The Coopers of Long Hill

Document I.173 · Published genealogies and compiled works · transcription: verbatim

Sayre Family: Lineage of Thomas Sayre, A Founder of Southampton — (1) entry #688 Elias Van Court (b. 1763 Bound Brook NJ; Rev. soldier; m. Anna Wilson) + children #1705 Samuel + #1706 Rev. John Heriotte Van Court, giving Elias's maternal Sayre line + the NJ→Natchez node [p.1534]/[p.1533]; (2) entry #281 Ebenezer Sayre (b.1747 Monmouth, d.1822 Morris Co.) whose 2nd wife (m. 15 Oct 1801) = Charity Cooper, dau of John Cooper × Lynche Boyle ([p.730]) — identifies the 1801 Basking Ridge groom + gives Charity's vitals (b.1767, d.1833) + NO issue.

Transcription and notes

The Van Court paternal link (Banta pp. 110 + 174 — closes the NJ→Natchez descent)

p.174, entry 265: "MARY⁵ SAYRE married first, Samuel Van Court, the son of Elias Van Court, who was born August 27, 1730, and died intestate in 1777, his brother-in-law Ephraim Sayre being appointed administrator August 29, 1777. She married second, ___ Long. CHILD: 688 Elias Van Court, m. Anna Wilson."

⇒ Elias #688 ([p.1534], 1757–1817)'s father = p.1522 Samuel Van Court (1730–1777), a son of [p.25 Elias Van Court Sr. (1691–1750)] × [p.3 Anne (Cooper?) Van Court]. Samuel's b. 27 Aug 1730 + d. 1777 + admin by brother-in-law Ephraim Sayre = exact match to [A.17]'s "Samuel 5687-5688L Inv. 1778". The whole Natchez Van Court branch therefore descends from Elias Sr. × Anne.

Natchez descendants (Banta p. 360, verbatim highlights) — confirms + extends [p.1532]

"Elias John Van Court, b. on the Hermitage Plantation, in Adams Co., Miss., April 6, 1831; m. May 25, 1870, Adeline Baker Mitchell… He was graduated from Oakland College, Mississippi, in 1850, and on April 2, 1853 from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a physician in Kingston, Miss."

Children incl.: "Katherine Smith Van Court, b. Oct. 24, 1873; m. Jan. 14, 1892, Alexander E. Pritchartt… live in Memphis" (= "Katee", later m. Myrick); "Elias John Van Court, Jr., b. Sept. 21, 1875; m. Oct. 13, 1897, Charlotte Hunt Gaither… a planter in Kingston, Miss."; "David Benjamin Swayze Van Court, b. Oct. 28, 1882… a recorder in the U.S. Engineer Department, at Lincoln, Ala."

"1707 Anna Van Court, b. Dec. 30, 1787; m. Rev. David Schenck…" (= the [A.102] 1818 co-administrator = Elias's son-in-law).

Data from the document (verbatim)

Section heading (Elias's ancestral line): "LINE OF MARY VAN COURT,⁵ DANIEL,⁴ DANIEL,³ JOSEPH.²"

688 ELIAS VAN COURT⁶ was born November 24, 1763, on the Van Court Homestead, near Bound Brook, N.J., which has been in the family for several generations. He married Anna Wilson. Tradition says he was a soldier of the Revolution, and that he was wounded in the battle of Monmouth. He died November 24, 1827.

CHILDREN. 1705 SAMUEL VAN COURT,⁷ b. Nov. 27, 1785; d. June 12, 1833. 1706 JOHN HERIOTTE VAN COURT,⁷ b. March 16, 1793, near Bound Brook, N.J.; m. June, 1826, Mrs. Catharine Swayze (née Smith), the widow of Col. Nathan Swayze, who was born March 16, 1789, and died Jan. 17, 1859. He was graduated from Princeton University in the year 1817, and three years later was graduated from the Theological Seminary of the same University. He was a Presbyterian clergyman in the West and Southwest, and died Aug. 2, 1867.

(Ancestry detail panel for this record: Name Elias Van Court, b. 24 Nov 1763, Bound Brook NJ; Spouse Anna Wilson; Children John Heriotte Van Court; Samuel Van Court.)

Notes (interpretation — not the document's verbatim)

Entry #281 Ebenezer Sayre — his 2nd wife = Charity Cooper of the John-of-Long-Hill line (Banta pp. 147–148, verbatim) — added 2026-07-06

Read via pdf.py text on PDF pp. 186–188 (= book pp. 147–149). Header: "Line of Ebenezer,⁴ Daniel,³ Joseph.²"

281 EBENEZER⁵ SAYRE was born probably in Monmouth County, N. J., October 29, 1747. Married first, April 28, 1773, Lois Potter, who was born in 1757, and died November 7, 1800. He married second, October 15, 1801, Charity Cooper, daughter of John Cooper and Lynche (Boyle) Cooper, who was born May 16, 1767, and died September 3, 1833. He was an active member of the Presbyterian church at Hanover Neck. Was a farmer, owning a large amount of real estate in Hanover and Chatham townships, and lived at Columbia Bridge (now Afton), Morris County, N. J., near the Passaic River. He died July 27, 1822, aged seventy-five years. His will, dated June 14, [1822 — continues p.148].

CHILDREN BY FIRST MARRIAGE [i.e. by Lois Potter — 13 children, b. 1774–1796]: 735 Sarah (b.1774, m. Job Brookfield); 736 Betsy (1775–1798); 737 James (b.1776, m. Lydia Young); 738 David Cooper (b. Sept. 20, 1778, d. Aug. 24, 1780); 739 John (b.1781, m. Harriet P. Smith); 740 Benjamin (b.1783, m. Clarissa Andrews); 741 Samuel (b.1785); 742 Mary (b.1787, m. William Wooley); 743 Ebenezer (b.1790); 744 Rhoda (b.1790, m. Ellis Cook); 745 Elias (b.1794, m. Abigail Hedges); 746 Isaac Potter (1796, d. infant).

CHILD BY SECOND MARRIAGE (Charity Cooper) — Banta #748, p. 411: "748 SUSAN COOPER⁶ SAYRE, born August 22, 1802; married October 6, 1824, James P. Ely, who was born March 30, 1798, and died July 30, 1870. She died November 2, 1877, at Hanover, N. J. CHILDREN: 1851 Catherine Louisa Ely, b. 1825, m. Ephraim F. Sayre; 1852 Sarah Elizabeth Ely, b. 1827, m. David F. Sayre; 1853 Susan Agnes Ely, b. 1828, m. 1856 Thomas H. Homan." (Banta lists only Susan's 3 Sayre-/Homan-married daughters; the full 9-child Ely sibship is in The Ely Ancestry [I.178].)

Correction (2026-07-06): I initially reported "Banta omits the second-marriage children" — WRONG. Banta gives Susan her own full entry at #748 (p. 411); a text-search for "Susan Cooper" returned 0 only because the OCR mangled "SUSAN COOPER⁶ SAYRE" (found via "James P. Ely"). Banta's inline #281 list (p. 147) shows only the first-marriage children, which is why it looked absent. Two further second-marriage sons — Daniel G. Cooper Sayre (1804–1858) + Dr. David Martin Sayre (1807–1876) — are tree-tier only (Setty Ancestry tree 4782603), not in Banta. See [p.730] + [p.833].

Why this matters (interpretation): the "Charity Cooper, dau of John Cooper × Lynche Boyle, b. 16 May 1767" is [p.730] — Daniel Sr's granddaughter via [p.8 John of Long Hill] — the same "granddaughter Charity Cooper daughter of my son John" named in Daniel Sr's 1791 will ([A.8]/[A.9]) and the "Charity Cooper" bride of the 15 Oct 1801 Basking Ridge Presbyterian marriage ([C.12]/[C.41], Rev. Robert Finley). ⇒ this entry (a) identifies the 1801 groom = Ebenezer Sayre (resolving C.41's "Eleazer[?]" reading + correcting Littell's "Samuel Sayre of Madison" — Littell erred on the given name); (b) gives Charity's birth (16 May 1767 — fits her being a minor in John's 1778 will [A.29]) + death (3 Sept 1833); (c) shows she was his second wife (he a widower, 1st wife Lois Potter d. 7 Nov 1800) — with ≥3 children (Susan Cooper Sayre Ely 1802–1877 = [p.833], per Banta #748 + Ely Ancestry [I.178]; + tree-tier sons Daniel G. Cooper Sayre 1804–58 and Dr. David Martin Sayre 1807–76). ⇒ the 1801 Sayre marriage is NOT Benjamin's daughter Charity ([p.664], who married only Jacob Haas 1813) — that was a [pr.12] conflation, now dissolved. (Curiosity: son #738 was named "David Cooper" Sayre in 1778 — by first wife Lois Potter, 23 years before the Cooper marriage; likely coincidental / a Potter-side name, not a Cooper tie.)

Cross-references