Document K.41 · Land Records / Court Records / NJSA Searchable Databases · transcription: verbatim
NJ Supreme Court Case File #2308 Joseph Burdge & William Crawford (Executors of Richard Morris dec'd) v. James Cooper — Debt on Bond £200, Middlesex & Morris, 1769–1770 — manuscript-read (NJSA free View-PDF, declaration transcribed). The debtor is 'James Cooper … of the Township of ROXBURY in the County of Morris' (declaration p.5, re-read at 240 DPI) — i.e. a Roxbury-Morris (fam.2 Nathan-Cooper territory) James Cooper, NOT the Piscataway/Middlesex man of this entry's first (corrected) draft. £200 bond to Richard Morris executed at Perth Amboy (24 Nov, cover-dated 1761), sealed by James Cooper. Daniel Cooper Jr. (Sheriff of Morris) executing official ([K.30](K.30.yaml) row 60). Companion case #4825 (same Richard-Morris 1761 bond, vs William Salmon) names this James Cooper as bail + co-obligor. Recorded in [name.7](../../names/name.7%20James%20Cooper.md).
Transcription and notes
Correction note (2026-05-30, same day)
This entry's first draft (2026-05-30 night) read the debtor's residence as "Piscataway, Middlesex Co." and built a Grace-Runyon/Coriell-Piscataway (pr.16/pr.63) relevance on it. That was a misreading — corrected the same day after the maintainer ran a James-Cooper Supreme Court sweep (K.43) in which the NJSA index labels this exact case's defendant "Cooper, James (of Roxbury)." A 240-DPI re-render of declaration p.5 confirms the manuscript reads "James Cooper … of the Township of Rox[-]bury in the County of Morris" (the word breaks "Rox-/bury" across two lines; "County of Morris" is clearly legible). The earlier "Piscataway/Middlesex" arose from conflating the bond's execution site (Perth Amboy, Middlesex) with the obligor's residence (Roxbury, Morris). The corrected residence places this James Cooper in fam.2 (Roxbury Nathan-Cooper) territory, not the Daniel-Sr-Piscataway orbit.
Source identification
| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | New Jersey State Archives — Supreme Court of New Jersey, Case Files 1704–1844 (SSV00001) |
| Case # | 2308 |
| NJSA cover description | "Joseph Burdge and William Crawford (Executors of Richard Morris, deceased) v. James Cooper / Debt on Bond (from 1761; £200 current lawful money of the Province of New Jersey at eight shillings the ounce) / Middlesex and Morris : 1769 – 1770" |
| NJSA James-Cooper index label | "Cooper, James (of Roxbury) (Defendant)" (K.43) |
| Parties | PLAINTIFFS Joseph Burdge + William Crawford (Executors of Richard Morris, dec'd); DEFENDANT James Cooper of Roxbury Twp, Morris Co.; OFFICIAL Cooper, Daniel Jr. (Sheriff of Morris) |
| Local PDF | (image held in the family archive) (19 images = NJSA cover + folder + manuscript: declaration, bond, bills of cost, writs + endorsements) |
| Downloaded | 30 May 2026 by maintainer (free "View PDF" from the NJSA Supreme Court portal, per K.30 free-download follow-up) |
VERBATIM — The Declaration (PDF p.5, re-read at 240 DPI)
New Jersey Supreme Court. Of the Term of September in the Ninth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third King &c. Middlesex County ss. Joseph Burdge & William Crawford Executors of the last Will & Testament of Richard Morris Deceased complain of James Cooper hereinafter called James Cooper [in] the Township of Roxbury in the County of Morris … in Custody &c on a plea that he render unto him the Sum of Two hundred pounds Current Lawful money of this Province … at Eight Shillings the Ounce, which he unjustly detains … for this, to Wit, That whereas the said James Cooper on the twenty four[th] Day of November in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & sixty [one — cover; manuscript digit ambiguous] at Perth Amboy in the County of Middlesex by his Certain Writing Obligatory, Sealed with the Seal of him the said James Cooper … acknowledges himself to be Held & firmly bound to the said Richard Morris in his Life time, in the said Two hundred pounds … & when … thereunto Required … Nevertheless the said James Cooper [hath not paid] … to the said Joseph Burdge [&] William Crawford after the death of the said Richard Morris … to the Damage … Twenty pounds, & therefore they bring their Suit &c. And … produce herein Court the Letters Testamentary of the said Richard Morris …
Key datum: the debtor is James Cooper of the Township of Roxbury, Morris County — bound to Richard Morris by a £200 writing obligatory executed at Perth Amboy (24 November, cover-dated 1761), sealed by James Cooper. Richard Morris (d. by 1769) was the NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice + a Perth Amboy resident, which explains the Perth Amboy execution site for a Roxbury obligor.
Disambiguation — which James Cooper?
James Cooper of Roxbury Twp, Morris Co. — Roxbury is the seat of the fam.2 Nathan Cooper line (Nathan I × Mary Miller → Nathan II etc.). The James-Cooper Supreme Court sweep (K.43) shows a recurring Roxbury/Morris James Cooper in direct litigation with the Roxbury Nathans: - Case 6468 — James Cooper v. Nathan Cooper, Debt, Middlesex 1747. - Case 34523 — State v. Nathan Cooper Jr., Assault & Battery, Morris 1781, with James Cooper as victim. - Case 4825 — the companion of THIS case (same Richard-Morris 1761 £200 bond, vs William Salmon): James Cooper "Bail for William Salmon; also on 1761 Bond."
Candidate identity (hypothesis, NOT a locked identification): the fam.2 James Cooper, son of Nathan Cooper I × Mary Miller of Roxbury — "V. James, prob. s. of Nathan" who "gave a mortgage, 1770, to Wm. Allen on 96 acres in 'Breeches Tract,' next to Moses Cooper" per Chambers I.138 + Hockenbary I.140 (already noted in name.7). The 1747 James-v-Nathan + 1781 Nathan-Jr-assaults-James litigation fit an intra-fam.2 James. Recorded in name.7; not promoted to a p.N pending more attestation. Distinct from p.226 James Cooper of Morris Co. 1755, A.70 James Cooper of Hanover 1824, and the fam.1 LI James Coopers (p.212 / p.213).
Manuscript content (not fully transcribed)
Standard Debt-on-Bond paperwork: declaration (above), the original/copied bond (sealed by James Cooper — a potential James-Cooper signature exemplar, not yet zoomed), bills of cost (itemized columnar pages), royal writs + dorse endorsements (Daniel Cooper Jr. as Sheriff of Morris). Boilerplate not individually transcribed at this pass.
Follow-ups
- Download the FREE View-PDF of companion Case 4825 (Burdge & Crawford v. William Salmon; James Cooper bail + 1761 co-obligor) — would clarify the James-Cooper ↔ William-Salmon 1761-bond relationship. Note: a William Salmon is also a witness on the 1763 Benjamin-Manning bond (K.40) — same Roxbury/Morris network.
- Test the fam.2 candidate identity — pull the 1770 Wm. Allen "Breeches Tract" 96-ac mortgage (per I.138/I.140) + Roxbury-Twp records for James Cooper ca. 1745–1785; compare any signature with the 2308 bond seal.
- Zoom the 2308 bond page for James Cooper's signature/seal exemplar.
Cross-references
- K.30 NJ Supreme Court Daniel Cooper search — index source (this case = row 60).
- K.43 NJ Supreme Court James Cooper search — the sweep that surfaced the "of Roxbury" label + the James↔Nathan Roxbury litigation + companion Case 4825.
- name.7 James Cooper — name-occurrence index (this Roxbury James Cooper).
- I.138 Chambers + I.140 Hockenbary — fam.2 "James, prob. s. of Nathan" + Breeches-Tract mortgage 1770.
- p.79 Daniel Cooper Jr — Sheriff of Morris in this matter.