Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy

Cumberland County, New Jersey ancestry, family history, and genealogy research page. Guide to genealogy, history, and courthouse sources including birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, wills, deeds and land records, Civil War records, Revolutionary War records, family histories, cemeteries, churches, tax records, newspapers, and obituaries.

New Jersey Online Genealogy Records

Description
Cumberland County is located in the Southwest region of the state. It was created in 1748. Bridgeton is the county seat. The county was named for 	Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.

Parent County

 * 1748, formed from Salem County
 * 1763, boundary clarified with Salem County
 * 1822, Cape May County boundary clarified and water boundary defined
 * 1844, part of Maurice River twp. to Cape May County's Upper twp. and returned in 1845
 * 1846, water boundary further clarified
 * 1867, Pittsgrove twp. from Salem County and returned in 1868
 * 1878, part of Maurice twp. to Cape May County's Upper twp.
 * 1891, part of Maurice River twp. to Cape May County's Dennis twp.
 * 1892, part of Landis twp. to Gloucester County's Franklin twp. and returned in 1897.

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating New Jersey county boundary changes, visit "Rotating Formation New Jersey County Boundary Maps" (1683-1928) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Census

 * 1790 United States Census - All New Jersey Records Lost
 * 1800 United States Census - All New Jersey Records Lost
 * 1810 United States Census - All New Jersey Records Lost
 * 1820 United States Census - All New Jersey Records Lost
 * 1830 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1840 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1850 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1855 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1860 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1865 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1870 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1880 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1885 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1890 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1890 United States Census - Entire national census destroyed by fire, excepting the Union Veterans and Widows
 * 1895 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1905 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1910 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1915 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1920 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1930 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
 * 1940 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Church Records

 * 1675-1970 - at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

List of Churches and Church Parishes


 * FamilySearch Places

Gazetteers

 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Maps

 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1796-1991 - at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Newspapers
Per the Library of Congress, Cumberland Co. has had at least 67 newspapers, and this list does not include papers which covered areas now in Cumberland Co., but formerly in other counties (such as Salem Co.). The LOC has a great deal of these papers prior to 1923, in varying degrees of completeness.

List of Cumberland Co. Newspapers at the Library of Congress

GenealogyBank, a paid subscription service, has:


 * The West Jersey Pioneer (later renamed to The Bridgeton Pioneer), through 1922, fully searchable.
 * The Bridgeton Evening News, through 1922, fully searchable.

Newspapers.com, a paid subscription service, has:


 * The Millville Daily (known before 1961 as The Millville Daily Republican) from 1923 through its final publishing date of 1988, fully searchable. The newspaper dates back to the Civil War, but all archives before 1923 have been lost.
 * The Vineland Daily Journal (originally The Evening Journal and The Vineland Times, which combined to form The Vineland Times-Journal, later to become The Vineland Daily Journal), fully searchable.

Both GenealogyBank and Newspapers.com have papers from the surrounding areas which frequently covered events in Cumberland Co.; notably, the Camden and Philadelphia newspapers, and occasionally Wilmington, DE.

The Atlantic City Press, a paid subscription service, which has frequently covered (and continues to cover) Cumberland Co. events, has archives of:


 * Press of Atlantic City (1895-current)
 * Atlantic City Weekly (2004-current)
 * Sunday Gazette (1911-1971)
 * Atlantic City Gazette-Review (1906-1925)

The South Jersey Times, a paid subscription, is a newspaper currently covering Southern New Jersey. It acquired and subsumed a number of newspapers, including The Bridgeton Evening News (later named The Cumberland News).

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:

Obtaining Copies of County Probate Records
Copies of recorded probate records and the estate files can be obtained from the surrogate's offices for a fee. Addresses of surrogate's offices are found in:


 * Eichholz, Alice, Editor. Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Revised Edition. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1992. (.) Explains state-by-state history, vital records, census, background sources, periodicals, archives, libraries, societies, maps, land, probate, court, tax, cemetery, church, and military records. Includes county boundary map and table which shows when each county was created and the parent counties.

In addition, copies of the original wills, administrations, inventories, and guardianships sent to Trenton since 1901 can be ordered from:

Clerk of the Superior Court Records Information Center P.O. Box 967 Trenton, NJ 08625-0967 Phone: (609) 292-4978 Fax: (609) 777-0094

Online Probate Indexes and Records


 * 1656 - 1999 New Jersey Wills and Probate Records 1656-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1670 – 1760 Calendar of New Jersey Wills 1670-1760 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1670 – 1817 New Jersey Abstract of Wills 1670-1817 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1678 - 1980 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Courthouse
The County Clerk has land records from 1800’s and immigration records 1840-1989. County Surrogate has probate records. Dissolution Office has divorce records.

Family History Centers

 * Vineland New Jersey Family History Center

Societies
Cumberland County Historical Society PO Box 16 Gibson House Greenwich, NJ 08323 Telephone: 609-455-4055 E-mail:[mailto:cchistsoc@verizon.net cchistsoc@verizon.net] Website

Cumberland County Historical Society 960 Ye Greate St. Greenwich, NJ 08323 Telephone: 856-455-4055 Website

Lawrence Township Historical Society 177 North Main Street Cedarville, NJ 08311 Telephone: 609-381-0992 Email:[mailto:LawrenceTownshipHistory@gmail.com LawrenceTownshipHistory@gmail.com] Website

Mauricetown Historical Society 1229 Front Street P.O. Box 1 Mauricetown, New Jersey 08329 Telephone: 856-785-0457 Email: [mailto:history@mauricetownhistoricalsociety.org history@mauricetownhistoricalsociety.org] Website

Maurice River Township Heritage Society P.O. Box 195 Leesburg, NJ 08327 Telephone: 856-421-3539 Email: [mailto:mrtheritagesociety@yahoo.com mrtheritagesociety@yahoo.com] Website

Millville Historical Society 200 East Main Street Millville, NJ 08332 Telephone: 856-293-1078 Email: [mailto:mlvhistsoc@comcast.net mlvhistsoc@comcast.net] Website

Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society 108 South Seventh Street Post Office Box 35 Vineland, NJ 08362 Telephone: 856-691-1111 Email: [mailto:VinelandHistory@gmail.com VinelandHistory@gmail.com] Website

Birth

 * 1901-1903, at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection

Marriage
Online Marriage Indexes and Records

1606-1981 - New Jersey, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $


 * 1670-1980, at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection
 * 1930-1938, at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection

Death

 * 1901-1903 - at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection

Cumberland County, New Jersey Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Cumberland County New Jersey Genealogy Research. Contains information for researching genealogy in Cumberland County, NJ, Census, bios, obituary, birth, death, marriage, maps, and other records
 * Cumberland County, New Jersey History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
 * Cumberland County NJ Genealogy