The Coopers of Long Hill

Document I.108 · Published Genealogies and County Histories · transcription: verbatim

Morris County NJ Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 4-6 (1766-1778) (FamilySearch DGS 7903185), images 640+641 of 669, 1 July 1777 — Rev War-era Morris CCP at Morristown adjourns mid-session to convene at Capt Peter Dicherson Esqr (= Capt Peter Dickerson home, Morris Co. militia officer; wartime court-displacement context). Present-list image-verified: Daniel Cooper June[ior] named as Justice of the Peace alongside Matthias Burnet, John Brookfield, Jonathan Stiles. = NEW catalog datum: Daniel Cooper Jr is a Justice of the Peace by July 1777 (post-Sheriff transition c. 1769-70). Daniel Cooper Sr is NOT on the bench at this session — age 82, possibly retired or just absent. Standard wartime court business: tavern licenses, recognizance bonds 'to keep the Peace & be of good behaviour', State v defendants criminal cases.

Transcription and notes

Daniel Jr as Justice of the Peace by July 1777 — NEW catalog role

This entry catalogs Morris CCP Vol 4-6 images 640-641 = printed pp. 317-318 = July Term 1777 + continuation. Two catalog-critical findings:

  1. Daniel Cooper Junior is a Justice of the Peace for Morris County by July 1777 — NEW post-Sheriff role; completes the Daniel Jr career arc (Sheriff 1758-1770 → JP by 1777).
  2. Rev War wartime court relocation — court at Morristown adjourned mid-session to convene at Capt Peter Dickerson's home, the only such instance in the catalog. Documents wartime disruption + Cooper-family continuing civic service through it.

Source

Verbatim — page 317 (Img640), 1 July 1777 session header

"July Term 1777

At an Inferior Court of Common pleas and General Sessions of the Peace held at Morristown in & for the County of Morris on the first Tuesday of July 1777

July 1st The Court Met and opened.

Present: Saml Tuthill } Constant King } David Thomson } Esqr Judges Benj Holley }

Matthias Burnet } John Brookfield } Jonathan Stiles } Esqr Justices Daniel Cooper June }

Adjournd for half an hour to meet at Capt Peter Dicherson Esqr.

The Court met and opened Persuant to adjournment Present as before.

Henry Primrose Petitioned to keep a Publick house where he [now lives] granted he giving security agreeable to act of Assembly. Henry Primrose, John Scott & William Young Enter into Recog. [Various tavern-license petitions follow with sureties.]"

Verbatim — page 318 (Img641), March Term 1777 continuation

"March Term 1777

Jacob Dann Petitioned and granted as above. Jacob Dunn, William Boyd & John Riggs Enter into Recog.

Dickerson Petit[ioned] as above. Peter Dicher[son], Joseph Wood & Jacob Arnold Enter into Recog.

Cutler Salmon Petitioned and granted as above. [Jacob Dunn, William Boyd & John Riggs Enter into Recor]

State of New Jersey v [Stephen Seal] — Recog. $500. Stephen Seal app[eared] & continued. Recor Stephen [Calquin?] & Daniel Peal Hunt Sureties in $200 Each for the appear[ance] of Stephen Seal & Benjn Seal at the next Court & to be of good behaviour mean time.

Patrick Doys Entered into Recog. £50 for the appearance of John [Jordan] at the [next Court — Evidence on the part of the State of New Jersey against Dennis Dolly discharged]

The State v Hugh Hughs — Ask[ault] & Bat[ter]y. Recog. to appear at the next Court & in mean time to keep the Peace & be of good behaviour.

The State v Samuel Allen / Job Hatheray — Recog. £20 the like in all things.

The State v Thomas King — Recog. £20 the like in all things.

[Continues with Samuel Hays for James Decamp, John Crane for David Crane, Allen Carmichael, Saml Danjon, John Burrows, Daniel Kinney, etc.]"

What this source establishes

1. Daniel Cooper Jr as Justice of the Peace, July 1777

Image-verified placement of "Daniel Cooper June" in the Esqr Justices column of the present-list. Combined with: - I.99 + I.100: Sheriff 4 July 1758 → c. 1769-1770 = ~11 years - I.108 (this entry): Justice of the Peace by 1 July 1777

Daniel Jr career arc completed: - 1729 birth Piscataway - 1751 marriage Catherine Hankinson (per pr.43) - 1756 sole heir + Executor of Patrick Donaho (pr.44 Vol 32) - 1758-1770 Sheriff of Morris Co. (I.99 + I.100 + Img264 1771 "late Sheriff") - 1771+ Esq civic activity (commissioner duties per pr.55 survey) - By 1777: Justice of the Peace (this entry I.108) - 1787 death intestate at Morristown (A.10)

2. Daniel Cooper Sr ABSENT from the July 1777 bench

Daniel Sr (age 82) does not appear on either Judges or Justices column at this 1 July 1777 session. Possible explanations: - (a) Retired from active judicial service due to advanced age - (b) Ill-health prevented attendance - (c) Just absent from this specific session - (d) Per Honeyman M.24 Daniel Sr was JP 1776-1786 = possibly active at OTHER sessions but not this one

Catalog implication: Honeyman's 1776 Judge→JP transition date needs primary-source-image verification — earlier Vol 4-6 sessions (Img556-639) might still show Daniel Sr as JP. Or his absence pattern in 1777 might confirm functional retirement.

3. Rev War wartime court relocation to Capt Peter Dickerson

Mid-session adjournment "for half an hour to meet at Capt Peter Dicherson Esqr" = court physically moved from Morristown courthouse to Dickerson's home. Likely reasons: - Wartime safety concerns — 1777 was a year of active military operations in NJ (Washington's winter quartering at Morristown was Jan-May 1777; Brandywine + Germantown campaigns Aug-Oct 1777) - Courthouse occupied — possibly by Continental Army troops or other wartime use - Dickerson as host — Capt Peter Dickerson was a Morris Co. militia officer; his home may have been a known meeting place for civic affairs during wartime

Unique catalog event — only documented mid-session court relocation in the Cooper-family research record.

4. Continuing tavern licenses + criminal docket through Rev War

The session granted 10+ tavern licenses (consistent with peacetime business volume) + handled State v defendants criminal cases (assault, traitor-evidence, peace bonds). Documents Morris Co. courts CONTINUING TO FUNCTION normally despite the Revolution. The Cooper-family civic service (Daniel Jr) was part of this continuity.

Cross-references

Open questions / follow-up