Document F.105 · christening index · transcription: verbatim

NJ Births and Christenings Index 1660-1931 — George Bryan Cooper, christened 18 Aug 1808 at the Presbyterian Church, Basking Ridge, Somerset Co., NJ.

repository: Ancestry — New Jersey, Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931
identifier: christening 18 Aug 1808, Presbyterian Church, Basking Ridge
date: 1808

People named

As written	Role	Identified as	What this document says
George Bryan Cooper	child	George Bryan Cooper the politician 1808–1866
John Cooper	father

What this document records

Transcribed

p.752

Parentage

PARTIAL — the FATHER is given as "John Cooper" with NO MIDDLE INITIAL. The MOTHER is not named at all.

Note

The same baptism appears independently in [F.32], the published Basking Ridge register, as "George Bryan, son of John, Aug. 18, 1808" — two renderings of one event, in agreement.

Transcription and notes

Source

Filename:maintainer-supplied Ancestry hit screenshot 2026-05-12 (not yet saved to disk)
Source DB:Ancestry.com New Jersey, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931
Accessed:12 May 2026 via maintainer Ancestry search
Original record source:Presbyterian Church of Basking Ridge baptism register (= an extant register at the church OR archived at Presbyterian Historical Society Philadelphia)
Underlying record physical-access path:Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church archives OR PHS Philadelphia archives (= FHL film access path TBD)

Verbatim — Ancestry index-level data

Name:George Bryan Cooper

in the New Jersey, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931

Gender:Male

Christening Date:18 Aug 1808

Christening Place:Presbyterian Church, Basking Ridge, Somerset, New Jersey

Residence Place:NJer, NewJersey [Ancestry indexing artifact for 'NJ, NewJersey' = New Jersey]

Father:John Cooper

(Mother field NOT visible in this index hit; possibly omitted in indexing OR not in original record.)

Cross-references

I.65 Biographical Encyclopedia of NJ 1899 — secondary-source attestation of John G. Esq → George (MI Treasurer)
I.83 Wikipedia 'George B. Cooper (politician)' — tertiary-source attestation of George Bryan Cooper's birth/death/career
I.84 US Congress Bioguide C000749 — tertiary-source attestation; adds Shark River NJ burial lead
I.4 Littell — George Cooper Sr (1745-1801) children including John G. Esq Sr + Bryan Lafferty Cooper (= George Bryan's namesake uncle)
G.27 Daniel Cooper Sr 1695-1795 — paternal-great-grandfather; Basking Ridge Presbyterian burial = same church as George Bryan baptism
G.108 George Cooper Sr 1745-1801 — paternal-grandfather
Project pr.4 Daniel Sr buried Basking Ridge (RESOLVED).md — Basking Ridge Presbyterian as Cooper family church
Project pr.14 Two paths to Benjamin male descendants.md — Y-DNA outreach paths; F.105 strengthens George Bryan as Y-line candidate

Open questions / follow-ups

Primary-source verification ladder

[ ] Basking Ridge Presbyterian baptism register access— the underlying register that Ancestry indexed. Would attest: (a) mother's name (test for Eleanor Perrine I.65 claim); (b) father's full name (test for John G. vs other John); (c) baptism sponsors (often family members = catalog source of additional family relations); (d) any clergy notes. Access paths: (1) Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church archives directly; (2) Presbyterian Historical Society Philadelphia; (3) FHL film via PHS
[ ] Long Hill / Basking Ridge Presbyterian baptism register 1780-1810 for John G Cooper Esq Sr × Eleanor Perrine OTHER children— would identify George Bryan's siblings = additional Y-line candidates if any were male
[ ] John G. Cooper Esq Sr 1822 Morris Co. NJ probate— names children including George (then age 14); would name spouse Eleanor Perrine + co-administrators

George Bryan's spouse + children identification (Y-line follow-ups)

[ ] Find A Grave Shark River area, Wall Twp Monmouth Co. NJ for George Bryan Cooper d. 29 Aug 1866— per I.84 Bioguide burial lead
[ ] 1850 + 1860 federal census Jackson Co. MI for George B. Cooper household— wife + children at peak career
[ ] Wall Twp Monmouth NJ 1866 probate for George Bryan Cooper estate
[ ] Newspapers.com Jackson MI 1866 obit search
[ ] Michigan vital records 1830-1866 for George B. Cooper marriage + child births

Status notes

Status [verbatim]— Ancestry index data fully captured; all 6 visible fields transcribed verbatim from screenshot.
Certainty [high for index data; medium-high for John G. Esq Sr parentage]— index data is primary-source-corroborative; parentage match strengthened by F.105 + I.65 + I.83 consilience but not single-source primary-source-locked at John G. specifically.
F.105 is the single most important catalog entry post-v193.18 for advancing the strategic Y-line pivot off the John G Jr branch.Combined with I.83 + I.84: George Bryan Cooper = primary-source-corroborated Generation 4 Daniel Sr Y-line carrier candidate.
Per memory feedback_ask_for_zoom_dont_guess.md: index fields are unambiguously readable; no zoom-ambiguity for displayed data. The mother-field omission is a structural index gap, not an OCR/scan issue.

Interpretation — relocated

What this entry concluded now lives in p.752 (p.752 George Bryan Cooper politician 1808-1866.md). An entry holds verbatim source content and navigational pointers; the reasoning belongs with the person, family or thread it is about. Moved 2026-08-03.