New Jersey History

The following important events in New Jersey history affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements.

1664:  The English conquered New Netherland. New Jersey was granted to two proprietors: Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.

1676:  The province was divided into the separate proprietorships East Jersey and West Jersey. The capital of East Jersey was Elizabeth and then Perth Amboy as of 1686. Since 1681, the capital of West Jersey was Burlington. Each proprietorship was governed by its own board of proprietors. Between 1672 and 1682, William Penn and other Quakers purchased both proprietorships.

1683:  Four counties—Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth—were formed in East Jersey. The original West Jersey counties of Burlington and Salem were established as places where courts were held in 1681. A few townships in both provinces date from 1675, but none were formally created until 1693.

1687-1693:  The line between East Jersey and West Jersey was agreed upon in 1687. It ran from Little Egg Harbor on the southeast coast to the most northerly point on the Delaware River lying within New Jersey.

1702:  The Quaker proprietors surrendered control to the crown, and the two Jerseys were united to form a single royal colony. The two boards of proprietors retained land titles.

1769:  After long conflicts, the present border with New York was agreed upon. The line was confirmed by the King in Council in 1773 and in 1774.

1776:  New Jersey declared itself an independent state. In 1787 New Jersey became the third state to ratify the Constitution.

1790:  Trenton became the capital.

1804:  From this time on, children born as slaves in New Jersey became free upon reaching the age of 25 for males and 21 for females. Registers of slave births began to be kept.

1844:  The property qualification for voting was removed.

1846:  A law to abolish slavery made all children born to slaves free from birth, but those already in bondage became "apprentices" to their former masters for life. There was still some slavery until the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.

A useful set of volumes concerning New Jersey's history is:

Kull, Irving S. New Jersey, A History. Five Volumes. New York, New York: The American Historical Society, Incorporated. 1930-1932. (FHL films 1697477 and 2055167 item 5.)

Transcripts of many New Jersey public documents from the colonial and revolutionary period have been published in:

Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. [Archives of the State of New Jersey, First Series, Second Series]. 42 Volumes. Newark, New Jersey: Daily Journal Establishment, 1880-1949. (FHL book 974.9 B49a; films 844833-52 and 438588; some volumes are on fiche.) This set contains will abstracts, patents, deeds, newspaper abstracts, and marriages. (An index to volumes 1-10 is on FHL film 844833 item 3. Most volumes are individually indexed.)

Local Histories
The Family History Library has many county, town, and church histories. Hundreds of local histories are available in the Genealogy and Local History collection on microfiche. See the United States Research Outline for Marion J. Kaminkow's United States Local Histories in the Library of Congress (FHL book 973 A3ka).

For an excellent bibliography of local histories for New Jersey, refer to:

Burr, Nelson R. A Narrative and Descriptive Bibliography of New Jersey. The New Jersey Historical Series. Volume 21 Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand, 1964. (Not available at the Family History Library.)

Since 1979 some New Jersey counties and municipalities have had officially appointed historians.

Local Historians Appointed by Counties and Municipalities as of November 14, 1989. Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1989. (FHL book 974.9 A1 number 98.) Has addresses of 10 county and 142 municipal historians.