Document K.56 · Land Records · transcription: verbatim
Deeds: John Cooper of Independence BUYS ~20 acres -- Ellen Hart -> John Cooper ($122.98, 5.36 ac, 1857) + Samuel Hart -> John Cooper ($345, 15 ac, 1855); both rec. 7 Feb 1860, Warren Deeds Bk 50 pp.201 & 203
Transcription and notes
The task-(b) lead from [K.54] ("John Cooper ← Ellen/Samuel Hart, 50/201-203, 7 Feb 1860, Ind Twp") — pulled and read. Two deeds, both John Cooper of Independence Twp as grantee (buyer), recorded together 7 Feb 1860. Source: FamilySearch, "Warren, New Jersey, United States records," Warren County Clerk, Deeds Vol. 50, pp. 201–204, DGS 008355787 (Deeds v.49-50, 1859-1860), FS images 442–444. On disk: Real Estate/New Jersey/Warren County/Deeds 1859/img442 … → img444 …. Read 2026-07-09.
Deed 1 — Ellen Hart → John Cooper [verbatim] (Bk 50 p.201; img 442–443)
- "This Indenture made the eighth day of September in the year of our lord eighteen hundred and fifty seven, between Ellen Hart of the township of Independence County of Warren and State of New Jersey of the first [part] and John Cooper of the Township of Independence, the County Warren and State of New Jersey of the second part."
- Consideration: "the sum of One Hundred and twenty Two dollars and ninety eight cents" ($122.98).
- Land "in the township of Independence … Beginning at a Stone standing in Coe Sundy's line and a corner of Nancy Schmuck, and runs … along Sundy's line …" — "Contains five and thirty six hundredths acres of land [5.36 ac], it being part of the Wood Lot bequeathed to Samuel & Ellen Hart by William Hart, and purchased by heirs of Daniel Sundy. The deed of Conveyance bears date 1825, and Recorded in Warren County Clerk's office in Book L of deeds folio 250 & 251 &c."
- Grantor signs "Ellen Hart"; witness/commissioner Isaac Shiner; "Received and Recorded February 7, 1860" — Kern, Clerk.
Deed 2 — Samuel Hart → John Cooper [verbatim] (Bk 50 p.203; img 443–444)
- "This Indenture made the twelfth day of February in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty five [1855], Between Samuel Hart of the Township of Independence in the County of Warren and State of New Jersey of the first part and John Cooper of the Township of Independence in the County of Warren and State of New Jersey of the second part."
- Consideration: "the sum of three Hundred and forty five dollars" ($345).
- Land "in the Township of Independence … Beginning at a Stone in Nancy Schmuck's line …" — "Contains fifteen acres of land [15 ac]. This being a part of the Lot Conveyed to William Hart, Previously owned by Daniel Sundy, and Previously owned by Jonah Adams."
- Grantor signs "Samuel Hart"; acknowledged 12 Feb 1855 before Isaac Shiner, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas; "Received and Recorded February 7, 1860" — Kern, Clerk.
Notes (identifications -> [pr.17]/[p.113]; nothing concluded here)
- This is the "live John Cooper buying in Independence" that [K.54] flagged as the only our-cluster-plausible Warren land activity besides the 1831 Samuel↔Israel deed ([K.55]). He is John Cooper of Independence, and he bought ~20.36 acres (15 + 5.36) of adjoining Hart-family land — deeds dated 1855 and 1857, recorded together 7 Feb 1860.
- Tension with the "landless tenant cluster" reading: [K.53]+[K.54] showed Joseph [p.112] and Robert [p.114] absent from all Warren deeds → presumptively landless. But John Cooper of Independence did acquire land. Either (a) John [p.113] — unlike his putative brothers — became a small landowner late in life (he'd be ~70 in 1855 if = the b.~1785 John), or (b) this is a younger John (a son "John Jr" / nephew). The deeds name no wife for the grantee (only grantors' wives are examined; here grantors Ellen & Samuel Hart), so this can't be tested against John [p.113]'s wife Anna.
- RESOLVED 2026-07-09 — the buyer IS John [p.113]. The 1860 Independence census ([D.470]) shows John Cooper age 70, alive, with real estate $500 — his wife Ann + children Levi/Jane/Roderick B. ~20 acres of Independence farmland at the deeds' own ~$23/acre ≈ $470–500 = exactly that value. So (a) the [L.132] "d.1849" is wrong (he lived past 1860) and (b) this is p.113 himself, a "labourer" who became a small landowner (~20 ac) late in life. This refines — for John's branch — the "landless tenant cluster" reading of [K.53]/[K.54].
- Neighbors / chain-of-title names (Independence): Ellen Hart, Samuel Hart, William Hart (the source family), Coe Sundy, Daniel Sundy, Nancy Schmuck, Jonah Adams.
- Recurring Cooper–Hart land relationship (cross-generation thread → [pr.17]): the [p.113] file records that its pre-1830 Sussex candidate — John Cooper of Byram Twp Sussex — had conveyed a meadow tract to Nathaniel Hart Sr before 6 May 1807 (per [K.24] manuscript). Here, ~50 years later, a John Cooper of Independence buys Hart-family land back from William Hart's heirs (Ellen & Samuel Hart). Whether this reflects a standing Cooper–Hart intermarriage/alliance (or is coincidence of a common surname) is worth checking.
- Timing tension — now resolved (option b): the [L.132] Grimm tree gave John [p.113] as "John D Cooper 1790–1849", and the Samuel Hart deed is dated 1855 — after that death year. [D.470] (1860 census, John alive at 70) shows the 1849 death year is simply wrong; p.113 lived past 1860, so the 1855/57 purchases are his. (Not a younger "John Jr" — no such son exists, and the census household is p.113's own.)