Guide to the Manuscript Collection of the Rutgers University Library — p. 145 item 1139 — Barbara Margaretta Gibb 1769 naturalization petition + NJ Supreme Court records 1769-1775

Transcription and notes

CATALOG-DEFINING: Barbara was FOREIGN-BORN

MANUSCRIPT ACQUIRED 2026-06-01 — verbatim (2 of the 4 Ac.71 items)

Rutgers SC/UA (David Kuzma) supplied scans of the two Gibb items from Accession 71 — the communicant's certificate + the naturalization petition. (The other two items are non-Gibb — a 1774 Middlesex Sheriff fee bond and a 1775 insolvent-debtors assignment — offered but not yet requested; see follow-up.) On disk: (image held in the family archive).

Item A — Communicant's certificate (verbatim)

New Brunswick Sept[r] 5th 1769. This may certify whom it may concern that M[r]s Barbera Margeretta Gibb [sic spelling] has been for some Time & now is in full Communion in the Church of England & did on Sunday the 13th of August last partake of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Test: Abraham Beach, Missionary from the Society for propogating [sic] the Gospel, at New-Brunswick, East N. Jersey Sign'd in Presence of us — A[z?] Dunham / Tom Denni[s?]

Item B — Petition for naturalization (verbatim)

[top corner: "1769 Sept. 5"] To the Hon[ora]ble the Justices of the Supreme Court of the Province of New Jersey The Petition of Barbara Margaretta Gibb Humbly sheweth That your Petitioner is a Protestant and was born at Frankfort in Germany out of the Liegeance of His Majesty, & that she has been resident in this Province for near twenty Years last past Your Petitioner therefore prays to be admitted to the Benefit of an Act of Parliament passed in the 13 Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Second, [one word struck through] for Naturalizing such foreign Protestants as shall settle in His Majesty's American Colonies And your Petitioner Shall &c — Barbara Margaretta Gibb [signature] September 5th 1769. [bottom-left pencil note: "American Autograph Shop (1940?) (2 pieces)"]

Docket (verso): "Barbara Margaritta Gibb / Petition for Naturalization / Sep[t] Term 1769. / Filed to Cur[ia] / rec[eive]d"

Findings now CONFIRMED from the manuscript

• Origin = Frankfort (Frankfurt), Germany — German-born Protestant. (Confirms the prior name-analysis inference; pins the city.)
• Denomination = Church of England (Anglican) — communicant at New Brunswick under SPG missionary Rev. Abraham Beach; took the Sacrament 13 Aug 1769. (Notably Anglican, NOT Lutheran/Reformed as the German name suggested — supersedes the §2/§3 candidate-list speculation below.)
• Resident in NJ "for near twenty Years last past" (as of Sept 1769) → arrived ≈ 1749.
• Petition filed NJ Supreme Court, Sept Term 1769, under 13 Geo. II (1740 Plantation Act) for foreign Protestants — and signed by Barbara herself.
• Maiden surname NOT given — she signs her married name "Gibb." Still unknown.
• Age / birth year NOT stated. "Near twenty years resident" is consistent with BOTH b.~1709 (arrived ~1749 age ~40) and b.~1738 (arrived ~1749 age ~11); does not resolve the §5 question. (The ~1749 arrival mildly favors the b.~1709 reading over a "young recent immigrant ~1758-1768" scenario.)

Source identification

Verbatim text from page 145

Items 1135-1142 are listed in the "Court Records" section:

1135. MIDDLESEX COUNTY, N.J., COURT OF QUARTER
SESSIONS OF THE PEACE. 1781-1782. Petitions received. 2 items
(73).

1136. NEW JERSEY (COLONY), SUPREME COURT. Burling-
ton, Perth Amboy, N.J. 1760-1764. Minutes: Vol. 10. 1 vol., micro-
film (568).

1137. NEW JERSEY, COURT OF CHANCERY. New Brunswick,
N.J. 1747, 1785. Petitions, bills, and answers. 2 items (72).

1138. NEW JERSEY, COURT OF CHANCERY. Trenton, N.J.
September 10, 1799-October 29, 1801. Court docket. 1 vol. (570).

1139. NEW JERSEY, SUPREME COURT. New Brunswick, N.J.
1769-1775. Petition for naturalization and communicant's certificate
for Barbara Margaretta Gibb, 1769; also debtor's affidavits, etc. 4
items (71).

1140. ROBERTS & McINNIS. Washington, D.C.; New York; New
Jersey. 1955-1959. Legal files: correspondence, notes, forms, clippings,
pleadings, exhibits, etc., relating to the firm's efforts to block the N.Y.
Central Railroad's abandonment of passenger service on its West Shore
Line and the Weehawken Ferry. 5 file cases. Deposit by the firm through
William A. Roberts (1783).

1141. DANIEL SHINN. Stafford Township, N.J. January 17, 1829-
November 15, 1833. Justice of the peace docket, including marriage
records, 1829-1831. Business conducted at the tavern of C. Kelly.
Cataloged. 1 vol. (99).

1142. JACOB VAN NOOR STRAND. Bridgewater Township, N.J.
1762(1765)-(1784)1785. Justice of the peace docket. Inserted or
attached are 181 warrants, bills, notes, receipts, letters, etc., relating
to the various cases. Cataloged. 313 leaves (99).

(Item 1139 is the catalog target. Other items recorded for context per CLAUDE.md full-transcription policy.)

Item 1139 — verbatim

"1139. NEW JERSEY, SUPREME COURT. New Brunswick, N.J. 1769-1775. Petition for naturalization and communicant's certificate for Barbara Margaretta Gibb, 1769; also debtor's affidavits, etc. 4 items (71)."

(The parenthetical "(71)" is the Rutgers collection-number reference.)

Catalog-defining findings

1. Barbara Margaretta Gibb was FOREIGN-BORN

DEFINITIVE NEW DATUM: Naturalization petitions in colonial NJ Supreme Court were filed exclusively by IMMIGRANTS seeking British colonial subject status. Native-born colonial residents did NOT need naturalization. = Barbara Margaretta Gibb was born in Europe (= "foreign born" per ckCampbell1828's 2020 annotation interpreting this catalog entry).

2. Country/region of origin

Most plausible candidates for "Barbara Margaretta" foreign origin (= name analysis): - German — Latinate "-etta" + "Margaretta" double-A ending is characteristic of southern German Lutheran or Catholic baptismal records of the 1700s - Dutch — Dutch Reformed Church baptisms also use "Margaretta"; consistent with NJ Dutch-settled context (= Bergen Co. + New Brunswick + Hackensack) - British/Anglo-Irish — possible but "Margaretta" less common in British records - French Huguenot — possible via Walloon community in Dutch NJ

The petition manuscript itself (4 items, currently held at Rutgers Special Collections) would name her country of origin + denomination explicitly.

3. Communicant's certificate

The petition required a "communicant's certificate" = proof of church membership signed by her pastor. The certificate would identify: - Her church / denomination - Possibly her town/city of arrival in NJ + how long she'd been a communicant there - The pastor's name (= cross-reference to NJ church records)

= If we acquire the manuscript, we'd know which NJ congregation Barbara attended in 1769. = critical lead for finding her death record + burial location (= per p.280 G.198 NULL on Find A Grave, we don't yet know where Barbara was buried).

4. Barbara was already "Mrs. Gibb" by 1769

= Barbara was married to Richard Gibb by 1769. Confirms timing: - Richard's 1st marriage: 20 Aug 1737 Hackensack to Catrine Van Imburg (per A.71 + name.430) - Catrine died: pre-1769 (= since Barbara was wife by 1769) - Richard m. Barbara: between 1737 and 1769 (= 32-year range; narrows considerably from prior "pre-1778" estimate)

5. Implications for birth-year question

A 1769 adult-female naturalization petition is consistent with EITHER: - b. ~1709 (J.152 + I.146 + Wilson 1985) → naturalizing at age 60 (= = unusual but possible: she may have been resident in NJ for decades without formal British subject status; naturalization triggered in 1769 specifically because of (a) Richard Gibb's encouragement, (b) property-rights protection, (c) widow-pension planning) - b. ~1738 (I.130 Brode 1932 p. 74) → naturalizing at age 31 (= more typical recent-immigrant timing; she might have immigrated as a young adult ~1758-1768 with her then-husband Richard)

The age 60 scenario requires she emigrated as a young adult ~1730-1737 (= consistent with marriage to Richard Gibb 1737-1769 window if he was an established colonist who married a newly-arrived immigrant) but waited 30+ years to naturalize.

The age 31 scenario requires she emigrated ~1755-1768. But this conflicts with the J.152 "aged 79 in 1788" datum (= 3 independent attestations).

Most parsimonious reading: Barbara was b. ~1709 in Europe (= Germany or Dutch Republic), emigrated to NJ as young adult ~1725-1735, married Richard Gibb sometime 1737-1769 (likely closer to 1755-1769 as 2nd wife after Catrine's death), naturalized 1769 at age ~60.

6. Acquisition target = Rutgers Special Collections

The actual 4-item manuscript packet is held at Rutgers University Library, Special Collections + University Archives, New Brunswick NJ. Acquisition would (a) name Barbara's country of origin, (b) name her denomination + church, (c) possibly name her maiden surname, (d) possibly give her age in 1769 (= disambiguates b. 1709 vs b. 1738).

Catalog cross-references

• p.280 Barbara Margaretta Gibb Cooper — primary subject; FOREIGN-BORN datum critical
• J.152 NJ Journal 12 Nov 1788 — primary-source "aged 79" datum
• I.146 Genealogy Journal 1914 abstract — companion abstract finding
• A.71 Richard Gibb 1778 will — Richard's identification
• M.39 DAR App Brode 1923 — Brode's "Barbara Margaret Gibbs" spelling
• name.430 Richard Gibb — Richard Gibb name-occurrence index (was F.175, retired)

Follow-up

1. DONE 2026-06-01 — acquired the 2 Gibb items (petition + communicant's certificate) from Rutgers SC/UA via David Kuzma; transcribed verbatim above. The OTHER 2 items in Ac.71 are non-Gibb and were obtained separately (a 1774 fee-bond payable by Joshua Mersereau[?] + Thomas Bat[?] to the Middlesex Co. Sheriff; a 1775 assignment of David Ross to manage estates of insolvent debtors Samuel Sorring, William Radley, John Taft). David offered to send them too — decision: request only if any of those names prove Cooper-relevant (none obviously are).
2. Search European baptism records for "Barbara Margaretta" b. ~1709 — task #26. Priority on (a) German Lutheran/Catholic parishes, (b) Dutch Reformed Church records, (c) Reformed Church records of Palatinate / Rhine valley emigrants to NJ
3. Search NJ Supreme Court Records 1769-1775 for Barbara's debtor's affidavits — = these may name her creditors / financial situation pre-Richard's-death
4. Cross-check with NJ Naturalization Records for other Gibb-family naturalizations 1750-1780 — = was Richard Gibb himself foreign-born? Was their marriage a foreign-born immigrant joining an established colonist OR two immigrants?
5. Cross-check with NJ Loyalist/Quaker/Pietist communities that maintained separate church books in NJ 1740-1780