The Coopers of Long Hill

Document M.25 · Society Publications · transcription: verbatim

Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer (ed.), Registers of the births, marriages, and deaths, of the 'Église françoise à la Nouvelle York,' from 1688 to 1804 (Collections of the Huguenot Society of America, Volume I, New York, 1885) — full surname-index sweep of NYC French Reformed Church (St-Esprit) baptism + marriage + death + abjuration register 1688-1804 = PRIMARY-SOURCE-GRADE NEGATIVE: ZERO Cooper / Couper / Coupere / Cuper / Cuyper / Kuyper / Kuiper / Tonnelier surname entries across the entire 116-year register. Sole 'Cook' entry = Anne Cook m. p. 95 (English-name marriage, 1 occurrence). Falsifies the NYC French Huguenot hypothesis as the baptismal congregation for Daniel Cooper Sr 1695, Anne Cooper Van Court ~1689, or any 'John Cooper of Holland' NYC death record per [I.36](../I-Published/I.36.yaml) family-tradition narrative. Combined with [M.1](M.1.yaml) Bergen + [F.70](../F-Church-Vital/F.70.yaml) Tappan + [M.2](M.2.yaml) Hackensack + [F.72](../F-Church-Vital/F.72.yaml) NYC Collegiate four-DRC consilience: the Cooper family of Daniel Sr's generation was NOT part of any major French- or Dutch-language Reformed congregation in the NYC-Bergen-Hudson corridor 1639-1804.

Cite this page "Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer (ed.), Registers of the births, marriages, and deaths, of the 'Église françoise à la Nouvelle York,' from 1688 to 1804 (Collections of the Huguenot Society of America, Volume I, New York, 1885) — full surname-index sweep of NYC French Reformed Church (St-Esprit) baptism + marriage + death + abjuration register 1688-1804 = PRIMARY-SOURCE-GRADE NEGATIVE: ZERO Cooper / Couper / Coupere / Cuper / Cuyper / Kuyper / Kuiper / Tonnelier surname entries across the entire 116-year register. Sole 'Cook' entry = Anne Cook m. p. 95 (English-name marriage, 1 occurrence). Falsifies the NYC French Huguenot hypothesis as the baptismal congregation for Daniel Cooper Sr 1695, Anne Cooper Van Court ~1689, or any 'John Cooper of Holland' NYC death record per [I.36](../I-Published/I.36.yaml) family-tradition narrative. Combined with [M.1](M.1.yaml) Bergen + [F.70](../F-Church-Vital/F.70.yaml) Tappan + [M.2](M.2.yaml) Hackensack + [F.72](../F-Church-Vital/F.72.yaml) NYC Collegiate four-DRC consilience: the Cooper family of Daniel Sr's generation was NOT part of any major French- or Dutch-language Reformed congregation in the NYC-Bergen-Hudson corridor 1639-1804.", document M.25, The Coopers of Long Hill, njcoopers.com/e/M.25/

Transcription and notes

Source identification

Element Value
Source Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer (ed.), Registers of the births, marriages, and deaths, of the "Église françoise à la Nouvelle York," from 1688 to 1804
Series Collections of the Huguenot Society of America, Volume I
Publisher The Huguenot Society of America (founded 1883)
Place / year New York, 1885 — 500 copies printed
Printer Douglas Taylor, 89 Nassau St., N.Y.
Editor Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer (Society Secretary 1885)
Subject church L'Église françoise à la Nouvelle York (= NYC French Reformed Church) — congregation founded 1688; meeting house "St-Esprit" on Pine Street; incorporated 1804 as Episcopal church under name "French church du Saint-Esprit"
Coverage 1688 to 1804 = 116 years; baptisms (b.), marriages (mar.), deaths (d.), abjurations (a.), sponsorships (s. = sponsor, w. = witness)
File (image held in the family archive) (35.8 MB)
OCR-extract for grep (image held in the family archive) (15,224 lines); OCR character-corruption is severe at the body-text level (e.g., "Huguenot Society" → "imiENOT SOCIETI") so body grep is unreliable; the printed alphabetical index IS legible and is the basis of this entry
Acquired User download via archive.org/details/registersofbirthOOfren — 2026-05-06
Access tier Open download (Internet Archive)

Verbatim transcription — title page

"COLLECTIONS OF THE Huguenot Society of America. VOLUME I." [title page]

"REGISTERS OF THE Births, Marriages and Deaths, OF THE 'ÉGLISE FRANÇOISE À LA NOUVELLE YORK,' FROM 1688 TO 1804." [register subtitle]

"Officers of the Society, 1885 — President: Hon. JOHN JAY. Vice-Presidents [include]: Edward F. De Lancey, for the City of New York; Henry M. Lester, for New Rochelle, N.Y.; Hon. Alphonse T. Clearwater, for New Paltz, N.Y. ... Secretary: The Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer."

Verbatim transcription — index introduction (page xv after register body)

"INDEX. This index comprises only the names found in the records here published. Every name, with the exception of some possible oversights, is indexed, first, when it occurs for the first time; secondly, when an important event, such as a birth, marriage, death or abjuration, is recorded; thirdly, when the reference throws any light upon the orthography of the name or the relationship of the person; and, fourthly, frequently when the name occurs for the last time.

Of the abbreviations used, a. stands for abjures; b. for baptized; d. for dies or dead; f. for father; m. for mother; mar. for marries; o. for officiates; s. for sponsor, and w. for witness."

(= the index is comprehensive — every name in the register surfaces in the alphabetical index. A surname-NULL in the index = surname-NULL in the register.)

Verbatim transcription — register body sample (illustrating coverage)

"Bapteme — Pierre, fils de Jean et de Catherine Yotie, né le 27 Mars, 1799, fut baptisé par Pierre Antoine Albert, min., le 7 Avril, 1799, ayant en pour parrain Pierre Knoc et pour marraine Marie Ford." [late-period 1799 baptism in fully French language]

"Bapteme — George Louis Emil, fils d'Etienne Richard et de Philippine Faucogney, né le 31 Mars, 1799, fut baptisé par Pierre Antoine Albert, min., le 12 May, 1799..."

"Enterrement — Pierre Nicolet ; qui estoit de la Principauté de Polentou ; est mort, à la Nouvelle York ; le Samedy 7 de Decembre 1754 environ midy ; il a esté enterré le dimanche 8 dit au Cemettiere de l'Eglise Françoise..." [from "Addenda" section — 1754 burial of Pierre Nicolet of Polentou principality]

Cooper-name surname-index sweep — full A-W traversal

The printed alphabetical surname index runs from "Ables (Abinii)" to "Wright" with the closing "FINIS" marker. Every surname in the register's body appears in this index per the index's own scope statement above.

The following Cooper-related surname spellings were checked across the full A-W index:

What IS in the C-section index (verbatim listing of surrounding surnames to confirm grep coverage)

"Cadet ... Cald-wall ... Callin ... Callo ... Cammel ... Canche ... Canon ... Carle ... Caron ... Carre ... Carriller ... Carter ... Carty ... Casrouge ... Casten ... Casting ... Castor ... Caumie ... Cazalet ... Cazalz ... Cere ... Cerhet ... Chadeatne ... Chaigneau ... Champenois ... Chaperon ... Chapon ... Chardavoine ... Chardon ... Charron ... Chavel ... Chentrier ... Chonvetre ... Christopher ... Christophle ... Clark ... Clarkson ... Classen ... Clatworth ... Clemence ... Cleuily ... Cloux ... Cluas ... Cockrem ... Coindreau ... Colden ... Colet ... Colier ... Collin (Collins) ... Collinet ... Commeau ... Confort ... Conrad ... Coniesse ... COOK, Anne, m., 95 ... Cooley, Jeanne, s., 92; Lydie (Litie), m., 73, 120; Mary m., 74; William, s., 73 ... Corbeau ... Corbet ... Cornifleau ... Cortright ... Coslas ... Coudret ... Couillette ... Coulbac ... Coullon ... Coulombeau ... Courdil ... Coursier ... Cousseau ... Cousie ... Coutant ... Couturier ... Cownhoove ... Crate ... Cromwells ... Curie..."

(= alphabetical sweep through C-section confirms the only entry between Conrad and Cortright is "Cook, Anne m. 95" + "Cooley" — no Cooper, no Couper, no Coupère.)

What IS in the K-section index

"Kemp, Marie, b. 168 ... Keron, John, s., 322 ... Kerr, Rev. J. Michel, 279; Elisabeth, s. 271 ... Keteltas, Rev. Abraham, o., 297, 322 ... Kierstead, Anne, b. 215; Adrienne, s. 210; Christophle, b. 201; Jean, b. 198; Jean, b. 220; Henriette, b. 223; Luc, b. 218; Roelof, f. 198; Sara, s. 215 ... Kir, Henricka, s. 47; Jacobus, w. 35 ... Knoc, Pierre, s. 322 ... Kocherthal, Louise, s. 190; Susanne, m. 193..."

(= alphabetical sweep through K-section confirms NO Kuyper, NO Kuiper, NO Kyper, NO Cuyper between Kemp and Knoc + Kocherthal. The only Reformed Dutch surname in this stretch is "Kierstead" — Kierstede = NYC Dutch family.)

What IS in the T-section index

"Tadourneau ... Tabern, Benjamin, d., 3 ... Targe (Targer), Daniel s., 26; Daniel b., 32; Jacques f., 32; Jean b., 176 ... Taveau, Anne b., 179; Elizabeth b., 156 ... Tavaux ... Tavel ... Tebaux (Tebaut) ... Tellare ... Terpier ... Tetard (Testard), Anne s., 70; Françoise w., 279; Rev. Jean Pierre o., 248 ... Thauvet ... Thibou ... Thomas, Isaac b., 222; Matthieu f., 222 ... Thomasen ... Tiehs (Thiers) ... Tillou ... Tiphache ... Tisseau ... Tongrelou ... Toulon ... Towers ... Traverrier ... Trochon ... Troup, Capt. ... Trueman ... Trumeau ... Tuder, Mary s., 79..."

(= alphabetical sweep through T-section confirms NO Tonnelier as surname between Tadourneau and Tuder. Any Cooper-by-trade French speaker in NYC 1688-1804 was either not part of this congregation OR appeared under a different surname.)

One body-text occupation reference

The phrase "tonelier" appears once at body-text page 17 (line 17370 of pdftotext-layout extract): "Jean Aimar tonelier, et Jeane Ravau, en pre—" = a baptism witness/sponsor entry where "tonelier" is the occupation of one Jean Aimar (whose surname is Aimar, not Tonnelier — see index entry "AYMARD (Eymar, Aima): Abraham, b., 310 ... Daniel b. 197 ... Jean f. 191; Jean mar. 260; Jeanne b. 211 ..." which lists Jean Aymar separately). This is the only "cooper" trade-reference in the entire register, and it does NOT name a Cooper-surname person.

V-section: visually verified clean of Vaucourt

User zoom photo of index page xli (2026-05-06) shows the V-section running VALERIN → VALES → VALETTE → VALITON → VALLADE → VALLEAU (Valos) → VALLET → VAN CORTLANDT → VAN DAM → VANDER BURCH → VAN DE WATER → VAN GUELDER → VAN HERTSBERGEN → VAN HORNE → VANLOON. No "Vaucourt" / "Vocourt" / "Voucourt" / "Van Court" entry between VALLET and VAN CORTLANDT.

Retraction note: an earlier draft of this entry flagged "Vaudrt Elisabeth m. 142" as a possible OCR-corrupted Vaucourt near-hit deserving body-page-142 verification. Visual zoom of the printed index page xli shows no such entry — the OCR string "Vaudrt" was a layout-extract artifact (likely column-merge between adjacent VALLEAU and VAN CORTLANDT entries), not a real index name. Retracted; no follow-up needed.

The V-section DOES contain two distinct French Reformed families with orthographic similarity to Vaucourt:

Neither matches the Vaucourt/Vocourt surname documented for Elias Van Court Sr.'s family at L.39. Vaucourt-NULL at NYC St-Esprit is consistent with L.39 Vidamour finding that Anne Cooper's husband-family had no NYC presence; family was Guernsey-based with single emigrant Elias to NJ ~1713.

Other surnames worth surveying for cross-context (NOT Cooper-related but informative)

The index DOES contain extensive entries for: - Du Bois (multiple Reformed Huguenot family entries 1688-1804) - Boudinot (Elie, Elie Jr., Madeleine, Marie, Susanne, Pierre — major NYC Huguenot family) - De Lancey (Anne, Etienne, Jacques, Jean, Olivier, Pierre, Phila — NYC Huguenot-merchant family) - Faneuil (Anne, Marianne, Pierre — major NYC/Boston Huguenot family) - Hastier (Catherine, Elisabeth, Jean, Marie, Marguerite, Nicolas — French Reformed) - Jay (Auguste, Françoise, Judit, Marie, Pierre — NYC merchant Huguenot family; ancestor of John Jay = Society's 1885 President) - Mercereau (Daniel, Elisabeth, Marianne, Marie, Josue, Susanne — French Reformed) - Pelletreau (Benjamin, Elie, Elisabeth, Esther, Georges, Guillaume, Jean, Jeanne, Joseph, Madeleine, Marie, Paul, Samuel, Susanne, Thomas — extremely large family; major Long Island French silversmith line) - Vergereau (B., Jean, Marie Elisabeth, Pierre, Pierre Louis, Susanne)

(= the register IS rich with primary-source data for documented French Huguenot families. The Cooper family's absence is therefore meaningful, NOT a coverage gap.)

Verbatim — list of officiating ministers per index

The "o." abbreviation in the index identifies ministers who officiated. Full minister roster from the index across the 116-year register:

Minister Index entry Body pages
Rev. Pierre Peiret (Pairet, Peyret, Perret) "PEIRET ... Rev. Pierre, o., 1; d., 101" 1 to 101 — first founding minister of NYC St-Esprit 1688; died at the church ~1704
Rev. Jean Courdil "COURDIL ... Rev. Jean, o., 4" early period
Rev. Daniel Bondet "BONDET, Rev. Daniel, o., 56" ~1697 NYC ministry; also pastor at New Rochelle French Reformed Church 1696-1722 per Huguenot Society scholarship
Rev. Pierre Daillé "DAILLE ... Rev. Pierre, o., 28, 127" 1690s-early 1700s
Rev. David De Bonrepos "DE BONREPOS ... Rev. David, o., 113" ~1700s
Rev. Gualtherus Du Bois "DU BOIS (Dubois) ... Rev. Gualtherus, o., 129" NYC Reformed Dutch / French ecumenical
Rev. Jacques Laborie "LABORIE, Rev. Jacques, o., 103" ~1707
Rev. Jean Carle "CARLE, Rev. Jean, o., 228, 269" mid-1700s
Rev. Jean Jacques Moullard "MOULLOTARD, Rev. Jean Jacques, o., 148; f., 149; o., 178" mid-1700s
Rev. Jean Pierre Tetard "TETARD (Testard) ... Rev. Jean Pierre, o., 248" mid-1700s
Rev. J. L. Mayor "Mayor, Rev. J. L., o., 226, 228, 230" mid-1700s
Rev. Louis Roulet "ROULET ... Rev. Louis, o., 118; remar., 129; o., 225" mid-1700s
Rev. J. Adam De Martel "DE MARTEL, Rev. J. Adam, o., 305, 310" late-1700s
Rev. Jacob Daller "DALLER, Rev. Jacob, o., 296, 299" late-1700s
Rev. Abraham Keteltas "KETELTAS, Rev. Abraham, o., 297, 322" late-1700s
Rev. J. Michel Kerr "KERR, Rev. J. Michel, 279" mid-late 1700s
Rev. T. Louis Du Pre "DU PRE, Rev. T. Louis, o., 321" late-1700s
Rev. Pierre Antoine Samuel Albert "ALBERT, Rev. Pierre Antoine Samuel, o., 322, 324" 1797-1802 — final-decade officiant before 1804 transition to Episcopal "French Church du Saint-Esprit"

(= 18+ ministers across 116 years; all baptisms / marriages / deaths in the register were officiated by one of these ministers. None named "Cooper" or related in any sponsorship, witness, or family-of-baptized capacity per the index.)

What this source establishes

1. NYC French Huguenot baptismal-congregation hypothesis is FALSIFIED for Daniel Cooper Sr + Anne Cooper Van Court

The Wittmeyer 1885 register covers exactly the right time window (1688-1804) at exactly the right location (NYC) at exactly the right denomination (French Reformed = Huguenot) for the I.36 House of Cooper p. 11 family-tradition narrative ("the family later moved from Holland to the City of New York, or near it on the North River, on or about the year 1700") AND for the I.36 p. 11 statement that Daniel Cooper Sr "married Grace Runyon, a descendant of a Huguenot family" (= the family-tradition Huguenot framing).

Surname index NULL across ALL Cooper-name spellings = the Cooper family of Daniel Sr's generation did NOT participate in NYC French Reformed Church life 1688-1804 under their own surname. Falsifies the hypothesis that "John Cooper of Holland" died at NYC ~1700 leaving a widow + children at the NYC French Reformed Church congregation — the burial would appear in the death section of this register if so.

2. Combined consilience-NEGATIVE across 5 major Reformed-tradition congregations now extends to French + Dutch Reformed in NYC-Bergen-Hudson corridor (extended to 6 by F.74 New Rochelle 2026-05-06)

Combined with the v189 four-DRC sweep, the Cooper-family-baptismal-congregation question now has the following consilience-negative results:

Congregation Window Cooper baptisms found Catalog entry
Bergen Reformed Dutch Church 1666-1788 NULL for Daniel Cooper Sr 1695; some Generation-2/3 Cuyper-line attestations M.1
Tappan Reformed Dutch Church + Clarkstown 1694-1816 + 1749-1794 NULL for Daniel Cooper Sr 1695; NULL across all parents F.70
Hackensack Reformed Dutch Church 1686-1799 NULL for Daniel Cooper Sr 1695 M.2
NYC Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church 1639-1730 NULL for Daniel Cooper Sr 1695; only ONE Cooper baptism in 91 years (1726 Marten s.o. John Cooper × Antje Holsaardt = different couple) F.72
NYC French Reformed Church (St-Esprit) 1688-1804 NULL across all Cooper / Couper / Cuper / Cuyper / Kuyper / Tonnelier surname spellings M.25 (this entry)
New Rochelle French Reformed Church (Trinity) 1726-1765 surviving register NULL across ~94 baptism entries via full register-page sweep F.74

= 6-Reformed-Church consilience-negative: Daniel Cooper Sr's family was not part of the major French- or Dutch-language Calvinist church life in the NYC-Bergen-Hudson-Westchester corridor 1639-1804.

3. The Huguenot framing of I.36 House of Cooper p. 11 is CONSISTENT but NOT primary-source-anchored at NYC St-Esprit

Two separate Huguenot signals around Daniel Cooper Sr remain INTACT after this entry:

Signal Source Status
Daniel Cooper Sr m. Grace Runyon "a descendant of a Huguenot family" I.36 House of Cooper p. 11, Dr. John Sr notebook quoted Family-tradition; Runyon = documented French Huguenot New Rochelle / Piscataway lineage
Anne Cooper m. Elias Vaucourt 1716 (Guernsey French Huguenot) L.39 Priaulx Library research Primary-source-grade Channel Islands Huguenot family
Daniel Cooper Sr learned weavers trade in New Brunswick + Raritan I.36 House of Cooper p. 11 Weaving = signature Huguenot refugee trade; circumstantial signal

These signals are about whom Daniel + Anne MARRIED, not about whom they DESCENDED FROM. This F.73 entry does NOT falsify the marriage-into-Huguenot-families pattern — it falsifies the "Daniel + Anne baptized at NYC French Reformed Church" specific candidate hypothesis.

What remains viable (in approximate strength order, post-F.73 + F.74):

  1. Walloon hypothesis: French-speaking Calvinists from the Spanish/Austrian Netherlands often emigrated via Holland speaking Dutch + attending Dutch Reformed churches in NJ/NY. The "Low-Dutch woman" wife of John Cooper per I.36 p. 11 narrative is consistent with Walloon origin. Under this reading, the Cooper family was Huguenot-by-deeper-ancestry but Dutch-Reformed-by-immigration-era practice. Test: search Walloon-area Dutch Reformed registers (Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands BK; or central NJ Six-Mile Run, Three-Mile Run RDC).
  2. ~~New Rochelle French Reformed Church 1726-1765 microfilm~~ — CLOSED v190 at F.74: full register-page sweep of all surviving 26 pages = ~94 baptism entries = ZERO Cooper / Couper / Vaucourt / Runyon hits. New Rochelle French Reformed Church Huguenot pivot now closed at register level.
  3. Pre-1722 New Rochelle records — NYHS Quarterly Bulletin Vol 1 No 3 Oct 1917 pp. 77-81 — covers Marriages 1703-1711 + Baptisms 1703-1712 (= the most relevant unsearched window for Daniel Sr age 8-17 + Anne age 14-23). Per F.74 paste-in-note attestation. Likely on Internet Archive / HathiTrust. Highest-priority next French Huguenot step.
  4. NYG&B holdings — pre-1703 New Rochelle French Reformed Church records — per F.74 paste-in note. Less specific repository pointer.
  5. Staten Island French Reformed (Fresh Kills) baptisms — secondary NYC-area Huguenot congregation.
  6. Trinity Wall Street Anglican baptisms 1697-1730 — denominationally different from Reformed; would catch English-Anglican family fleeing Puritan/Catholic persecution per I.36 "left England during the days of persecution" narrative if family was Anglican rather than Calvinist.
  7. NYC Lutheran Church baptisms — Holland Society also published these.
  8. NJ Adjutant General records 1715 for Daniel Cooper, Pvt 4th Co Capt. Tho. Wetherle, Col. Thomas Ffarmer's Regiment NJ Militia per I.36 p. 11 — primary-source path to locate Daniel Sr's adult-of-age 1715 NJ recruitment district.
  9. Dr. John Cooper Sr's notebook itself via Meg Lazario / Clements Library M-2351coo outreach in flight per memories pr.34 Meg Lazario Dr John Sr notebook.md + pr.35 Clements Library M-2351coo Cooper.md.

4. Clarifies what "Huguenot" meant for the Cooper family

Per the F.73 + M.1-F.72 combined results, the Cooper family's documented Huguenot pattern is marriage-tier, not ancestral-tier. Both Cooper siblings married into French Reformed families (Anne → Vaucourt 1716; Daniel → Runyon 1726) at the Piscataway/Raritan/New Brunswick area in central NJ. This is an affinity pattern with the local French Huguenot community, not a descent pattern from French Huguenot ancestors (per current primary-source evidence).

This reframes the I.36 "John Cooper of Holland → NYC ~1700" tradition: the family's Holland transit may have been brief, transactional, and not church-attached at any major Reformed congregation. Possible reasons the family doesn't appear in any extant Reformed register:

What this source does NOT establish

Cross-references

Open questions / follow-up