co. Inferior Court of Common Pleas, loose case papers — The Honourable William Earl of Stirling and Benjamin Cooper Esq[r] v. Patrick Murry, trespass on the case, £30: a capias and two alias capias with their three dockets (case files 30328, 31419, 31330), returnable October Term 1769 to August Term 1770. FamilySearch Court Records 1713–1860, IGN 008351237 imgs 539–540 and IGN 008351240 imgs 443–444, 647–648.

What this document records

🎯🎯 the three writs verbatim

Writ 1 — capias (IGN 008351237 img 540), a PRINTED form filled in:

Huntirdon County, ss. GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of GOD, of Great-Britain, France and > Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To our Sheriff of our County of Huntirdon GREETING: WE > Command you, that you take Patrick Murry late of the County af[oresai]d Labourer if he may be > found within your Bailiwick, and him safely keep so that you may have his Body before our Judges > of our Inferior Court of Common Pleas, to be held at Trenton in & for our County of Huntirdon > aforesaid on the fourth Tuesday in October next, then and there to Answer The Honourable > William Earl of Sterling and Benjamin Cooper Esq[r] of a plea of Trespass upon the Case &c. To > their Damage Thirty Pounds procl[amatio]n money (as tis said). And have you (then and there) > this Writ, WITNESS William Morris Esq; Judge of our said Court at Trenton aforesaid, the fourth > Day of Aug[us]t in the Ninth Year of our Reign. Anderson Atty. ~~E. Cowell Jun[r] D Clk~~ White Clk Writ 2 — alias capias (IGN 008351240 img 648), manuscript: "… We command you that as before we have commanded you that you take Patrick Murry … before our Judges of our next Inferior Court of Common Pleas to be held at Trenton … on the first Tuesday in February next, then and there to Answer The Honourable William Earl of Stirling & Benjamin Cooper Esq[r] of a plea of Trespass upon the Case &c: To their Damage Thirty Pounds procl[amatio]n Money (as tis said). … Witness William Morris Esq[r] Judge of our said Court at Trenton aforesaid the Twenty Sixth Day of October in the Ninth Year of our Reign. Anderson Atty. White Clk" Writ 3 — alias capias (IGN 008351240 img 444), manuscript: "… We command you as oftentimes before we have commanded you, that you take Patrick Murry … before our Judges of our next Inferior Court of Common Pleas, to be held at Trenton … on the first Tuesday in August next, then & there, to Answer the Honourable William Earl of Stirling & Benjamin Cooper Esq[r] of a plea of Trespass upon the Case &c To their Damage thirty pounds proclamation Money (as tis sayd). And have you, then & there, this Writt. Witness William Morris Esq[r] Judge of our said Court at Trenton aforesaid the First Day of May in the Tenth Year of our Reign. Anderson Att. White Clk"

🎯 the three dockets verbatim

| case | docket reads | frame | |---|---|---| | 30328 | "Huntirdon Pleas. The Hon[ora]ble W[illia]m Earl of Stirling & Benj[amin] Cooper Esq[r] ad Patrick Murry — Cap[ias] in Case £30. Ret. to Oct[obe]r Term 1769. Anderson. Non Est. Jn[o] Barnes Sh[eri]ff. Def[endan]t Lives at Samuel Johnson Esq[r]. (14)" | 008351237 img 539 | | 31419 | "Huntirdon Pleas. The Hon[ora]ble Earl of Stirling & Benj[amin] Cooper Esq[r] ad Patrick Murry — Alias in Case £30. To Feb[ruar]y Term 1770. Anderson Att. Non Est. Jn[o] Barnes Sh[eri]ff. The Def[endan]t lives w[i]th Sam[ue]l Johnson Esq[r]. (3)" | 008351240 img 647 | | 31330 | "Hunterdon Pleas. W[illia]m Earl of Sterling & Benj[amin] Cooper Esq[r] ad Patrick Murry — Alias Cap[ias] Case £30. Ret. to August Term 1770. Anderson Att. Non Est. Jn[o] Barnes Sh[eri]ff." | 008351240 img 443 | ⇒ one action, issued three times, never served: Non est inventus each term.

⚠️ a date the documents disagree on

Writ 2 is tested "the Twenty Sixth Day of October in the Ninth Year of our Reign" but its docket returns it to "Feb[ruar]y Term 1770". Both readings were checked at 4×. Not reconciled — the catalog does not convert regnal years into data fields, and the clerk may have carried "Ninth" over from Writ 1 or the docket year may be the error. Also as found: the case-file numbers do not run in return-term order — 31419 (Feb 1770) is higher than 31330 (Aug 1770). Recorded, not explained.

🔴 a correction to the sweep file

films/hunterdon-common-pleas-series-sweep.md quoted Writ 1 from the machine transcript as "in the [Sixth] Year of our Reign". The page says NINTH, which is also the only reading consistent with its own docket's "Oct[obe]r Term 1769". Corrected there in the same commit.

🔑 why this one matters

Every Stirling paper the catalog held until now puts Benjamin Cooper on the owing side — [K.36]/[K.37] Vanderveer, [K.38] Livingston, [K.49] his own father Daniel Sr. This suit shows the partnership as PLAINTIFF, in Hunterdon, in 1769–70. Benjamin Cooper already lists NJ Supreme Court suits 843, 1153 and 403 with Stirling and Benjamin "as co-plaintiff"; this is the first Common Pleas one, and the first read off the paper.