The Coopers of Long Hill

Document I.112 · Published Genealogies and County Histories · transcription: verbatim

Morris County NJ Court of Common Pleas Minute Books — Daniel Cooper Junr Esq 'LATE SHERIFF' attestations primary-source-locking Daniel Jr's Sheriff-tenure END at before 1770. Vol 2-3 (1754-1766) DGS 7903193 Img223 = 1770: 'Lebedee Potter [v] Daniel Cooper Esq Esqr Late Sheriff &c' (Vend Exponas in Debt). Vol 4-6 (1766-1778) DGS 7903185 Img264 = March Term 1771: 'Exrs of Amy [Sip?] [v] Daniel Cooper Junr Esqr Late Sheriff' (Cap[ias] Case £200 proc, Lewis Ogden Atty). Combined with [I.100](I.100.yaml) commission 4 July 1758, this BRACKETS Daniel Jr's Sheriff tenure at 4 July 1758 → before 1770 (= maximum 11.5 years; minimum determined when a Sheriff-tenure-end commission record surfaces).

Transcription and notes

Sheriff-tenure-end primary-source-locked

This entry catalogs two image-verified primary-source attestations of Daniel Cooper Jr as "LATE SHERIFF" (= former Sheriff), confirming his Sheriff tenure had ended by 1770. Combined with I.100 commission record (4 July 1758), this brackets the tenure.

Catalog significance:

  1. Sheriff tenure END locked at "before 1770" per Img223 attestation
  2. Multiple post-Sheriff lawsuits documented in 1770-71: Lebedee Potter (Img223), Exrs of Alex Eagles (Img264), Exrs of Amy Sip (Img264) — pattern of accounting reckoning against former-Sheriff Daniel Jr
  3. Closes the open Sheriff-tenure question that has been a catalog research priority since the Honeyman M.24 entry was first cataloged

Sources

Img223 — 1770 (Vol 2-3): - File: (image held in the family archive) - Note: filename folder reads "1766-1778" but FamilySearch DGS = 7903193 Vol 2-3 (1754-1766); image-verify the DGS attribution on a future zoom (filename folder may have been a maintainer-organizational choice rather than DGS-strict) - DGS image 223 of 410; FamilySearch ark: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSHM-P98W-1?view=fullText (Vol 2-3 ark — verify image-223 frame) - Date: 1770 court session; printed page numbers not yet verified - Source tier: Primary-source manuscript minute book (1770 clerk hand); image-zoom verified 2026-05-19 LATEST

Img264 — March Term 1771 (Vol 4-6): - File: (image held in the family archive) - DGS 7903185 image 264 of 669; FamilySearch ark: TBD - Date: late March Term 1771 (= "21st March 1771 the Court Adjourned" appears at bottom of page) - Source tier: Primary-source manuscript minute book (1771 clerk hand); image-zoom verified 2026-05-19 LATEST

Verbatim — Img223 row (Daniel Cooper Esq Late Sheriff)

"Lebedee Potter [agt — joining curly bracket] Daniel Cooper Esq Esqr Late Sheriff &c" — Vend Exp[onas] / in Debt / Do (= ditto, same disposition as prior case)

Verbatim — Img264 row (Daniel Cooper Junr Esqr Late Sheriff)

"Exrs of Amy [Sip?] agt Daniel Cooper Junr Esqr Late Sheriff" — Cap[ias] Case £200 proc — "Lewis Ogden Atty"

Verbatim — Img264 parallel row (same page, Daniel Jr as Defendant without "Late Sheriff" designation)

"Exrs of Alex Eagles agt Daniel Cooper Junr Esq" — Cap[ias] £200 [in Case] — "Lewis Ogden Atty" — "the Defendt Delayed his Appearance on the Writ & Defind his Appearance and it is Entered & Accepted Accordingly Rules &c"

The Img264 page contains BOTH a "Late Sheriff" designation (Sip case) AND a parallel non-designated Daniel Jr Esq case (Eagles case) on the same page — same clerk's hand. The two case captions confirm: - Daniel Jr = "Esq" (= Esquire, his civilian title) in standard usage - Daniel Jr = "Esqr Late Sheriff" when the case involves his former-Sheriff capacity (the Sip case likely arose from a debt that Sheriff Daniel Jr was supposed to collect / a writ he failed to execute during his tenure)

What this source establishes

1. Sheriff tenure END locked at before 1770

Daniel Cooper Jr's Sheriff commission was issued 4 July 1758 per I.100. The Img223 (1770) "LATE SHERIFF" attestation primary-source-locks the tenure END at before 1770. This is a maximum 11.5-year tenure (1758-07-04 to some unknown date before 1770).

Refinement targets: - NJ Provincial Council minutes 1758-1770: search for any subsequent Sheriff commission (Henry Johnson? per p.81) - Morris CCP Vol 2-3 + 4-6 1766-1770 sessions: find the LAST "Sheriff" attestation of Daniel Jr (vs first "LATE SHERIFF" attestation) — bracket the tenure END

2. Post-Sheriff lawsuit pattern documented

By 1770-71, Daniel Jr faced multiple post-Sheriff lawsuits: - 1770 (Img223): Lebedee Potter v Daniel Cooper Esqr Late Sheriff — Vend Exp in Debt - March Term 1771 (Img264 case C): Exrs of Amy Sip v Daniel Cooper Junr Esqr Late Sheriff — Cap[ias] Case £200 - March Term 1771 (Img264 case A): Exrs of Alex Eagles v Daniel Cooper Junr Esq — Cap[ias] £200 in Case (NOT designated Late Sheriff in this case but same Defendant) - Dec Term 1771 (I.111 Img299): "Est of Alexander Eagles + Daniel Cooper Jr Esq Sheriff" (this attestation says "Esq Sheriff" not "Late Sheriff" — may be ambiguous cursive or clerk-hand variant)

This is standard 18th-c. practice: when a Sheriff's tenure ended, his accounting of writs, judgments, and unexecuted process was open to challenge by creditors who had been seeking to collect through him. The multiple-creditor pattern documents Daniel Jr's office-of-Sheriff debts/accounting were under reckoning c.1770-71.

3. Cross-reference with Henry Johnson succession

p.81 Henry Johnson late Sheriff of Morris appears at I.106 Dec 1771 as "the late Sheriff of Mor[ris]" with Daniel Cooper named as one of four Executors of Johnson's estate. The proximity of dates (Daniel Jr's "LATE SHERIFF" attestation 1770 + Henry Johnson "late Sheriff" attestation Dec 1771) suggests Henry Johnson succeeded Daniel Jr c.1770 and died ~12-18 months later. The exact succession sequence remains pending NJ Provincial Council minutes search.

What this source does NOT establish

Cross-references

Open questions / follow-up