Revolutionary War Resources in New Jersey

On Saturday, April 18, 2026 I attended an all-day presentation entitled "Revolutionary Roots" hosted by the Monmouth County Genealogy Society. The location was at the Visitor Center at what is now Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Freehold and Manalapan, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

The Battle of Monmouth was fought during the Revolutionary War on June 28, 1778.  Friends of the Battlefield reenact annually.

On this field in what was known as Monmouth Courthouse
many people died in 1778 fighting over the newly formed country called
The United States of America

Here are my takeaways from the presenters:

1. New Jersey's inhabitants were not overwhelmingly in support of one side or the other. From a research standpoint, this means that you need to check records of those who supported the British and those who supported the newly formed United States. Records of Loyalists are located across the pond in The United Kingdom's National Archives, Canada, as well as the United States. In New Jersey, those who sided with the crown were called "volunteers;" Stryker compiled their information into a book.

2. Monmouth County maintains digital archives. Below is an example of a page of confiscations on their website. A trial would have preceded this order to confiscate.

Order to confiscate property of Thomas Thorn for aligning with the King of Great Britain
January 6, 1779

3. New Jersey kept created its own records about activities during the Revolutionary War. 

a. While federal pensions became available to certain soldiers in 1818, New Jersey granted its own pensions to soldiers in some circumstances. These were official Acts and are recorded with the rest of the Acts (Laws) of the legislative term.

The New Jersey State Legislature could enact an Act
to provide a pension to a veteran of the Revolutionary War

b. New Jersey Council of Safety Records 1776-1778 are digitized online at this site on the New Jersey State Archives website. They include testimonials of those aligned with the United States testifying against Loyalists.

In the papers included below, William Imlay of Upper Freehold, Monmouth County, testified on April 12, 1777 that two individuals, Jesse Woodward and Richard Robins, took his property for use in the British service.

William Imlay's deposition against Jesse Woodward.

William Imlay's deposition against Richard Robins.

c. For those whose property was damaged, lost, or stolen, a claim could be submitted. You can search this collection on the Archives' website, but copies of claims are $5 by mail. The claims were not paid.

Search page of Revolutionary War Damage Claims
New Jersey State Archives
You can select a file to receive a paper copy of the contents.

d. Taxes were paid during the War. You can view them at the Archives' website. The names of towns might seem unfamiliar and some counties might appear missing, but this is because these are from the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Paying taxes during the Revolutionary War could qualify that person as a Patriot, making a descendant eligible for membership in Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution.

Tax ratables in Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey for the year 1779.
Page 1.

Thank you to all of the participants and presenters who made this educational experience possible.

Private Charles Y Cook, Civil War Veteran 1833-1913

Charles Cook (1833-1913) was born in Morris County, New Jersey to Stephen H Cook and Elizabeth Vanderhoof. He served in the Civil War (1861-1865) with Company L, 27th New Jersey Infantry from September 1862 through July 1863 for a total of nine months.

Various Acts enabled Charles to file for a pension and increases. The pages in this packet reveal further information about the family. I was hoping that his pension would help link him to his great grandfather, Conrad Hopler, but not so. The issue at this point in the research is finding documentation that Charles' mother, Elizabeth Vanderhoof, was the daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler. Conrad Hopler, who served in the Revolutionary War, was the father of Ann.

If you can obtain an application for a pension for service in a war, you should do so. Anything could be in that file.

This pension record was ordered through Civil War Records. The price was $110 and the turn-around time was one month. The actual pages are in the custody of the National Archives.

Family tree showing Charles Y Cook (1833-1913),
his siblings, parents, and grandparents

Charles died of dysentery after a trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 11, 1913. He attended a fiftieth commemoration and died of an infection he survived fifty years earlier during the War. He was honorably discharged on July 2, 1863, which was in the middle of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg. His papers do not list this location or Battle as one that he participated in.

Death certificate of Charles Y Cook
died July 11, 1913 in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.
Available in person or through the mail via New Jersey State Archives.

Charles Cook was buried with his wife, Sarah Merritt, at the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey.

Jody visiting the grave of Charles Y Cook (1833-1913) and his wife, Sarah Merritt (1842-1909).
First Presbyterian Church, Rockaway, New Jersey.
May 9, 2026

This cemetery is where Conrad Hopler (1730-1816) has a gravestone. I am seeking documentation that Conrad Hopler is a great grandparent of Charles Y Cook.

Jody visiting the grave of Conrad Hopler (1730-1816).
First Presbyterian Church, Rockaway, New Jersey.
May 9, 2026

Stephen Cook and Elizabeth Vanderhoof married in 1819. They had at least five children:

-Ann M Cook (1820-1868), married Jesse Lee (1818-1888)

-Silas Cook (1825-????) (only mentioned in the books of Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson)

-Calvin Cook (1826-1889), married Mary Neil (1830-1898)

-William Henry Cook (1828-1902), married Emeline Young (1834-1906)

-Charles Y Cook (topic of this article)

Five children of Elizabeth Vanderhoof and Stephen Cook
identified by Ms Hickerson in her book, Vanderhoof.

I am missing at least one source of Ms Hickerson's research. I have found nothing about Silas Cook, born March 3, 1825, outside her mention.

Charles was able to claim a pension in 1890 because of service-related disability and in 1907 because he lived long enough. A card index exists. Charles has two different cards. The one at Ancestry reflects only the 1890 claim for disability. The card at Fold3 reflects both claims.

Pension card for Charles Y Cook
U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934
at Ancestry

Pension card for Charles Y Cook
US, Civil War Pensions Index, 1861-1900. NARA T289. Fold3.

Pension file of Charles Y Cook
Civil War
"alleges that at Newport News [Virginia] about Feb 20, 1863 he contracted rheumatism in back and hip."

The family bible is mentioned in Charles' sworn statement from 1904. "He having been born on the 27 day of August eighteen hundred and thirty three- that his mother's family bible which is in the possession of his brother's widow contains the entry of which the following is a copy." This would have been Emeline Young (1834-1906), widow of William Cook. They had at least ten children. Who received the bible of Elizabeth Vanderhoof? I need it.

Pension file of Charles Y Cook. He mentioned his birthdate as written in his mother's family bible.

Charles clarified his name. "He always understood that he was named after a relative Charles Youmans by name but that his mother did not use the 'Y' in naming him and that he only took up the use of the 'Y' himself after reaching the age of twenty years and [illegible] did so in order to distinguish himself from others having the name of 'Charles Cook'."

First, thank you, Charles, for realizing that so many men bearing the name Charles Cook would confuse researchers for centuries. This has been my experience in researching COOKs.

Second, thank you for clarifying that you used the middle initial 'Y' and the middle name 'Youmans' and that this name was a relative's name.

Who was Charles Youmans? Charles Elmer Youmans (1809-1864) married Anna Cook (1808-1897), a paternal aunt of the younger Charles Youmans Cook.

1860 federal census
Charles Y Cook living with his mother, Elizabeth Cook [born Vanderhoof],
in Rockaway Township, Morris County, New Jersey.
By this time Charles had started using his middle initial.

Charles Cook using his middle name Youmans.
Rev. D. E. Platter (compiler), Historical Manual of the Rockaway Presbyterian Church (Trenton, New Jersey: Wm. S. Sharp, printer and stereotyper, 1880), 5.

Charles explained his family of creation. He married Sarah Lavinia Merritt in 1861. They had at least five children. I'm not sure if they had two sons named George Cook.

Charles Y Cook's listing of his wife and children

The children of Charles Cook and Sarah Merritt were: Laura, Mary, George, Phebe, and Samuel.

In First Presbyterian Church Cemetery with Charles and Sarah is a stone for George, engraved with a date of death January 6, 1866, aged two years, three days. This would give a birth around January 1864. So Mary could not have been born May 12, 1864. The pension lists George's birthdate as October 4, 1866. This could be a second son named George Cook, named after the baby who just died. There was no child named George living with this family in the 1870, so perhaps the second George also died early. Or there was only one. This remains unclear.

Sarah Merritt was also a Wiggins descendant. More research is needed on Wiggins. She and Charles Cook were probably cousins.

Family tree of Sarah Lavinia Merritt showing ancestors and her children with Charles Y Cook

Daniel A Wiggins submitted an affidavit to support Charles Y Cook's application for an invalid pension. His age was listed, which is not usually seen in older records. Looks like 47 or 49 years old in 1891. This could be David Alvin Wiggins (1845-1927). He was a second cousin of Sarah Merritt, sharing great grandparents Jonathan Wiggins (1763-1815) and Phebe Fordham (1764-1851).

Affidavit of John B Cox and Daniel A Wiggins
in support of an invalid pension for Charles Y Cook

Charles wrote his occupation (brakeman, unable to perform because of illnesses contracted from war) and residences. He lived in Brooklyn, New York from 1884-1888. This explains the birth in Brooklyn of his granddaughter, Laura Bidgood (1884-1952), and his appearance in the Brooklyn city directories.

"then in Brooklyn, NY from 1884 to 1888 . . ."

"4 years in Brooklyn from 1884 to 1888 all the rest of time in Rockaway Township, Morris County, New Jersey."

1887-1888 Brooklyn, New York city directory
Charles Y Cook, weigher, 248 South Second.
Weigher was an attempted occupation of Charles Y Cook following the Civil War.

-We still do not have a record supporting that Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler were the parents of Elizabeth Vanderhoof, wife of Stephen Cook.

-What other sources was Ms Hickerson using in her research of Vanderhoof and Cook in Morris County, New Jersey?

-Where is the family bible of Elizabeth Vanderhoof? In 1904 it was in the custody of Emeline Young (1834-1906), widow of William Cook.

Thank you, Charles Youmans Cook, for your service during the Civil War.

Jeremiah Pope, a Revolutionary War Soldier

This imposing obelisk is eye-catching at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey.

The stone is inscribed with information and dates for three generations of the Pope family: Jeremiah Pope and Mary Van Emburgh; their son, Samuel Pope and his wife, Elizabeth Edwards; and their son, Samuel Pope and his wife, Eliza Rose.

JEREMIAH POPE

A SOLDIER IN THE REVOLUTION

ALSO IN THE WAR OF 1812

BORN AT BASKING RIDGE

SOMMERSET CO, NJ

OCTOBER 17, 1749

DIED IN 1814

ALSO HIS WIFE

MARY

DAUGHTER OF

DR VAN EMBURGH

OF HACKENSACK NJ

BORN SEPT 10, 1762

DIED DEC 1846

SAMUEL POPE

A SOLDIER IN THE WAR OF 1812

BORN AT HACKENSACK NJ

JAN 23, 1790

DIED IN 1814

ALSO HIS WIFE

ELIZABETH EDWARDS

BORN AT DANBURY CONN

MAY 5, 1790

DIED IN 1830

SAMUEL POPE

BORN

BETWEEN SENECA AND CYUGA LAKES

IN THE STATE OF NY

OCTOBER 11, 1811

DIED MARCH 21, 1889

ALSO HIS WIFE

ELIZA

DAUGHTER OF MARTIN AND MARY ROSE

OF NORTH HAVERSTRAW, NY

BORN JUNE 4, 1811

DIED JUNE 23, 1910

Jeremiah was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Samuel also served in the War of 1812. The cemetery did not exist at that time, so they were buried elsewhere.

In 1839, Jeremiah's wife, Mary filed for a widow's pension for his service in the Revolutionary War. In the transcript of the family bible, Jeremiah's death was January 11, 1813. The year 1814 is inscribed on the gravestone.

These pension documents are available at Fold3.com (pay site).

A book from 1882 has a few paragraphs about this family. The History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men is available on Google Books.

Pictures of the stone and transcripts of the inscriptions are provided here to aide anyone researching this family or these conflicts.

2020: The Last Civil War Pensioner

He was a Civil War soldier.

This is engraved on the gravestone of Moses "Mose" Triplett (1846-1938) in the Triplett-Hall Cemetery in Elkville, North Carolina.

Moses fought on both sides.

He is in the news lately because his daughter died May 31, 2020. Irene Triplett was the last person collecting a pension from the Civil War- 155 years after the War ended.

Moses died in 1938 when Irene was eight years old. See how a child of a Civil War soldier was still alive?

Death certificate for Mose Triplett, died 1938 in North Carolina.
(Ancestry.com)

There are probably more children among us, though they do not collect pensions. Irene qualified because she was considered a dependent "incapable of self-support by reason of physical or mental defect."

In the 1930 federal census, Irene was enumerated with her parents in Elk, Wilkes County, North Carolina. Irene was three months old. Her mother, Elida was 34. Mose was 83 years old.

Lydia Hall and Mose Triplett were married in 1924.

The 1890 Veterans Schedule lists Moses Triplett's service as the 3rd Regiment of Company F, North Carolina Mounted Infantry. They fought for the Union.

Moses originally served with a Confederate unit, the 26th. He deserted from a hospital in Danville, Virginia, on June 26, 1863- five days before this unit fought at the Battle of Gettysburg.

If anyone knows how many children of Civil War veterans are still out there, please comment below. There are still people alive today whose fathers served in the Civil War.

The Life of Elizabeth Duryea, born 1836

While collecting marriages of Duryeas in New Jersey, I happened upon a record for Elizabeth T Duryea. She remarried to Augustus B Palmer in 1885 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.

This explains why Augustus B Palmer is on the monument for Elizabeth's first husband, children, sister, and mother at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens, New York. Elizabeth herself has no inscription and the cemetery found no record of her burial, so her date of death continues to elude me.

Augustus B Palmer was born in Maine around 1843. He probably relocated to New York City in the 1870s. His death in 1891 was reported in The City Record; he joined the police in 1877.

An brief mention in The Evening World newspaper told of Policeman Palmer's death in Maine on April 19, 1891, where he was on sick leave.

Augustus B Palmer also has an inscription on his family's monument in Dover Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. His residence, career, and wife in New York City may easily have gone unconnected.

I do not know what became of Elizabeth after the death of Augustus. She does not appear as his widow in the New York City directories.

One year before Augustus' death, Elizabeth was in the 1890 Veterans Schedule at 304 East 125th street in New York City, the same address as the city directories. Closer inspection of her entry shows "Palmer" scribbled next to her name.

Elizabeth's life was not easy.

She was born in 1836 in New York City after the death of her father, John H Duryea. She joined a sister, Catherine Jane. Their mother, Sarah Moffitt, remarried to Joseph Scott.

In 1854, Elizabeth married Joseph Jones in New York City; they adopted the last name Henley. Joseph died during the Civil War as a prisoner in Texas, making her a widow with two children. Any other children had died.

Elizabeth and Joseph had four known children. None had surviving issue. They used the surname Henley.
-Frederick, born about 1855 in Michigan; died 1887 in California.
-Lambert Scott, born about 1858 in Ohio; died in 1861.
-Augustus B, born about 1859 in Ohio; died in 1931.
-Florence May, born about 1863, died in 1864.

I do not know why the children were born outside New York or New Jersey.

After discovering Elizabeth's marriage to Augustus B Palmer, I wonder if there was a prior connection between them that caused her to name a son Augustus B.

Elizabeth's sister, Catherine Jane, first married William Leander, then Harry Abraham Lockwood. These unions produced no known surviving issue. Thus, this branch has extinguished.