Essex County, New Jersey Genealogy

United States New Jersey  Essex County

Essex County, New Jersey genealogy and family history 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.

County Courthouse
Essex County Courthouse 465 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Newark, NJ 07102 Phone: 973.621.4920 County Clerk has marriage records 1795-1879, divorce and court records from 1948 and naturalization records 1779-1929. City Clerks have birth and death records County Surrogate has probate records. Register of Deeds has land records

"The Record Room is the repository for copies of all legal documents which have been recorded within the County since its creation in 1637. The public has access rights to these documents and are permitted to make searches.

The records are available for public inspection between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. By law, staff cannot conduct a title search, although upon request, the staff will familiarize the public with the indexing method and demonstrate how to use the books."

History

 * 1675, part of East Jersey
 * History of Essex County as stated on official Essex County, New Jersey government site

Parent County
Created 1 March 1683 from the Colonial Lands.

Boundary Changes

 * 1710, New Barbadoes twp. to Bergen County
 * 1741, part to Somerset County.
 * 1822, water boundry defined
 * 1837, part to Passaic County.
 * 1857, part to Union County.
 * 1871, Union County boundary clarified
 * 1876, some changes with Union boundary
 * 1882, Union County boundary further clarified
 * 1891, Part of Millburn twp. to to Union County's Springfield twp
 * 1892, more minor changes with Union boundary
 * 1907, parts of Acquackanonk &amp; Little Falls twps. of Passaic County to Montclair
 * 1958, some of Springfield twp., Union County to here.

Dutch Reformed

 * 1694 - Zabriskie, George Olin. "Resident of North-Eastern New Jersey in 1694," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 108, No. 3 (Jul. 1977):157-158. Digital version at New York Family History ($); . List of residents in Dutch Reformed congregation of Acquackanonk Township and New Barbados.

LDS Ward and Branch Records

 * East Orange
 * Newark

Directories
Fold3.com ($) has Newark City Directories 1861-1923 (8 yrs. missing) available online.

Gazetteers of Places/Localities

 * United States Geographic Survey Place Names - GNIS for Essex County (over 1180 entries) (may not always be present in alphabetic order on first try.)

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

Vital Records
Vital Records Office (revised as of 21 July 2005) (giving locations for birth certificates and phone numbers)

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Caldwell New Jersey Family History Center
 * Short Hills New Jersey Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Family History Library catalog for Essex County
 * The Essex County NJGenWeb Project, an member of The NJGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.