Robert Gaston 1732–1793

Catalog ID p.55 · Cite this page: njcoopers.com/p/55/

Robert Gaston was born on 28 Jan 1732 in Basking Ridge, NJ. He married Rosanna Cooper (1762). He died on 22 Sep 1793 and was buried at Warrior Run Church Cemetery, Delaware Run, Northumberland Co., PA. Eight children are recorded.

Facts

Event	Date	Place / detail	Certainty	Sources
birth	28 Jan 1732	Basking Ridge, NJ	certain	G.238, M.45
death	22 Sep 1793		certain	G.238
burial		Warrior Run Church Cemetery, Delaware Run, Northumberland Co., PA	certain	G.238

Family

Parents

Not identified.

Spouses

Rosanna (Cooper) Gaston 1743–1817
married 13 May 1762
L.4 (cid7)

Children

Family tree

Solid lines and outlines: certain. Dashed: probable or weaker. Open the full tree (four generations)

In the documents

Every published document that names Robert Gaston, in date order, with what that document itself records.

Date	Document	Role	What it records
1793	G.238 find a grave memorial Find a Grave memorial 26660286 - LTC Robert Gaston, Warrior Run Church Cemetery, Delaware Run, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania	deceased as "LTC Robert Gaston"	birth: 28 Jan 1732, Bernardsville, Somerset County, New Jersey death: 22 Sep 1793, Delaware, Warren County, New Jersey burial: Warrior Run Church Cemetery, Delaware Run, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Still unknown, and where we have looked

Parents not identified.

Searches recorded

findagrave 2026-11-02 · Lamington Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Bedminster, Somerset Co. (cemetery 1520607), lastname=Gaston -- testing whether his family of...

Searched for: Lamington Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Bedminster, Somerset Co. (cemetery 1520607), lastname=Gaston -- testing whether his family of origin is the Lamington Gastons

Result: 21 GASTON MEMORIALS, 1687-1869, AND HE IS NOT CONNECTED TO ANY OF THEM ON THE EVIDENCE. The ground was found in Snell 1881's Bedminster BURIAL-PLACES section the same day ([I.259]); the sweep and the full roster are [G.726]. THE TEST AND ITS NEGATIVE RESULT: the senior couple are Hugh Gaston (1687 - 23 Dec 1772) and Jennet Kirkpatrick Gaston (1698-1777), and memorial 8444585 was run through fetch_findagrave.ps1. Its panel names four children - Margaret Bishop Gaston Simonton (1715-1791), William "K B I" Gaston (1720-1755), Pvt Hugh Gaston Jr (1733-1808), Rebecca Gaston Logan (1739-1819) - and HE IS NOT ONE OF THEM. His 28 Jan 1732 birth also sits only eleven months from Hugh Jr's 1733, which is possible for full siblings but uncomfortable. NOT A DISPROOF: a family panel is contributor-tier and an absent child is not evidence of absence. It removes the reason to suspect the link, which was surname plus county plus era. Nothing has been linked. WHAT IT ADDS INSTEAD, AND IT BEARS ON THIS FILE'S OWN OPEN CONFLICT: the parser gives Hugh Gaston Sr's birthplace as COUNTY ANTRIM, NORTHERN IRELAND. This file records [I.88] Tuttle saying "Mr. Gaston was a Scotchman by birth" against the Basking Ridge birthplace his SAR application [M.45] gives him. ⇒ an Ulster-Scots Gaston family was seated at Lamington, nine miles from Basking Ridge, in exactly his generation - which makes 'Scotchman by birth' and a New Jersey birthplace compatible if his father was the immigrant rather than himself. A family to work, not a parentage to assert: [G.726] t1 redirects to the two elder children, William "K B I" (1720-1755) and Margaret (1715-1791), and to the Lamington church records.

state index 2026-11-02 · NJ Archives Calendar of Wills, Vols XXXIII (1761-1770) and XXXIV (1771-1780), full-text for GASTON in Somerset Co. -- looking for his...

Searched for: NJ Archives Calendar of Wills, Vols XXXIII (1761-1770) and XXXIV (1771-1780), full-text for GASTON in Somerset Co. -- looking for his family of origin after the Lamington panel ruled out Hugh Gaston Sr

Result: A BETTER CANDIDATE FATHER, GRADED possible AND NOT WRITTEN INTO ANY KEY. [A.226]. "1777, March 31. Gaston, Joseph, of BERNARDSTOWN, Somerset Co.; will of. Wife, Margrete ... Son, Robert, £130, out of which he has received £79 by payment of his bond to Mary Lefferty. Son, Joseph, £130 ... Son Robert, son Joseph, daughter Martha Patterson, daughter Margaret Kirkpatrick and daughter Prusilla McCain, the remainder. Executors - sons Robert and Joseph and friend David Kirkpatrick." Inventory £292.14.3, 11 Apr 1777. Lib. 18, p. 577. WHY IT FITS WHERE HUGH GASTON SR DID NOT: Bernardstown is Bernards Township - BASKING RIDGE, which is exactly where [M.45], your SAR application, puts your birth on 28 Jan 1732; the will names a living son Robert and makes him an executor in 1777; and you died in 1793, so you were available to be one. WHY IT IS NOT ASSERTED: Robert Gaston is not a rare name, the abstract gives the son no age, residence or wife, and the will reads "Proved [no date]". The test is the original instrument at Lib. 18, p. 577 - [A.226] t1. AND A SECOND, UNREAD GASTON PROBATE CLUSTER in the same two volumes: a 1773 will with "Executors - John Linn and Hugh Gaston, both of Bedminster"; the 1776 will of John Gaston of Bedminster (wife Sarah, estate in 8 parts, executors including Rev. Jeremiah Halsey, one of the Lamington pastors); and Hugh Gaston of Bedminster as administrator of Thomas Morfet, 1770. [A.226] t3.

Documents

A.9 Calendar of Wills p. 84 — the published abstract of Daniel Cooper Sr.'s will of 1 February 1791 and its 24 April 1792 codicil, proved 20 June 1795.
I.87 Tuttle Revolutionary Fragments, Morris Co., N.J. — No. 8 (1850; reprinted 1896) — published transcription of the 1776 'Association of Whigs in Pequannock' petition, naming Robert Gaston at the head of the signers list + the four Hoffs (Jos., Garret, John, Charles Jr.) among 177 named signers; Committee of Safety named (Robert Gaston, Moses Tuttle, Stephen Jackson, Abram Kitchel, Job Allen). Robert Gaston = husband of [p.54 Rosanna Cooper Gaston](../../people/p.54%20Rosanna%20%28Cooper%29%20Gaston.md) (Daniel Sr's daughter per [A.9](../A-Probate/A.9.yaml)) = brother-in-law of [p.2 Capt Benjamin Cooper](../../people/p.2%20Benjamin%20Cooper.md). The four Hoff signers = family network of [p.46 Charity (Hoff) Cooper](../../people/p.46%20Charity%20%28Hoff%29%20Cooper.md) (Benjamin's 1st wife).
I.89 Tuttle Revolutionary Fragments, Morris Co., N.J. — No. 12: Incidents Connected with the Execution of Reynolds Counterfeiting and the Old Boonton Slitting Mill (1850) — primary identification of 'the wife of Robert Gaston, chairman of the committee of vigilance, was the sister of Cooper, one of the four condemned counterfeiters.' = explicit published-secondary primary-source-published-tier identification that Capt. Benjamin Cooper's sister was Mrs. Robert Gaston (= Rosanna Cooper per [A.9](../A-Probate/A.9.yaml) Daniel Sr's 1791 will). Plus narrative: she ran on a hill above Rockaway for hours awaiting reprieve news on the morning of the execution. Plus additional Sheriff Thomas Kinney + execution-day color material.
I.109 Morris County NJ Court of Common Pleas Minute Book Vol 4-6 (1766-1778) (FamilySearch DGS 7903185), images 333 + 362 — July Term 1772 + September Term 1772 sealing-dockets at Morristown. Both pages record 'Robert Gaston v Jno. Burwell' Sum [Appeal] from Jus. [B/D]. Cooper Judg by Default for $10 proc = some Cooper-family Justice rendered the appealed-from judgment; cursive reads 'B' but the BENJAMIN-AS-JP reading is REJECTED per absence of contemporary documentation (no newspaper, no political-backlash record, no commission instrument names Benjamin as JP). Most parsimonious reading: systematic clerk-hand pattern (D→B letter-swap) referring to Daniel Cooper Sr or Jr in Justice capacity. Img333 also shows Benj Cooper Esq v David Day = Benjamin as private litigant (clear full-name + Esq title, unambiguous identification) appealing from Justice Bowers's $9.16 judgment. Plus the case caption documents Robert Gaston (Benjamin's brother-in-law) appealing from a Cooper-family JP judgment = family-network legal entanglement regardless of which Cooper served as JP.
L.4 Hand-drawn Family Tree: Descendants of Daniel Cooper and Grace Runyon (1695–1895)
G.238 Find a Grave memorial 26660286 - LTC Robert Gaston, Warrior Run Church Cemetery, Delaware Run, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
M.45 Michigan Society SAR membership application (Nat. #30783) — applicant Hugh Philander Gaston, descendant of patriot Robert Gaston (Lt. Col., b. Basking Ridge NJ 28 Jan 1732, d. Warrior Run PA 1793)
I.164 Hanna, Ohio Valley Genealogies (1900) p. 47–48 — Robert Gaston × Rosanna Cooper family (7 children) + a published 'Daniel Cooper born at sea 1695 from Holland, m. 6 times, 1st Grace Runyon 1726' attestation
I.165 Your Ancestors magazine (V.2 No.7, Jul 1948) — Hugh Gaston × Grace Gaston (dau. of Robert & Rosanna Cooper Gaston): confirms Gracey (L.4 child #1) whom Hanna omitted; her Ohio line
G.726 Find a Grave searches, Lamington Presbyterian Church Cemetery (cemetery 1520607), Lamington, Bedminster Township, Somerset County, New Jersey: surnames Gaston (21), Lafferty (1) and Cooper (none), the 1740-1820 death window, and memorials 8444585 and 54623639 parsed
I.259 Snell, History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, New Jersey (1881), 1,130 PDF pages - the twelve per-township sections headed CEMETERIES or CEMETERIES AND BURIAL-PLACES (PDF pp. 361, 413, 434, 513, 534, 574, 600, 809, 944, 994-995, 1058), with the Lebanon Township section (PDF p. 513 = book p. 448) and the Bethlehem Township section (PDF p. 534) transcribed; plus the township-boundary evidence at PDF pp. 172, 184 and 445.
A.226 New Jersey Archives, First Series - two abstracts from the Calendar of Wills: Vol. XXXIV (Wills V, 1771-1780) PDF p. 200, the will of Joseph Gaston of Bernardstown, Somerset Co., dated 31 March 1777 with its inventory of 11 April 1777 (Lib. 18, p. 577); and Vol. XXXIII (Wills IV, 1761-1770) PDF p. 246, the intestate administration of Bryan Leferty of Somerset Co., granted 20 July 1769 to his widow Mary Leferty (Lib. K, p. 143).