Burlington County, New Jersey Genealogy

Guide to Burlington County, New Jersey ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Description
Burlington County is located in the central region of the state. It was created on May 17, 1694. Mount Holly is the county seat. The county was named for Bridlington, England.

County Courthouse
Burlington County Court House 49 Rancocas Road Mount Holly, NJ 8060 Phone: 609-288-9500 Burlington County Website

County Clerk has land and military records. County Surrogate has probate records. County library has naturalization records.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

History Timeline

 * 1681, a court was established in the province of West Jersey.
 * 1692, boundary set with Gloucester County.
 * 1693, Gloucester County boundary repealed.
 * 1694, formed by a union of "1st and 2nd tenths"
 * 1710, boundaries more definite.
 * 7 March 1837, part set off to form Atlantic County.
 * 1838, part transferred to Mercer County.
 * 15 February 1850, Ocean County set off.
 * 1857, boundary with Ocean County clarified.
 * 1891, Egg Harbor township transferred to Ocean County.
 * 1902, parts added from Camden and Atlantic counties.

Census Records

 * 1745 Godfrey, Carlos E. "A List of the Freeholders for the City and County of Burlington, and in each Respective Township, taken this 15th Day of April 1745," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 29 (1905):421-426. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.
 * 1855 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1895 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1915 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images

Church Records

 * 1675-1970 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1708-1985 Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – ($), free to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry.com – $; 7,542,774 entries. This database is incomplete for all counties.
 * Contains the church records of:
 * Beverly: Beverly Presbyterian Church; First Presbyterian Church
 * Burlington: Episcopal Church; Providence Presbyterian Church of Bustleton; St. Mary's Hall Church
 * Cinnaminson: Asbury United Methodist Church
 * Hainesport: St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church
 * Medford: Medford Methodist Church
 * Moorestown: First Presbyterian Church; First United Methodist Church; Methodist Episcopal Church
 * Mount Holly: First United Methodist Church; Perinchief Funeral Home; St. Andrew's Episcopal Church; Trinity Episcopal Church
 * Palmyra: Central Baptist Church of Riverton and Palmyra; Epworth United Methodist Church
 * Pemberton: Grace Episcopal Church
 * Riverton: Calvary Presbyterian Church
 * Southampton: Trinity Episcopal Church
 * Tabernacle: Indian Mills Charge Methodist Episcopal Church
 * Vincentown: Vincentown Methodist Church

Additional churches:
 * St Mary Parish, Founded:1837- Address: 45 Crosswicks St, Bordentown, NJ 08505 - Phone: (609) 298-0261 Fax: (609) 298-7178 - Website:

Episcopalian
 * 1702-1836 "Register of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, N.J.," Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jun. 1903):241-302. For online access, see WeRelate; see also . Includes baptisms, marriages, marriage banns, and burials.

Quakers
 * 1685-1730 "Marriages at Chesterfield, New Jersey, 1685-1730. Certificates Records in the Minutes of the Chesterfield (N.J.) Monthly Meeting," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 9 (1885):347-352. For free online access, see WeRelate.

List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups
African American Lyght, Ernest. Path of Freedom: the Black Presence in New Jersey's Burlington County, 1659-1900 - Cherry Hill, N.J. E. and E. Pub. House, c. 1978. - 108p. F142.B9 L93

Local Histories

 * New Jersey Indexes at EveryNameIndex.com — Select the county.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * United States Geographic Survey Place Names - GNIS for Burlington County(over 1150 entries) (may not always be present in alphabetic order on first try.)
 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Migration
Early migration routes to and from Burlington County for settlers included:
 * Delaware River a pre-historic pathway serving as the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania rises in Schoharie (NY) and flows by the Lehigh Canal in Pennsylvania, Frenchtown, Trenton where river meets tidewater, and past Bordentown in New Jersey, Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to empty into the North Atlantic Ocean.
 * Delaware and Raritan Canal 1834 connected New Brunswick, New Jersey on the Raritan River (and NY City) to Bordontown, New Jersey on the Delaware River and parts of Pennsylvania including Philadelphia.

Naturalization and Citizenship
Online Naturalization Indexes and Records
 * 1796-1991 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images

Newspapers
Burlington County Newspaper Notices Index
 * The "Burlington County Newspaper Notices Index" includes citations to birth announcements, marriage announcements, death notices, obituaries, and other related news items gathered from over twenty-five Burlington County area newspapers and publications.
 * The oldest citations in this index date back to 1810 and are from the Rural Visitor, a newspaper published in Burlington City, from July 1810 to July 1811. The majority of the citations in the database are death notices and marriage announcements from the mid-1800's and 1910-through the WW II era. Most of the birth announcements date from the 1970's-early 1980's. However, no newspaper in the Burlington County Library System microfilm collection has been indexed from the first issue to the last.

Bordertown Register
 * The "Bordentown Palladium" was founded in 1845 as a weekly community paper serving the Bordentown region of Burlington County, New Jersey, an area six miles south of Trenton. The newspaper was renamed "Bordentown Register" in 1851 and renamed again in 1966 to"Register-News". Over its 160 years of publication, the newspaper has chronicled the history of the Bordentown region, including local news for surrounding towns of Fieldsboro, Florence, Roebling, Columbus, Chesterfield, Mansfield, and Yardville, marriages and death notices, legislative news, judicial announcements, business and social concerns of the area. Of special note is the news of hometown soldiers in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean, and Vietnam Wars and subsequent.

Other Records
Voting Records
 * 1739 Thompson, John J. "'Poll Book of an Election in 1739' Burlington County, New Jersey," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 18 (1894):185-193. For free online access, see WeRelate.
 * 1787 Shinn, Henry C. "An Early New Jersey Poll List," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 44 (1920):77-81. For free online access, see WeRelate.

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1582-1932 Island, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1582-1932 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1656-1999 New Jersey Wills and Probate Records 1656-1999 at Ancestry.com — index & images, ($)
 * 1670-1760 Calendar of New Jersey Wills 1670-1760 at Ancestry.com — index & images, ($)
 * 1670-1817 New Jersey Abstract of Wills 1670-1817 at Ancestry.com — index & images, ($)
 * 1678-1980 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; images only; Use the Surrogate's Docket Index 1700-1972 to obtain the Docket Number for the name. Then, use the Docket Number to locate the correct Estate file.

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

Tax Records
Online Tax Indexes and Records
 * 1684 Thompson, John J. "A Burlington County, New Jersey, Assessment List, 1684," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 15 (1891):346-349. For free online access, see WeRelate.

Birth

 * 1600-1990 New Jersey Vital Records, Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Findmypast — index & images, ($)
 * 1660-1980 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images; ''Also at: Ancestry Index ($)
 * 1746-1795 New Jersey Baptisms 1746-1795 at Findmypast — index, ($)
 * 1901-1903 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index

Marriage

 * 1600s-1900s US Marriages, New Jersey at Findmypast — index, ($)
 * 1670-1965 New Jersey Marriage Records, 1670-1965 at Ancestry — index & images, ($)
 * 1670-1980 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1678-1985 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1683-1802 New Jersey Marriage Records, 1683-1802 at Ancestry — index & images, ($)
 * 1684-1895 New Jersey Compiled Marriage Records, 1684-1895 at Ancestry — index, ($)
 * 1901-1914 New Jersey Marriage License Index, 1901-1914 at MyHeritage — index, ($)
 * 1901-2016 New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016 at Ancestry — index, ($);
 * 1901-2016 New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016 at Findmypast - Browse index ($)
 * 1915-2016 New Jersey Marriage License Index, 1915-2016 at MyHeritage — index, ($)
 * For a complete list of all New Jersey Marriage databases

Death

 * 1600-1990 New Jersey Vital Records, Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Findmypast — index & images, ($)
 * 1798-1971 New Jersey Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971 at Ancestry — index, ($)
 * 1848-1878 Death Records, May 1848 - May 1878 at New Jersey State Archives - index, $ for photocopies
 * 1878-1900 Death Records, June 1878 - December 1900 at New Jersey Department of State — index, $ for photocopies
 * 1901-1929 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1901-2017 The New Jersey Death Index at New Jersey Death Index — index; Also at: Ancestry index ($)
 * 1920-2017 New Jersey Death Index, 1920-1929, 1949-2017 at MyHeritage — index, ($)
 * For a complete list of all New Jersey Death databases

FamilySearch Centers

 * Cherry Hill New Jersey Family History Center
 * Linwood New Jersey Family History Center
 * Toms River New Jersey Family History Center
 * Vineland New Jersey Family History Center
 * Cumberland County Library - an affiliate library
 * Haddon Heights Public Library - an affiliate library
 * Historical Society of Pennsylvania - an affiliate library
 * Monmouth County Library - an affiliate library
 * Monmouth County Library - Howell - an affiliate library

Societies
Burlington County Genealogy Club PO Box 2449, R.D. #2 Mt. Holly Website Burlington County Historical Society 457 High Street Burlington City, NJ 08016-44514 Telephone: 609-386-4773 Fax: 609-386-4282 Website Burlington County Historical Society 457 High Street Burlington City, New Jersey 08016 Telephone: 609-386-4773 Website Bordentown Historical Society 211 Crosswicks Road Bordentown, NJ 08505 Telephone: 609-298-1740 E-mail:[mailto:skelly.michael@gmail.com skelly.michael@gmail.com] Website

Websites

 * The Burlington County NJGenWeb Project, a member of The NJGenWeb, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * Burlington County NJ Genealogy
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Burlington County.


 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.