Document A.87 · will and inventory · transcription: verbatim
Will and inventory of Peter Cooper of Morris Twp., Morris Co., N.J. — NJSA File 3127N; will made 17 October 1837, proved 29 May 1847, inventory appraised 22 February 1847.
- repository
- New Jersey State Archives
- identifier
- Morris Co. File 3127N (13 pp: will, probate proofs, inventory). The inventory is separately recorded at Liber K, fols. 298-301.
- date
- 1837-10-17
What is transcribed: The will body, both probate proofs, and the 22 February 1847 inventory.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Cooper | testator | Peter Cooper 1761–1847 | residence: 1837, Morris Twp., Morris Co., New Jersey death: between 17 Oct 1837 and 29 May 1847 |
| William Cooper | child | William Cooper 1811–1880 | |
| Catharine Anne | child | Catharine Anne (Cooper) Dunn 1809–1894 | |
| Alexander Cooper | child | Joseph Cooper 1815–1836 | |
| Susan Cooper | spouse | Alexander Cooper 1828–1898 | |
| Susan [Dunn] | grandchild | ||
| Abraham Dunn | mentioned | ||
| Susan E. Kirkpatrick | witness | ||
| Hugh Kirkpatrick | witness | ||
| Walter Kirkpatrick | witness | ||
| Elias R. Williams | appraiser | ||
| Clark Squier | appraiser | ||
| W. N. Wood | official | ||
| Silas L. Conduit | mentioned |
What this document records
It locks a father son chain
THE WILL NAMES "my son William Cooper" AS BOTH DEVISEE AND EXECUTOR, and William is the man who proves it in 1847. ⇒ William of Long Hill (1811-1880) is Peter Cooper's son, at manuscript tier. And it joins two Peters the catalog had kept apart. The Basking Ridge Presbyterian register ([F.32]) has a Peter Cooper baptising Catharine Ann (May 1810), Wm. (18 Feb 1812) and Joseph (5 Aug 1815); this will names Catharine Anne and William. The catalog had logged the two Peters as "distinct unless linked"; the argument that they are one man lives on Peter Cooper, not here.
The wife was never a deborah
A CORRECTION, MADE ON A 10× CROP AND WORTH KEEPING VISIBLE. The wife's given name in the Second item was transcribed on 2026-06-16 as "Devorah [Deborah]". On a 10× crop of image G-311 it reads "Susan" — a short five-letter word ending in a downstroke n, without the length or the v-o-r-a-h of Devorah. And three independent sources already said Susan: [C.41] (Peter × Susan Boyle, 14 Dec 1808), [L.141] (Susan Boyle 1788-1865), and [D.340] (the 1850 widow "Susan, 62"). ⇒ there was never a Deborah. The stale name survived in this entry's own family table for a further month and was fixed 2026-07-20 — the ordinary way a correction fails to take.
The inventory shows a money lender
THE FARM IS THE SMALLER HALF OF HIS ESTATE. Livestock, crops and utensils come to about $1,014.63; against that sit "Cash in Purse $305.25" and roughly fifteen notes and bonds receivable, running to some $3,000 — plus a second livestock set and a well-appointed house (silver spoons, a clock, a Franklin stove, a sideboard, forty brooms). Two of the debtors are Runyons — Peter P. and David R., both 19 April 1839 — and one is a Dunn, the family his daughter married into. Recorded as a fact about the debts, not as kinship; the Runyon connection two generations after Grace Runyon is argued at Peter Cooper. One entry is marked by the appraisers themselves: a judgment against Silas L. Conduit, $274.05, "considered desperate" — i.e. written off as uncollectable.
The widow was an executrix
Susan served as EXECUTRIX, named alongside son William in the inventory's own header — a fact that appears only in the inventory. The probate proof at PDF p. 2 shows only William qualifying, which is why the entry carried him as sole executor until the second scan was read.
A son who is not in the will
Joseph, baptised 5 August 1815 at Basking Ridge ([F.32]), is absent from the 1837 will. The document says nothing about why; predecease is the ordinary reading and is not asserted here.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, the two scans of this file, the father-son chain it locks, the wife-name
correction, the money-lending inventory and the son who is absent from the will are all in the
source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated here.
Will body [verbatim / closely transcribed] (PDF p.3–p.6)
"In the Name of God, Amen. I Peter Cooper of the Township of Morris, in the County of Morris, in the State of New Jersey, being now of sound & disposing mind and memory … do this Seventeenth day of October … one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven [1837], make and declare the following to be my last will and testament.
First … pay … all my just debts and funeral expenses out of my personal estate …
[Second] To my beloved wife Susan Cooper [corrected 2026-06-20 from a "Devorah/Deborah" misreading — see Wife-name CORRECTION above], if she survive me, I give … all my … household and kitchen furniture, two beds, [pig?,] sheep, and one horse, and bedding … also the use during her life of the one half of my dwelling House — she to have which end thereof she may choose … also the use of one half of my out-buildings, and of the half of the yard in front and in rear of my said dwelling House while she remains my widow unmarried …
[Third] All my Land and real estate whatsoever … I give and devise to my two Sons William Cooper, and Alexander Cooper, equally to be divided between them share and share alike … subject … to [the provision] in favor of my wife — and … if either of my said Sons die without lawful issue then … the part … to … the survivor of them …
[Fourth] I give and bequeath to my son William Cooper all my Cattle, sheep, Horses, and all my live Stock … and all my farming utensils … And in consideration of this bequest to him, I order him to pay to my son Alexander when he shall have arrived to the age of twenty one years, the sum of two hundred Dollars … [with survivorship contingencies between William, Alexander, and the wife].
[Fifth] I order and direct my Executors … to pay to my daughter Catharine Anne, wife of Abraham Dunn, in one year after my decease, the sum of fifteen hundred Dollars over and above what she has already received from me … And in case my said daughter shall die before the said legacy shall be payable … [it] shall be paid … to my granddaughter Susan daughter to my said Anne and to such other children as the said Catharine[ Anne has] …"
(Further items + the residuary/executor-appointment clause continue beyond p.6; the executor is William Cooper per the probate proof below.)
Probate proofs [verbatim] (PDF p.2)
- Witness proof: "Susan E. Kirkpatrick one of the Witnesses to the annexed Will … did depose and say that she saw Peter Cooper the Testator … sign and seal the same … and that Hugh Kirkpatrick and Walter Kirkpatrick the other subscribing witnesses were present …" — Sworn May 29, 1847, before W. N. Wood, Surrogate.
- Executor's oath: "William Cooper one of the Executors in the annexed Will named … the annexed writing contains the true last Will and Testament of Peter Cooper …" — Sworn May 29, 1847; signed William Cooper.
Inventory & appraisement [verbatim / closely transcribed] (added 2026-07-20 from the maintainer's cleaner scan)
Transcribed 2026-07-20 from a fuller/cleaner scan of File 3127N the maintainer supplied on disk (Death/Wills and Probate/Peter Cooper 3127N will+inventory 1837-1847/ — FamilySearch film 007637501, imgs 309–318; folder was mislabeled "1843" and renamed 2026-07-20). This is a second scan of File 3127N alongside the original A.87 source (…/Peter Cooper Will Docket 3127N Morris Long Hill 1847/, NJSA Order 202605-87084); this one is clearer and includes the inventory. This section fills the gap noted in the header (the 3127N pull always contained the inventory; A.87 had only transcribed the will + proofs). The inventory is separately recorded in Liber K, fols 298–301.
"A true and perfect inventory and appraisement of the personal property of Peter Cooper late of the county of Morris Deceased, Made by Susan Cooper Executrix and William Cooper [Executor] and Elias R. Williams and Clark Squier, two disinterested Freeholders, this 22 day of February 1847." — appraisers signed Elias R. Williams / Clark Squier, Appraisers; sworn before W. N. Wood, Surrogate, [Aug] 1847.
Susan (the widow) served as EXECUTRIX alongside son William — new here (the will's probate proof, PDF p.2, had only William qualifying).
Farm, livestock & crops (subtotal ~$1,014.63): wearing apparel $10; "6 Cows [&] Bull" $118; "20 Sheep, Hay in Barn"; hay/straw/stacks (wheat, clover); "Milk Forks Rakes"; cutting box + double harness; "One horse waggon"; "Sled Plow 3 Grindstones"; Carriage $50; harrow & plows; chains, crowbars, beetle & wedges; "Mattock ox yoke… waggon" $12.50; another waggon $30; scythes; "[Ox] Cart… 5 Shoats… Poultry"; 80 posts + garden posts; railing & palings; "Shelled Corn $21, Wheat $60"; "Lot oats $70"; corn sheller, rye, buckwheat; axes, buffalo-robe; "Casks of Hams, Keg Spirits, Kettle of Oil" $21.50; churn & cheese press; "2 Casks Soap, Keg oil, 3 Bbls Vinegar"; cross-cut saw & bags.
Cash & credits (Peter was a substantial rural money-lender — cash + ~15 notes/bonds receivable): "Cash in Purse $305.25"; then notes/bonds against — - Peter P. Runyon (note dated 19 Apr 1839, $70 + int.) and David R. Runyon (19 Apr 1839, $36 + int.) — Runyon = Daniel Sr's in-law surname (Grace Runyon's family); a Cooper↔Runyon credit tie two generations on. - David Dunn (7 Aug 1843, $100 + int.) — Dunn = his son-in-law Abraham Dunn's family (daughter Catharine Anne [p.716]). - Peter D. & Jonathan Valentine (×2, 1846, $250 each); Peter D. Valentine (1843, $88); J. F. Voorhees & Co. and James Wood (×2: 1846 $400; 1843 $425); Benjamin S. & John Dean (1846, $43); Jonathan Alwood/Atwood (×2: 1841 $250; 1844 $50); J. J. Scofield & William Lewis (1844, $200); Alvah Lewis (1846, $40); Tunis & Mathias Dilley (1844, $200); William M. & Levi Clark (1844, $100); bond against David McDermot (1838, $100); and a "Judgment against Silas L. Conduit, July 2 1844, $274.05 — considered desperate" (i.e. uncollectable).
Household (a well-appointed home): bedsteads/bedding, carpets, "40 Brooms," 8+ chairs, bureau & clock, "One Set Silver Table spoons & tea spoons $20," china/desert dishes, "A lot of Books & Stocking-yarn," sideboard, dining table, Franklin stove, corner cupboards; a further livestock set (One Horse $65, cows & calves, six sheep + "Bees in the Hive $25," a Bay Mare $75, Yoke of Oxen $80, mare & colt $80, "Buggy Wagon & Harness $95").
⇒ The estate ran to several thousand dollars (farm ~$1,014 + cash $305 + ~$3,000 in notes/bonds + household + a 2nd livestock set), characterizing Peter [p.641] as a prosperous Long Hill farmer-creditor — consistent with I.129's "died on the old homestead." (Full grand-total line not cleanly legible in this scan; the components above are the substance.)