Document B.5 · military pay abstract · transcription: partial
Auditor's Book B, p. 186 — Jesse Hart's abstract of bounty rolls for the Hunterdon & Somerset militia. Two Cooper lines: 9 Nov 1777, £163.1.[?], and 20 Apr 1778, £94.
- repository
- New Jersey State Archives, Trenton
- collection
- Revolutionary War manuscripts — Auditor's Book B, page 186, headed "Abstract of Bounty Rolls discharged by Jesse Hart Paymaster to the Militia of the Counties of Hunterdon & Somerset."
- identifier
- Page number 186 at top right; numbered line items 1-57 visible.
- date
- 1778
What is transcribed: Lines 52 and 53 (the Cooper entries) and six adjacent officers. The other ~49 of 57 lines are not transcribed — see the todo.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Capt.] Benj: Cooper | subject | Benjamin Cooper 1741–1794 | |
| Jesse Hart | official |
What this document records
The two cooper lines
Line 52 — "Novem[ber] 9" '77: [Capt.] Benj: Cooper, 4[th] [Hunterdon], 163. 1. [?] Line 53 — "Apl 20" '78: [ditto — Benj. Cooper], [ditto], 94. Line 53's officer name and regiment are DITTOS, inheriting from line 52. The reading is corroborated from outside the page: [B.4]'s card spells out "No. 53 … Capt. Benj. Cooper; Regiment, 4 Hunterdon" in full. A ditto resolved by a cataloguer who could see the same page is still worth more than a ditto resolved by assumption — and it is the reason the card matters even though it is not an independent source.
What a bounty payment is
WHAT JESSE HART'S BOOKS ARE. Auditor's Book B holds the abstracts of the Paymaster to the Militia of the Counties of Hunterdon & Somerset. p. 186 abstracts the bounty rolls he discharged; p. 183 the pay rolls. They are payment records, not muster rolls — a line proves a warrant was settled, not that a man stood in a field on that date. [B.1]'s cataloguer read them as service; that reading is his.
The page is a regimental context nobody has read
The six recorded neighbours — Capt J. Schenck (4th), D. Schamp (4th, Nov 6 '77, £139.10), Lieut Garret Schenck (3d, £16.15), Capt Iv. Carle (Cavalry), John Hurt or Hust (1st Hunterdon) — show the 4th Hunterdon's officer corps around Cooper. Fifty-seven officers of the Hunterdon and Somerset militia sit on one page, and the catalog has read eight of them.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, what a bounty abstract is and is not, the ditto on line 53 and how it was
resolved, and the 49 unread lines are in the source: and coverage: headers and are not
repeated here.
- Data from the page — Benjamin Cooper entries:
- Line 52: "Novem[ber] 9" (year "77" — 1777): Officer's name "[Capt.] Benj: Cooper", Regiment "4[th d.] [= 4th Hunterdon, ditto]", Amount "163. 1. [?]" (pounds.shillings.pence — shilling/pence reading uncertain).
- Line 53: "Apl [April] 20" (year "78" — 1778): Officer's name "[ditto — inheriting 'Benj. Cooper' from line above]", Regiment "[ditto]", Amount "94" (£94).
- Column headers on the ledger: "N[o.]" (number) | "Dates" | "Officers names" | "Regiments" | "Amounts".
- Adjacent officers on the page (context): Line 50 "Capt J. Schenck" (4th d.); line 51 "Nov 6 77 — D. Schamp" (4th d., 139. 10); line 54 "Lieut Garret Schenck" (3d d., 16. 15); line 55 "Capt Iv. Carle — Cavalry"; line 57 "John Hurt [or Hust]" (1st Hunterdon).
[desc]Several additional line items reference other Hunterdon/Somerset militia officers; full transcription of all 57 lines would be useful if broader regimental context is ever needed.