Document K.106 · deed · transcription: partial
Warren Co., N.J. Deeds Book 8, pp. 19-20 — deed of 25 September 1828, William Cooper and Nancy his wife of the Township of Mansfield, Warren Co., N.J., to George Mitchel of the same township; twenty-one hundredths of an acre for $3.15; acknowledged the same day before Commissioner Caleb H. Valentine, received and recorded 1st June 1830. FamilySearch DGS 008355703, images 31-32.
K.106: Warren Co., N.J. Deeds Book 8, pp. 19-20…People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Cooper | grantor | William Cooper 1781 | residence: 1828, Mansfield Twp, Warren Co., New Jersey |
| Nancy Cooper | grantor | Nancy Cooper ?–1828 candidate |
What this document records
🎯 what it settles
THE EXECUTION DATE, WHICH IS THE WHOLE POINT OF PULLING IT. Executed 25 September 1828 · recorded 1 June 1830 — a twenty-month lag. [D.638] enumerates a William Cooper household in Mansfield Twp on 1 June 1830 with NO adult female. Because [K.53]'s grantor index gives only the recording date, this deed looked as though it might place Nancy alive on census day and contradict that reading. It does not. Nancy was living on 25 September 1828 — she joined in the conveyance and was privately examined — and nothing here speaks to June 1830 at all. ⇒ The widower reading and this deed are fully compatible, and the tension recorded at [name.657] and William Cooper on 2026-09-28 is resolved in favour of both being right.
🔴 what it does not do
IT DOES NOT RECITE A CHAIN OF TITLE, so it does NOT link this William to William Cooper. That was the reason it was ranked the highest-value pull, on the argument that this family's deeds recite — [K.73] had to set out its decedent's purchase in full precisely because that 1802 purchase was never recorded ([K.26]). This one simply does not. After the metes it runs straight into the ordinary warranty — "are the lawful and right owners … not incumbered by any mortgage judgment dower recognizance or limitation" — and never says how William came by the parcel. So the identification of this William with the Wm Cooper heir of [K.73] remains exactly as untested as it was. The argument for it is still age + township + the Nancy match, and it is still not asserted.
⚠️ it is a boundary strip not a farm
Twenty-one hundredths of an acre for $3.15. That is a strip, not a holding — the description begins at "a stone corner between the said Mitchel and Conrad Henry", i.e. between two neighbours' lines. ⇒ This is a boundary adjustment between adjoining owners, which is also why no chain of title was worth reciting. It therefore does NOT establish that William owned a Mansfield farm — only that he owned, and could convey in fee, a sliver adjoining George Mitchel and Conrad Henry.
✅ the volume index confirms k53
Book 8's own front grantor index (image 8, the C-D opening) carries the line Cooper William & wife | To | George Mitchel | 19, read at 3-4×, with Clawson Jacob & wife → Ruff Crane Esq — 18. above it and Cummins Wesley → Elijah W. Cummins — 30. below. ⇒ [K.53]'s printed county index figure 8/19 is independently confirmed by the volume's own manuscript index.
⚖️ index and instrument disagree on the recording date
TWO RECORDS, TWO DATES, AND THE DISAGREEMENT IS NOT RESOLVED HERE. The deed book's own line reads Received and Recorded 1st June 1830, read at 2× off the page image. The county grantor index ([K.53]) gives June 11 1830. RETRACTION, same day: this entry first said "treat 11 Jun as a misreading of 1 Jun" and blamed [K.53]'s missing read_zoom. That was wrong and is withdrawn. FamilySearch's own full-text OCR of the index page — a machine reading, independent of this catalog — also returns June 11 1830 (Cooper Nancy al Wm ux George Mitchell 8 19 June 11 1830 Mansfield Two), from the PDF on disk at Real Estate/New Jersey/Warren County/Grantor Deed Indexes 1825-1911/img387 …. ⇒ [K.53] transcribed its source correctly. The INDEX and the DEED BOOK simply differ. Which is right is not something either document settles, and an index compiled later from the volumes could easily carry its own date. Nothing turns on it — the fact that matters is the execution date, 25 September 1828, which only the instrument gives. Cite the instrument's 1st June 1830 for the recording, and note the index's variant.
📌 provenance the images were already on disk
RECORDED BECAUSE IT COST A SESSION'S WORTH OF NAVIGATION. All three images were already in Docs/, downloaded and filed on 2026-07-09 at 14:01-14:02 — the same day [K.53] was transcribed — with the answer in their filenames ("img031 bk8 p18-19 COOPER Wm+Nancy Cooper to Mitchell (deed 8-19 start)"). The folder's (archive file) even records dated 1828, rec. 1 Jun 1830. They were never catalogued, so nothing in the repo pointed at them, and on 2026-09-28 the reel was navigated from scratch on FamilySearch and the same three frames re-downloaded byte-identical. The transcription below is new work; the acquisition was not. ⇒ See [[feedback_grep_the_docs_tree_not_just_the_catalog]].
Transcription and notes
Data from the document [partial]
The volume's own grantor index — Book 8, front matter (DGS 008355703, image 8, the C-D opening)
Read at 3-4×. The Cooper line, with its neighbours for context:
grantor grantee page "Clawson Jacob & wife" "To" "Ruff Crane Esq" 18. "Cooper William & wife" ""George Mitchel" 19. "Cummins Wesley" ""Elijah W. Cummins" 30.
The deed — Book 8, p. 19 (image 31, right-hand leaf, foot)
Marginal heading, in the clerk's hand:
"William Cooper / and wife / to / George Mitchel"
Opening, read at 2×:
"This Indenture made the twenty fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and twenty eight, Between William Cooper and Nancy his wife of the Township of Mansfield in the County of Warren and State of New Jersey, of the first part, and George Mitchel of the Township of Mansfield in the County of Warren and State of New Jersey of the second part…"
Consideration, read at 2× (the figure sits against the gutter shadow):
"…for and in consideration of the sum of Three dollars and fifteen [cents] …good and lawful money of the United States to them in hand well and truly paid by the said party of the second part, at and before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged…"
The premises — Book 8, p. 20 (image 32, left-hand leaf)
[desc]The metes-and-bounds courses are NOT transcribed — they were not cropped, and under RULE ZERO-B they are therefore not quoted. What is legible in the orienting view is that the description begins at a stone corner between "the said Mitchel and Conrad Henry" and runs four courses back to the place of beginning. Cropping them is atodo:above.- Closing of the description, read at 2×:
"…to the place of beginning twenty one hundreadths of an acre strict measure. Together with all and singular the profits privileges and advantages… the appurtenances to the same belonging…"
[desc]The covenant that follows is the ordinary warranty of seizin and against incumbrances — that the grantors "are the lawful and right owners", seized "as a good right and absolute estate of inheritance in fee simple", and that the premises are "not incumbered by any mortgage judgment dower recognizance or limitation". There is no recital of how William acquired the parcel.
Execution — Book 8, p. 20
"…the said William Cooper and Nancy Cooper his wife have hereunto set their hands and seals, the day and year first above written."
Subscription block, read at 2× (each name followed by a written seal device):
"Wm Cooper [Seal] · Nancy [her mark] Cooper [Seal]"
"Signed sealed and delivered in the presence of Caleb H. Valentine"
Acknowledgment — Book 8, pp. 20-21
[desc]State of New Jersey, Warren County. Before Caleb H. Valentine, one of the Commissioners for taking acknowledgments and proofs of deeds, on the twenty fifth day of September 1828 — i.e. the same day the deed was executed — personally appeared William Cooper and Nancy his wife, who acknowledged that they signed, sealed and delivered the same.- The privy examination, at the head of p. 21, read at 2× in part:
"…And the said Nancy Cooper being by me privately examined separate and apart from her husband did acknowledge that she signed sealed and delivered the same freely without any fear threat or compulsion from her husband…"
Recording
"Received and Recorded 1st June 1830" — followed by Caleb H. Valentine and the clerk's name, Halsted.
Read at 2×. [K.53] gives 11 Jun 1830 for this row; the instrument says 1st June.
Illegible / uncertain
- The consideration's "cents" word runs into the gutter shadow; the figure reads "Three
dollars and fifteen" clearly, and the unit is taken to be cents from the sense.
[?] - The clerk's surname on the recording line reads "Halsted"; only the first six letters were
cropped.
[?] - The abutter "Conrad Henry" is read from the orienting view, not from a crop.
[?]