The Coopers of Long Hill

Document I.215 · published finding aid · transcription: partial

Historical Records Survey (WPA), Inventory of the Church Archives of New Jersey: Presbyterians — Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., United Presbyterian Church of North America (1940). Printed pp. 91-93 read on the page images — Presbytery of Newton entries 56 Oxford First Church, 57 Greenwich Church, 58 First Church of Hackettstown; plus the Warren County congregations' record-holdings lines taken from the volume's full-text transcript. A congregation-by-congregation inventory of which registers existed in 1940, in whose custody, and what years each volume covers.

repository
Internet Archive — item inventoryofchurc00unse_2 (608 images), free, no sign-in
collection
Historical Records Survey, Work Projects Administration, New Jersey. Published 1940.
identifier
IA inventoryofchurc00unse_2; printed pp. 91, 92, 93 = IA leaves n106, n107, n108
date
1940

What is transcribed: The volume covers every Presbyterian congregation in New Jersey, arranged by presbytery. Warren County falls in the Presbytery of Newton. Read here: the three entries on pp. 91-93 in full, plus the record-holdings line of every other Warren County entry.

What this document records

What it says

For each congregation: founding date, a short history, the published histories that cover it, and — the point of the volume — an itemised list of its surviving record books with the years each covers and the name and address of the person holding it in 1940.

What it does not say

It names no individuals except the 1940 custodians and the ministers. No Cooper appears in anything read here. And it does not say where these books are now — it is a snapshot of private custody in 1940, mostly "in custody of the pastor" or of a named secretary at a home address.

Transcription and notes

Entry 58 — FIRST CHURCH OF HACKETTSTOWN, verbatim from printed pp. 92-93

58. FIRST CHURCH OF HACKETTSTOWN, 1763--. Main Street, Hackettstown, Warren County

The congregation originally known as the Presbyterian Congregation of Musconetcong, held services as early as 1763, in a crude log house of worship (present site of Sunday School) called Lower Hardwick Church on a site which they purchased in 1764. In 1782, when the Township of Independence was formed, taking in Hackettstown, this church became known as the First Presbyterian Church of Independence, incorporating as such in 1786.

In 1814, the increase in membership necessitated the erection of a second house of worship which replaced the log church in 1819. This was enlarged in 1874. Since 1848, this church has been known as the First Presbyterian Church of Hackettstown. In 1863, the present house of worship was erected…

Rev. Francis Peppard served this congregation from 1773 to 1783. The present pastor is Rev. Reuben F. Pieters…

Session Records, 1850--, 3 vols., in custody of Mr. C. H. Timbrell, Clerk, 405 Monroe Street. Trustee Records, 1764--, 4 vols., in custody of Mr. Lindley Cook, Secretary, Hatchery Road. Record of Baptisms, Marriages, Members, and Deaths, 1845-1901, 1 vol., in custody of the pastor. Sunday School Records, 1862-1931, 2 vols. … Women's Missionary Society Records, 1892--, 4 vols. … Financial Records, 1825-36, 1927--, 4 vols.; 1825-36, Receipts and Expenditures, 1 vol.; 1933-36, Treasurer's Report and Correspondence, 1 vol. …

Record of incorporation and deeds: Sussex County Clerk's Office, Incorporations, vol. A, p. 8; Deeds, vol. 26, p. 69; vol. 51, p. 507; vol. 51, p. 505; vol. 55, p. 205.

Cited in the entry as covering this church: Hackettstown Gazette, 6 Aug 1886 p. 8; History of North Western New Jersey (1927) vol. 2 pp. 689-693; John Lowney, History of the First Presbyterian Church of Hackettstown (1886), 26 pp.; and Snell, History of Sussex and Warren Counties (1881), pp. 584-586 — which is [I.207]'s book.

Entries 56 and 57, also read on the page images

56. OXFORD FIRST CHURCH (printed p. 91) — … Session Records (include Records of Baptisms, Marriages, Members, and Deaths; Trustee Records, and Financial Records), 1818--, 2 vols.; 1818-49, 1 vol., in custody of Mr. Peter Wilson, Acting Clerk, Hazen; 1849--, 1 vol. … Trustee Records, 1774-1906, 1 vol., in the safe of the White Township School of Buttzville. …

57. GREENWICH CHURCH, 1740--. Stewartsville Road, Stewartsville, Warren County (heading printed p. 91, records printed p. 92) — Session Records, 1920--, 1 vol. … Trustee Records (include Record of Baptisms, Marriages, Members, and Deaths), 1803--, 9 vols., in custody of the pastor. Sunday School Records, 1804--, 9 vols. …

Record of incorporation and deeds: Warren County Clerk's Office, Incorporations, vol. 1, p. 30; Deeds, vol. 14, pp. 16, 19; vol. 28, p. 247; vol. 41, p. 625; vol. 103, p. 107; vol. 120, p. 39; vol. 125, p. 588; vol. 236, p. 396.

The Warren County register census — OCR-TIER except entries 56-58 above

The four rows marked [OCR] were read from the volume's (image held in the family archive) and NOT confirmed against the page image. They are recorded because the date ranges are what make the volume worth having, and because the OCR has been shown reliable on the three entries that were checked — but a date taken from here and used in an argument must be confirmed on the page first.

# congregation founded earliest register, and what it is
55 First Church, Washington (inc. Mansfield-Woodhouse 1787, re-inc. Mansfield 1822) 1739 Session 1787--, 9 vols.; 1787-1843 contains the Trustee Records; 1813-55 contains Financial; 1817-48 contains Record of Baptisms and Marriages
56 Oxford First Church — Trustee 1774-1906; Session incl. baptisms, marriages, members, deaths 1818--
57 Greenwich Church 1740 Trustee, including baptisms, marriages, members and deaths, 1803--, 9 vols.
58 First Church of Hackettstown 1763 Trustee 1764--; Financial 1825-36; vitals only from 1845
60 Knowlton Church (inc. as The First Reform Presbyterian German and English Church in Knowlton Township, 1797) 1766 Session 1766--, 5 vols. — the 1766-1804 volume is IN GERMAN; Record of Baptisms 1776-1810, 1 vol.
63 Harmony Church 1807 Session 1805-22; Trustee 1807--; Record of Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1807--, 8 vols., in custody of the pastor
69 Danville Church, Main Street, Great Meadows 1823 Session 1831--; Record of Births, Marriages, Members, and Deaths, 1824--, 2 vols., in custody of the pastor; Trustee 1906--

Entry 69 states in its own words that "The Danville Presbyterian Church was originally an outstation or mission of the Hackettstown Presbyterian Church (entry 58)", and entry 91 (Beattystown, 1886) that it "is a branch of the Hackettstown Presbyterian Church".

OCR_ERRORS_CAUGHT — why the page images were fetched at all

Reading the OCR against the image in the same passage caught three digit/word errors, which is the reason the OCR-tier rows above carry a warning rather than being presented as read:

OCR the page
In 16863, the present house of worship 1863
Everts and Peck, 1981, pp. 584-586 1881
in cus- tady of the pastor custody

⇒ A four-digit year is exactly what this OCR gets wrong, and a four-digit year is exactly what this volume is being consulted for.

Cross-references