NYHS Collections Year 1899 = Pelletreau Abstracts of Wills Vol VIII, covering NY County Wills Liber 28-29, ~1771-1775 — Tesseract-OCR Cooper-surname sweep 2026-05-24: 13 Cooper-surname testators/named individuals per volume index (Abraham 123 + Elizabeth 244 + Giles 244 + Jeremiah 140 + Jacobus 7 + John 19 + Josiah 222 + Obadiah 19 + Sarah 19 + Susannah 313 + T. 119 + Thomas Jr 373 + Tunis 214 + William 'will of' 18). ZERO Cuiper/Cuyper/Kuyper variants = by 1771-1775 NY County probate the Cuiper → Cooper anglicization was complete. Catalog-defining find for [p.260 Theunis Kuyper Jr 1733-1790]: Tunis Cooper named as EXECUTOR of Caleb Hallstead's 26 Feb 1774 Haverstraw will (book p.214 LIBER 29, proved 29 Oct 1774). Catalog-defining for [fam.12 Long Island Southampton Cooper kindred]: Ananias Cooper of Southampton LI multiple primary-source attestations (executor + witness 1771-1774 wills) — substantial extension of [M.35] Ananias × Deborah Howell Cooper baseline.

Transcription and notes

Source identification

Catalog-defining find #1: TUNIS COOPER executor of Caleb Hallstead 1774 will (book p. 214 = LIBER 29) — primary-source attestation of [p.260 Theunis Kuyper Jr]

Page 214.—In the name of God, Amen, I, CALEB
HALLSTEAD, of the Precinct of Haverstraw, in Orange
County, farmer, being weak in body. All my estate to
be sold in one year and all debts paid. I leave to my
brother, Benjamin Hallstead, £57, 3s. with interest un-
til paid. I leave to my daughter, Martha Hallstead, £30.
I leave to my daughters, Martha, Margaret, Abigail,
Sarah, Hannah, Phebe, Elizabeth, Mercy, Rachel, and
Catharine, each an equal share of the rest. I make Wil-
liam Coe and Tunis Cooper, executors.

Dated February 26, 1774. Witnesses, John Hallstead,
Peter Vandervoort, Cornelius Smith. Proved, October
29, 1774.

[NOTE.—Caleb Hallstead was also one of the Hempstead Colony in Kakiat,
and lived near New City, in Rockland County.—W. S. P.]

Catalog-defining find #2: Lydia Row will with Ananias Cooper executor + witness (LIBER 28, proved 7 Nov 1771)

I leave to my eldest son, John, £20, good and lawful money of New York over and above,
for his Birthright. And I make him and my trusty and well beloved friends, Ananias
Cooper and William Stewart, executors.

Witnesses, Ananias Cooper, George Zufell, William Stewart. Proved, November 7, 1771,
before Anthony Hoffman, Surrogate.

Confirmed by Governor William Tryon, November 29, 1771.

= Ananias Cooper named both as executor + witness on this LI/NY testator's will. Per [M.35] Ananias was a Southampton LI farmer m. Deborah Howell.

Volume index — Cooper entries

Per OCR-derived index transcription (OCR lines 21434-21461):

Cooper, Abraham, 123.
Cooper, Elizabeth, 244.
Cooper, Giles, 244.
Cooper, Jeremiah, 140.
Cooper, Jacobus, 7.
Cooper, John, 19.
Cooper, Josiah, 222.
Cooper, Obadiah, 19.
Cooper, Sarah, 19.
Cooper, Susannah, 313.
Cooper, T., 119.
Cooper, Thomas, Jr., 373.
Cooper, Tunis, 214.
Cooper, William, will of, 18.

= 13 distinct Cooper-surname individuals in volume, plus "William Cooper will of" entry explicitly flagging him as testator.

2026-05-24 LATER — Index-entry verification pass

Sampled rendering of vol pp. 17-19 (Year 1899) confirms the William Cooper "will of, 18" attestation could NOT be visually confirmed at vol p.18. Vol p.18 contains: top = continuation of Isaac De Graw of Brookland Kings Co. blacksmith will; bottom = Roger Park of Rye Westchester Co. yeoman 1760 will. No William Cooper testator visible at vol p.18.

Possible explanations: 1. Index OCR error — "Cooper, William, will of, 18" may misread of "Fowler, William, will of, 18" (= William Fowler IS named in Roger Park's vol p.18 will as previous landowner) or another surname misread to "Cooper" 2. Volume sub-section — Year 1899 has Letters of Administration + Index sections beyond the Wills section; the "p.18" may refer to a different sub-section's p.18 3. Adjacent page — William Cooper may be on PDF p.36-37 (= vol p.16-17) and the index page number is approximate

Most parsimonious: index OCR error. The Pelletreau index page itself was rendered at PDF p.~440+ and had heavy OCR damage ("Wllllam" for William; "wlll" for will; "Cooper. Annnlu" for "Cooper, Ananias" etc.). The "will of" phrase may be a misread of "wife of" or "with" or another word.

Outcome: William Cooper testator at Year 1899 vol p.18 = NOT confirmed; treat as OCR-index artifact pending direct visual review of Year 1899 PDF index pages.

Additional Year 1899 Cooper-name confirmations (per OCR sweep): - Ananias Cooper of Southampton LI — multiple witness + executor + legatee attestations (per index pp. 1, 18, 143, 302 = 4 distinct attestations) = substantial fam.12 LI documentation 1771-1775 - Tunis Cooper = [p.260 Theunis Kuyper Jr] executor 1774 Haverstraw (= already captured above) - All other Cooper-name index entries (Abraham 123, Elizabeth 244, Giles 244, Jeremiah 140, Jacobus 7, John 19, Josiah 222, Obadiah 19, Sarah 19, Susannah 313, T. 119, Thomas Jr. 373) most parsimoniously = witness/legatee roles per the Year 1897 pattern verification

What this source does NOT establish (yet)

• Full abstract for William Cooper testator at book p.18 LIBER 28 — OCR could not locate the will body (testator-name OCR error); requires targeted PDF render. The William-Cooper-of-Cooper-Plains-Steuben-NY ancestor of Chris Cooper's documented patrilineal chain is far too late for this (Frederic Stephen Cooper b. 1842 was 4 generations after this 1771-1775 William Cooper).
• Full abstract for the other 11 Cooper-name testators — index lists pages 7, 19, 119, 123, 140, 222, 244, 313, 373; targeted PDF render needed for each.
• Cornelius Cooper / Cornelius Kuyper / any Tunis Cuiper Sr-line variant — = ZERO Cuiper/Kuyper-variant attestations in Year 1899 OCR.

Open questions / follow-up

1. ** Pull verbatim transcription for William Cooper will at LIBER 28 book p.18** — render Year 1899 PDF at PDF p.~30-35
2. ** Pull verbatim for the 11 other Cooper-index testator entries** (book pages 7, 19, 119, 123, 140, 222, 244, 313, 373)
3. ** Update p.260 Theunis Kuyper Jr 1733-1790** with Tunis Cooper executor 1774 Haverstraw attestation + the spelling-anglicization observation
4. ** Create p.N stub for Ananias Cooper of Southampton** (= [fam.12] extension; see [M.35] for Ananias × Deborah Howell baseline) — consolidates Year 1897 + Year 1899 attestations
5. ** Add stubs for the other 12 Cooper-name individuals** identified in index as active research demands

Cross-references

• M.34 — NYHS Collections Year 1898 = Pelletreau Vol VII (Liber 25-26, 1766-1771) — predecessor volume; covers Tunis Cuiper Sr 1757 will
• M.35 — NYHS Collections Year 1897 = Pelletreau Vol VI (Liber 22-25, ~1758-1766) — predecessor volume; covers Claes Janse Cuiper 1753 + Johanes Cuiper 1764 wills + Ananias × Deborah Howell baseline
• M.20 — earlier Pelletreau Vol I (1892, Liber 1-7, 1665-1707)
• M.21 — later Pelletreau Vol XIV (1905, Liber 39-41, 1786-1796)
• p.260 Theunis 'Tunis' Kuyper Jr 1733-1790 — Tunis Cooper executor 1774 attestation = primary-source upgrade
• fam.12 Long Island Southampton Cooper kindred — Ananias Cooper extension via M.35 + M.36
• fam.13 Kuyper-Cooper of Rockland NY + Bergen NJ — Tunis Cooper [p.260] is fam.13 Generation-3