Morris County NJ Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 4-6 (1766-1778) (FamilySearch DGS 7903185), image 380 of 669, December Term 1772 sealing docket — TWO image-verified joint litigation entries documenting the Earl of Stirling + Benjn Cooper Esqr (Hibernia Iron Mines partnership) in active CCP litigation against debtors: (1) 'Earl of Sterling & B. Cooper Esqr Agt Jacob Youngs' (Capt Case CC) and (2) 'The Earl of Sterling & Benjn Cooper Esqr Cap. Case CC Agt Eleazr Perkins £23.3, Wm D Hart Atty'. PLUS adjacent (3) 'Hibernia Compt Agt George Finger' (Capt Case) = Hibernia Iron Mines Co. as corporate plaintiff itself. = first image-verified primary-source court attestation of the Cooper-Stirling Hibernia Iron Mines partnership in active joint litigation, 9 months before Benjamin's August 1773 counterfeiting trial.

Transcription and notes

First image-verified Cooper-Stirling Hibernia Iron Mines partnership in court action

This entry catalogs Morris CCP Vol 4-6 image 380 = printed pp. 318-319 = December Term 1772 sealing docket. The page lists numerous debt cases in summary form; THREE Cooper/Hibernia-related entries are catalog-critical:

1. Case row 6 (left page mid): "Earl of Sterling & B. Cooper Esqr Agt Jacob Youngs" — Capt Case CC, no amount specified
2. Case row 9 (left page): "The Earl of Sterling & Benjn Cooper Esqr Cap. Case C.C. Agt Eleazr Perkins £23.3, Wm D Hart A. Rules"
3. Case row 3 (left page upper): "Hibernia Compt Agt George Finger" — Capt Case do (= ditto)

Plus parallel: "John Crowell Agt John Cooper" (Sum Case Summoned Rules) — separately catalogued.

Catalog significance:

1. First image-verified primary-source court attestation of the Cooper-Stirling Hibernia partnership in active joint litigation. Catalog had relied on secondary sources (I.22, I.56, I.90) for the partnership's existence; this is now primary-source confirmed.
2. 9 months before Benjamin's 1773 counterfeiting arrest — partnership was operational and aggressive in debt collection right up to the criminal proceedings
3. Hibernia Co. as independent corporate plaintiff documented separately from the Cooper-Stirling joint cases = the iron-works had its own corporate-law presence

Source

• File: (image held in the family archive)
• DGS 7903185 image 380 of 669
• FamilySearch ark: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSHM-VNXH?view=fullText
• Date: December Term 1772 sealing docket; printed pp. 318-319
• Source tier: Primary-source manuscript minute book (1772 clerk hand); image-zoom verified

Verbatim — page 318 (left page, December Term 1772 sealing docket)

Each case in a tight tabular format with Plaintiff / Defendant / disposition columns:

"Millidge Ogden v Joseph Caldwell — Capt Case CC Rules &c — Abm Ogden Atty

John Crowell v John Cooper — Sum Case Summoned Rules &c — Abm Ogden Atty

Hibernia Compt v George Finger — Capt Case do — NE Fatheway & Arnald A Casa — Do

Willm Bayles v Benjamin Day — C.C. Committee ordered — Agt Extra Delivd to T. Wood Constable, said Wood Constable pd to Saml Tuthill Esqr, the Court Clerk and Cryer's Fees 10/1 light

Enos Crowell v [_] — Cave £50 Not Est

Earl of Sterling & B. Cooper Esqr v Jacob Youngs — Capt Case CC

Peter Smith v John Troup — Ven Exps R. Stiles Atty

Jacob Ford Esq v David Day — Attach — Abm Ogden Atty — Nath Recoy apply on this Attachment

The Earl of Sterling & Benjn Cooper Esqr v Eleazr Perkins — Cap. Case C.C. — £23.3 — Wm D Hart Atty — Rules &c

Jacob Morrel v Lawrence Wilson — Recd Court Clerk & Cryer's Fees 7/1 — Proc. Saml Tuthill

Joseph Griswold v Robt Munro — Capt Case 30 Rules — Att in case Discontered — Abrm Ogden Atty

Saml Johnson v David Allen — Decembr Term 1772 35 Seal Docquet"

What this source establishes

1. The Cooper-Stirling Hibernia Iron Mines partnership is primary-source-image-attested in active litigation

Per I.22 Craddock entry 102 + I.56 Mellick: Benjamin Cooper + William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, purchased the Hibernia Iron Mines + Furnace from Samuel Ford in March 1769. Catalog had this as secondary-source-tier only.

I.110 now provides primary-source-image evidence of the partnership operating in court 3.75 years later (Dec 1772) — pursuing 2 debt cases jointly, with Wm D Hart as attorney for the partnership. The £23.3 in the Eleazr Perkins case is substantial (= roughly 4-6 months' typical agricultural laborer wages of the era).

2. The Hibernia Co. as corporate plaintiff documented separately

"Hibernia Compt[any?] v George Finger" is a separate case where the iron-works as a CORPORATE entity (not as Cooper-Stirling individuals) sues debtor George Finger. This documents the Hibernia Co.'s independent legal personality / proprietary legal capacity, distinct from the Cooper-Stirling joint-individual litigation.

3. Pre-counterfeiting Benjamin Cooper Esq as respectable iron-works proprietor

December Term 1772 is 9 months before Benjamin's August 1773 counterfeiting arrest per I.22. At this point Benjamin was operating publicly as: - Iron-works partner with Earl of Stirling (this entry I.110) - Justice of the Peace for Morris County (per I.103 + I.109) - Active Cooper-family-network member (per Img094 1768 sureties)

The contrast with his August 1773 counterfeiting conviction is sharp: from respected magistrate + iron-works partner to convicted criminal in 8 months.

4. Cross-reference to Tuttle Fragment No. 16

Per I.90 Tuttle Fragment No. 16 (1859, citing NYHS Stirling Papers): "Cooper originally bought that [Hibernia] property at auction, perhaps under execution, and afterward disposed of it to Lord Stirling." Tuttle's framing contrasts with Craddock/Mellick's "joint purchase March 1769" framing. I.110's Dec 1772 image-verified attestation supports a JOINT partnership (= "Earl of Sterling & B. Cooper Esqr") rather than Cooper-sold-to-Stirling sequence. Per pr.13 follow-up, the NYHS Stirling Papers abstract per pr.52 remains an open acquisition target for further clarification.

5. Daniel Sr absent from this session bench

The December Term 1772 court bench named at page header (per OCR): Jacob Ford Esq Judge, Josiah Broadwell + Lemuel Bowers + John Carl + Constant King + David Thomson + Benjn Day Esq Justices. Daniel Sr (= Daniel Cooper Esq) NOT on this session bench. By Dec 1772 Daniel Sr age 77; his Judge tenure per I.101 + Honeyman M.24 ran through 1774. Absence from this specific session may reflect age/illness OR the family-conflict-of-interest doctrine (Daniel Sr's son Benjamin is a plaintiff in 2 cases at this very session — Daniel Sr could not sit on the bench).

The latter possibility is striking — Daniel Sr may have RECUSED himself from this Dec 1772 session due to his son Benjamin's joint-plaintiff status with Stirling. This would document Cooper-family-conflict-of-interest awareness in pre-counterfeiting Morris Co. courts.

What this source does NOT establish

• The specific debts owed by Youngs + Perkins — likely iron-works contracts (pig iron sales, raw material supply, wages) but not specified in the docket summary
• Outcome of the cases — the Dec 1772 docket marks them at "Capt Case CC Rules" = capias case pending rules; subsequent dispositions would be in later session records
• Daniel Sr's reason for absence — unverified; could be age/illness OR recusal OR just-this-session absence
• Stirling's personal presence in Morristown — Stirling lived at Basking Ridge (Somerset Co.) but represented through attorney Wm D Hart for these cases; physical presence at the court not implied

Cross-references

• p.2 Benjamin Cooper — Hibernia partnership primary subject
• I.22 Craddock entry 102 — Hibernia partnership secondary-source narrative
• I.56 Mellick p. 575 — Hibernia partnership secondary
• I.90 Tuttle Fragment No. 16 — alternative chronology of Hibernia ownership
• I.103 — Img094 1768 Daniel Sr + Benjamin joint surety + first "Justice [B./D.] Cooper" cursive ambiguity (Benjamin-as-JP reading REJECTED — likely clerical pattern referring to Daniel Sr/Jr)
• I.109 — Img333 + Img362 1772 Robert Gaston v Burwell appeal from "Justice [B./D.] Cooper" + Benj Cooper Esq v David Day debt case (parallel commercial role)
• pr.13 Benjamin Cooper Stirling debt — joint-debt research thread
• pr.52 Cooper-Stirling 1773 letter acquisition — NYHS Stirling Papers acquisition target
• pr.55 — research thread

Open questions / follow-up

• Subsequent Stirling-Cooper case dispositions in Vol 4-6 1773 sessions — would document outcomes of the Dec 1772 cases + reveal Hibernia partnership business practices
• NYHS Stirling Papers per pr.52 — would primary-source-confirm partnership terms + reconcile Tuttle vs Craddock framings
• Hibernia Compt as corporate entity — was the Hibernia Iron Mines formally incorporated by 1772? Or merely a partnership? Cross-reference NJ Provincial Council minutes
• Daniel Sr's recusal pattern — search Vol 4-6 1768-1773 for sessions where Benjamin is litigant + Daniel Sr absent from bench. Would document family-conflict-of-interest practice
• John Crowell v John Cooper case identification — same Img380 page; likely John of Long Hill (p.8) as defendant; document continuing pattern of John of Long Hill court activity