New Jersey, Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of church records from various denominations in New Jersey. The record content and time period varies by denomination and locality.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Church
 * Names of parents, children, other family members, and witnesses
 * Event dates and places (birth, baptism, marriage, death or burial)
 * Ages
 * Residence
 * Previous residences

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The ancestor’s name
 * The religion or sect
 * The location of the congregation or parish
 * The approximate date of the event such as the christening or baptism

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use christening records (baptisms) to identify a person’s birth date and place. These are an excellent substitute for civil birth records
 * Use confirmation records to identify a person’s birth date and place and his or her age
 * Use church records in general to identify other family members who may have served as witnesses to an event
 * Use the date of the event along with the locality or residence to find the family in census and land records
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby
 * An infant’s christening usually took place within a few days or few weeks of the birth, depending on the religion
 * Church records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the minister, or a clerk appointed by the minister, who usually recorded an event at or very near the time it occurred
 * Look at the officiator at your ancestor’s wedding or burial. They are often clergymen. Check with local congregations or a local historical society to see if they help you determine the sect from clergyman’s name
 * Many individuals attended the closest Christian church. This is especially true in small, rural communities where there may be only one church in the area. Search the records of that church
 * Immigrants usually kept the same religion after migrating and may have banded together to form their own congregation. This is especially true if they did not speak English. If the country of origin is known that may also be a clue as some countries had a state church
 * Check with local historical societies for indexes to church records. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names
 * Check the records of other congregations in the area or nearby communities
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of New Jersey.
 * New Jersey Guided Research
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.