New Jersey marriage bond, 13 April 1751 - Daniel Cooper of Morris County, yeoman, and Joseph Runyon of Middlesex County, yeoman, bound to Gov. Jonathan Belcher for a licence for Daniel Cooper Jun. to marry Catherine Hankinson of Freehold, spinster. Vol. C p. 125; DGS 4836070 item 1, image 160.

What this document records

Record

One printed-form marriage bond of 500 pounds, completed in manuscript, with two obligors.

Text as written: opening

KNOW all Men by these Presents, That We Daniel Cooper [Jun?] of Morris County yeoman and Joseph Runyon of Middlesex County yeoman are holden and do stand justly indebted unto His Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esq: Governor of New Jersey in the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds current of Lawful Money of New-Jersey, to be paid to the said Jonathan Belcher Esq: his Successors or Assigns...

Text as written: dated

Sealed with our Seals Dated this thirteenth Day of April Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty one

Text as written: condition

THE Condition of this Obligation Is such, That whereas the above bounden Daniel Cooper Jun[r] hath obtained a Licence of Marriage for himself of the one Party, and for Catherine Hankinson of Freehold Spinster of the other Party; Now if it shall not hereafter appear, that they the said Daniel & Catherine have any lawful Let or Impediment of Pre-contract, Affinity or Consanguinity to hinder their being joined in the Holy Bands of Matrimony...

Text as written: witness

Sealed and Delivered in the Presence of us: Tho[mas] Bartow

Reading notes: the groom is explicitly junior and explicitly of morris county

The condition clause reads "Daniel Cooper Jun[r] hath obtained a Licence of Marriage for himself", with the "Jun" and its superscript r clear at 5x. The opening names him "of Morris County yeoman". That is exactly what this entry needed and did not have. It had asserted Daniel Cooper Jr Daniel Jr from the catalog's own framework and a Monmouth bride; the document now supplies the "Junior" and the county from the record itself.

Reading notes: the bondsman is a runyon and that is the find

The co-obligor is JOSEPH RUNYON OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, YEOMAN. Daniel Cooper Jr Daniel Jr's mother was GRACE RUNYON, wife of Daniel Cooper Sr Daniel Sr. A Runyon standing bond for the groom is therefore his mother's kinsman standing for him, which is the ordinary shape of these bonds and is strong corroboration that this groom is the Daniel Jr of the Long Hill family rather than any other. NOTHING IN THE DOCUMENT STATES A RELATIONSHIP. It gives a name, a county and an occupation. The inference is the catalog's and is graded as such on Daniel Cooper Jr, not asserted here.

Reading notes: the bride is of freehold

"Catherine Hankinson of Freehold Spinster" - Freehold, Monmouth Co., which is consistent with the Monmouth Hankinsons this catalog already attests, and with the index's placing of the marriage in Monmouth.

Reading notes: a bond is not a marriage

This licenses the marriage; it does not record that it happened. The catalog's date of 13 April 1751 for the marriage itself rests on the index row, which dates the record, not necessarily the wedding.

What this document does not say

No ages, no parents for either party, no residence finer than "Morris County", no statement of how Joseph Runyon is connected to anybody, and no record that the marriage took place.