Document C.173 · marriage index entry · transcription: partial
New Jersey State Archives, Marriage Records - index entry for Matilda Cooper, aged 31, and George R. Kinney, married 30 March 1896 at Andover, Sussex County; film 004211077. INDEX ONLY - the return itself has not been seen.
- repository
- New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey
- collection
- "New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Records, 1670-1965" - Ancestry collection 61376, record 900448256.
- identifier
- Film Number 004211077
- date
- 1896-03-30
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matilda Cooper | bride | Sarah Matilda (Cooper) Kinney 1865–1944 probable | marriage: 30 Mar 1896, Andover, Sussex Co., New Jersey |
| George R Kinney | groom | George R. Kinney 1867–1939 probable | marriage: 30 Mar 1896, Andover, Sussex Co., New Jersey |
What this document records
The third sister and the third maiden name indexing
ALL THREE OF Roderick Byanton Cooper RODERICK'S MARRIED DAUGHTERS ARE FILED IN THIS COLLECTION UNDER COOPER, AND NONE UNDER HER MARRIED SURNAME. [C.171] Ida E. Cooper (1883), [C.172] Maggie L. Cooper (1892), and this one. THIS ONE GOES FURTHER: she is indexed as "MATILDA Cooper", by her MIDDLE name - the catalog knows her as Sarah Matilda, the 1870 and 1880 censuses write her "Sarah M.", and a search on Sarah would have missed her twice over. The 1900 census indexes her "Matilda Kinney" as well.
It corrects the census by a year
THE 1900 SCHEDULE SAYS 1897 AND THIS SAYS 30 MARCH 1896. Ancestry collection 7602 record 32137861 gives her "Marriage Year 1897" and "Years Married 3" as of June 1900. A marriage index entry is a record OF THE EVENT; a census marriage year is a householder's recollection of it years later, and a one-year error is the commonest thing in that column. THE INDEX DATE IS PREFERRED and the census year is kept on the person files as what that source says.
The age runs the other way from her sisters
She is given as 31 on 30 March 1896. Her memorial ([G.692]) and the 1900 census both give her birth as August 1865, which would make her 30 that day, turning 31 that August. So this entry runs a year HEAVY, where [C.171] made Ida 20 on what should have been her twenty-first birthday and [C.172] made Maggie 21 when she was 22 - both a year LIGHT. ⇒ the ages in this collection are approximate in both directions and should not be used to refine a birth year.
No parents in the index
As with [C.171] and [C.172]: name, gender, age, derived birth year, date, place, spouse and film number - AND NOT THE PARENTS. An 1896 New Jersey return carries a parents' column, so the return behind this should name Roderick Byanton Cooper Roderick.
Transcription and notes
The maiden-name indexing, the one-year disagreement with the census, the age drift and the
absent parents are in the coverage: header and are not repeated here.
Data from the index [verbatim]
| field | as given |
|---|---|
| Name | Matilda Cooper |
| Gender | Female |
| Marriage Age | 31 |
| Birth Date | abt 1865 (derived by Ancestry from the age, not a recorded value) |
| Marriage Date | 30 Mar 1896 |
| Marriage Place | Andover, Sussex, New Jersey, USA |
| Spouse | George R Kinney |
| Film Number | 004211077 |
The three sisters' marriages, now all dated
| sister | date | place | film | entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [p.2485] Ida Elizabeth | 14 Feb 1883 | Allamuchy, Warren | 004209870 | [C.171] |
| [p.2490] Margaret Luella | 26 Dec 1892 | Andover, Sussex | 004210073 | [C.172] |
| [p.2487] Sarah Matilda | 30 Mar 1896 | Andover, Sussex | 004211077 | C.173 |
All three indexed under COOPER. Before 2026-10-24 the catalog had a date for none of them.