Middlesex County, New Jersey Genealogy

County Courthouse
Middlesex County Courthouse Old Bridge; 235 Ticetown Road; New Brunswick, NJ 08857 Phone: 732.745.3005

County Clerk has marriage, divorce, court and land records; County Surrogate has probate records

Historical Facts

Parent County

 * 1675, original part of East Jersey
 * 1 March 1683, created as a county from the Colonial lands.

Boundary Changes

 * 26 May 1688, part taken for Somerset County.
 * 1710, some boundary changes
 * 1714, part of Somerset County taken back
 * 1790, some boundary changes with Somerset County
 * 1822, water boundary established
 * 22 February 1838, West Windsor and part of East Windsor twps. to Mercer County.
 * 1844, part of Monroe twp. to Monmouth County
 * 1844, part of Monroe twp. to Monmouth County and returned in 1845
 * 1847, piece of Monroe twp. to Monmouth County
 * 1850, part of Franklin twp. of Somerset County to North Brunswick twp.; water boundary clarified
 * 1855, some changes to boundary with Somerset County and again in 1858
 * 1860, part of Woodbridge twp. to Rahway, Union County
 * 1871, boundary with Plainfield, Union County changed
 * 1878, boundary at Kingston, Somerset County clarified
 * 1892, water boundary further clarified
 * 1939, land to Matawan, Monmouth County.

Neighboring Counties
Mercer | Monmouth | Somerset | Union | Richmond (Staten Island) county, New York

Church Records

 * 1687-1825 - Vail, Hugh D. "Records of Rahway and Plainfield (N.J.) Monthly Meeting of Friends (Formerly Held at Amboy and Woodbridge) from 1687 to 1825," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Oct. 1877):176-181; Vol. 9, No. 1 (Jan. 1878):28-37; Vol. 9, No. 2 (Apr. 1878):64-71; Vol. 9, No. 4 (Oct. 1878):174-180; Vol. 10, No. 1 (Jan. 1879):20-23; Vol. 10, No. 3 (Jul. 1879):139-143; Vol. 11, No. 1 (Jan. 1880):42-46. Digital version at New York Family History ($); . Internet Archives has digitized Vols. 8-9, Vol. 10, and Vol. 11 - free. Includes births, marriages.


 * 1826-1889 - Haviland, Frank. "Records of Rahway and Plainfield (N.J.) Monthly Meetings of Friends (Formerly Held at Amboy and Woodbridge)," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 114, no. 1 (Jan. 1983):23-36. Digital version at New York Family History ($);.

LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * New Brunswick

Land and Property
Middlesex County Land Records Search website Middlesex County land records are freely searchable online back to January 1950. Watermarked copies are free to print; printing clean copies is a paid service. Cookies must be enabled for the site to function properly and be sure to read the User Guide.

Maps
The Sanborn Map Company is the oldest mapping company in the United States. Founded in 1866, the company created detailed building maps of cities and towns all across the country, primarily for use by insurance companies. These maps also have been used extensively by local government agencies for over a century in conducting their daily operations efficiently. Genealogists, local history buffs, city planners, architects, and countless others have been drawn to the quality of detail found in them. Digital archive provided by Princeton University.


 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Perth Amboy
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Woodbridge
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: South Amboy
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Metuchen
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Carteret
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Sayreville
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: South River
 * Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: New Brunswick

Migration
Early migration routes to and from for settlers included:


 * Raritan River a navigable river which rises in Morris County and flows through central New Jersey past Manville to New Brunswick where it meets the tide.
 * King's Highway 1673 connected Boston, Massachusetts to Charleston, South Carolina and many coastal cities between including Philadelphia, New Brunswick, and New York City.
 * 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.

Newspapers

 * New Brunswick Daily Times 1871-1916 - digitized archive of the newspaper; freely available via the New Brunswick Public Library


 * The South Amboy Citizen (1910-1943)
 * The South Amboy Citizen (1944-2000) The South Amboy Citizen offers online access from July 2, 1910, through December 29, 2000. Provided by the Sadie Pope Dowdell Library. (Note: There is no search capability for the South Amboy Citizen but you can use Google Advanced search http://www.google.com/advanced_search and enter "dowdell.org/citizen" into the bottom box labeled “Search within a site or domain” to search the paper.)


 * Woodbridge Township Newspapers digitized archive freely available via the Woodbridge Township Public Library
 * Carteret Press (1925 -1965)
 * Fords Beacon (1936 - 1961)
 * Independent Leader (1940 -1965)
 * Leader Press (1967 - 1970)
 * The Independent Hour (1876 - 1877)
 * The Weekly Register (1898 - 1902)
 * The Woodbridge Leader (1927 - 1928)
 * The Woodbridge News (1899 - 1902)
 * Woodbridge Independent (1919 - 1938)
 * Woodbridge Leader (1926 -1939)

Probate
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
 * Telephone: 609-292-4978
 * Fax: 609-777-0094
 * Internet: http://www.answers.com/topic/new-jersey-superior-court

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

New Jersey, Middlesex County Probate Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * East Brunswick New Jersey Family History Center

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.

Places

 * New Brunswick