William H. Benedict, First Settlers of New Brunswick (NJHS Proceedings Vol. VII, 3rd Ser., No. 1, July 1912; read before the New Brunswick Historical Club, 21 Mar 1912). The one scholarly study devoted to New Brunswick's founding — first settlers = Drake (1667), Greenland (1675), Longfield (1678), Inian (1681), Pridmore (1694); the ferry is credited to John Inian (life-grant to Inian + wife, 5 Feb 1697). Contains NO Daniel Cooper → DISCREDITS the Gordon/Barber/Clayton/Wiley 'Daniel Cooper, first settler / ferryman' tradition.

Transcription and notes

Source

William H. Benedict, "First Settlers of New Brunswick," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Vol. VII, Third Series, No. 1 (July 1912) — "Read before the New Brunswick Historical Club, Thursday, March 21, 1912." On disk: (image held in the family archive) (Digital Antiquaria reprint, full text layer). This is the best-researched local study of New Brunswick's founding (Benedict works the actual patents, wills, and inventories).

Why it's here — it DISCREDITS the "Daniel Cooper first settler" tradition

Benedict's paper is the dedicated scholarly treatment of who founded New Brunswick, and it names no Cooper at all. Searched in full: the only "Daniel"s are Daniel Pierce (the 1666 Piscataway grantee) and Daniel Brinson — zero "Daniel Cooper," zero "Cooper."

Benedict's first-settler roster (verbatim):

"The Indian purchase of Piscataway is put at 1664, and the grant was of 1666; so Drake in 1667, Greenland in 1675, Longfield in 1678, Inian 1681, Pridmore 1694, stood well up in the front rank."

The ferry is John Inian's, not a Cooper's (verbatim):

"Inian provided boats for a ferry, both large and small, some years before the ferry rights were granted him…" "He … established the ferry, for which he and his wife received a grant for life, but not until some years later — February 5, 1697." "I had thought Inian a non-resident landowner, doing his work and carrying on his ferry by proxy, but I have changed my mind … the road past his home; … his will, made in 1699, … witnessed by John Pridmore." (i.e. Inian was the resident ferryman.)

"Prigmore's Swamp" is from John Pridmore, a squatter — not Cooper (verbatim):

"John Pridmore neither bought nor sold any land here that I can discover … We should in these days call him a 'squatter' … After a while he 'moved on.' … his name is preserved by his connection with the swamp … a poem on 'Prigmore's Swamp,' by the late Dr. Murray."

Benedict knew Clayton and still omitted the Cooper claim. His footnote 1 cites "See History Union and Middlesex" (= I.137-era Clayton, which carries the "Daniel Cooper, first inhabitant, kept the ferry" tradition) — yet Benedict's researched account assigns the founding to Drake/Greenland/Longfield/Inian/Pridmore and the ferry to Inian. He did not adopt the Daniel-Cooper-first-settler story.

Significance — closes the "first settler / ferry" thread

Read together with the documentary records, this leaves no documentary basis for any resident "first settler Daniel Cooper" at New Brunswick: - I.153 (Benedict 1912): the careful founding study — first settlers Drake/Greenland/Longfield/Inian/Pridmore; ferry = Inian (1697 life-grant). No Cooper. - K.45: the only documented "Daniel Cooper, 2,000 acres on the Passaic" = our Daniel Sr's Lot No. 2 (~500 ac), acquired 1733–35 — Long Hill, not New Brunswick, not pre-1697. - p.220: the documented early proprietary Cooper = Thomas Cooper, Merchant of London, an absentee who never settled in America.

So the "Daniel Cooper, first settler / ferryman of New Brunswick" is a 19th-century gazetteer tradition (Gordon 1834 → Barber 1846 → Clayton → Wiley I.137 → the 1854 + 1916 NYT pieces) that the dedicated 1912 study does not support — and which the documentary record explains as a conflation (Barclay's land facts + the Prigmore's-Swamp legend, stacked onto our Daniel Sr). It is not evidence that Daniel Sr (or any ancestor) ran the ferry.

Honesty caveat: Benedict's evidence is silence on Cooper combined with a positive rival account (Inian's ferry, Pridmore's swamp) — strong, but not a point-blank "there was never a Cooper here." It is, however, the most thorough treatment available, and it cuts firmly against the tradition.

Cross-references

• I.137 — Wiley 1896 "Daniel Cooper, by tradition, first settler" (the published claim Benedict's roster contradicts).
• K.45 — the documented "Daniel Cooper, Passaic" = Daniel Sr's Lot No. 2 (the conflation source).
• J.153 — the 1816 "A Citizen" first-settler account (same tradition).
• p.220 Thomas Cooper, EJ Proprietor — the documented early proprietary Cooper (London absentee).
• pr.7 / pr.2 — the Daniel-Sr origins / "Inian's Ferry Daniel Cooper" research threads.