Manuscript Group 451, Jonah Cooper (fl. 1793-1832), Dairy farmer and merchant Account book, 1793-1832 (Bulk dates: 1829-1831)

Archive Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs

Manuscript Group 451, Jonah Cooper (fl. 1793-1832), Dairy farmer and merchant
Account book, 1793-1832 (Bulk dates: 1829-1831), 0.3 linear feet / 1 volume
Call Number: MG 451(os)

Summary

• Biographical Note
• Provenance Note
• Scope and Content Note
• Related Collections
• Container List

Summary:

An account book kept by a dairy farmer and merchant in Milton, Morris County, New Jersey.

Biographical Note:

Jonah Cooper (fl. 1793-1832) was a dairy farmer and storekeeper in Milton, Jefferson Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Another owner of this volume describes Cooper as “Granduncle of Mrs. George F. Bayles.”

Provenance Note:

The source of this collection is unknown.

Scope and Content Note:

This volume is an account book kept by Jonah Cooper for his farm and general store in the village of Milton, New Jersey from 1793-1831. While most of the account information consists of sales records from the general store for such items as bowls, iron bars, butter, tea, and flannel, entries also include the location of Cooper’s cattle pastures. The accounts are not indexed.

A large portion of this volume consists of a scrapbook made by William C. Jacobus (“1854, Newark.”), C. N. Campbell (“1863, Newark.”), John Jacobus (“Newark”), and by Mary S. Jacobus Bayles (“1912, Morristown”). During this process, newspaper articles dating from 1850-1912 were glued over the account pages, obscuring the majority of Jonah Cooper’s entries. Only his accounts from 1829-1831 are legible.

Related Collections:

See Farmers’ papers/records

See Merchants’ papers/records

Container List:

Processed by Luis Delfino, November 2000 as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.