New Jersey Records Details and Resources

RECORD HIGHLIGHTS

Mug books — so named because of the photos that accompanied biographies of those who subscribed to the publication — were popular in the late 19th century, and New Jersey has many at state and county repositories. Mug books should always be used with caution. Because people paid to be included, the facts are sometimes suspiciously complete, with maiden names for all the females and complete dates of events. They can be great places to begin, but remember, they usually only include prosperous members of the community.

New Jersey took state censuses decennially from 1855 to 1915, times conveniently between federal censuses. Like early federal census records, the 1855 and 1865 censuses only name the head of household, with all others enumerated by gender. In addition, some counties are missing in the 1855 and 1865 censuses, and enumerations of other counties are partial. The 1875 census only has two counties that survived, Sussex and Essex. All counties’ records are available for the 1885, 1895, 1905 and 1915 censuses. Considering the destruction of the 1890 federal census, the 1885 and 1895 state censuses — which name everyone in the household — are a blessing. State census records are available on microfilm through the Family History Library (FHL); the 1895 count is on subscription site Ancestry.com.

Land sales before 1785 were recorded in the capitals of East and West Jersey — Perth Amboy and Burlington, respectively. In 1795, records were transferred to Trenton; look into the Secretary of State’s Deeds. Mortgages can be found in county court records from 1766; and other deeds, from 1785. Proprietary records, the first distribution of land by the proprietors, were handled differently. Some have been published; others are available on microfilm or in transcriptions of land surveys. The records were kept separately by individual boards of proprietors for East and West Jersey.

New Jersey required statewide registration of births and deaths beginning in 1848, though it wasn’t until 1920 that county clerks recorded them consistently. The state archives has microfilm of birth certificates from 1878 to 1900, as well as birth registers. The FHL has only the registers. You can get birth and death records for the years 1901 to 1940 from the state archives. Death returns from May 1, 1848 to May 31, 1878 are on microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives, 225 West State Street, Box 307, Trenton, NJ 08625, http://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/archives.html, as well as from the FHL.

Provincial marriage records were supposed to begin in 1673, though they are incomplete in the early years. Marriage licenses or publishing banns for three weeks was required from 1719 until 1795, when the marriage license requirement was eliminated. After 1795, marriage certificates were moved to the county courts of common pleas. Unfortunately, these records seldom mention the couples’ parents’ names, but the good news is that you can access the marriages from 1795 to 1900 on microfilm through the FHL and its branch Family History Centers.

CENSUS RECORDS

• Census of New Jersey, 1850-1880; Third Series (of Persons who Died During the Years Ending 30 June, 1850; 1 June, 1860; 1 June, 1870; 31 May, 1880) by the US Census Office (State Library of Archives and History, 1966)
• The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware: Family Histories of the Swedish Lutheran Church Members Residing in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West New Jersey and Cecil County, Maryland, 1638-1693 by Peter Stebbins Craig (SAG Publications, 1993)
• New Jersey 1850 Mortality Schedule Index compiled by Shirley J. George and Sandra E. Glenn (G. & G. Genealogical Book Co., 1982)
• New Jersey 1890 edited by Ronald Vern Jackson (Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1990)
• Revolutionary Census of New Jersey by Kenn Stryker-Rodda (Polyanthos, 1972)

VITAL RECORDS

• Card Index to Civil War Soldiers’ Graves, 1862 (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2000)
• County File of Miscellaneous New Jersey Information (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971)
• Guide to Vital Statistics Records in New Jersey by the New Jersey Historical Records Survey (1941)
• An Historical Records Survey of a Miscellany of New Jersey Vital Statistics Records, 1753-1870 (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2000)
• Index to Inquisitions on the Dead, 1700’s-1800’s by the New Jersey Bureau of Archives and History (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1972)
• New Jersey Catholic Baptismal Records From 1759 to 1781 by Janet Drumm Dirnberger (Brambles, 1981)
• New Jersey Cemetery Inscriptions (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1976)
• New Jersey Marriage Bonds, W.P.A. Marriage Records, 1670-1800 (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• New Jersey Marriage Records, 1665-1800 edited by William Nelson (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967, 1973, 1982)
• New Jersey Tombstone Inscriptions (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)

LAND RECORDS

• East Jersey Deeds, 1667-1783 by the New Jersey State Library (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967)
• Estates and Partitions, 1712-1866 by the New Jersey Supreme Court (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1993)
• Index to Deeds, Grantee and Grantor by the New Jersey State Library (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967-1968)
• Minutes of the Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey, 4 vols., by the Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey (The Board, 1949-1985)
• Patents and Deeds and Other Early Records of New Jersey, 1664-1703 edited by William Nelson (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976)
• Perth Amboy Surveys, 1678-1814 by the New Jersey Surveyor General (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973)

PROBATE RECORDS

• Calendar of New Jersey Wills, 7 vols., by William Nelson and Abraham Van Doren Honeyman (Heritage Books, 1994-1997)
• Chancery Court Cases, 1743-1845 by the New Jersey Chancery Court (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978)
• Chancery Docket Books, 1824-1900; Index to Chancery Records, 1824-1904 by the New Jersey Court of Chancery (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978)
• Chancery Register, 1781-1894 by the New Jersey Court of Chancery (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1977)
• The Courts of Chancery in New Jersey, 1684-1696 by George Julius Miller (H.E. Pickersgill, 1934)
• Court Tickler, 1858-1896 by the New Jersey Court of Chancery (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1977)
• Early Index to Supreme Court Minutes, 1681-1842 by the New Jersey Supreme Court (Bibliofilm, 1938)
• Enrolled Decrees, 1825-1850; Index to Enrolled Decrees, 1825-1854 by the New Jersey Chancery Court (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1979)
• Genealogical Research: A Guide to Source Materials in the Archives and History Bureau of the New Jersey State Library by the New Jersey Bureau of Archives and History (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1989)
• Index to New Jersey Wills, 1689-1890: The Testators edited by Lee Smeal and Ronald Vern Jackson (Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1979)
• Index to Supreme Court Cases Before and After the Revolution by the New Jersey Supreme Court (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978)
• The Law and Practice of New Jersey From the Earliest Times: Concerning the Probate of Wills, the Administration of Estates, the Protection of Orphans and Minors, and the Control of Their Estates by William Nelson (Paterson History Club, 1909)
• New Jersey Index to Wills, 3 vols., by the New Jersey Secretary of State (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969)
• Parchment Rolls, 1755-1806 by the New Jersey Court of Chancery (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1977)
• Religion in New Jersey: A Brief History by Wallace N. Jamison (D. Van Nostrand, 1964)
• Records of the US District Court of New Jersey and Predecessor Courts: 1789-1950 by the US District Court, New Jersey (National Archives, ca. 1950)

IMMIGRATION RECORDS

• The Complete Book of Emigrants, 4 vols., by Peter Wilson Coldham (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987-1993)
• The Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches and Genealogies by Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969)
• Guide to Naturalization Records in New Jersey prepared by the New Jersey Historical Records Survey (Microfilming Corporation of America, 1983)
• Index to Naturalization Records, 1703-1862 by the New Jersey Bureau of Archives and History (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1972)
• Index to Powers of Attorney, Surveyors Reports, Commissions, etc., Referring to Deeds, ca. 1703-1856 by the New Jersey Bureau of Archives and History (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• Mayflower Pilgrim Descendants in Cape May County, New Jersey by Paul Sturtevant Howe (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977)
• More Palatine Families: Some Immigrants to the Middle Colonies, 1717-1776, and Their European Origins by Henry Z. Jones (H.Z. Jones, 1991)
• Naturalization Records, 1749-1873; Card Index, 1761-1860 by the New Jersey Supreme Court (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978)

MILITARY RECORDS

• Alphabetical Roll of New Jersey Volunteers in the Civil War (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• A Bibliography: The Civil War and New Jersey by Donald A. Sinclair (Friends of the Rutgers University Library for the New Jersey Civil War Centennial Commission, 1968)
• Certificates and Receipts of Revolutionary New Jersey by Dorothy Agans Stratford and Thomas B. Wilson (Hunterdon House, 1996)
• Civil War Pension Claims, New Jersey Soldiers Alphabetical (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files, 4 vols., abstracted by Virgil D. White (National Historical Publishing Co., 1990-1992)
• Index to Military Men of New Jersey, 1775-1815 edited by Ronald Vern Jackson, et al. (Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1977)
• Index to Records of Spanish-American War, Books 1-122 by the New Jersey State Library (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• Index to Revolutionary War Service Records, 4 vols., transcribed by Virgil D. White (National Historical Publishing Company, 1995)
• Lineage Records, no. 1-14199, 1607-1967; Supplemental Records, 1-13850, 1607-1967; Register of Members by the General Society of Colonial Wars (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967)
• The Loyalists of New Jersey, Their Memorials, Petitions, Claims, etc., From English Records by Edward Alfred Jones (New Jersey Historical Society, 1927)
• Military Officers Recorded in the Office of the Secretary of State, Trenton, New Jersey; Colonial Wars, 1668-1774 by the New Jersey State Library (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• New Jersey in 1793: An Abstract and Index to the 1793 Militia Census of the State of New Jersey by James S. Norton (1973)
• New Jersey Civil War Records, Books 1-829 by the New Jersey State Library (State Library of Archives and History, 1969)
• New Jersey Records; French and Indian War, 1757-1764 by the New Jersey State Library (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• New Jersey and the Revolutionary War by Alfred Hoyt Bill (Rutgers University, 1964)
• “New Jersey Volunteers” (Loyalists) In the Revolutionary War by William Scudder Stryker (Naar, Day & Naar, printers, 1887)
• New Jersey in the War of 1812; Books 1-52 by the New Jersey State Library (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• New Jersey, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 by the US Selective Service System (National Archives, 1987-1988)
• Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War compiled by James W.S. Campbell (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967)
• Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861-1865 by the New Jersey Adjutant General’s Office (J.L. Murphy, 1876)
• Records of Officers and Men of New Jersey in Wars 1791-1815 by the New Jersey Adjutant General’s Office (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1972)
• Register of the Commissioned Officers and Privates of the New Jersey Volunteers in the Service of the United States by the New Jersey Adjutant General’s Office (University Publications of America, 1991)
• Revolutionary War Pensioners Living in New Jersey Before 1834 by Inez Raney Waldenmaier (Inez Waldenmaier, 1983)
• Revolutionary War Records of New Jersey (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
• Revolutionary War Slips, Single Citations of the New Jersey Department of Defense Materials (filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1968)
• Soldiers and Sailors of New Jersey in the Spanish-American War by Bernard McNally (Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1989)

MAPS

• An Alphabetical Listing of Local Places and Incorporated Municipalities in the State of New Jersey by the New Jersey Department of Transportation Office of Information Services (University Microfilms International, 1985)
• A Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey by Thomas F. Gordon (D. Fenton, 1834)
• A Geographic Dictionary of New Jersey by Henry Gannett (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978)
• Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries, 1788-1980, 5 vols., edited John H. Long (G.K. Hall, 1984)
• The National Gazetteer of the United States of America — New Jersey, 1983 prepared by the US Geological Survey and the US Board on Geographic Names (US Government Printing Office, 1983)
• New Jersey Historic Map Portfolio edited by Don C. Skemer (Afton Publishing, 1983)
• New Jersey Postal History: The Post Offices and First Postmasters, 1776-1976 by John L. Kay and Chester Smith, Jr. (Quarterman Publications, 1977)
• The Origin of New Jersey Place Names compiled by workers of the Federal Writer’s Program (New Jersey Public Library Commission, 1945)
• The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries, 1606-1968 by John P. Snyder (New Jersey Geological Survey, 1988)

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From the Family Tree Sourcebook
Also available: the State Research Guide Book, State Research Guides CD and The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy.