Some Early Records of Morris County, New Jersey 1740-1799 ed. Harriet Stryker-Rodda C.G. (Polyanthos, New Orleans, 1975) — published abstracts of original Morris-County minute books, ratable lists, brand/ear-mark registers, poll lists, and freeholder lists. KEY FINDING: PRIMARY-SOURCE-GRADE GEOGRAPHIC SPLIT of Morris-County Coopers in 1793 across FOUR townships — Morris Twp (John, William, George, Peter per [I.29e](I.29e.yaml)), Hanover Twp (Ichabod, Ebenezer, James, Abraham per [I.29e](I.29e.yaml)), Mendham Twp (Charles, Henry Jr per [I.29e](I.29e.yaml)), Roxbury Twp (Nathan per [I.29e](I.29e.yaml)). Daniel Cooper Sr Esqr (350 acres) + Daniel Jr Esqr (164 acres) + John Cooper (150 acres) attested as Morris Twp ratables Oct 1768 (per [I.29c](I.29c.yaml)); 'Justice Cooper' attested Pequanock Jan 1771 (per [I.29a](I.29a.yaml)) = primary-source confirmation of Daniel Sr's Justice-of-the-Peace standing. SCOPE-QUESTION CONTRIBUTION (todo.md v143): documents Hanover Cooper cluster as STABLE multi-generational kin-group DISTINCT from Morris-Twp cluster; does not itself resolve Ichabod Sr's Holland-vs-LI origin (needs probate / Find A Grave / church session minutes). This entry = parent metadata + cross-section synthesis. Page-by-page transcriptions split into 6 sub-entries [I.29a](I.29a.yaml) – [I.29f](I.29f.yaml) per file-size policy

Transcription and notes

This entry is the parent metadata + cross-section synthesis for the Stryker-Rodda volume. Page-by-page verbatim transcriptions are split across six sub-entries by source-section per memory feedback_md_file_size_threshold.md:

• I.29a — Ear-Mark Register p3 + Brand-Mark Personal Index p15 + Pequanock Poor Records pp 79-82 (incl. 'Justice Cooper' attestation 1771)
• I.29b — Hanover Strays 1749-1799: pp 32 (intro), 36 (Ichabod 1760), 38 (Thos Cooper 1763), 50 (Ebenezer 1787)
• I.29c — Morris Township Assessment October 1768: pp 58 (header), 59 (Daniel Sr Esqr + John + Daniel Jr Esqr), 73-74 (continuation; Richard Runyan)
• I.29d — POLL LIST May 1776 for Delegates to NJ Constitutional Convention: pp 87-122 (George Cooper, Ichabod Cooper, Nathan Jr, Nathaniel Jr, Sylvanus, Richd Runyon)
• I.29e — Morris County Freeholders 1793: pp 143-153 (Morris Twp 4 + Mendham 2 + Hanover 4 + Roxbury 1 = 11 Cooper freeholders + Elias Coriell + Elias Runyon)
• I.29f — Hanover Township Ratables 1798 Lists A + B: pp 156-187 (Abraham, Ebenezer, James, Ichabod, Asiel)

Bibliographic information

• Source: Printed book — Some Early Records of Morris County, New Jersey 1740-1799. Editor: Harriet Stryker-Rodda, C.G. Publisher: Polyanthos, New Orleans. Year: 1975. "Published under the patronage of Morris County Archives Publications Committee."
• Filenames (permanent paths, page-by-page PNG scans on disk): all under Books/Stryker-Rodda - Some Early Records of Morris County, NJ 1740-1799/. Files of Cooper-relevance referenced in the per-section sub-entries.
• Identification: A published transcript (typed, not photographic) of multiple original Morris County minute-books and registers covering 1740-1799. The originals reside (per the volume's p xi-xii notes) at the Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township + the Mendham First Presbyterian Church Session-Minutes archive + private hands (Riggin family for the Pequanock Town Books). Stryker-Rodda's role is editor; multiple sub-section preparators are credited (Helen M. Wright for Tavern License applicants; Henry W. Pilch for Hanover Strays Posted; etc.).
• Source tier: Published-genealogical-grade primary-source transcript — one step removed from the manuscript originals, but produced under genealogical-society auspices in 1975. Per published-genealogy policy medium-high certainty for transcribed textual content; lower for column-alignment in tax tables (the typed transcript reformats handwritten columnar data, occasionally with edge-cases where row-to-row column boundaries are ambiguous in the printed page).

Front matter (verbatim)

Title page

SOME EARLY RECORDS
OF
MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
1740 - 1799

Harriet Stryker-Rodda, C.G., Editor

Published under the patronage of
Morris County Archives Publications Committee

[Polyanthos colophon — printer's device]

1975
POLYANTHOS
New Orleans

Page xi — NOTES ON DOCUMENTS INCLUDED (verbatim opening section)

• RECORD OF EAR MARKS 1740-1776 from MINUTE BOOK OF MORRIS TOWNSHIP (pages 1-8): "The Morris-Town Book is a Minute Book of Morris Township in which the records begin 1740/41. It contains Record of Ear-Marks 1740-1834; Returns of Roads 1746-1790; Strays Posted 1792-1838 and Record of Town Officers 1741-1802. The book has been microfilmed, and a xerox copy made, indexed and bound. The original volume, microfilm and xerox copy are in the Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township, 1 Miller Road, Morristown, N.J., 07960."
• "The recordings of ear marks are uniform, only the date, the name of the registrant and the registered mark being listed, as: 'September 16:1741 Joseph Hayward Marks with crop off the Right Ear.'"
• BRANDS AND MARK 1741-1776 (pages 9 - 13) — section header listed.
• PEQUANOCK TOWN BOOK I 1741-1754 (pages 19 - 31) — section header listed.
• ABSTRACTS FROM POOR RECORD 1769-1779 (pages 79-86): "All are taken directly from Pequanock Town Books I and II, 1741 to 1835."
• "The first two Town Books of Pequanock Township were known to exist when in 1882 Mr. John N. Kanouse prepared the chapter 'Pequanock Township' for THE HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY published that year by W.W. Munsell [reprinted 1967 by Morris County Historical Society]. For four generations the books have been 'lost', but recently through a fortuitous casual conversation at a meeting of the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey, between Miss Muriel Rennie, President of the Morris County Historical Society and Margaret A. (Lewis) Riggin a member of the Historical Society of Bloomfield, the two volumes were found to be in possession of Mrs. Riggin."

Page xii — Notes continuation (verbatim summary)

• (continued from p xi about Riggin family Pequanock-book ownership chain): "Books. Following Mr. Stiles' death in 1883 the books remained in the farmhouse until they were removed by Gilbert Duryea Crane to his home in Boonton between 1900 and 1927. Mr. Crane was a grandson of Levi Stiles' sister, Ann Farrand (Stiles) Crane. The books were still in the Crane home in the late 1920's when Katherine Duryea Crane, Gilbert's daughter, gave them with a collection of family papers to Helen (Brugler) Lewis, her only cousin who had children to devote the collection."
• (paragraph on book physical condition): "It is evident from the two books that they were started at the same time, Volume II to register Brands and Marks, Volume I to record other activities such as elections, Care of the Poor, etc. When Volume I was completed, Volume II, less than one third filled, was turned over and the record continued, thus placing the brands and ear marks records upside down at the back of Vol. II."
• APPLICANTS FOR TAVERN LICENSES IN MORRIS COUNTY 1740-1781 (pages 14-18): Helen M. Wright preparator; List of Applicants from her collected typescripts now at Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township.
• STRAYS POSTED — HANOVER 1749 - 1799 (pages 32-57): From "Hanover Stray Book 1749/51 to 1885" — typed manuscript prepared by Henry W. Pilch.

Morris County Townships in 1740 (map page)

A schematic outline-map drawn by H.S-R. (Harriet Stryker-Rodda) labeled "MORRIS COUNTY, N.J. — An Approximation of its Township boundaries in 1740":

• Pequanock Township — 25 March 1740 formed as Pequanock Township in Morris Co.; 1720 in Hunterdon County. (Northern.)
• Hanover Township — 1720 in Hunterdon Co.; 25 March 1740 reformed as Hanover Township in Morris Co. (Northeastern, fronting Essex County 1683.)
• Morris Township — formed 25 March 1740. (Central.)
• Roxbury Township — formed 24 December 1740 from Morris Township. (Southwestern.)
• Adjacent counties as bounding context: Sussex County 1753 (from Morris) on west; Warren County 1824 (from Sussex) on far west; Hunterdon County 1714 on south; Somerset County 1688 on southeast; Union County 1857 / Essex County 1683 on east; Passaic County 1837 on northeast.
• Significance: Morris-Twp Coopers (Daniel Sr's Long Hill family) and Hanover-Twp Coopers (Ichabod-line) are in directly adjacent townships (Morris Twp and Hanover Twp share a boundary), so geographic separation is real but not vast — ~10-15 miles apart. The 1740 map confirms both Cooper clusters were within Morris County from the county's formation onward.

Volume structure (per p xi-xii Notes on Documents Included + extracted section headings)

Section ranges are inferred from on-disk page filenames + index page; some boundaries approximate.

Cooper page index (per p 200 verbatim)

The volume's main index entry "Cooper, Cope, Cooke, etc" lists the following Cooper given-name page references:

• (surname-only / unattributed) — 99
• Abraham — 148, 159, 186
• Asiel — 178
• Charles — 146
• Constant — 15
• Daniel (= "Caniel" in OCR; reading as Daniel) — 3, 59
• Daniel, Jr. — 15, 59
• Ebenezer — 50, 148, 160, 187
• George — 88, 143
• Henry — 15
• Henry, Jr. — 146
• Ichabod — 36, 93, 148, 160, 187
• James — 130, 148, 160, 186
• John — 59, 143
• Justice — 82
• Nathan — 153
• Nathan, Jr. — 111
• Nathaniel, Jr. — 118
• Peter — 143
• Sessel (Cecil) — 161
• Sylvanus — 122
• Thomas — (per p38 reading; index entry not visually confirmed in current scan — possibly an additional given name on p200 not captured)
• William — 143

Pages NOT on disk that contain Coopers per index: 99 (surname-only), 130 (James), 161 (Sessel/Cecil), 178 (Asiel). Asiel additionally appears on p187 in current reading (in-disk), so the p178 Asiel reference would be a separate appearance.

Why this volume matters for the catalog

Per todo.md v143 SCOPE QUESTION (added 2026-04-29):

Is Ichabod Cooper Jr 1690-1759 of Hanover Morris Co. NJ part of the Hanover/Chester LI-Cooper-satellite family that project pr.28 Hanover Chester LI satellite (RESOLVED).md rules OUT OF SCOPE?

The Stryker-Rodda volume publishes Morris-County primary records 1740-1799 covering exactly the period when Daniel Cooper Sr (1695-1795) and Ichabod Cooper Jr (1690-1759) were active, plus the next-generation Coopers active 1760-1798. The volume's tax-list, freeholder-list, and brand-register data documents:

1. Geographic separation of Morris Twp Coopers (Long Hill / Daniel Sr branch) from Hanover Twp Coopers (Ichabod-branch) as stable, distinct clusters across 1768-1798 — supporting (but not proving) that the two clusters are distinct family groups.
2. Specific named individuals' presence in each cluster across multi-decade records — useful for linking to Crayon (I.27, I.28, I.28a) narrative-genealogy assertions about who Hanover Twp's Ichabod-cluster was.
3. Daniel Cooper Sr's documented status as 350-acre Morris Twp ratable + Justice of the Peace (≈1771) — corroborates A.1 will, A.2 administration, and I.26 Ancestry-tree biographical claims.

The volume itself does not resolve Ichabod Sr's parentage / Holland-vs-LI-origin question — that requires Ichabod Sr's NJ Wills probate (filed 1759 or earlier), Hanover First Presbyterian Church session minutes, or Find A Grave memorial. But it provides primary-source bedrock for what Hanover Cooper family members were demonstrably present 1750-1798 — useful to cross-check the Crayon genealogical narrative against actual ratable / poll-list / stray-register records.

Cross-section synthesis — Cooper geographic distribution by document period

Implications for the v143 scope question

The question: Is Hanover Twp's Ichabod-line Cooper family the same Long-Island-English-colonial-satellite family classified out-of-scope in project pr.28 Hanover Chester LI satellite (RESOLVED).md?

What this volume contributes:

1. Confirms the Hanover Cooper cluster as a stable 4-name freeholder group 1793 (Abraham, Ebenezer, James, Ichabod) with continuity into 1798 ratables (I.29e + I.29f) — they were a real, multi-generational kin-group, not a transient family.
2. Confirms geographic separation from Morris-Twp Coopers (John, William, George, Peter freeholders 1793) (I.29e) — supporting Crayon I.28a's distinction between the Long-Hill / Daniel Sr line and the Hanover / John-of-Denville line.
3. Confirms additional sub-clusters: Mendham (Charles, Henry Jr) (I.29e) + Roxbury (Nathan). Crayon I.28a confirms Roxbury/Milton as a Long-Island-English-colonial-satellite distinct from both Hanover and Long Hill. Mendham's status (relation to either cluster) is not addressed by Crayon and remains an open question.
4. Documents the Cooper-Coriell social-network adjacency in 1793 Morris Twp — Elias Coriell appears in same column-cluster as the four Morris-Twp Coopers in the 1793 freeholder roll (I.29e p143), corroborating A.8 Daniel Sr 1791 will-executor relationship.
5. Does NOT directly resolve Ichabod Sr's 1690-1759 origin (Holland-vs-Long-Island). That requires Ichabod Sr's NJ Wills probate (filed 1759 or earlier), Hanover First Presbyterian Church session minutes 1745-1759, or his Find A Grave memorial. The volume's coverage starts in 1740, after Ichabod Sr would have arrived in Hanover; he doesn't appear in the on-disk pages — only his SON Ichabod Jr 1741-1809 does.

Provisional reading (subject to per-document re-verification): The volume strongly supports Crayon I.28a's narrative that Hanover and Long-Hill Coopers were distinct kin-groups by the 1750s-1790s. Combined with Crayon's Holland-origin claim for John/Peter/James/Ichabod of Hanover, the v143 scope question tips toward "Hanover Coopers are NOT the Roxbury/Milton/Long-Island satellite, but instead a separate Holland-immigrant Cooper family parallel to Daniel Sr's Holland-immigrant Cooper family". Whether the two Holland-immigrant Cooper families are themselves related (cousins / unrelated co-immigrants / coincident-surname) is a deeper question not addressable from this volume alone.

Open follow-ups

(For per-section detail follow-ups see the relevant sub-entry I.29a – I.29f.)

• [ ] Pages NOT on disk that contain Coopers per index p200: p99 (surname-only), p130 (James Cooper), p161 (Sessel/Cecil Cooper), p178 (Asiel Cooper). Acquire scans if possible.
• [ ] Verify Ichabod Cooper Sr 1690-1759 death date to confirm whether Jan 1, 1760 stray-poster Ichabod is Sr (just-deceased) or Jr (Morris Plains Ichabod 1741-1809). See I.29b p36.
• [ ] Search NJ Wills Calendars 1759-1760 for Ichabod Cooper Sr probate — would identify his parentage / origin.
• [ ] Investigate Asiel Cooper p187 (I.29f) — given name doesn't fit Crayon I.28a's Ichabod-of-Morris-Plains 12-child roster; possibly James Cooper of Newfoundland's son OR a distinct Hanover Cooper sub-line.
• [ ] Resolve "Place of Abode" letter codes (H, R, Mt, Md, P, ML) by reading more of the May 1776 Poll List for cross-correlations. Md and Mt may both equate to Mendham OR to two different townships. See I.29d.
• [ ] Pull NJ Provincial Council records 1760-1771 for Daniel Cooper's Justice-of-the-Peace commission — confirms I.29a p82 "Justice Cooper" identification.
• [ ] Cross-reference Elias Coriell (Morris Twp 1793 freeholder per I.29e p143) with A.8 — geographic adjacency in 1793 freeholder roll provides primary-source social-network corroboration of Cooper-Coriell tie per project pr.16 Cooper-Coriell Y-DNA mystery.md.