Morris County NJ Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 1 1740-1754 (FamilySearch DGS 7903187), image 142 of 321, printed pp. 242-243 — Tuesday 28 March 1749 General Sessions of the Peace + County Court at Morristown. Daniel Cooper named as sole Justice present alongside Judges Gersham Mott + John Lindsly + Jacob Ford. = THE SAME DAY as the [I.78](I.78.yaml) Belcher Council session at Burlington that re-commissioned Daniel Cooper as Justice of the Quorum. Daniel Sr was at Morris CCP at Morristown holding court at the very moment the Council was reappointing him at Burlington ≈ 50 miles south — establishing continuity of his judicial service across the new commission. Plus complete township-officer-appointment rosters for Hanover, Morris, Wasock (Walpack), Roxbury (which lists Nathan Cooper Junr = fam.2 Nathan Jr 1725-1797 as Roxbury Twp officer), and Pequannock. Plus Vol 1 page 242 = December 28 1748 Uzal Ogden + Josiah Ogden + Joseph Higbie civil-suit business immediately preceding.

Transcription and notes

Daniel Sr exercising the Morris CCP commission at the same moment Belcher was reappointing him at Burlington — continuity of judicial service across the I.95 → I.78 commission boundary

This entry catalogs Morris County Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 1 (1740-1754) image 142 = printed pages 242-243 = Tuesday 28 March 1749 Morris County General Sessions of the Peace + County Court at Morristown. Daniel Cooper is named as sole Justice present at the session.

Cross-source temporal coincidence:

Per I.78 (NJ Archives Series I Vol 16 pp. 89-91): on 28 March 1749 at Burlington, Gov. Jonathan Belcher in Council commissioned Daniel Cooper of Morris County as Justice of the Quorum of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, alongside Abraham Vancompen. Burlington is ≈ 50 miles south of Morristown.

This entry (I.98) shows that on the SAME DAY at Morristown, Daniel Cooper was already in court holding the Morris CCP / General Sessions of the Peace as sole Justice present, with Judges Gersham Mott, John Lindsly, and Jacob Ford. He physically could not have been at both places in a single day on 18th-century travel times. Therefore:

1. The Burlington Council commission was issued in his absence — Crown commissions did not require the appointee's presence at the issuing body.
2. Daniel Sr's actual oath under the new I.78 commission was administered later, likely at the next Morris CCP session, before a fellow Judge or Justice authorized to administer oaths.
3. His exercise of judicial office on 28 March 1749 (per this I.98 entry) was under his existing 1739 I.95 commission, with the new I.78 commission taking effect upon swearing-in.
4. By 14 April 1749 he had taken the new oath, per I.78 Vol 7 pp. 275-276 sworn affidavit where he signed "Daniel Cooper Esq One of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Morris" — the new title-formula consistent with the just-issued commission.

Catalog significance: establishes continuity of Daniel Sr's judicial service across the 1749 commission renewal — there was no gap; he was actively sitting in court the very day his new commission was being voted on.

Source identification

Verbatim — page 243 (right page, 28 March 1749 session header)

"At a General Sessions of the Peace and County Court for holding of Pleas at Morris Town, in and for our said County of Morris in the fourth Tuesday in March — 1749

March 28 the County Court for holding of Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace met and opened

Present — Gersham Mott } John Lindsly } Judges Jacob Ford }

Daniel Cooper } [Justice — singular, sole Justice present that day]

The Grand Jury being called over sworn and sent out in N° 21"

Verbatim — page 243 township-officer roster (excerpt focusing on Cooper-line and Roxbury)

The full township-officer roster runs to a full page in OCR text; the catalog-relevant excerpts are:

"Officers appointed by the Court for the County of Morris

[Hanover Town Ship:] Joseph Harriman — Clerk Daniel Tuttle — Assessor Joseph Kitchel — Collector David Wheeler + Ephraim Price + [_] — Freeholders Joseph Allen + Peter Roome — Overseers of Poor Daniel [Lum?] — [role] James Pierson + Hendrick Vanness — Surveyors of Road Saml Ford + Jacob Peer — Overseers of Highway Jeremiah Geming — [role]

[Morris Twp:] Matthew Lum — Clerk Robert Gable — Assessor Mathew Lum — Collector Benj Hathaway + [_] — Freeholders Ezekiel Cheever + Peter Candiet — Overseers of Poor James Frost + Thomas Darling — Surveyors of Road

[Wasock = Walpack Twp:] Nicholas Amens — Clerk Cornelia Vannaten — Collector Benjamin Depue — Assessor John Van Campen + Derrick Westbrook — Freeholders William Vangorder + Jacob Vannater — Surveyors Abraham Carman + Harman Rosekrance — Overseers of Poor Benjamin Smith — Overseer of Road

[for the Town Ship of Roxbury] Abraham Vantillbory — [Clerk] [...] Nathan Cooper Junr [role unclear in OCR; image-verification needed to determine specific role assigned]

[Grinwich Town Ship:] William Schooly — Clerk Patrick Rixson — Assessor James Harker — Collector Joseph Warford + Daniel Budd — Freeholders William Henry — Freeholder John Bowle — Overseer of Poor Michel Henry + Jabish Bell — Overseer of Road James Hanna + Godfroe Mereth — Overseer of Road"

Verbatim — page 242 (left page, immediately preceding December 28 1748 cases)

The left page (p. 242) contains the carried-over civil suits from December 1748:

"Uzal Ogden ag Caleb Fairchild Esq — in Debt for the escape of Timothy Connor; on motion of Mr Ogden Attorney for the plantiff. It's ordered that the Defend[an]t Enter his appearance setting the Court or before closed his priviledge. The Defend appears. On motion of Mr Ogden ordered that the Defend plead within 20 days After service of a copy of the Declaration for Judgment.

Josiah Ogden ag Caleb Fairchild Esq — in Debt for the escape of Timothy Connor [companion case]. On motion of Mr Ogden Attorney for the plantiff: It's ordered that the Defendant Enter his appearance sitting the Court or be foreclosed his priviledge. The Defendant appears. On motion of Mr Ogden ordered that the Defend plead within 20 days after Service of a copy of the Declaration or Judgment.

Joseph Higbie ag Richard Morril — [debt suit]. The Sheriff having acknowledged the Receipts of the Declaration Upwards of 20 Days past on motion of Mr White the Court orders Judge[ment by default]

Ordered by the Court that the plantiffs file their Declar[ations] within 20 days after the Court and that the Defendant plead within 20 days thereafter or Judgment. The plantiff having served a copy of the [writ] or Defendant in Custody whereof the Rules of the practice the same is. Ordered also that the Defendants have 20 Days Liberty after the Court for filing Speciall Bale Before the Bail Bond be put in Suit.

The Court adjourned pursuant to Ordinance Saml Governer Clk"

Cooper datum: Daniel Sr is NOT named in the December 28 1748 civil business — he was not present at that session. The page p. 242 establishes the calendar context (= late 1748 session running into the March 1749 quarterly session).

What this source establishes

1. Daniel Sr was sitting at Morris CCP on 28 March 1749 — the same day Belcher was reappointing him at Burlington

This is the strongest possible primary-source demonstration of continuity of Daniel Sr's judicial service. He was already in court holding the Quorum-Justice office when Belcher's Council voted to renew his commission. The new commission was a formality of the British colonial system; his actual service never lapsed.

2. Daniel Sr was the SOLE Justice present at this session

Whereas the 1741 session at I.97 had Daniel Cooper + Timothy Tuttle as Justices, by March 1749 only Daniel Cooper appears. Possibilities: - Tuttle had died / retired / been removed by March 1749 (per I.78 1749 commission, Tuttle is not named — supporting retirement/removal) - Other Quorum Justices commissioned in 1739 (Samuel Swisey) were similarly absent - Daniel Sr was the senior surviving Quorum Justice in Morris Co. by 1749

This positions Daniel Sr as the lead Quorum Justice in Morris Co. on the eve of the I.78 Belcher recommissioning event.

3. Nathan Cooper Junr first court-record appearance — Roxbury Twp officer 1749

This is the first image-verified primary-source appearance of fam.2 Nathan Cooper Jr 1725-1797 in the Morris CCP minute book. He is named as a Roxbury Twp officer at age 24 in 1749 — early adulthood, taking on local civic responsibilities. Consistent with fam.2's profile of the Roxbury Cooper family. Out-of-scope for Daniel-Sr-line research but a useful disambiguation datum.

4. Caleb Fairchild as Morris Co. Sheriff December 1748

The Uzal Ogden + Josiah Ogden cases of 28 December 1748 are "in Debt for the escape of Timothy Connor" — a typical sheriff-escape suit where the Sheriff is sued for negligence after a prisoner escapes custody. Caleb Fairchild is the defendant. This establishes Caleb Fairchild as Morris Co. Sheriff in late 1748 — predating Daniel Sr's 1753-1761 Sheriff tenure per Honeyman M.24. Career progression for Caleb Fairchild: Coroner 1739 (I.95) → Overseer of Highway 1741 (I.97) → Sheriff 1748-49 (here at I.98).

5. Justices' bench reduced in 1749 = pressure for Belcher recommissioning

The fact that Daniel Sr was the SOLE Justice present at the 28 March 1749 session — combined with the Belcher reappointment of two Quorum Justices (Daniel Cooper + Abraham Vancompen) on the same day per I.78 Vol 16 — suggests the Morris Co. Quorum bench had become understaffed by early 1749, prompting Belcher's reappointment action. The catalog timeline: 1739 commission had 3 Quorum Justices (Cooper, Tuttle, Swisey); 1741 session I.97 had 2 present (Cooper, Tuttle); 1745 session Img090 had Cooper as 1 of 4 Justices (4 listed: Cooper + Vandyne + Anderson + Price); 28 March 1749 session had Cooper as sole Justice = decreasing bench. The Belcher 1749 reappointment likely refreshed the bench.

What this source does NOT establish

• Daniel Sr's specific case rulings on 28 March 1749 — the page lists him as present but the substantive court business that day was township appointments + Grand Jury opening; no specific case rulings by Daniel Sr are recorded.
• The exact role Nathan Cooper Junr held at Roxbury — OCR is unclear on the specific township-officer position. Image-verification needed.
• The date of Daniel Sr's actual oath under the new I.78 commission — was administered at a later Morris CCP session; would be in a subsequent Img after Img142. Acquisition target.

Cross-references

• I.78 — NJ Archives Series I Vol 16 pp. 89-91: 28 March 1749 Belcher Council commission of Daniel Cooper as Justice of the Quorum at Burlington. Same date as this I.98 entry, establishing the temporal coincidence.
• I.78 — NJ Archives Series I Vol 7 pp. 275-276: 14 April 1749 Daniel Sr sworn affidavit signed "Daniel Cooper Esq One of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Morris" = post-recommissioning attestation.
• I.95 — NJ Archives Series I Vol 15 p. 91: 1 September 1739 Lewis Morris commission as Quorum Justice (original commission Daniel Sr was operating under at I.98).
• I.97 — Morris CCP Minute Book Vol 1 image 27 = 24 March 1741 General Sessions; Daniel Cooper + Timothy Tuttle as Justices. Earlier-in-Vol-1 companion to I.98.
• I.94 — Vol 6 22 April 1747 Ogden letter naming "Justice Daniel Cooper" of Morris Co.; ≈ 23 months before I.98.
• pr.55 — Morris CCP research thread.
• Morris CCP Vol 1 1740-1754 Daniel Cooper survey — image inventory.
• fam.2 Roxbury Chester Twp Morris Co Cooper — Nathan Cooper Jr identification.
• M.24 — Honeyman 1912 Morris Co. office-date summary; Caleb Fairchild's Sheriff tenure (late 1748 per I.98) precedes Daniel Sr's 1753-1761 tenure.

Open questions / follow-up

• RESOLVED 2026-06-09 — the new commission took effect at the July 1749 term (Vol 1 Img147, book pp.252-253). That session's minute opens: "[July Term 1749] His Excellency Jonathan Belcher having given out [the new] Commission for the Judges and Justices of the Inferior Court … and General Sessions of the Peace…" and seats the bench — Judges Jacob Ford + Ebenezer Page; Justices Benjamin Hathaway, Daniel Cooper, Joseph Wither, Robert Gold Esq, Jonathan Pettit (Grand Jury sworn in N° 16). So Daniel Cooper was sworn/seated as a Justice under the renewed I.78 commission at the July 1749 Morris CCP term. No verbatim oath wording is recorded — the minute logs the commission being "given out" + the bench + business, not the literal allegiance/supremacy/abjuration oath text (period practice; relevant to pr.3 RESOLVED). (Img147 also: Luke Johnson tavern-license petition with Daniel Cooper + Job Cass as sureties; "Nathaniel Cooper" of fam.2 as litigant vs Caleb Fairchild / Jonathan Osborn. Worth its own I-entry if the July-1749 commission session is catalogued.)
• Image-verify Nathan Cooper Junr's specific Roxbury Twp role — OCR ambiguous; image-zoom of Img142 right-side Roxbury Twp block needed.
• Caleb Fairchild's Sheriff tenure — what year did he begin? What year did he end / pass to Daniel Sr (1753 per Honeyman)? Search Vol 1 + Vol 2-3 for the Sheriff appointment record.
• Whatever happened to Timothy Tuttle post-1741 (last appearance at I.97) — death, removal, retirement? Per pr.44 corpus scan would not appear in NJ Archives post-1741 as a Justice.