Document C.150 · marriage return · transcription: verbatim
Sussex County, New Jersey — the loose marriage return of James Dewitt, Esq., Justice of the Peace, addressed to the county clerk Ephraim Green Jun[r] and dated 2 September 1822: seven marriages solemnised 15 December 1821 to 10 August 1822, each with both parties' townships. DGS 004541257, image 1246 of 1,634. The officiant's own signed paper behind the clerk's register copy at [C.113].
- repository
- FamilySearch — New Jersey, County Marriages, 1682-1956
- collection
- "Sussex. Marriage Records 1809-1827" (the LOOSE RETURNS, not the bound register); DGS 004541257, image 1246 of 1,634
- identifier
- no book pagination — loose papers; the image number is the only address
- date
- 1822-09-02
What is transcribed: One officiant's complete return — the whole sheet, all seven marriages, the address clause and the signature. Unlike [C.113], which transcribed one block of a shared register page, there is nothing else on this document.
What this document records
What it says
James Dewitt, a justice of the peace, certifies seven marriages he performed between 15 December 1821 and 10 August 1822 and asks the county clerk to register them. Every couple is given with their township, and three of the seven name Hardwick.
What it does not say
No Cooper appears on this return. No ages, no parents, no witnesses, no occupations — New Jersey's parent-naming marriage returns begin in 1848. The sheet gives date, two names, two townships and the officiant, and that is all of it. It does not say whether the clerk copied all seven into the register: [C.113] transcribes four of these seven from register page 235, and whether the remaining three stand on the next register page (237, never read) has not been checked and is not asserted here.
Transcription and notes
Data from the document [verbatim]
Read at 3× (and higher where noted) on the full-resolution plate.
The address clause
M
rEphraim Green JunrEsqrwill please to Register the following Marriages in the Clerks Office inNewto[n]and oblige your friend and Humble servant &cJames Dewitt
The seven marriages
December 15
th1821 — I Married James Newman of Knowlton to Elizabeth Predmore of Hardwick all of Sussex
Febuary23d1822 — I Married Barnabas Swayze Junr[to] Rachel Freas both of Knowlton in the county of SussexApril 11
th1822 I Married Joseph Bell of Hardwick to Elsa Stackhouse of the same place —August 3
d– 1822 I Married William[?]of Independence to Mary Witter of the same place all of Sussex countyAugust 3
d1822 I Married George Cregar Junrto Catherine Acre both of Oxford township in the County of SussexAugust 9
th1822 I Married Cornelius Wessells of Oxford to MrsSarah Vanhorn of Hardwick both of Sussex County —August 10
th1822 I Married Martin[?]Green of Hardwick to Hannah Crown[?]of the same place all of Sussex County —
The certification
I Certify that the above persons where Married by me on the several Days as above Stated
Dated 2
dSept 1822 — James Dewitt Justice of the Peace
What the register copy lost
[C.113] is the county clerk's entry for this same return, on register page 235. Set side by side, the clerk's copy drops every township — it gives names and a date only. The same loss was found on 2026-09-23 between [C.117] and [C.84], which is why film.004541257 carries the standing rule "whenever a Sussex register page of 1809-1827 is cited, pull the officiant's own paper from this reel as well." This is the second worked instance of that rule.
Two readings in [C.113] are also settled or sharpened here:
Rachel Freas[?] — the officiant's own hand also reads Freas, in a quite different script. The bracket can come off.William Kims[?] — not corroborated. This hand gives a word that does not resolve at 8× and is not Kims. Both readings stay bracketed.