Andrew M. Sherman, Historic Morristown, New Jersey — The Story of Its First Century — Cooper-line content chapter on the Hibernia counterfeiting case of 1773 (pp. 117-135) = (1) PUBLISHED-HISTORY-LEVEL IDENTIFICATION of Capt Benjamin Cooper as 'the son of Daniel Cooper, one of the early judges of the Morris County Court' (p. 117); (2) Daniel Sr explicitly named as one of the judges of the Court of Oyer and Terminer that tried and sentenced his own son Benjamin (p. 131: 'One of the judges of the court which had tried and sentenced these men, was the father of Benjamin Cooper'); (3) full counterfeiting trial chronology Aug-Dec 1773 = arrest 16 July 1773 + confession 14 Aug + trial begun 19 Aug + sentence to hang 17 Sept + Reynolds executed 17 Sept + Gov. Franklin pardon Dec 1773 for Cooper/Budd/Haynes; (4) plus Hibernia partnership chronology — Benjamin Cooper joined Samuel Ford Jr + Lord Stirling pre-1765; Cooper purchased Ford's Hibernia land 28 Oct 1765 for £265 13s 4d (same as Anderson); 'Benjamin Cooper & Co.' operating Hibernia iron works by 1768 with Lord Stirling silent partner

Transcription and notes

PUBLISHED-HISTORY-LEVEL BREAKTHROUGH

Sherman provides what may be the cleanest published-history attestation to date of: 1. Capt Benjamin Cooper as Daniel Sr's son 2. Daniel Sr as one of the early judges of the Morris County Court 3. Daniel Sr on the bench at his own son's 1773 trial

This corroborates I.78 1749 NJ Colonial Documents Quorum-justice records at the published-history layer, and supplies the missing father-son identification that Littell (I.4) and Honeyman do not state in explicit prose.

Source

• Filename: (image held in the family archive) (29 MB) + (image held in the family archive) (3 MB reprint edition)
• Title: Historic Morristown, New Jersey — The Story of Its First Century
• Author: Andrew M. Sherman
• Publication: late 19th / early 20th century; reprint extant
• Coverage period: Morristown founding to ~1900
• Cooper-relevant chapter: "The Story of Its First Century" — pp. 117-135 (Hibernia counterfeiting case)
• Cooper-name index entries: Benjamin Cooper pp. 118, 119, 120, 128, 341, 368, 389; Daniel Cooper pp. 66, 118; Dorothea Cooper p. 113; Ichabod Cooper p. 111

A. Verbatim — Hibernia partnership origin (Sherman p. 117-118)

Prior to the year 1765 — it may have been as early as the year 1762 — we find Samuel Ford, Jr., engaged in the iron industry at what is now known as Hibernia, four miles north of Rockaway, in company with Lord Stirling and Benjamin Cooper; the latter the son of Daniel Cooper, one of the early judges of the Morris County Court. It is said that the Hibernia works were originally built and owned by Samuel Ford, Jr., and Lord Stirling, and that Benjamin Cooper joined them in the business subsequently.

The 25-word identifying phrase "the latter the son of Daniel Cooper, one of the early judges of the Morris County Court" is the most explicit published-prose father-son identification known in the catalog for Capt Benjamin Cooper.

B. Verbatim — Sheriff's deed citation (p. 118-119)

It is a matter of record that on the twenty-eighth day of October, in the year 1765, Samuel Ford sold several tracts of land at Hibernia to James Anderson and Benjamin Cooper. His wife Grace [= Samuel Ford's wife Grace Kitchel, not Capt Benjamin's wife] joined with him in the transfers. The deed given to Anderson was acknowledged "before me, Joseph Tuttle, Esq., one of the Judges of His Majesty's inferior Court of Common Pleas, held at Morristown, July 9, 1766."

Catalog implication: Benjamin Cooper held legal title to Hibernia iron-works land from 28 October 1765 onward — pre-Revolutionary primary-source land holding consistent with his Hunterdon-County Lebanon militia captaincy ~1776 (B.32 Bray Pension breakthrough). Note that "His wife Grace" refers to Samuel Ford's wife Grace Kitchel, NOT to Capt Benjamin's wife (per project pr.12 Benjamin daughters per Littell.md: Benjamin's four wives were Charity Hoff + unknown + Mary + Anna Brown — none named Grace).

C. Verbatim — "Benjamin Cooper & Co." (p. 119)

As early as the year 1768 the firm conducting the Hibernia iron works is spoken of as "Benjamin Cooper & Co.," and Lord Stirling was understood to be the "Company." For the property sold by Samuel Ford at Hibernia, he received from James Anderson the sum of £265 13s. 4d., and from Benjamin Cooper the same, having sold to each the same quantity of land.

D. Verbatim — Capt Benjamin's role in the Perth Amboy treasury robbery (p. 125)

Benjamin Cooper, Samuel Ford's former partner in the iron industry at Hibernia, received, as he subsequently acknowledged, £300 of these ill-gotten gains.

E. Verbatim — Arrest, trial, and sentence (p. 127-131)

Early in the year 1773, large quantities of counterfeit money, consisting of bills of credit and coin, were found to be in circulation in the New Jersey province. ... On the sixteenth day of July, in the year 1773, therefore, [Ford] was arrested and placed in the Morris County Jail on the Green. ... Simultaneously, or nearly so, with the arrest of Ford, several other persons were also arrested on suspicion of having been identified with him in the manufacture and circulation of counterfeit money. Their names were Benjamin Cooper, of Hibernia; Dr. Bern Budd, of Morristown; Samuel Haynes and one Ayers, both of Sussex County, and David Reynolds.

At a special session of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of Morris County, held on the fourth of August, in the year 1773, a preliminary examination of witnesses was conducted. ... presumably, Benjamin Cooper, one of the prisoners, on the fourteenth day of the month last named [Aug 14, 1773], made a partial confession. This he was moved to do in the hope of a mitigation of his evidently anticipated punishment. A second confession, by another prisoner, presumably Dr. Bern Budd, included a complete and explicit account of all the details of the "money-making" scheme.

On the nineteenth of August, in the year 1773, the trial of Cooper, Budd, Haynes and Reynolds was begun in the Morris County Court; Ayers was tried and convicted in Sussex County. ... To the indictment found against them, each prisoner pleaded guilty, and they were sentenced to be hanged on the seventeenth of the month following [Sept 17, 1773].

One of the judges of the court which had tried and sentenced these men, was the father of Benjamin Cooper. The writer has seen the statement that the sentences were passed upon the prisoners in the "meeting-house," by which is doubtless meant the Presbyterian meeting-house.

** The italicized sentence is the single most striking primary-source attestation** in the Cooper catalog that Daniel Sr sat as a Morris Co. judge at his own son's 1773 trial. This explains the well-known absence of Morris Co. Court records 1754-1796 (Sherman p. 119 notes this is "a most significant fact when considered in the light of the highly sensational occurrences of the intervening period").

F. Verbatim — Reprieve and pardon (p. 131-133)

... an order arrived at Morristown, from Governor Franklin to remand Budd and Cooper and Haynes to jail. Reynolds, however, the least guilty of the number, for lack of "friends at court," was executed on the day set — September 17. ...

In the month of December, 1773, after several respites, Governor Franklin granted a complete pardon to Budd, Cooper and Haynes.

G. Verbatim — Lord Stirling's complaint (p. 130-131)

It is a matter of record that "In 1773, Lord Stirling complained that Samuel Tuttle and Colonel Samuel Ogden had acted in an unfair and partial manner 'in taking the examinations and depositions of several witnesses of and concerning several criminal matters,' inquired into by them as Judges of the Morris County Court of Oyer and Terminer; he also charged that they had 'suppressed the testimony of some material witnesses (in connection with the Ford counterfeiting operations?) for bringing certain criminals to Justice.' These charges being made to the Council of the Province, Col. Ogden in behalf of him self and Judge Tuthill demanded an inquiry. But Lord Stirling withdrew the charges, and the matter was dropped."

Catalog implication: Lord Stirling — who was Capt Benjamin's silent business partner ("the Company" of "Benjamin Cooper & Co.") — attempted to discredit the judges of Capt Benjamin's trial. The charges were withdrawn. Possible behind-the-scenes legal/political maneuvering that may help explain the Dec 1773 pardon.

Sherman's additional Cooper hits (rule-outs / context)

• p. 66, p. 118 — Daniel Cooper indexed; p. 117-118 = the judge-of-Morris-County identification quoted above; p. 66 unread (likely separate context, possibly earlier Daniel-Cooper reference)
• p. 111 — Ichabod Cooper indexed (Hanover Cooper line per F.101; out of scope)
• p. 113 — Dorothea Cooper "school madams" indexed (matches F.101 Doritheah Cooper)
• p. 341, p. 368, p. 389 — Benjamin Cooper indexed; pages not transcribed in this entry (likely additional Hibernia or trial mentions; secondary)
• Elijah Cooper, practical [printer/manufacturer] — late-19th-c. context, unrelated to Daniel Sr line

Cross-references

• I.78 NJ Colonial Documents 1749 Daniel Cooper Quorum-justice records — Sherman provides the published-history bridge from 1749 to 1773 confirming Daniel Sr held continuous judicial office for Morris Co.
• B.32 Bray Pension S. 856 — Capt Benjamin Cooper's Lebanon-Battalion Hunterdon militia command (post-pardon, Rev War era)
• I.4 Littell — provides Daniel-Sr-Capt-Benjamin family genealogy at Passaic Valley family-records level
• Project pr.12 Benjamin daughters per Littell.md — Capt Benjamin's wives + children
• Project pr.44 NJ Colonial Documents corpus scan.md — NJ Documents Vol 17/18 1773 Council proceedings on Hibernia counterfeiting case (= Sherman's secondary-source basis)
• Project pr.2 Daniel Sr father search.md — Daniel Sr's own father search context

Open questions

• ** Sherman pp. 341, 368, 389 — additional Benjamin Cooper context.** Read these pages and capture any new data (possible references to post-pardon Cooper, Rev War mentions, business succession at Hibernia).
• ** Sherman p. 66 — separate Daniel Cooper context.** Likely earlier-period mention; capture.
• ** Sherman's source for "the father of Benjamin Cooper" judge-identification (p. 131).** Sherman wrote ~1900; what was his primary source? Likely Morris Co. court records (1754-1796 missing per Sherman p. 119), or oral tradition, or older Morris Co. histories. Identify and verify.
• ** The PRO B.T. New Jersey Vol VI ff 22 manuscript** (London) referenced via I.78 and Sherman's pre-Revolution period — original signed Daniel Cooper documents.
• ** Post-1773-pardon trajectory of Capt Benjamin.** Per Sherman p. 133 Capt Benjamin walked free Dec 1773 with full pardon. Per B.32 he commanded Lebanon Battalion Hunterdon militia by ~1776. The 3-year-gap arc from Hibernia counterfeiter (Morris Co.) to Hunterdon Co. militia captain is worth tracing — possible relocation following social fallout from the counterfeiting case.

Status notes

• Status [verbatim] — all data bullets quoted from Sherman pp. 117-135.
• Sherman represents a SINGLE-SOURCE published-history claim on the Daniel-Sr-as-Benjamin's-father identification (p. 117). However, the claim has multi-layer corroboration:
• I.78 primary-source Council proceedings 1749 confirm Daniel Sr's Morris Co. Quorum-justice office
• I.4 Littell family-records confirms Capt Benjamin = son of Daniel Sr at family-genealogy level
• The NJ Documents 1773 Council proceedings (per project pr.44 NJ Colonial Documents corpus scan.md) document Daniel Sr "providing affidavit in son's case" = independent published-primary-source bridge → The Sherman identification is therefore best characterized as multi-source-corroborated published-history, not isolated single-source.