Pitney, A history of Morris County, New Jersey: embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Vol I (1914)

Transcription and notes

Source

• Title: Henry Cooper Pitney, A history of Morris County, New Jersey: embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913 — Vol I (of 2)
• Publisher: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York / Chicago, 1914
• Author: Henry Cooper Pitney 1856- (descendant of Henry Cooper of Mendham; NOT Daniel Sr line despite "Cooper" middle name)
• Local file: (image held in the family archive) (34.7 MB; ~860 pages; downloaded 2026-05-10 v192.5 from archive.org identifier historyofmorrisc00pitn)
• Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/historyofmorrisc00pitn — full-text searchable
• Cooper hits in pdftotext output: 105 hits across ~860 pages

Catalog impact summary

Pitney Vol 1 (1914) is the major secondary source for Morris County history between Munsell 1882 (I.46) and the modern era. Most Cooper content is corroborative of existing catalog, not novel. The single GENUINELY new datum is the 1913 Martin L. Cox letter quoting his family tradition that Moses Cooper was a son of Daniel Cooper Jr. — this name does NOT appear in I.4 Littell 1851's Daniel Jr children list.

Verbatim — key Cooper passages

Daniel Cooper Morristown civic appointment 1740 (p. ~159, lines 2869-2872)

"Kitchel, John Lindley, Jr., Timothy Tuttle and Samuel Swesey. On September 16, 1740, Gershom Mott, Daniel Cooper, Isaac Vandine, Ephraim Price and Abraham Vanacken were appointed."

Daniel Cooper Jr. Morristown civic list 1761/1767 (p. ~142, lines 2763-2767)

"Gillett, 1744; Caleb Fairchild, 1748; John Kinney, 1749; John Ford, 1752; Daniel Cooper Jr., removed April, 1761, and succeeded by Samuel Tuthill; Daniel Cooper Jr., 1767; Jonathan Stiles, 1771; Thomas Kinney, 1773; Thomas Millage, 1776."

Hibernia Furnace + Benjamin Cooper + counterfeiting (p. ~793, lines 14418-14423)

"...about three-fourths of a mile from the new furnace called 'the Adventure.' Ford sold a one-third interest to James Anderson, another third to Benjamin Cooper, the latter his partner in counterfeiting in later days. William Alexander, Lord Stirling, became sole owner of the Hibernia furnace about 1771, and iron was there made, but there is no record until 1775, when the letters of Joseph and Charles Hoff to their principal, Lord Stirling, give an account of the quantities made."

Note: "Joseph and Charles Hoff" letters 1775 — = Charles Hoff Jr who ran Hibernia (= father-in-law of Capt Benjamin via Charity Hoff Cooper d. 1763 per memory). This corroborates the Cooper-Hoff family connection via the Hibernia operation.

Cox letter quote 1913 — Moses Cooper claim (p. ~1751, lines 31293-31298)

"From Martin Luther Cox: My 13th Ave. School, Newark, N. J., April 12th, 1913. Dear Mr. Platt: Your recent letter came duly to hand and in reply I am sorry to state that I do not know very much about Hugh Nelson Cox, who was principal of the old school in the Birch building in the '50s.

My mother, who was Caroline Cooper, daughter of Samuel Cooper, son of Moses Cooper, son of Daniel Cooper, Jr., sheriff of Morris Co., son of Daniel Cooper, who lived to be one hundred years old, spoke of him (Hugh Nelson Cox) to her children frequently. As nearly as I can remember, he was in Dover in the years 1855-56."

This Cox letter is also quoted in I.67 Platt 1914 Dover history at ~line 1480 — likely from the SAME 1913 correspondence (Charles D. Platt was Pitney's contemporary; Pitney quotes Platt or vice-versa). The two extracts are nearly identical but not independent — single-source-family.

General Cooper grist mill at Hacklebarney (p. ~131, lines 2346-2349)

"...remembered by old people, about a mile above the grist mill of the late General Cooper one at Hacklebarney, which was running until a late date"

Identification UNCERTAIN. Hacklebarney = Chester Twp Morris Co. (= mining + grist mill region). "General Cooper" could refer to a Cooper military figure with general rank. NOT a name our catalog has linked to Daniel Sr line. Needs investigation.

Cooper Chester Twp 1714 Long Island settlers (p. ~866, lines 16199-16209)

"track was extended through the village one and a half mile northeast to the Swayze, Leek and Cooper mines.

The tract upon which the village of Chester is built was surveyed in 1714, laid off in plats and settled on by emigrants from Easthampton and Southold, Long Island. Among the earliest names are those of Cooper, Seward, Horton, Luse, Terry, Skellenger, Sweazy, Howell and Brown."

OUT OF SCOPE per project pr.27 LI English-colonial Cooper kindred (RESOLVED).md — these Coopers are from the James Cooper Sr. (1654-1722, Southampton Magistrate) Long Island English-colonial line, distinct from Daniel Sr's Dutch immigrant line.

Cross-references

• I.4 Littell 1851 — Daniel Cooper Sr biography (children + wives); Pitney Vol 1 does NOT cover this same biographical depth (Pitney is a county-history not a genealogy)
• I.22 Craddock — Hibernia + counterfeit narrative for Capt Benjamin
• I.46 Munsell 1882 — Daniel Sr/Jr/Benjamin offices; Pitney Vol 1 partially overlaps but generally LESS biographical depth than Munsell
• I.65 Biographical 1899 — Daniel Cooper biography (= Littell-derivative); John G. Cooper Esq. context corroborated
• I.67 Platt 1914 Dover history — quotes the SAME Cox letter as Pitney
• M.24 Honeyman 1912 — Cooper-Stirling Hibernia partnership
• Project pr.13 Benjamin Cooper Stirling debt (RESOLVED).md
• Project pr.44 NJ Colonial Documents corpus scan.md — 1773 Council counterfeiting proceedings primary-source
• Project pr.27 LI English-colonial Cooper kindred (RESOLVED).md — Long Island Cooper rule-outs (covers Chester 1714 settlers)

Open questions / follow-up

• ** Cox letter Moses Cooper — single-source claim — Pitney + Platt both quote the same April 12, 1913 letter from Martin L. Cox. This is NOT independent corroboration** — both authors share the same one source. Possible resolutions:
• Hypothesis A: Moses Cooper IS a son of Daniel Jr — fits Littell's "unnumbered #1" child slot. Need an independent primary source (Morris Co. probate, deed, or church record naming Moses Cooper as Daniel Jr's son).
• Hypothesis B: Family tradition garbled — Cox's mother Caroline Cooper may have been from a different Cooper line; "Daniel who lived to be 100" was a memorable detail that became attached to the chain incorrectly.
• Test: Search Morristown Presbyterian Church baptisms 1761-1787 (= Daniel Jr's marriage to Anna Cross 1755 → 1787 death window) for a "Moses Cooper" baptism with Daniel Cooper Jr father.
• ** 'General Cooper' Hacklebarney grist mill** — needs identification. Could be (a) a Daniel-Sr-line descendant who attained general rank in NJ Militia or US Army, (b) an unrelated military Cooper of Chester Twp. Test: Chester Twp 1850-1900 census + Morris Co. military records.
• ** Harry Cooper** Morristown-Mendham road founder — needs identification.
• ** Henry Cooper** of Mendham (RW veteran; Pitney's grandmother's ancestor) — should be added to Cooper-line rule-out list if confirmed not Daniel Sr-line.

Status notes

• Status [partial] — 5 key passages transcribed verbatim above. Remaining ~100 Cooper hits in the pdftotext extract are mostly: (a) E.P. Cooper M.D. late-19th-century Morristown physician roles (lines 9637/9676/9692/9738/10902/10979); (b) general "cooperative", "cooper" (= barrel-maker trade), "cooper shop" non-genealogical hits; (c) Pitney-family local biography sections. Not yet exhaustively transcribed.
• Note: Pitney Vol 1 has been used in this catalog catalog session 2026-05-10 v192.5 for the first time. Most prior Pitney references in the catalog were via Munsell I.46 (= the older 1882 work, NOT the Pitney 1914 work). Distinguish these going forward.

Name-occurrence sweep (2026-05-27)

Cooper-surname individuals named in I.66 that did NOT already have catalog files were added as name.N occurrence-index files via the 2026-05-27 Pitney + Crayon sweep. Key additions:

• Pitney-family-tier Cooper names: name.218 Lucetta Cooper (= Mahlon Pitney Sr's wife; ancestor via Henry Cooper of Mendham [p.77]); name.219 Harry Cooper (Morristown-Mendham road founder).
• Local-business / minor citizen Cooper names: name.220 Silas B Cooper, name.221 Peter E Cooper, name.222 E P Cooper (Morristown physician).
• Sussex-Holland line via James Cooper × Phoebe Jayne (Davenport) Cooper biography: name.223 James Oakley Cooper + his children name.224 Lela H, name.225 Martha D, name.226 James B, name.227 Millie E. Eugene J. Cooper bullet appended to name.54 + his 5 Eugene-J × Martha B. Parsons children at name.228 Carrie Parsons, name.229 Eugene E, name.230 Charles S, name.231 Francis E, name.232 Phoebe Ann. New bullet for the parent James Cooper added to name.7. Hila Cooper b. 1788 at name.245. Sussex-Holland line OUT OF SCOPE.
• Misc late-19th-c. Morris Co. Cooper individuals: name.253 Frank R Cooper (m. Emma Jenkins), name.254 William O Cooper (Maplewood, m. Joan D. Brumley), name.255 Sadie Walker Cooper (m. Albert Wulff 1907), name.256 Cummings Cooper (father of unnamed Dickerson-marrying daughter), name.257 Sarah Ann (Cooper) King (Charles C. Mase's grandmother).
• Margaret (Cooper) Elliott (b. Ireland; m. John Elliott; d. 1883 Somerset Co. NJ) bullet added to name.248 Margaret Cooper.
• Cox letter Daniel-Sr-line claim (Pitney p. 1751): Caroline Cooper (granddaughter via Samuel × Moses × Daniel Jr × Daniel Sr) bullet at name.79 Caroline Cooper; Samuel Cooper bullet at name.25 Samuel Cooper; Moses Cooper bullet at name.258 Moses Cooper. All single-source family-tradition claims; not Littell-corroborated.

last_updated: 2026-05-27 reflects this sweep.