The Coopers of Long Hill

Document K.13 · Land Records and Deeds · transcription: verbatim

NJSA Early Land Records — Daniel Cooper Jr (Deputy Surveyor) 2 March 1758 survey return for heirs of John Harrison of Rocky Hill — 81.2 acres at Dead River, original 100-acre tract that John Harrison had conveyed to John Pound of Piscataway in May 1735 but never surveyed. = EARLIEST PRIMARY-SOURCE-ATTESTED Daniel Cooper Jr Deputy-Surveyor record in Middlesex Co. catalog. Signed by Thomas Bartow, Surveyor General. Cross-referenced to a 26 Apr 1758 council-of-proprietors warrant to Harrison's heirs for 1671.95 acres unappropriated in the Eastern Division of New Jersey 'except Romopock', and to a related Phineas Cox 2 Jun 1758 survey covering the residual ~82 acres of the Pound tract (S.N°2 page 280).

Transcription and notes

Source identification

Element Value
Repository NJ State Archives — Survey/Warrant Book 4 (1754-1762)
Reference S4 (EJ Surveys) Folio 145 (PEASJ003)
Date of survey return signing 2 March 1758 by Tho's. Bartow, Surv'r Gen'l
Date of recording 30 March 1758 (per "Recorded March the thirtieth 1758. Examined and Agrees with the Original. John Smyth Sur° Gen°")
Acquired NJSA portal "View PDF" — image downloaded 23 May 2026 by maintainer
Local file (image held in the family archive)
Discovery context K.11 Middlesex Cooper search Record 2 — verbatim manuscript transcription. Modeled on K.5 pattern from K.4 for catalog-defining records.

Verbatim manuscript transcription

[Beginning of survey-return body, mid-folio] ...Whereas John Harrison late of Rocky Hill deceased by Deed bearing date the [—] day of May 1735 and recorded in Book A. N°2. Page 246, did convey to John Pound of Piscataway now also deceased one hundred Acres of Land strict Measure near Dead River bounded and described in the said Deed which Land hath never been Surveyed or returned but recorded for the said John Harrison nor was afterwards for the said Pound. There was [—] a Return of Survey of a Tract of Land was made to Phineas Cox bearing date the second day of June 1749 [confirmed by 6x zoom 2026-05-23 maintainer-flag; previously misread by claude as 1758] and Recorded in Book S. N°2. Page 280. And whereas a Warrant was granted by the Council of Proprietors to the heirs or Assigns of the said John Harrison For sixteen hundred and seventy one Acres and ninety five hundredths of an Acre to be Surveyed in any Place unappropriated in the Eastern Division of New Jersey except Romopock, in order for Returning to such Purchasers the Lands purchased or in Case of the Land being taken up by others then a like Quantity in Lieu thereof for the said Warrant which bears date the twenty sixth day of April 1758 and is recorded in Book W. N°4. Page 3.

Now these do Certify that Daniel Cooper Jun° being duly Deputed and Sworn to the Intent therein after mentioned did Survey part of the said Tract conveyed to the said John Pound and part of the Tract afsd returned to Phineas Cox and lath ye [—] that the said Land returned to Cox doth Include all but eighteen Acres and eight tenths of an Acre strict Measure (now Surveyed for the heirs or Assigns of the said John Harrison) of the Land Purchased by John Pound asafsd. Whereof are the heirs or Assigns of the said John Harrison by Virtue of the warrant afsd are Intitled to eighty one Acres and two tenths strict Measure or seventy seven Acres and three hundred thirty four thousandths including Allowance for highways. Witness my hand this second day of March 1758. Tho's. Bartow [Surv'r Gen'l].

Examined and agrees with the Original. The Blank in the second Line above Witness in the Original. John Smyth Sur° G° [Surveyor General — successor; certification of recopy]

Key elements extracted

Element Value
Surveyor (deputy who did the work) Daniel Cooper Jun° (= p.79 Daniel Cooper Jr 1729-1787)
Surveyor General (signatory) Tho's. Bartow
Recording certification (later) John Smyth, Sur° G° (Surveyor General)
Tract location Near Dead River, Middlesex County (= Dead River branch of the Passaic; same Dead River as Daniel Jr's 1761 K.14 Beaver Brook/Rockaway tract is geographically nearby in adjacent Morris Co.)
Acreage 81.2 acres strict measure / 77.334 net after highways allowance
Survey return signing date 2 March 1758
Recording date 30 March 1758
For whom Heirs or assigns of John Harrison late of Rocky Hill, deceased
Underlying chain of title (1) John Harrison conveyed 100 acres near Dead River to John Pound of Piscataway by deed [—] May 1735 (recorded A. N°2. p.246). (2) Pound also deceased by 1758, original 100-acre conveyance never surveyed. (3) Phineas Cox second day of June 1749 survey (S. N°2. p.280) covered most of Pound's land — i.e. Cox acquired ~77.23-acre net portion 14 years after the Harrison-Pound deed (= roughly the time of Pound's death, suggesting Cox bought it from Pound or his estate). (4) Council of Proprietors granted warrant 26 April 1758 (W. N°4. p.3) to John Harrison's heirs for 1,671.95 unappropriated acres in Eastern Division of NJ "except Romopock" as compensation for the Pound-Cox transfer (= late re-balancing 23 years after the original Harrison-Pound deed). (5) This K.13 survey returned the residual 81.2 acres of the original Pound 100-acre tract for Harrison's heirs PLUS the remainder from the unappropriated 1671.95-acre warrant; 18.8 acres were the Pound residual + 62.4 acres from elsewhere = 81.2 strict / 77.334 net.
Cross-references in document Book A. N°2. p.246 (1735 Harrison-Pound deed); Book S. N°2. p.280 (1758 Cox survey); Book W. N°4. p.3 (1758 warrant)

Chronological note: warrant-after-survey

The Council-of-Proprietors warrant to Harrison's heirs (26 April 1758) is dated AFTER the survey return signed by Bartow on 2 March 1758. Two interpretations: - (a) Retroactive warrant — the survey was field-completed early 1758, but the formal proprietary warrant authorizing the conveyance was processed/recorded later. Common 18th-c. EJ Proprietor practice when boundary work outpaced administrative backlog. - (b) The 2 March 1758 date is the Surveyor General's certification re-signing of a survey field-completed in February or earlier, with the formal proprietary warrant subsequently granted on 26 April 1758. The "John Smyth" certification at the foot of the entry suggests this was recopied or re-certified by Smyth (who became Surveyor General after Bartow's tenure) — implying the 2 March 1758 entry may have been formally recorded later, with Smyth examining and certifying the original Bartow signature against the recopied text.

Either way: Daniel Cooper Jr's actual field work on this Dead River 81.2-acre tract occurred in early 1758, completing the long-deferred survey of John Pound's 1735 deeded land near 23 years after the original Harrison-Pound conveyance.

Catalog significance

Primary-source-locks Daniel Cooper Jr's EJ Proprietor Deputy-Surveyor role in Middlesex Co. by early 1758 (age 28-29). This is the earliest manuscript-attested Daniel Jr deputy-surveyor record in the catalog's Middlesex Co. coverage; cross-link to K-section Morris Co. attestations of his Deputy-Surveyor career 1754-1774 (per p.79 frontmatter).

Names John Pound of Piscataway (deceased by 1758) — early-18th-c. Piscataway proprietary-tier landowner whose 1735 100-acre Dead River purchase from John Harrison sat unsurveyed for 23 years. Family-context value for p.148 Grace Runyon Cooper Piscataway origin trace.

Names John Harrison late of Rocky Hill — same Harrison family as the John Harrison who appears as grantor + grantee in numerous early-18th-century Cooper land transactions (K.11 Records 19, 20, 30 = Thomas Cooper × Harrison Cranberry Brook 1703-1704; K.12 Record 5 = Harrison heirs 1766 resurvey overlapping Peter Runyon's 1744 Ambrose Brook tract). Suggests Harrison-family multigenerational presence as Eastern Division land syndicate.

Phineas Cox survey (= 2 Jun 1758 S2.280) — companion record acquired through paid NJSA request. Not yet pulled. Records who acquired the remainder ~82 acres of the original Pound tract.

Cross-references

Follow-ups