Warren Co., N.J. Road Books, book pages 46-47 — the return of a public road two rods wide in the Township of Mansfield, laid out on the application of William Cooper and others by order of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, June 1828; the surveyors met at the house of William Cooper in the township of Mansfield on 18 June 1828. Received 5 July 1828, recorded 20 July 1828. FamilySearch film 008714075, image 43.

What this document records

🎯🎯 what it establishes a dated house in mansfield

WILLIAM COOPER HAD A HOUSE IN MANSFIELD TOWNSHIP ON 18 JUNE 1828, AND THE COUNTY'S SURVEYORS MET IN IT. That is an independent, dated, physical placement — three months earlier than [K.106] (25 Sep 1828), which had been the catalog's earliest Mansfield evidence for him. And he is the LEAD APPLICANT: the road was laid out "on the application of William Cooper and others, more than ten of the freeholders and residents of said County". A man who petitions the Common Pleas for a public road, and whose house the surveyors use as their meeting place, is a settled freeholder of some standing in that township — not a labourer or a tenant.

🔑 why it matters to the p2090 p12 question

[K.107] shows a William Cooper of Kingwood, Hunterdon selling ~150 acres in Mansfield in 1833. The obvious objection has always been: was he ever actually THERE? This answers that — in June 1828 a William Cooper's house in Mansfield was substantial enough to host a county road survey, and he was the man who applied for the road. It does NOT prove the two Williams are one man, and nothing here names a wife, a child or a parent. Not asserted. But it removes the "he was only ever a Hunterdon man" objection and fits a 150-acre Mansfield farm far better than a 0.21-acre strip does. It is equally consistent with William Cooper being a distinct Mansfield man — the argument lives at William Cooper and William Cooper, not here.

✅ the neighbourhood and a shared official with k106

Five surveyors signed, with their townships annotated: Isaac Shusman[?] · Adam Runkle and Henry Miller braced Mansfield · Caleb H Valentine and Daniel Blict[?] braced Independence. Caleb H. Valentine is the same man who, three months later, took the acknowledgment of [K.106] — "before me Caleb H. Valentine one of the Commissioners for taking acknowledgments of proofs of deeds", 25 Sep 1828 — and witnessed it. The same local official appears in both records, which is ordinary for a small county but does corroborate that [K.106]'s grantor and this road's applicant move in one neighbourhood. The clerk is the same too: this return is recorded by Halsted Clk, and [K.106]'s recording line reads Halsted.

🎯🎯 and he is a named abutting landowner at the terminus

THE ROAD ENDS AT A CORNER OF WILLIAM COOPER'S OWN LAND. The final course closes: "… to a stake and stone, corner to William Cooper and the heirs of John R. Marlat[t]" — read at 2×. So he is not merely the applicant and the host: he is a NAMED ABUTTING LANDOWNER. That is a direct statement that a William Cooper OWNED LAND in Mansfield Township in June 1828, adjoining the heirs of John R. Marlat[t] — five years before [K.107] sells ~150 Mansfield acres. Still does not name a wife, child or parent, and still does not choose between William Cooper and William Cooper. Not asserted.

✅ the route - the morris canal corridor through mansfield

Read at 1:1 native resolution. The road is two rods wide and runs roughly 97 chains (~1.2 miles) from the canal to Cooper's corner: begins at a stake at the Canal Bridge near the house of John R. Brown · (1) S 31° W 15 chains to a stake near the Canal · (2) S 58° W 20 chains to a stake near the Canal Basin, on the land of Joseph Philips · (3) N 88° W 40 chains 80 links to the south east corner of John Smith's land · (4) through lands of Henry Albert, S 69° W 14 chains to a stake · (5) S 55° W 7 chains 80 links to a stake and stone, corner to William Cooper and the heirs of John R. Marlat[t]. Five abutters named: John R. Brown · Joseph Philips · John Smith · Henry Albert · the heirs of John R. Marlat[t] — and William Cooper at the end. The Morris Canal is the anchor: a Canal Bridge at one end and a Canal Basin two courses in. The canal reached this part of Warren County in the later 1820s, which is why new roads were being petitioned for at exactly this date.

🔄 three orient level readings corrected

Three names first recorded from the ORIENTING VIEW were wrong, and are corrected here from the native-resolution crop. Recorded rather than silently fixed, because it is RULE ZERO-B in miniature — all three were plausible, confident misreadings of a downscaled view. • "John H. Brown" → John R. Brown • "Joseph Puchta[?]" → Joseph Philips • "the heirs of John H. Mode[?]" → the heirs of John R. Marlat[t] And one abutter was missed entirely from the orienting view: John Smith, whose south-east corner is course 3's endpoint.