Double John Cook and Jane Peer

John Cook was my sixth great grandfather.

On December 15, 1745 Johannis was baptized at the Pompton Plains First Reformed Dutch Church in Morris County, New Jersey. His parents were listed as Hendrik VanderKoeck and Catrina. Witnesses were Pieter Post and Annaatje.

On October 4, 1772 John Cook and Jane Peer were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Morristown.

On January 3, 1822 the will of John Cook was submitted for probate in Morris County. No wife was mentioned in the will. Jane was deceased when her father, Samuel Peer, wrote his will in 1818.
John Cook named four children in his will:
Catherine (married Easton)
Henry (my fifth great grandfather)
David
John


The son named John Cook (1790-1878) married a woman with the same name as his mother. Jane Peer (1794-1888) and John Cook were married by Reverend Barnabas King in 1812 in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey. They may have been first cousins. Jane's father was Jacob Peer, a brother to John's mother.

In the 1830s John and Jane relocated from Morris County, New Jersey to Onondaga County, New York.

John Cook Junior claimed a pension for service in the War of 1812 for substituting for Stephen H Cook (1797-1853). But Elizabeth claimed a widow’s pension through Stephen H Cook (denied because she could not prove the date of their marriage). Stephen was John's nephew (and my fourth great grandfather).

Questions:

How are the two people named Jane Peer related to each other? Was the younger Jane Peer a first cousin of her husband, the younger John Cook?

When did the older Jane Peer die?

Why did both John Cook and Stephen Cook serve in the War of 1812 if John substituted for Stephen?

The Will of John Cook 1822

JOHN COOK WILL

In the name of God Amen.

I John Cook, of the township of Pequanack in the county of Morris and State of New Jersey- being of sound and disposing mind and memory do make and ordain this my testament and just will in manner following viz-

I give and bequeath unto my Grandson Isaac EASTON, the son of my daughter, Catherine, one hundred dollars.

I give and devise unto my two sons, Henry I COOK and David COOK, five dollars each and I add no more as I have heretofore provided for and given them their proportion out of my estate by deeds and otherways.

I give and devise unto my youngest son John COOK and unto his heirs and assigns forever all the rest and residue of my Estate, both real and personal, that may remain after the payment of my funeral charges, just debts, and the expenses attending the settlement of my estate and the legacies herein before bequeathed.

I do hereby constitute and appoint son, John Cook, and my trusty and esteemed friend, David PEER Esquire, executors of this my last will and testament, hereby rendering and disannulling all former wills and testaments by me made and declaring this and no other to be my testament and last will.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the first day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen: John Cook.

Signed, sealed, published, pronounced, and declared to be the testament and last will of the said John Cook who signed the same in our presence, who signed our names as witnesses at the same time and at his request: Joseph JACKSON, Mahlon F DICKERSON, John D JACKSON.

Will submitted January 3, 1822 in Morris County, New Jersey.
David Thompson, Surrogate.

Morris County Wills, Liber B, pages 527-528.

Note: Surrogate records for Morris County, New Jersey can be copied from microfiche at the County Courthouse in Morristown. The other twenty counties can be viewed at FamilySearch.org at no cost.

Note: The spelling of the name of the township has varied over the centuries. It is now spelled Pequannock and encompasses much less land than it did when John Cook wrote his will in 1819.

Amanuensis Monday: Will of Samuel Peer, 1819, in Morris County, New Jersey

In the name of God Amen.

I, Samuel Peer, of the Township of Pequanack, in the County of Morris and State of New Jersey, being of sound mind and memory this fourteenth day of September in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and eighteen. Thanks be to God for all his mercies, calling to mind the mortality of my body; and as touching the things wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I give and bequeath in manner following (to wit):

1st, after my debts and funeral charges be paid, which is to be done by making sale of so much of my personal estate as shall be necessary by my executors herein after named, I give and bequeath the residue of my personal estate together with all my real estate to the use of my daughter, Susannah Peer, for and during her natural life, provided she continue to live unmarried, but if she should marry, this bequest to be null and void.

2d, after the decease or marriage of my daughter, Susan Peer, it is my will that my real estate descend to my two grandsons, Samuel Peer and Jacob Peer, and to be divided between them, that Jacob Peer shall have the house and barn where I now live with twenty acres of land to begin at the river below my house and to run westerly parallel with the road in front of my house untill it strike the back line of my farm and the residence of my homestead farm. I wish to be so divided that each of the two have an equal quantity, that is each an equal quantity of acres in the whole homestead farm. Also that each have alike quantities of wood and meadow land. And if my said grandsons cannot agree on a division of the said lands abovesaid then I appoint that Thomas Vanwinkle herein after named as one of my executors shall divide the same between them agreeably to the directions herein laid down, which division shall be conclusive between the said Samuel and Jacob. It is my intention that the bequest of my real estate herein made to my grandsons, Samuel Peer and Jacob Peer, be to them, their heirs and assigns forever. Also the lot of woodland which I brought of William Miller containing about twenty acres I also give to my two said grandsons and to their heirs and assigns forever and to be equally divided between them.

3d,  it is my will that my daughter, Susannah Peer, shall have no liberty to sell any of my personal estate of which I have given her the use of, nor to cut any timber, only for her own firewood and for fencing and repairing the farm and buildings.

And 4th it is my will that my two grandsons aforesaid pay the following legacies five years after they get possession of the lands herein bequeathed to them.

Unto the heirs of my daughter, Elizabeth decd [deceased], the sum of fifty dollars;

unto my daughter Catharine or her lawful heirs, the sum of fifty dollars;

unto the heirs of my daughter, Jane decd [deceased], the sum of fifty dollars;

unto the heirs of my son, Jacob Peer decd [deceased], the sum of fifty dollars;

unto the heirs of my daughter, Rachel Peer decd [deceased], the sum of fifty dollars.

5th, after the decease or marriage of my daughter, Susannah, all the personal estate which she hath had the use of and is in being then it is my will shall be equally divided amongst my children or their lawful representatives so that the representatives of each have the share divided equally amongst them that their parent would have.

6^th, I appoint Samuel Peer, my grandson, and Thomas Vanwinkle to be executors to this, my last will and teswtament.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal dated as above.

Samuel Peer, his mark

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Samuel Peer to be his testament and last will in the presence of us:

Samuel Peer Jun

Thomas Vanwinkle

Isaac Drake

Thomas Vanwinkle, one of the witnesses to the foregoing will, being duly sworn according to law, did depose and say that he saw Samuel Peer, the testator therein making his signature to said will and heard him publish and declare the foregoing writing to be his last will and testament, and that at the doing thereof the said testator was of sound and disposing mind and memory as far as this deponent knows and as he verily believes and that Samuel Peer Jun and Isaac Drake the other subscribing evidences were present at the same time and signed their names as witnesses to the said will together with this deponent in the presence of the said testator.

Thomas Vanwinkle

Sworn before me March 16^th, 1819

David Thompson Jun, Surrogate

Samuel Peer, one of the executors named in the foregoing will, being duly sworn according to law, did depose and say that the foregoing writing contains the true last will and testament of Samuel Peer, the testator therein named, so far as he knows and as he verily believes and that he will and truly perform the same by paying first the debts of the said decd and then the legacies in the testament specified so far as the goods and chattels and credits of the said decd can thereto extend and that he will make and exhibit into the Surrogate’s office of the County of Morris a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods, chattels, and credits of the said decd, and render a just and true account when thereto lawfully required.

Samuel Peer

Sworn before me March 16^th, 1819

David Thompson Jun, Surrogate

Renunciation of Thomas Vanwinkle

I, Thomas Vanwinkle, being named as one of the executors in the foregoing last will and testament of Samuel Peer, late of Morris County, decd [deceased], do hereby renounce my right to act as executor of the last will and testament of the said Samuel Peer decd, and do decline taking upon myself the burden or duties of an executor to said will.

March 16th, 1819

Thomas Vanwinkle

Signed before me at Morristown

March 16^th, 1819

David Thomspon Jr

Note: Samuel Peer was my 7th great grandfather.
I descend from his daughter, Jane, who was deceased when Samuel wrote his will in 1818.
Jane married John Cook (1745-1821).

Triple Cousins

Two interesting DNA matches appeared at 23andMe on my father's side.

They are close cousins to each other.  Each shares one to four small segments of DNA with my father and his siblings.

Sharing several small segments can indicate endogamy, or intermarrying within a small group of people over several generations.

Below is the DNA shared by my aunt and these two matches.

A comparison of family trees produced the same location of Morris County, New Jersey.  From there, we had to figure out the common ancestors, which turned out to be on more than one line, as predicted by the DNA.  These two DNA cousins are descended from Anna Augusta Cook (born 1843) and James Augustus Estler (1840-1921).

The common ancestors were:

- John Cook (1745-1821) and Jane Peer (dates not determined): My sixth great grandparents.
  My line descends from their son, Henry Cook (1777-1831).
  The Estler/Cook cousins descend from another son, David Cook (1780-1860).

- George Wiggins (dates not determined) and Unknown: My sixth great grandparents.
  My line descends from their daughter, Susannah Wiggins.
  The Estler/Cook cousins descend from another daughter, Jemima Wiggins (1780-1851).

Yes, two brothers married two sisters.

- Jacob vanderHoof (1774-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841): My fifth great grandparents.
  My line descends from their daughter, Elizabeth vanderHoof (1799-1878).
  The Estler Cook cousins descend from another daughter, Charlotte vanderHoof (1809-1886).



A family tree contained a picture of James Augustus Estler and ten of his children.  These children are my cousins in three different ways.

If anyone has further information on Wiggins in Morris County, New Jersey, please reach out to me.  Thank you.

DNA from Morris County, New Jersey: AncestryDNA/GedMatch

The next DNA cousins from Morris County, New Jersey appeared among my matches at AncestryDNA.  By comparing our attached family trees, Ancestry suggested that we share a set of ancestors, Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841).  These cousins, like the ones in prior posts, are also descended from Jacob and Ann's son, Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847), by his marriage to Rachel Peer (1800-1850).

The actual relationship, based on descent from Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler, is fourth cousins, once removed.

We can't see the shared segments at AncestryDNA, but these cousins fortunately uploaded to GedMatch.

My father shares five segments with one of the cousins, which is a great lead.

The amount and location of shared DNA among the other relatives varies.

We can triangulate the relation using the DNA of my father's brothers and their third cousin.  All three match this AncestryDNA cousin on chromosome 12.  (This segment immediately follows the segment shared by the DNA cousins from yesterday's post.)  The branch of my father's tree common to him and his third cousin holds Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler, the predicted Most Recent Common Ancestors.

We are presented with the same issue here as with the other cousins who are descendants of the couple Peter Vanderhoof and Rachel Peer:  Are we also related through the Peer line?  More research will hopefully produce the ancestry of Rachel Peer.

DNA from Morris County, New Jersey: 23andMe

From my Morris County, New Jersey ancestors, some cousins appear in the DNA databases.

My father's third cousin from this branch has tested his DNA.  We can see the shared segments of autosomal DNA shared with my father, his siblings, and this third cousin.  The common ancestors were Calvin Cook (1827 - 1889) and Mary Neal (1829 - 1898) of Morris County.

By viewing where the DNA is shared, we can find other, more distant cousins who also share DNA in these same spots.

For this discussion, we focus on the shared segments on chromosome 12 at 23andMe.  Two of my father's siblings share DNA on chromosome 12 with the third cousin.

A few people ("DNA cousins") also share these same segments with the relatives on my end- my uncle and our third cousin.  One of them has a family tree and responded to my inquiry.  She shares an identical segment of DNA with two of my uncles and third cousin.

We need to triangulate the match.  Two full siblings count as one point of the triangle, as their ancestors are identical.  We do not have to search our entire family tree to find the Most Recent Common Ancestor.  We look instead at the set of ancestors common to the third cousins:  Calvin Cook and Mary Neal.

Mary Neal is a tail end in my family tree.  Her ancestry is unknown to me at this time.  Only Calvin Cook's tree is available.  If the segment came from Mary Neal, we could possibly break through that brick wall.

One of two branches that may hold the Most Recent Common Ancestor
of the DNA cousin.

When asked for ancestors that were in northern New Jersey in the 1800s, the DNA cousin provided the couple Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847) and Rachel Peer (1800-1850).  After time, research, and correspondence, the Most Recent Common Ancestors were identified as Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841).  They were the parents of Peter Vanderhoof, the direct ancestor of the DNA match, and they were the parents of Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878), the mother of Calvin Cook, in my direct line.

This makes this DNA cousin a Fifth Cousin to my father, his siblings, and their third cousin.

Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878) is buried with her husband, Stephen Cook (1797-1843), in the Cook Cemetery in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.  (Now enclosed by a golf course.)

Peter Vanderhoof and his wife, Rachel Peer, are buried in the DeMouth Family Burial Ground (front yard of a house) in Denville, along with Peter and Elizabeth's parents, Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler.  (Ann Hopler's mother was Elizabeth DeMouth.)

But there could be other ancestors in common.

Jane Peer was the 5th great grandmother of my father.  She married John Cook (1745-1821).  She was probably born around 1750 and died before her father, Samuel Peer, died in 1818.

Rachel Peer (1800-1850) was the 3rd great grandmother of the DNA cousin.  Rachel's place in the Peer family of Morris County has not been determined.  Rachel Peer and Jane Peer, like the other Morris County lines, were probably related.  The shared DNA could be from Peer and not Vanderhoof and Hopler.

Amanuensis Monday: Marriage record from book, 1861

This certifies

that Mr Edward C Peer and

Miss Sarah L Miller were by me

united in marriage, according to the law of God and of the State

of New Jersey at Orange,

Essex Co, N J

Augt 4, [18]61

Rev Wm D Hedden

Original at Denville Historical Society and Museum, October 3, 2015

Notes:

Edward C Peer (1837-1915)

Sarah L Miller (18??-1919)  (Gravestone has year of birth 1854.  Must be earlier if marriage date is correct.)

War of 1812 Pension Application for a Widow

Fold3 is making available for free digitized pension claims for the War of 1812.  The digitization project is proceeding in alphabetical order and Cook files for New Jersey have recently become available.

My 3x great grandmother, Elizabeth Vanderhoof, applied for a widow's pension for service of her deceased husband, Stephen H Cook.  For quite some time, I have been holding out for this file after locating an index card.

Index Card War of 1812
From the collection United States, War of 1812 Index to Pension Application Files, 1812-1910
at FamilySearch.org
This collection is free to search and view.

Elizabeth Vanderhoof was born in 1799 and died in 1878, according to her gravestone.  I do not know her parents.  As you can see from the marriage record below, her parents are not listed.  I cannot find a record of her death with any parentage.  She might be characterized as a "brick wall," meaning that I cannot get to the generation behind her.

Elizabeth is more like a glass wall than a brick wall.  She likely comes from one of the nearby Vanderhoof families.

Stephen Cook was born in 1797 and died in 1853, according to his gravestone, making him just old enough to have participated in the War of 1812.  He and Elizabeth were married in 1819 and was recorded at the county level.

A nod to the DNA studies:  The first couple at the top of the page of marriages, Peter Vandroof and Rachel Peer, are ancestors of a man who shares a segment of DNA with my third cousin from the Stephen Cook/Elizabeth Vanderhoof line.  Could the common ancestor be a Vanderhoof?

New Jersey, County Marriages, 1682-1956
Stephen Cook to Eliza Vandroof, 7 April 1819 in Morris County
Free index and images at FamilySearch.org

In order to claim a pension as a widow of a veteran, the marriage must be proved.  I was hoping that the pension application would provide me with Elizabeth's family of origin.  No such luck.  Elizabeth claimed to be unable to provide documentation of her marriage to Stephen Cook.

Elizabeth applied for a widow's pension under an 1871 act that entitled a widow to a pension if married to the soldier before the end of the War in 1815.  Note that Elizabeth wrote the day and month of her marriage but not the year.  Had she written the actual year of marriage, 1819, and included proof, her pension would have been denied.  She was denied anyway.

The 1878 Act, however, entitled Elizabeth to a widow's pension.  She died on May 4, just two months after the passage of this Act.  Viewing the actual application shows us that she filed under the 1871 Act and not the 1878 Act as I originally speculated.  See the The Legal Genealogist's article for a concise summary of entitlements for pensions for the War of 1812.

Elizabeth attempted to bootstrap her application for a widow's pension by mentioning the Land Warrant.  Her reliance upon this bounty is misplaced.  (You can search and view land patents for free at the non-genealogy site of the United States Bureau of Land Management.)  Under the 1850 Scrip Warrant Act, Stephen Cook was granted 40 acres in Wisconsin for his service in the War of 1812.  Stephen was alive at this time, so when he married Elizabeth is not relevant for receiving the land bounty.  The number of acres, forty, tells us that Stephen was able to prove at least one month of service, but not more than four months.

Transfer of 40 acres in Wisconsin from Elizabeth, widow of Stephen Cook,
back to the Land Office and then to William Bach.
Accession # MW-0901-319

The only possible Vanderhoof family tie I can garner from Elizabeth's pension application is in her selection of witnesses to her signature:  Chilion Cook and Charlotte Cook.

Chilion Cook was a first cousin of Stephen H Cook.  Chilion married Charlotte Vanderhoof in 1828.

New Jersey, County Marriages, 1682-1956
Chilion Cook to Charlotte Vanderhoof in 1828 in Morris County
Free index and images at FamilySearch.org

Charlotte died in 1886.  Her death certificate lists parents as Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann.  We need more documentation to connect these two woman to the larger Vanderhoof family in Morris County, New Jersey, but I think we are on the right trail.

New Jersey certificates of death 1886-1887
Place 75 (Morris County), Certificate number C138
Copied from microfilm at New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, New Jersey by J Lutter

In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors

Yesterday was a lovely day thanks to a dear friend, Marianne.  She lives in Morris County and is able to highlight areas for local research that I may overlook.  Her insight and evaluation have been so helpful to me.

We visited La Cucina Restaurant in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.  What does this have to do with genealogy?  I would have never guessed.  The business was a restaurant and store on the Morris Canal since the late 1800s, owned by Edward Cook Peer.  I was able to walk around a home where my relatives worked and where other relatives from the neighborhood dined and shopped!

This is a picture on the wall of La Cucina Restaurant.
The store was on the canal.

Today there is land in front of the house and patrons arrive by vehicle, not boat.
[Photo credit:  Marianne Totaro]

The interior of the restaurant displays old photographs, some of the Peer Family.

The site displays a marker from The Morris County Heritage Commission.
[Photo credit: Marianne Totaro]

The household of Edward Cook Peer in the 1880 census in Denville.
Ancestry.com

I am descended from Peer and Cook in Morris County, so a person named Edward Cook Peer is of particular interest to me.  I am not sure at this point how he is related to me, but I would suspect that he is related in more than one way.  The most recent Peer in my line was Jane Peer.  She married John Cook in 1772.  They lived in nearby Pequannock.

We absorbed some more of the local surroundings by visiting the alpacas
at Brookhollow Farm in Boonton.