Morris County NJ Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 1 1740-1754 (FamilySearch DGS 7903187), image 27 of 321, printed pp. 32-33 — Tuesday 24 March + Wednesday 25 March 1741 (MDCCXLI) General Sessions of the Peace + County Court for holding of Pleas at Morristown, NJ, in the fourteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second King. Daniel Cooper named in the afternoon session Justices list alongside Timothy Tuttle, with John Budd + Gersham Mott + Abraham Kitchel + Jacob Ford as Judges. = first image-verified Morris CCP minute-book attestation of Daniel Cooper Sr actually sitting as a Justice in court session, 18 months after his 1 September 1739 Quorum commission per [I.95](I.95.yaml). Closes the long-standing acquisition target identified at I.78 + I.94 + I.95 + [pr.3](../../projects/pr.3%20Daniel%20Sr%201749%20oath%20of%20allegiance%20%28RESOLVED%29.md) for primary-source Morris CCP record of Daniel Sr's judicial service. Plus full township-officer appointment lists for Hanover Twp + Morris Twp for the year ensuing.

Transcription and notes

First image-verified Morris CCP minute-book attestation of Daniel Cooper Sr sitting as a Justice

This entry catalogs Morris County Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 1 (1740-1754) image 27 = printed pages 32-33 = Tuesday 24 March MDCCXLI (1741) General Sessions of the Peace + County Court for holding of Pleas + Wednesday 25 March 1741 carry-over business. Daniel Cooper is named in the Justices present-list at the afternoon session.

Catalog significance:

• First image-verified Morris CCP record of Daniel Sr actively sitting as a Justice — 18 months after his 1 September 1739 Quorum-Justice commission per I.95, 6 years before the I.94 April 1747 Newark Rioter target event, and 8 years before the I.78 1749 Belcher re-commission + sworn affidavit. The Morris CCP minute book documents the actual exercise of his judicial office continuously from at least March 1741.
• Closes the "Morris CCP minute book" acquisition target named in I.78 + I.94 + I.95 + pr.3 — that target sought the actual oath-taking + court-business record of Daniel Sr, now home-accessible via FamilySearch DGS 7903187 + companion pr.55.

This is the first of an expected ≈ 11+ catalog entries to come from the maintainer's 2026-05-19 download of 30 unique Morris CCP Vol 1 images per the Morris CCP Vol 1 1740-1754 Daniel Cooper survey.

Source identification

Verbatim — page 33 (right page of image 27)

Header

The page is dated by the running header "March ye 24 MDCCXLI" (Tuesday 24 March 1741) and a date line in the body:

"At a County Court for holding of Pleas at Morristown in and for the County of Morris on the [fourth] Tuesday in March in ye fourteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second King &c"

= the fourth Tuesday in March 1741 — a regular quarterly sitting of the Morris CCP at Morristown.

Morning session present-list

"The Court of General Sessions of the peace [met] and opened according to ordinance

Present: John Rudd [= John Budd, OCR variant] Gersham Mott } Judges Abraham Kitche[l] Jacob Ford

Timothy Tuttle } Justice"

Grand Jury action

"The Granjury Being Called and sworn the Charge given to the Granjury in N° 16

The Court adjourned till two of the Clock in the afternoon"

Afternoon session present-list (post-2 PM adjournment)

"The Court met according to adjournment

Present: John Budd Gersham Moth } Judges Abraham Kitchel Jacob: Ford

Daniel Cooper } Justices Timothy Tuttle"

** This is the Daniel Cooper datum.** Daniel Cooper is listed as one of two Justices at the afternoon session of the Morris County CCP / General Sessions of the Peace on Tuesday 24 March 1741. He was not present at the morning session (where Tuttle alone is listed as Justice) — implying he arrived for the afternoon court business.

Township officer appointments — Hanover Twp

After the Justices list, the Court appointed the following officers for Hanover Twp for the year ensuing:

"Joseph Herriman — Recorder and Town Book Keeper Joseph [Tuttle] — Whole Assessor [= Assessor] Caleb [Ball] — Collector Noah Beach & Sam'l Ford — over of the highways [Surveyors of Highway] Barnabas Carter Juner & John Johnson Junr — Surveyors of highway Sam'l Hultman & Joseph Wood — over of the poor [Overseers of Poor] Seth Hall & Joseph Wood — Constable

also ordered that Joseph Herriman be continued Constable till the first day of May to serve those precepts which now [are] in his hands"

Township officer appointments — Morris Twp

"The following officers appointed by the Court for the township of Morris for the year ensuing, Viz:

Mathew Lam Clark — Recorder Robert Goble — Assessor Sam'l Lyon — Collector Caleb Fairchild + Robert Goble — Freeholders Jonathan Orson [Osborn] + Benjamin Hathaway + Jacob[us] Carle — Overseers of the poor Benjamin Bally + Thomas Cleverly — Surveyors of the highway Jacob Beidle + Isaac Whitehead — Constables Caleb Fairchild + Joseph Styles — Overseers of highway"

Carry-over business (left page = p. 32, dated Wednesday 25 March 1741)

"Wednesday March the 25 [continuation of carried-over business]

Ordered by the Court that the Plaintiff file there [their] declarations within 20 days after the Court and that the Defend[an]t plead within 20 days after thereafter or Judgment, the plantiff having served a coppy of the [writ] on the Defend[an]t in Custody or on the Sheriff where the rules of the practice the same is

Ordered also that the Defend[an]t have 20 [10?] days Liberty after Court for filing Special Bail before the Bail Bond be put in suit

Then the Court adjourned pursuant to ordinance"

What this source establishes

1. Daniel Cooper actively serving as Justice in Morris CCP by March 1741

This is the first image-verified primary-source attestation of Daniel Sr actually exercising his Quorum-Justice commission (vs. the I.95 1739 commissioning record + the indirect I.94 1747 letter referring to him as "Justice"). The 24 March 1741 session is 18 months after the I.95 commission and establishes a firm primary-source-image baseline for Daniel Sr's judicial career.

2. Daniel Sr likely lived OUTSIDE Morristown (afternoon-only attendance)

His absence from the morning session and presence at the afternoon session is consistent with him traveling from Long Hill (≈ 12 miles south of Morristown) to the courthouse for the day's business. This is corroborative with I.4 Littell's account of Daniel Sr's March 1732 removal to Passaic Valley + the Long Hill Township History 1984 guide identification of Cooper properties at present-day Long Hill Twp.

3. Justice-bench cohort: Timothy Tuttle is Daniel Sr's primary co-Justice in 1741

Where I.95 1739 commission named THREE Quorum Justices (Tuttle + Swisey + Daniel Cooper), by March 1741 only Tuttle is sitting alongside Daniel Cooper at this General Sessions of the Peace. Samuel Swisey is not listed — either absent this session, or no longer serving. This frames the Tuttle-Cooper pair as the working Quorum-Justice partnership during the early 1740s.

4. Discrepancy with I.95: "Gersham Mott" 1741 vs "John Mott" 1739

The 1739 commission at I.95 lists "John Mott" as one of the Judges of the Inferior CCP. The 1741 session at I.97 lists "Gersham Mott" as Judge. Possibilities: 1. Two different Motts both served as Judges in close succession (John 1739 → Gersham by 1741) 2. The 1739 record is "John Mott" misread; should be "Gersham Mott" 3. The 1741 record is misread; should be "John Mott"

Image-zoom verification of I.95 page 91 needed to disambiguate. The 1741 clerk's hand is clear on "Gersham Mott."

5. Township-officer rosters preserve Cooper-line social-network names

The Hanover + Morris Twp officer rosters at I.97 do NOT name Daniel Cooper Sr in any non-Judicial role (e.g., he is not Assessor, Constable, Surveyor, etc.) — consistent with him already holding the higher Quorum-Justice office. Names worth noting for Cooper-family-network cross-reference: - Caleb Fairchild (Coroner of Morris Co. per I.95 1739 commission + Freeholder + Overseer of Highway here) - Joseph Tuttle (Hanover Assessor — possibly the Joseph Tuttle who appears in I.78 1749 commission as a Justice of the Peace) - Jonathan Osborn (Morris Twp Overseer of Poor — name recurs across Newark Riots primary-source thread per I.78 Solomon Boyle 1749 deposition) - Caleb Ball (Hanover Collector — possible relative of Stephen Ball, surety on Daniel Sr's later bonds per other catalog entries)

What this source does NOT establish

• Daniel Sr's specific judicial actions on 24 March 1741 — the minute book lists him as present but the substantive court business that afternoon is summarized only as township appointments; no specific cases citing Daniel Sr's individual rulings.
• Daniel Sr's oath-taking ceremony — the minute book opens at this session as a routine sitting; the actual oath was administered at an earlier session (likely Fall 1739 after the 1 Sept 1739 commission, page TBD).
• Daniel Sr's place of residence — the afternoon-only attendance is suggestive but not definitive of non-Morristown residence.

Cross-references

• I.95 — Vol 15 1 Sept 1739 Burlington Council commission of Daniel Cooper as Quorum Justice for Morris Co. (the source commission for the office Daniel Sr is exercising at I.97).
• I.94 — Vol 6 April 1747 Newark Rioter letter naming "Justice Daniel Cooper" — continuation of Daniel Sr's Justice tenure 6 years after I.97.
• I.78 — Vol 7 + Vol 16 1749 Belcher re-commission + Daniel Sr's sworn affidavit — continuation 8 years after I.97.
• pr.3 — Daniel Sr's 1749 oath research; I.97 supports the officeholder-oath reading by establishing continuous Justice service 1739 → 1741 → 1747 → 1749.
• pr.7 — Maintainer's 1895-family-tree-cited "1739-1759 Justice tenure" — now primary-source-spanning-1741 confirmed.
• pr.55 — Morris CCP research thread; I.97 is the first catalog entry from this thread.
• Morris CCP Vol 1 1740-1754 Daniel Cooper survey — image inventory + categorization survey.
• fhl-films-registry.md — Morris CCP collection access details (DGS 7903187 home-viewable).

Open questions / follow-up

• Vol 1 Image 1-26 — pre-March-1741 sessions — these would contain Daniel Sr's first court appearance + likely his oath ceremony c. Fall 1739. NOT yet downloaded; should be acquisition target on next download pass.
• Reconcile Mott discrepancy — image-zoom of I.95 Vol 15 p. 91 to confirm "John Mott" vs "Gersham Mott."
• Image 28 (next sequential image, also downloaded as (image held in the family archive)) — likely continuation of 25 March 1741 + onset of next session. Pending its own catalog entry as part of the founding-session cluster.
• Joseph Tuttle identification — is he the same as the Joseph Tuttle who appears at I.78 1749 commission as JP? If so, his Hanover Assessor role here at age young-adult would document his Morris Co. career chain.