New Jersey Church Records

The first churches established in New Jersey were the Dutch Reformed, Congregational (Puritan), Society of Friends (Quaker), and Lutheran. Church membership waned in the early 1700s, but revivals rekindled interest around 1740. By 1775 the largest denominations in New Jersey were the Presbyterian, Society of Friends, Dutch Reformed, Baptist, and Anglican (Episcopal) churches.

In the mid-1800s, the Methodist church was the largest, followed by the Presbyterian, Baptist, Reformed, Friends, and Episcopal churches. The Roman Catholic Church has been the predominant faith since the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by the Jewish, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal faiths.

Locating Church Records
Except for the Dutch Reformed and Lutheran churches in northern New Jersey, few of the earliest church records have survived. The Family History Library has some important collections of church records described below under the denominational headings.

For help in finding church records not at the Family History Library, see New Jersey Historical Manuscripts: A Guide to Collections in the State (described in New Jersey Archives and Libraries). Other helpful guides to church records include the following:

Nelson, William. Church Records in New Jersey, Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 2:4 (March 1904) : 173-88 and 251-66. (FHL fiche 6010550.) This is very helpful for determining all denominations that existed prior to 1800.

Guide to Vital Statistics Records in New Jersey. Two Volumes. Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Records Survey, 1941. (FHL book 974.9 V2h; film 874039; fiche 6051253.) Volume 2 contains the names and addresses of churches located in New Jersey in 1940.

''Historical Records Survey. Directory of Churches in New Jersey''. 21 Volumes. Newark, New Jersey: Historical Records Survey, 1940-1941. (FHL book 974.9 K22h Volumes 1-10; 974.946 K24d is Volume 13 Monmouth County; fiche 6104182.) There is a volume for each county; the Family History Library has volumes for Atlantic through Hunterdon, and Monmouth counties.

The Family History Library has nine volumes of church record inventories for the Baha'i, Baptist, Seventh-Day Baptist, Congregational Christian, Evangelical, Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal, Salvation Army, and Unitarian churches. Each volume is cataloged separately but they have similar titles. Find these volumes in the Family History Library Catalog Author/Title Search under the title Inventory of the Church Archives of New Jersey.

Some denominations have their records in central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located:

Baptist
American Baptist—Samuel Colgate Historical Society 1106 South Goodman Street Rochester, NY 14620 Telephone: 716-473-1740 Fax: 716-473-1740 Internet: http://www.baptisthistory.us/about.php

Dutch Reformed
Commission on History, Reformed Church in America New Brunswick Theological Seminary Gardner A. Sage Library 21 Seminary Place New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Telephone: 732-247-5341 Internet: http://www.nbts.edu/crcs/about.htm

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of many of the Dutch Reformed church records at this archive. The records are described in:

Gasero, Russell L., Editor. Guide to Local Church Records in the Archives of the Reformed Church in America and to Genealogical Resources in the Gardner Sage Library, New Brunswick Theological Seminary. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Historical Society of the Reformed Church in America, 1979. (FHL fiche 6046480; does not circulate to Family History Centers.)

The Holland Society of New York Library 122 E. 58th Street New York, NY 10022 Telephone: 212-758-1871 Internet: http://members.aol.com/hollsoc/

Year Book of The Holland Society of New York, 1912. New York, New York: The Society, 1912. (FHL book 974.7 C4h; film 908988 item 2.): 1-51. Lists the transcripts of New Jersey Dutch Reformed and Lutheran records at the Holland Society Library. It also lists those that were published as of 1912. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of many of these transcripts.

Episcopal
Diocesan House of the Episcopal Church 808 W. State Street Trenton, NJ 08618 Telephone: 609-394-5281 Internet: http://www.newjersey.anglican.org/ECUSA/index.html

Jewish
Most synagogue records have not been centralized, so you must write to the local congregation. Addresses are listed in:

Lightman, Sidney, ed. The Jewish Travel Guide 1990 London, England :  Jewish Chronicle Publications, 1990. (FHL book 910.202 J556 1990.) Synagogue and cemetery records for some congregations in Middlesex, Somerset, and Union counties are at:

Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey 1050 George St, Box 1-L New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Telephone: 732-249-4894 Internet: http://www.jewishgen.org/jhscj/

Methodist
United Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History Northern New Jersey Conference Drew University Library 36 Madison Avenue P.O. Box 127 Madison, NJ 07940 Telephone: 201-822-2787 Internet: http://www.gcah.org/Directory/CommAH.htm

United Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History Southern New Jersey Conference The Meckler Library Pennington School 112 W. Delaware Avenue Pennington, NJ 08534 Internet: http://www.gcah.org/Directory/CommAH.htm

Presbyterian
Presbyterian Historical Society and Department of History United Presbyterian Church in the USA 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 Telephone: 215-627-1852 Internet: http://www.history.pcusa.org/

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of most of the records at this archive.

Roman Catholic
The marriages of some New Jersey Catholics from 1758 to 1800 were published in:

American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia RecordsVolumes 1-4, 8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Catholic Historical Society, 1886-1889, 1893. (Not at the Family History Library.)

Additional records for this time period are in:

Dirnberger, Janet Drumm. New Jersey Catholic Baptismal Records from 1759-1781. Seabrook, Texas: Brambles, 1981. (FHL book 974.9 K2d; film 1033943 item 14; does not circulate to Family History Centers.)

Most Catholic records have not been gathered into central repositories. You must determine the town where your ancestors lived and the parish they most likely attended and then write to that parish. Addresses of parishes and diocesan chancery offices are listed in:

The Official Catholic Directory. Chicago, Illinois: Hoffman Bros., annual. (FHL book Ref 282.025 Of2; fiche 6104166.)

When a parish closes, the records are sent to the diocesan archives or a nearby parish. If the diocese does not have an archive, the chancellor usually knows where the records are currently located.

Flynn, Joseph Michael. The Catholic Church in New Jersey. Morristown, New Jersey: 1904. (FHL book 974.9 K2f; film 1036051 item 1.) Has short histories of individual parishes. For more information about records, write to:

University Archives Seton Hall University South Orange Avenue South Orange, NJ 07079 Telephone: 201-762-7052 Internet: http://library.shu.edu/

The archives has records for the Archdiocese of Newark, which includes Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties. All sacramental registers, 1832 through 1914, and cemetery records in the archdiocese have been microfilmed. They are available at the Family History Library and at the university archives. A small fee is charged for mail inquiries, and records can be searched by appointment. Christenings through 1885 and marriages through 1895 for most of these parishes are indexed in the International Genealogical Index.

Society of Friends
The Friends Historical Library Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 19801 Telephone: 610-328-8496 Fax: 610-328-7329 Internet: http://www.swarthmore.edu/fhl.xml

This library collects microfilm copies of all records of New Jersey meetings.

The Quaker Collection Haverford College Library Haverford, PA 19041 Telephone: 610-896-1161 Fax: 610-896-1102 Internet: http://www.haverford.edu/library/special/

This library collects West Jersey Orthodox records.

Haviland Records Room 15 Rutherford Place New York, NY 10003 Telephone: 212-673-6866 Internet: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/topic/quaker/

This library collects records of East Jersey meetings that have been part of the New York Yearly Meeting.

The records formerly at the Friends Records Department in Philadelphia are now at Haverford College. These records are on microfilm at the Family History Library, as are most of the records at the Haviland Records Room and a large collection of the records at Swarthmore College.

The Family History Library also has microfilm copies of the John Pickens Dornan and Gilbert Cope collections (see the "Genealogy" section of this outline) and abstracts from most New Jersey monthly meetings, compiled by William Wade Hinshaw, John Cox, and John P. Dornan.