Benjamin Cooper [p.2] — earliest documented Stirling-network land transactions Morris Co. NJ — 3 primary-source-attested records 14 January 1761 → 12 July 1766: (1) 14 Jan 1761 — 'B. Cooper' WITNESS on Lord Stirling (= William Earl of Stirling)'s deed of 20.82 acres (2 tracts: 10.54 + 10.28) on Mine Road from Hibernia Furnace to Charlottenburg Furnace, Pequannock Twp Morris Co., TO John Burns for £32, co-witness J. Hoff (= candidate Jacob Hoff = potential link to [p.46 Charity Hoff Cooper](../../people/p.46%20Charity%20%28Hoff%29%20Cooper.md) Benjamin's 1st wife); Morris Co Deed Vol A Folio 428-429 (CMRCL002). (2) 28 Oct 1765 — Benjamin Cooper (Grantee) Conveyance Pequannock Morris Co. FROM Samuel Ford (ux); D-3 (EJ) Folio 46 (SSTSE023) = primary-source-LOCKED Benjamin's earliest documented land acquisition. (3) 12 July 1766 — Benjamin Cooper + James Anderson grantees of 421.55 acres (6 tracts: 33.24 + 49.32 + 101.25 + 141.14 + 50.19 + 46.41) on Horse Pound Brook Pequannock Twp Morris Co., conveyed BY Lord Stirling per Daniel Cooper Junr's survey; S5 (EJ Surveys) Folio 304 (PEASJ003) — based on James Alexander's 1753 13,000-acre warrant via heirs/assigns of Peter Sonmans dec'd. Catalog-defining: This 3-record series anchors Benjamin's Hibernia-area presence + Stirling-network involvement at age 20 (1761 witness) and age 25 (1766 grantee) = 12 years BEFORE the pr.52 1773 Cooper-Stirling letter.

Transcription and notes

SIGNIFICANCE — primary-source-LOCKING Benjamin Cooper's Stirling-network Hibernia/Horse Pound/Pequannock presence 12 years BEFORE the pr.52 1773 letter

The pr.52 1773 Cooper-Stirling letter (currently being acquired from NYHS Alexander Papers per pending-reminders.md) is the catalog's existing anchor for the Cooper-Stirling iron-works partnership. K.9 primary-source-anchors that partnership 12 years earlier (1761) at age 20 via Benjamin's Witness role on Stirling's Hibernia-Charlottenburg deed; 8 years earlier (1765) at age 25 via Benjamin's first documented land acquisition; and 7 years earlier (1766) at age 25 via the catalog-defining 421.55-acre Horse Pound Brook conveyance from Stirling to Benjamin + James Anderson, surveyed by Benjamin's older brother Daniel Jr [p.79].

This single-page entry covers all 3 records as a focused dedicated entry, mirroring K.2 + K.3 + K.5 dedicated-entry pattern.

Record 1 — 14 January 1761 — B. Cooper (Witness) on Lord Stirling's Hibernia-Charlottenburg Mine Road deed

Record 2 — 28 October 1765 — Benjamin Cooper (Grantee) Pequanack Conveyance from Samuel Ford (ux)

UPGRADED abstract → manuscript [verbatim], 2026-08-17

Read off 200–220 DPI renders of all five images. Upgraded in place rather than given a new K id, per CLAUDE.md ("locate the existing entry by ID and upgrade it in place. Do not create a new entry") — this is the same treatment Record 3 received 2026-06-24.

Marginal docket (p. 46): "Samuel Ford & Wife To Benjamin Cooper — Recorded July 24th 1766"; a fee notation reads "11 f o" [?].

Recital. "This Indenture made the Twenty eighth day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand Seven hundred & Sixty five BETWEEN Samuel Ford of Morris Town in the County of Morris and Province of New Jersey and Grace his wife of the one Part and Benjamin Cooper of Newtown in the County of Sussex & Province aforesaid of the other Part…"

Consideration. "…the Sum of Two hundred Sixty and Six Pounds thirteen Shillings & four Pence Current money of the Province aforesaid at eight Shillings the Ounce…"

Grant. "…One Equal and undivided third Part of all and Every of the Respective five following lotts of lands… Situate in the Township of Pequanack in the County of Morris aforesaid about one mile and half above John Johnson's Iron Works…"

Appurtenances — this is an industrial conveyance. "…together with all manner of houses Outhouses Buildings Barns Furnaces Improvements Priviliges & Advantages Mines Minerals and Ores Whatsoever…" — ** "Except one third part of all mines minerals & Ores belonging to lot N.3."**

Execution. "Sealed and delivered in the Presence of us Jos. Sackett Jun.r [and] Tho.s Biglow" — signed "Sam.l Ford" (LS) and "Grace Ford" (LS).

Acknowledgment (p. 49–50). "Memorandum That on the ninth day of July… One thousand Seven hundred & Sixty six Personally appeared before me Joseph Tuttle Esq One of the Judges of his Majestys inferior Court of Common Pleas held at Morris Town in & for the County of Morris Grace Ford within Named wife of the within Named Samuel Ford, who being by me duly Examined seperate and apart from her said husband did acknowledge that She Executed the within instrument as her Voluntary Act & deed…" — the standard dower release. Joseph Sackett Jun.r was then sworn as subscribing witness.

Recorder's errata (p. 50). "Examined & Agrees with the Original the words (Rock) altered in [1st] Line of page 47 & (out) interlined in the 32.d line of page 48 were by mistake in Recording. — John Terrill D[eputy] Reg.r"

What the manuscript settles

1. "Of Newtown in the County of Sussex" is CONFIRMED at manuscript level. [p.2] carried this residence pin from the 1862 Annals of Morris County and explicitly predicted "the K.9 manuscript would confirm the 'of Newton Sussex' recital." It does, word for word. Benjamin was resident in Sussex Co. in October 1765, at about 24 — not yet in the Pequannock/Hunterdon orbit his later records show.
2. Samuel Ford's wife is named: GRACE. This was one of the two gaps [pr.97] was placed to close. (The Annals had also called her Grace; the manuscript is now the primary source.)
3. The acreage and consideration, absent from the NJSA abstract, are recovered: an undivided third of 50.34 acres in five lots, for £266.13.4.
4. The subject is the Horse Pound MINE, not farmland. Furnaces, mines, minerals and ores pass with the grant, and the lots are pinned to the Horse Pound mine and brook. This is Benjamin buying into an ironworks at 24 — which is why the [K.8]/[K.9 Record 3] Horse Pound assembly of 1766 follows so naturally.
5. "Coll. Jacob Ford" is the source of lot 5's title, and Joshua Ball holds the adjoining 31.33-acre lot surveyed 1753.

What it does NOT settle, and one lead it opens

• It gives Samuel Ford no occupation and says nothing of the counterfeiting or the Hibernia sale of 1769. It dates the Cooper–Ford association to October 1765 and no more.
• It does not name the other two holders of the remaining two-thirds. The grant of "one equal undivided third part" implies three co-owners, and the deed never says who the others are.
• Lead: the record immediately preceding this one in the book also concerns Samuel Ford. The top of p. 46 carries the tail of another instrument — an acknowledgment reciting "that he saw the within Named Samuel Ford also duly Execute the same", with a Terrill errata note referencing "the 24th line of page 44". ⇒ a second Ford conveyance ends at D-3 p. 46, and it is a strong candidate for one of the other two thirds. Worth an NJSA pull of D-3 pp. 44–46.

Record 3 — 12 July 1766 — Benjamin Cooper + James Anderson (Grantees) of 421.55 acres Horse Pound Brook from Lord Stirling

Verbatim partial — K.6 + K.7 NJSA abstract of S5 Folio 304:

SURVEY. 421.55 acres. On both sides of Horse Pound Brook in Pequannack Township; near the Horse Pound Furnace; Morris County. Six Tracts: 33.24 acres; 49.32 acres; 101.25 acres; 141.14 acres; 50.19 acres; and 46.41 acres. "Daniel Cooper Jr. by me (William Alexander also Lord Stirling) duly appointed and sworn to the intent herein after mentioned Did Survey for the heirs or assigns of Peter Sonmans deceased at the request of William Earl of Stirling to be Conveyed by him to James Anderson and Benjamin Cooper." "The Heirs or Assigns of the said Peter Sonmans deceased Claim Title by Vertue and in Part of a Warrant to them for 7,480.64 acres of Land to be taken up in any Part Unappropriated in the Eastern Division of New Jersey, Except Romopock dated September 14, 1765... I (William Alexander also Lord Stirling) claim right by Vertue of my Shares in the Warrant aforesaid." [Warrant Date: 14 Sept 1765].

Verbatim — S5.304 MANUSCRIPT (pulled via pr.62; read 2026-06-24)

The manuscript (NJSA EJ Surveys Book S5 f.304; on disk (image held in the family archive), 2 pp.) confirms the abstract and adds the title provenance:

• Grant clause: "…to be Conveyed [by Lord Stirling] unto James Anderson and Benjamin Cooper All that tract of Land on good Right situate on both sides of the Horse Pound Brook in Pequannock Township in the County of Morris…" (Anderson named first).
• NEW — the land was Samuel Ford's prior returns. Tract 1 "Begin[s] at the first corner of the first Lot Returned to Samuel Ford in a Return made by the said Ford the 23 of June 1765… Recorded… in Book S5 Page 247"; the exclusions reference Ford's other return "…the Sixth day of April 1765… Recorded in S5… page 246." ⇒ the Horse Pound tracts had been surveyed/returned to Samuel Ford in spring 1765, then conveyed to Anderson + Benjamin Cooper — directly tying [Record 2 (Samuel Ford → Benjamin, 28 Oct 1765)] into the Record 3 Horse Pound assembly (the Ford conveyance was part of this same land build-up).
• 6 tracts with metes-and-bounds (chain-and-link bearings) given, totals confirmed legible: 33.24 + 49.32 + 101.25 + 141.14 + 50.19 + 46.41 = 421.55 ac.
• Title/warrant chain: rests on a Council-of-Proprietors warrant to the heirs or assigns of Peter Sonmans dec'd for 7,480.64 ac, dated 14 September 1765, Stirling claiming "by virtue of my shares"; recorded Book W5 page 27. The manuscript also names a party reading "[Esther?] Inman[?] dec'd" in the assignment/adjoining chain (the pr.62 flag) — its exact role vs Sonmans not fully legible. closer read only if it becomes material.
• Surveyor: Daniel Cooper Jr ("duly appointed and sworn" deputy of Lord Stirling); examined by John Smyth Jr (Surveyor General's office, Perth Amboy).
• James Anderson appears only as co-grantee — the manuscript gives no residence or occupation for him, so the "who was James Anderson" question (below) stays open.

Identity-chain primary-source-LOCKED — Cooper-Stirling network 1761-1773

Per K.5 + K.7 + K.8 + K.9 + pr.52, the Cooper-Stirling/Alexander professional + family relationship spans:

12-year primary-source-anchored Cooper-Stirling relationship 1761-1773.

Open question — was Benjamin Cooper at Hibernia 14 Jan 1761 as a Stirling-network employee or independently?

The 14 Jan 1761 deed records "B. Cooper" as a witness on Lord Stirling's sale of 20.82 acres to John Burns at Hibernia. At age 20, Benjamin could plausibly have been: 1. An employee of Lord Stirling's at Hibernia Furnace = working at Stirling's iron-works 2. An independent Pequannock resident who happened to be available to witness a deed at the time of the transaction 3. Working under his older brother Daniel Jr who was Lord Stirling's Deputy Surveyor (= Daniel Jr was age 32 in 1761 = clearly the senior figure in the family Cooper-Stirling working relationship at this date)

The most likely scenario per the 12 Jul 1766 capstone record is that Benjamin was being mentored by his older brother Daniel Jr into the Stirling-network iron-works business through the early 1760s, with the 14 Jan 1761 witness role being Benjamin's first documented appearance in the network at age 20.

Open question — who was James Anderson, Benjamin's 1766 co-grantee?

The 12 July 1766 421.55-acre Horse Pound conveyance lists "James Anderson" as Benjamin's joint-grantee. James Anderson is otherwise undocumented in the Cooper-family catalog. Possible identifications: 1. James Anderson of Perth Amboy = NJ Provincial Council member 1760s-1770s 2. James Anderson the Stirling-network iron-works partner = same family that produced the later "Andersons of Andover Iron Works" 3. James Anderson the NYC Anderson merchant family = Stirling's NYC business partners 4. A specific local Anderson of Pequannock Twp

Manuscript pull of S5 Folio 304 should resolve via the deed body's identification of Anderson's residence + occupation.

Cross-references

• K.4 Essex Co. NJSA Early Land Records search — Record 18 (Peter Sonmans 19 Mar 1712 = same Sonmans whose heirs are the 1765 warrant-holders in K.9 Record 3)
• K.6 Morris Co. NJSA Early Land Records search — parent omnibus
• K.7 Daniel Jr 20-year Deputy Surveyor career — Daniel Jr surveyed K.9 Record 3 (= the 1766 421.55-acre Horse Pound tract for his own brother Benjamin)
• K.8 Daniel Jr surveyed Lord Stirling's Long Hill + Great Swamp + Horse Pound — sister-entry; the 4 Jul 1766 Stirling Horse Pound 48.64-acre survey was 8 days BEFORE the K.9 Record 3 12 Jul 1766 421.55-acre conveyance
• p.2 Benjamin Cooper — primary biographical file; major update needed
• p.46 Charity Hoff Cooper — Benjamin's 1st wife; possible link to 14 Jan 1761 J. Hoff co-witness
• pr.52 Cooper-Stirling 1773 letter — K.9 Record 3 is 7 years before pr.52 letter
• Memory reference_njsa_searchable_databases.md + feedback_dutch_records_check_kuyper_for_cooper.md

Follow-ups

• [x] ~~Pull S5 Folio 304~~ — DONE: delivered via pr.62 + manuscript read 2026-06-24 (see "Verbatim — S5.304 MANUSCRIPT" under Record 3). Key gain: the Horse Pound tracts were Samuel Ford's spring-1765 returns (S5 pp.246-247) → ties Record 2 into Record 3; warrant 14 Sept 1765 / W5 p.27 confirmed; James Anderson's residence/occupation still not given.
• [ ] ** Pull D-3 (EJ) Folio 46 (28 Oct 1765 Benjamin Cooper grantee from Samuel Ford) — second-highest priority Benjamin manuscript. Paid request. ORDERED 2026-07-15 → pr.97 — NJSA #202607-88977, $5.62; awaiting delivery (first check ~2026-08-05).** On arrival → upgrade Record 2 to manuscript-tier + capture Samuel Ford's wife's name ("ux") + exact location/acreage/consideration.
• [ ] ** Pull Morris Co Deed Vol A Folio 428-429 (14 Jan 1761 Stirling-Burns Hibernia deed)** — would confirm exact B. Cooper signature + J. Hoff identification. NJSA microfilm OR Morris County Clerk.
• [ ] ** Identify James Anderson** = Benjamin's 12 Jul 1766 co-grantee. Possible Anderson candidates listed above. Pull S5 Folio 304 manuscript for residence + occupation.
• [ ] ** Search NJ Council minute books 1760-1770 + East Jersey Proprietors minute books** for any James Anderson + Benjamin Cooper joint appearance.
• [ ] ** Identify Jacob Hoff / J. Hoff family of Hibernia 1750s-1770s** = potential pre-marital Cooper-Hoff connection. Cross-reference p.46 Charity Hoff Cooper biography + her sources.
• [ ] ** Pull Book S.5 Folio 246-247 + Book W.5 Folio 27** = additional Peter Sonmans-heirs warrant records cross-referenced in K.9 Record 3.
• [ ] ** Identify John Burns (14 Jan 1761 grantee)** = iron-works buyer at Hibernia-Charlottenburg.
• [ ] ** Identify Samuel Ford's wife (= "ux" in 28 Oct 1765 grantor)** — pull D-3 Folio 46 for her name.