Ocean County, New Jersey Genealogy

Ocean 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.



Description
Ocean County is located in the east central region of the state. It was created in 1850. Toms River is the county seat. The county was named for the Atlantic Ocean, which forms the eastern border of New Jersey.

Ocean County, New Jersey Historical Facts

 * Named for the Atlantic Ocean.

Parent County

 * 15 February 1850, created from Monmouth County with some more added in 1851.

Boundary Changes

 * 1857, boundary with Burlington County clarified.
 * 1869, part of Plumsted twp. to Monmouth County.
 * 1891, received Little Egg Harbor twp. from Burlington County.
 * 1906, coastal boundary defined.
 * 1928, part of Howell twp. from Monmouth County.

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.

Cemeteries
Latter-day Saint Cemetery Records

US Vol. 1 page 20 - Torry Cemetery, at Lakehurst

Census

 * 1855 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1865 at FamilySearch — images
 * 1895 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1915 at FamilySearch — index and images

Church Records

 * 1675-1970 - at FamilySearch — 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:
 * Barnegat City: St. Peter's Chapel
 * Beach Haven: Holy Innocents Church
 * Beachwood: St. Paul Lutheran Church
 * Toms River: First United Methodist Church
 * Tuckerton: First Presbyterian Church

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1796-1991 - at FamilySearch — index

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 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 — images

Courthouse
Ocean County Courthouse 118 Washington Street PO Box 2191; Toms River, NJ 08754 Phone: (732) 929-2018 County Clerk has probate and court records from 1850.

Family History Centers

 * Toms River New Jersey Family History Center

Societies
Ocean County Historical Society Museum 26 Hadley Ave PO Box 2191 Toms River, NJ 08753 Telephone: 732-341-1880 Website

Historical Society Of Ocean Grove 53 Central Avenue Ocean Grove NJ

Birth

 * 1901-1903, at FamilySearch — index

Marriage
Online Marriage Indexes and Records

1606-1981 - New Jersey, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1670-1980 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1930-1938 - at FamilySearch — index

Death

 * 1901-1903 - at FamilySearch — index

Ocean County, New Jersey Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Ocean County, New Jersey History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
 * Ocean County NJ Genealogy

Ocean County, New Jersey Neighboring Counties



 * Monmouth
 * Burlington
 * Atlantic