Online Sources for New
Jersey Genealogy
John
W. Konvalinka, CGSM, CGLSM 24 Gordon Way, Princeton
NJ 08540 ©2006. All rights reserved.
email:
john@konvalinka.com website: www.konvalinka.com
Summary: :
Computers in general, and with The Internet in particular, have
provided genealogists with some powerful new tools and some challenges to
traditional genealogy research.
Tonight we look at some of the sources for
New Jersey genealogical research available through computers and “The Net” and demonstrate how
those tools can be used to support and enhance traditional genealogy research.
Four Important Overall Sites:
:
1.
Cyndi’s List: www.cyndislist.com -- a special section devoted to New Jersey
genealogical websites www.cyndislist.com/nj.htm
in many different categories.
2.
NJ Resources at RootsWeb (many links): http://resources.rootsweb.com/USA/NJ; http://userdb.rootsweb.com/regional.html#New%20Jersey
4.
The LDS (Mormon) Family History Library website: www.familysearch.org. A “locality search” for New Jersey (or places
in New Jersey) will result in detailed listings of the FHL microfilm holdings,
which can then be ordered through local Family History Centers. The LDS also publishes a Research Guide for
New Jersey, which can be purchased through the website.
Websites of Major New Jersey Repositories:
:
New Jersey State Archives: 225 W. State Street, Trenton NJ 08625-0307
609-292-6260
fax: 396-2454 http://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/archives.html (The details of the NJ Archives’ collections will
be discussed in subsequent lectures.)
The Genealogical Society of New Jersey: www.gsnj.org The GSNJ collections of family histories,
published (and unpublished) genealogies and cemetery records are in the Special Collections at the
Alexander Library of Rutgers University, 169 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
908-932-7510; Fax: 908-932-7012, but are
not listed in the library catalogs. They include among many other items:
Inscriptions from more than 800 New Jersey burial places, over 5,500 family and Bible records, Chester
N. Jones’ New Jersey Soldiers in the Revolution (30,000 cards), The D. Stanton
Hammond Collection on northeastern New Jersey families, The John P. Dornan
Collection of annotated Quaker records and extensive notes on southern New
Jersey families, and The Emigrant
Register (data sheets on 19th-century emigrants from New Jersey). For further details of the collection click
on the “collections” link at www.gsnj.org.
Other items of genealogical interest in the
Special Collections and University Archives www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rulib/spcol/spcol.htm
are: the records of the New Jersey State
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, numerous original letters, early New Jersey
town records, original manuscripts, diaries from 1746-1956, books printed
before 1500, 17th century tracts promoting settlements in New Jersey
(and elsewhere), historical maps and newspapers, and early prints, photographs
and almanacs.
Also, the Sinclair New Jersey Collection -- the
largest, most comprehensive collection of New Jersey materials in the State and
one of the finest collections of state and local history in the country.
Approximately 61,000 monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and serials cover broad
subject areas. Topics include state, county and municipal history and
description, genealogy, religion, business, government, law, education,
literature, medicine, agriculture, technology and bibliography. The collection
is an indispensable source for research on any aspect of the state, past or
present.
New Jersey State Dept. of Health and Human
Services: Health/Agriculture Building, Room 504, Front & Market Streets Trenton, NJ
08625-0370 609-292-4087; fax:
609-292-4292 http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/vital.htm Holds Vital Records
for later years.
Superior Court of New Jersey: Records Management Center, 171 Jersey Street,
Trenton, NJ 08625-0967
609-777-0092; Holds wills, divorce records and other court records for
later years.
New Jersey State Library: 185 W. State Street, Trenton NJ 08625-0520
609- 292-6274; fax: 609-984-7901 www.njstatelib.org
·
Genealogical reference tools, indexes,
bibliographies
·
Community and local histories for New Jersey and
for states populated from New Jersey
·
New Jersey genealogies and published sources on
families originating in New Jersey
·
Genealogies on major Colonial and Revolutionary
families in northeastern United States
·
Genealogical periodicals and publications of major
genealogical and hereditary societies
The Library also has a searchable database of New
Jersey participants in the Civil War.
The New Jersey Historical Society Library: 52 Park Place - Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 596-8500 - Fax: (973) 596-6957 www.jerseyhistory.org/librarymain.html
contains manuscripts, rare and reference books, photographs, maps,
broadsides, pamphlets and other materials that document the cultural and
historical heritage of New Jersey from the colonial era through the 20th
century. “The collections form the most
comprehensive, privately-funded library on New Jersey's past.” The manuscript collection includes original
church records (ministers’, plus doctors’ and midwives’), deeds, military and
organizational records, diaries, letters, photos and maps.
The genealogy collection www.jerseyhistory.org/genealogy.html
has a large collection of: Cemetery
Gravestone Inscriptions (20 manuscript volumes plus an 11,000 card index to
Civil War Graves in New Jersey), Census and Tax
Records, City Directories, Compiled Genealogical Material (about 1,200 files),
Genealogical Card Indices, Military Records, Histories of Towns, Cities and
Counties, and Newspapers and other Record Sources.
Morristown and Morris Twp. Public Library: 1 Miller Road, Morristown, NJ 07960, 973-538-3473. The Local
History and Genealogy Department has an extensive collection of
genealogical and historical material (more than 22,000 titles) relating to
Morristown, Morris Township, Morris County and New Jersey areas. Also: all available NJ census records and
genealogical material from the thirteen original colonies and from states such
as Kentucky and Ohio, to which Morris County families have migrated. The library also has many publications and
journals from libraries and archives in NJ and other states including the UMI microfiche collection (with many kinds of records,
published genealogies and other materials); consulting them in Morristown could
save a trip to these other repositories.
For additional information about the collection see www.jfpl.org/gene.htm or search the
catalog at www.jfpl.org. However you should also consult the card
catalog at the Library which contains items not included in the online catalog.
Also, many items in the collection are stored away from the open stacks.
County Clerks of the 21 New Jersey Counties: Many court,
property and estate, birth/marriage/death, naturalization and passport
application records have been maintained in these offices, in addition to
whatever voter registration records might still exist (since these are not
permanent records.)
County
Genealogical Societies – Examples:
Monmouth County Genealogical Society --
www.rootsweb.com/~njmcgs/
Genealogical
Society of Bergen County -- www.rootsweb.com/~njgsbc/
Morris Area Genealogical Society -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmags/
Central Jersey Genealogical Club -- www.rootsweb.com/~njcjgc/
For a large
listing of NJ Societies: www.daddezio.com/society/hill/SH-NJ-NDX.html
The David Library of the American
Revolution: 1201 River Road Box 748,
Washington Crossing, PA 18977
215-493-6776; Fax:
215-493-9276 www.dlar.org.
A privately endowed, nonprofit foundation devoted to the study of
American history circa 1750 to 1800.
The Family History Library, Salt Lake City: www.familysearch.org has microfilms of many New Jersey Records
which can be obtained and viewed locally in Family History Centers. See the FHL Research Outline for New Jersey
for details of its New Jersey holdings.
An Unusual
Source for New Jersey Records: The UK National Archives
(formerly The Public Record Office) in Kew (just outside London -- www.nationalarchives.gov.uk ) is
the National Archive of England and Wales and the United Kingdom. Its holdings of over 9 million records
include many which relate to colonial America, including New Jersey. For many reasons, some of the records held by
the PRO no longer exist in United States repositories – they may have been
lost, destroyed or moved to undisclosed locations. The National Archives and other UK
repositories may also have records of Loyalists in the American Revolution. There are many published details and finding
aids of New Jersey information in the PRO.
(See listing below.)
Early
New Jersey Records in the UK National Archives (Public Record Office):
The National Archive
has about 200 leaflets which describe its most popular holdings. They are available at the NA and online
at: www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/researchguidesindex.asp These and the online catalog: www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.asp
will be very helpful for familiarizing yourself with the holdings and workings
of the National Archive in preplanning for a productive trip.
Additional
Sources:
·
New Jersey University Libraries
Websites for Various New Jersey Records:
:
Federal
Census Records: Colonial censuses taken in 1726, 1738, 1745
and 1772 have not survived, but taxpayer, quit-rent and other lists of
residents (some of which have been published) may be helpful substitutes. The 1790, 1800, 1810 and 1820 and 1890
Federal censuses are likewise unavailable (with minor exceptions, including an
1890 schedule of Union veterans.)
Indexes with links to online images for available census records can be
found at www.ancestry.com (a
subscription service) or Heritage Quest (available as a member benefit at the
New York Genealogical and Biographical Society – www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org or The Godfrey Library – www.godfrey.org.
Church and Cemetery Records: Some records for the major denominations have
survived and are in various locations,
including the FHL. The Genealogical
Society of New Jersey (GSNJ) Collections at Rutgers Library have transcriptions
from over 800 cemeteries and 16 file drawers of cards with transcribed
inscriptions. The NJHS also has a large
collection of cemetery transcriptions and an 11,000 card “Index To Civil War
Soldiers’ Graves In New Jersey”.
Some records for the major denominations have
survived and are in various locations, including the Family History Library,
the (Presbyterian) Special Collections in the Library of the Princeton
Theological Seminary and the Lutheran Seminary Archives in Philadelphia.
The Olive Tree Genealogy New Jersey Section: http://olivetreegenealogy.com/usa/nj/hack_settlers.shtml
provides a list of the early settlers in the upper part of Bergen Co., N. J.
before 1700. This list was compiled from the Church membership, and the Marriage
Record, of the Hackensack congregation. Wives' names are included. Additional church records on the Olive Tree
site: http://olivetreegenealogy.com/usa/nj/njchurch.shtml. Other New Jersey
church, cemetery (as well as census) records: www.telusplanet.net/public/mtoll/nj2.htm.
A listing of New Jersey German
Reformed Church Records, 1763-1802 can be found at www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/3315.htm
City and
Other Directories: A large number of these from the mid 19th
century are available in several locations, including the New Jersey State
Library (NJSL) and The NJHS. Some New Jersey
directories can also be found at www.ancestry.com
(a subscription service)
Land and Property Records: The earliest recorded
sales of land in New Jersey were by the proprietors of East and West Jersey,
and those records are in the New Jersey State Archives as well as deeds
recorded in the Secretary of State’s Office until 1785 (with some to 1800) and
are indexed in Colonial Conveyances: Provinces of East & West New Jersey
1664–1794. Most recorded deeds from
1785 (some earlier) and mortgages from 1766 are maintained in county clerks’
offices. The Archives has some copies of
these, particularly the ones filmed by the Family History Library. It is estimated that only about half of the
deeds from this period were ever recorded.
The Archives also has a collection of various lot
surveys, including the rare “Elizabethtown Book C – the Surveys of 1736-38.”
Newspapers: The
New Jersey Archives has a large collection of New Jersey newspapers on
microfilm as well as a number of volumes of published abstracts from early New
Jersey newspapers. The Special
Collections at the Rutgers University Alexander Library has newspaper holdings
dating chiefly from the eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. Over a thousand titles, published in New
Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York City, form the bulk of the collection. Among
the rarest titles is the New Jersey Freeman, an 1840s abolitionist
newspaper. The New Jersey Historical
Society also has a large collection of newspapers. While not many indexes exist, there are
published abstracts of newspaper items from Colonial and later times, e.g.
Notices from New Jersey Newspapers 1791-1795 by Thomas Wilson and Dorothy Agans
Stratford.
·
Some individuals have produced indexes of newspapers in their
area. One example: INDEX TO CENTRAL NEW JERSEY NEWSPAPERS:
Political Intelligencer & New Jersey
Advertiser 1783-1786
Times and New Jersey Union 1859-1868
New Brunswick Daily Times 1872-1876
A
compilation by Michael Brown 39 Eastern Drive Kendall Park, NJ 08824 Tel.
732-297-0594 of obituaries, marriages, injuries, accidents, arrests, social
clubs and other significant local and regional items of interest.
·
Several Burlington County newspapers have been
indexed on The Burlington County Library website:
o
NJ Mirror 14 Oct 1818 to 5 Mar 1927
http://index.burlco.lib.nj.us/Mirror/
o
The Bordentown Register 25 Dec 1855 to 26
June 2002
http://index.burlco.lib.nj.us/BordentownRegister/
o
Central Record 24 Dec 1897 to Oct 1899;
Jan-Nov 1916; Feb 1927 to 27 June
2002 http://index.burlco.lib.nj.us/CentralRecord/
·
Ancestry.com subscribers with access to the Historical
Newspaper Collection can search through the many newspapers in this database
at: www.ancestry.com (click on
“Historical Newspapers”. New Jersey
newspapers currently in the Historical Newspaper Collection:
o
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) 1891-1922
o
Trenton Evening Times, The (Trenton, New
Jersey) 1895-1997
o
Trenton Times (Trenton, New Jersey) - Updated 1883-1906
o
Trenton Times, The (Trenton, New Jersey) 1883-1906
·
Items of interest to New Jersey Researchers might
also be found in the digitized, searchable pages of The New York Times (from
1851) – available as a
member benefit at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society – www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org –
or in The Brooklyn Eagle 1841-1902 – available (free) at www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/eagle.
Other Websites for New Jersey Research: :
New Jersey Obituary Links: http://www.obitlinkspage.com/obit/nj.htm
New Jersey Obituary Search Engines: http://www.distantcousin.com/Obits/NJ/
http://www.obitcentral.com/obitsearch/counties/nj-statewide.htm
New
Jersey databases on Ancestry.com:
www.ancestry.com/search/locality/dbpage.aspx?i=d&tp=2&p=33
See also: www.familyhistory.com/state.asp?state=NJ
CensusRecords.net: New Jersey Public Records http://www.censusrecords.net/publicrecords/new_jersey_public_records.htm
Many details on types of records and links to all of Ancestry.com’s NJ
records
Directories of Local/County Historical
Societies:
·
http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/resource/NJ/GS.htm
·
http://www.daddezio.com/society/hill/SH-NJ-NDX.html
Pre-1790 Colonial Tax, Quit Rent, Oath of
Allegiance & Census Index Records for selected NJ counties: www.altlaw.com/edball/census.htm
Other
Helpful Websites:
·
For a large listing of other New Jersey Repositories see: “Repositories
of Primary Sources” www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/east2.html
·
Other NJ links: www.altlaw.com/edball/biged4.htm
Published
References to the Holdings of the UK National Archives:
Early Works:
Henry Stevens, William A. Whitehead, ed., An
Analytical Index to the Colonial Documents of New Jersey in the State Paper
Offices [now Public Record Offices] of England. (Collections of the New
Jersey Historical Society, Vol. V) New
York: D Appleton & Co., 1858 (500 pages, chronological, no index of
names, etc.) [ac.8420.2]
Documents Relating to the Colonial history of the
State of New Jersey. First series. Vols. 1-10, edited by William
Whitehead, F.
W. Ricord and W. Nelson (vols. 9-10).
(Series later extended to over 20 volumes.) Also:
Frederick W. Ricord, General Index to Documents
Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, (Archives of
New Jersey, First Series, 10 Volumes), [A large index of names etc., keyed to
the volume and page ## of the article.]
Newark: Daily Advertiser Printing
House 1858 [BL: 8429/3]
Later
Works:
Donald L. Kemmerer: Path to Freedom: The
Struggle for Self-Government in New Jersey 1703-1776, Princeton
University Press, 1940 (500 pages) [BL:
Ac.1833.e/2(3)]
Donald L. Kemmerer: "Neglected Source Material on Colonial
New Jersey" Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society,
January 1939.
(compiler unknown), A List of Wills,
Administrations, etc. in the Public Record Office, London, England, 12th-19th
Century, Baltimore, Magna Carta Book Co, c 1968.
Published
Abstracts of UK National Archives Records:
Karen Ordahl Kupperman, John C.
Appleby , Mandy Banton, editors, Calendar
of State Papers, Colonial North America and the West Indies 1574-1739,
Published 2000 by Routledge/Taylor and Francis Books 29 West 35th Street New York City. ISBN: 0-415-21960-4. Price ~$3,000 info@routledge-ny.com [available in some large libraries.]
[There are no printed abstracts covering
1740-~1770]
L. G. Davies, compiler, Documents of the
American Revolution 1770-1783 (Calendars), Colonial Office Series,
published by the Irish University Press, Dublin 1972.
E. Alfred Jones, The Loyalists Of New Jersey:
Their Memorials, Petitions, Claims, Etc. From English Records, (1927),
2002, 51/2x81/2, paper, index, 346 pp. “The most comprehensive
examination of New Jersey Loyalists in the American Revolution available.” (May be still out of print; check http://www.frontierpress.com/frontier.cgi?category=loyal)
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Any
problems with this handout’s links – or questions about the presentation?
Please
email me at john@konvalinka.com.