Document A.29 · will · transcription: verbatim
Will of John Cooper of Morristown, made 27 January 1778, proved 17 April 1778 — names "my Honoured Father Daniel Cooper Esqr". Loose file 456N, recorded Liber 20 p. 227.
- repository
- New Jersey State Archives
- identifier
- Colonial Wills loose file 456N; recorded copy Liber 20, p. 227
- date
- 1778-01-27
What is transcribed: The complete will — abstract, loose original and recorded copy — plus the probate grant.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper, John | testator | John Cooper 1738–1778 | residence: Morristown, Morris Co., New Jersey probate: 17 Apr 1778, Morris Town, New Jersey |
| Magdalane | spouse | Lynche Boyle Cooper 1746–1809 | |
| my Honoured Father Daniel Cooper Esqr | mentioned | Daniel Cooper Sr 1695–1795 | |
| Daniel | child | Daniel Cooper 1769–1826 | |
| Solomon | child | ||
| Loucreasy | child | Lucretia Cooper 1778 | |
| Susanah | child | ||
| Charity | child | ||
| Agness | child | ||
| Daniel Vail | executor | ||
| Joseph Manin [Manning] | executor | ||
| Jacob Lewis | witness | ||
| Joseph Bullman | witness | ||
| Edward Lewis | witness | ||
| Jas. Kirkpatrick | official | ||
| Gov. Livingston | official | ||
| Bowes Reed | official | ||
| John Chetwood | mentioned | ||
| Isaac Woodruff | mentioned | ||
| Solomon Boyle, Jr. | mentioned | ||
| John Earl [Carl] Esqr | mentioned |
What this document records
Three renderings
ALL THREE RENDERINGS ARE IN HAND, WHICH IS UNUSUAL AND IS WHY THIS ENTRY IS SOLID. Loose original 456N · recorded copy Liber 20 p. 227 · Honeyman's abstract in Vol. 34. ⇒ the original governs, and here it agrees with the others.
The father is named
THE WILL NAMES HIS FATHER OUTRIGHT. The abstract has "My father, Daniel Cooper, may cut timber off of my place"; the manuscript reads "my Honoured Father Daniel Cooper Esqr", with the privilege attaching to the plantation "where I now dwell". ⇒ primary-source, in-document confirmation that this John is Daniel Cooper Sr Daniel Sr's son — not an inference from naming patterns. It also independently corroborates [A.8]/[A.9], where Daniel Sr leaves land to "Daniel and Solomon, sons of my Son John Cooper Deceased".
The fourth daughter
A CONTESTED NAME SETTLED AT MANUSCRIPT TIER, IN TWO HANDS. The daughter is "Loucreasy" (≈ Lucretia) in the scrivener's original 456N and "Loucasy" in the clerk's Liber 20 copy — both an L-form name, confirming the abstract. This REFUTES Littell's "Lynche" for the daughter. Lynche is the wife's middle name — Magdalen Lynche Boyle, Lynche Boyle Cooper. Resolves [pr.90]; recorded on Lucretia Cooper.
A clause the abstract dropped
THE MANUSCRIPT ADDS AN INTERMEDIATE GRANTOR THE ABSTRACT OMITTED. The Passaic mill land came by deed from Chetwood, Woodruff and Solomon Boyle Jr., executors of Solomon Boyle, "given to John Earl [Carl] Esqr & from him to my self". The abstract skips John Earl/Carl. A working example of why an abstract is not the document.
A prior truncation
THE 2026-05-08 CAPTURE OF THIS ABSTRACT WAS TRUNCATED AT "to be sold…", silently dropping the four daughters, the mill-land provenance, both co-executors, all three witnesses and the Lib. 20 p. 227 reference. Corrected 2026-06-08 from the volume PDF. Recorded because a truncated transcription reads exactly like a complete one.
Shared page
The recorded copy shares its page with the tail of an unrelated will — Daniel Hand of Bernards Town, 1777, proved June 1778. Not part of this will.
Transcription and notes
Provenance across the three renderings, the father-naming, the settled fourth-daughter name,
the clause the abstract dropped and the earlier truncation are all in the source: and coverage:
headers and are not repeated here. The family is argued on [p.8], [p.270] and [p.731]; the
Cooper's Windmill identification is on [p.8].
Verbatim — Vol 34 Wills V abstract
1778, Jan. 27. Cooper, John, of Morristown, Morris Co.; will of. Wife, Magdalane, my goods, and use of real estate, till my youngest child is of age, and she is to support my children. My father, Daniel Cooper, may cut timber off of my place. Sons, Daniel and Solomon, the land where I live, of 80 acres, which I had by deed from my father; also the lands given to me in the will of my father. My lands and mills on Pusiak [Passaic] River in Morris Co. to be sold, which I had by deed from John Chetwood, Isaac Woodruff and Solomon Boyle, Jr., Executors of Solomon Boyle, and the money given to my daughters, Loucreasy, Susanah, Charity and Agness. Executors—wife, Magdalane, Daniel Vail, of Somerset Co., and Joseph Manin [Manning], of Middlesex Co. Witnesses—Jacob Lewis, Joseph Bullman, Edward Lewis. Proved April 17, 1778. Lib. 20, p. 227.
(Vol 34 abstract = NJ-Archives-published-secondary; the underlying raw manuscript is now in hand — see below.)
2026-07-14 — MANUSCRIPT received (NJSA, [pr.90]): recorded copy Liber 20 p.227 + original loose file 456N
The NJSA reproduction order ([pr.90]) delivered both the recorded copy (Colonial Wills Liber 20 p. 227) and the original loose probate file (456N). Read at 200 dpi. The manuscript confirms the Vol 34 abstract in full — wife Magdalene Cooper; father "my Honoured Father Daniel Cooper Esqr" (privilege to cut timber on the plantation "where I now dwell"); sons Daniel + Solomon (the ~80-ac plantation, held by deed + will from the father); four daughters share the Passaic-River mill-land proceeds; executors Magdalin Cooper + Daniel Vale of Somerset + Joseph Manning of Middlesex; witnesses Jacob Lewis, Joseph Bullman, Edward Lewis (Esq); dated 27 Jan 1778, sworn Morris Town 17 Apr 1778 before surrogate Jas. Kirkpatrick, probate granted by Gov. Livingston to Magdalen Cooper + Joseph Manning, registered Bowes Reed, Reg.r.
- 4th-daughter name SETTLED at manuscript tier (resolves [pr.90]). Both the original scrivener's hand (456N: "Loucreasy") and the recorded clerk's copy (Liber 20: "Loucasy") read an L-form name — "Loucreasy, Susanah, Charity & Agness." This confirms the abstract's "Loucreasy" (≈ Lucretia) and refutes Littell's "Lynche" for the daughter — "Lynche" is the wife's middle name (Magdalen Lynche Boyle, [p.270]); the will, written when the daughter was a child, gives her own given name as Loucreasy. Updated in [p.731].
- One detail beyond the abstract — the mill-land grantor chain: the will (with an interlineation noted in its own attestation clause) records the Passaic-River mill land as held "by virtue of a deed… from John Chetwood, Isaac Woodruff & Solomon Boyle Jun.r, Executors of the last will of Solomon Boyle deceased, given to John Earl [Carl] Esqr & from him to my self." The abstract dropped the John Earl/Carl Esq intermediate grantor — recorded here from the manuscript.
- The recorded copy (Liber 20 p. 227) shares its page with the tail of a prior, unrelated will (Daniel Hand, of Bernards Town, 1777, proved June 1778) — not part of John Cooper's will.
Transcription-completeness correction 2026-06-08: the prior capture of this abstract (v190.5x9+ 2026-05-08) was truncated at "to be sold…", dropping the remainder of the published Vol 34 entry. The full abstract (above, re-read from (image held in the family archive) via
pdftotext -layout) adds: the four daughters (Loucreasy/Lucretia, Susanah/Susannah, Charity, Agness/Agnes), the mill-land deed provenance (Chetwood / Woodruff / Solomon Boyle Jr., Executors of Solomon Boyle — = the same Boyle Mill estate John bought into 1772 per p.8 §K.10/K.6), the co-executors (Daniel Vail of Somerset; Joseph Manning of Middlesex), the witnesses (Jacob Lewis — = the mill operator named in K.10; Joseph Bullman; Edward Lewis), and the probate clerk reference Lib. 20, p. 227 (resolves the formerly-"pending" Lib. ref below).