Document A.46 · estate inventory · transcription: partial
Inventory of the personal estate of Charity Haas, docket 3600R, Somerset Co. N.J. — taken 7 December 1858, filed 7 January 1859. FHC capture.
- repository
- Somerset County Surrogate, via LDS Family History Center
- collection
- Film 563773 / DGS 5657952 — Somerset Co. N.J. Record of Wills; FamilySearch catalog koha:191077, FHC-only access tier; viewer label: Somerset. Wills 1688-1900.
- identifier
- Docket 3600R; recorded Lib. B[?] of Somerset Inventories, page 286[?]
- date
- 1858-12-07
What is transcribed: Both wrapper endorsements and the inventory body header. The itemised contents and valuations are not transcribed.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charity Haas | deceased | Charity (Cooper) Haas 1789–1856 | residence: Somerset Co., New Jersey probate: 7 Jan 1859, Somerset Co., New Jersey |
| Samuel Reynolds | official |
What this document records
It is benjamins daughter
THIS IS THE FIRST PROBATE OF A DAUGHTER OF CAPT. BENJAMIN COOPER Benjamin Cooper THE CATALOG HOLDS. The body header reads "A true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the goods and chattels personal Estate & effects of Charity Haas late of the County of Somerset, deceased". She died 31 Dec 1856 per [M.27]; the identification runs through her married surname, which is why [A.36]'s Cooper-section search could never have found her.
The hagedorn retraction
A SURNAME MISREADING WITHDRAWN, AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EXPENSIVE. The 2026-05-14 first pass read the C-778 endorsement as "Hagedorn" / "Hagedons", which would have implied a remarriage and broken the Haas identification. A side-by-side zoom against the clearer C-779 header shows the surname is Haas — the apparent extra letters are calligraphic flourishes plus the abbreviation for deceased. C-782 does spell it "Hays" — a clerk's phonetic variant of the same German-origin surname, not a different person.
The date disagrees with aitkin
AITKIN SAYS "Inv. 1857"; THE DOCUMENT SAYS 1858 AND 1859. The body reads "taken the 7th day of December AD 1858" and the wrapper "Received January 7th 1859". Two readings, neither adopted: Aitkin cites a different (recording or abstracting) date, or Aitkin is a year out. ⇒ cite the document's dates, not the index's.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, the withdrawn "Hagedorn" misreading, and the date disagreement with Aitkin are
all in the source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated here. She is [p.664],
daughter of [p.2] Capt. Benjamin Cooper.
Data from the document (verbatim where legible)
C-778 / C-782 (outer wrapper endorsement, verbatim 2026-05-15)
- "Inventory of the Personal Estate of Charity Haas deceased" (cursive with calligraphic flourishes on "Haas")
- "3600 R" (docket stamp)
- "Received January 7th 1859[?] into the Surrogates Office of the County of Somerset"
- "Recorded in Lib. B[?] of Somerset Inventories, page 286 (?)"
- Signed: "Samuel Reynolds, Surrogate"
- C-782 bottom: "Filed January 7th 1859 by Samuel Reynolds Surrogate"
- ** Note on C-782 endorsement spelling: the surname on C-782 small-cursive endorsement appears to be written as "Hays" rather than "Haas". This is a clerk/indexer spelling variation on the endorsement only (= same person, same family — Hays and Haas are interchangeable phonetic-spellings of the German-origin surname in 19th-c. NJ records); not an identity-change. The inventory-body header on C-779 reads clearly "Haas**" (the canonical form per A.39 Aitkin index + G.19 Caty-as-sister context). Endorsement "Hays" should be treated as scribal variant of "Haas".
C-779 (inventory body p1 — header verbatim 2026-05-15, items in [desc])
- Header (verbatim): "A true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the goods and chattels personal Estate & effects of Charity Haas late of the County of Somerset, deceased, taken the 7th day of December AD 1858 [...]"
- Appraisers named at top: Christopher Boyer + James M. [unclear] + Abraham [unclear] + A. Walsh [unclear].
[desc]Item list (cursive household + barn items, dollar values in $, mostly under $5 each): Stove and Pipe, Stove and chimney pipe, [unclear] Heald, Pen[?], 1 Chest, Chairs, Stoves in the [parlor], [unclear] Mug, Bureau in Kitchen, Light table in Kitchen, [Stationery] Clock, Hat box, Set of Hay in the [Barn], Lamp, Harness on Horse, etc. Subtotal column reading approximately $17-30 visible.
C-780, C-781 (inventory body p2-p3 — continuations)
[desc]Continued inventory items and totals; left column of C-781 shows "Amount Brought Forward [unclear]" with subtotals.- C-781 right side: State of New Jersey, Somerset County appraisers' oath sworn before Surrogate Samuel Reynolds January 7th 1859.