Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy

Mercer 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.

New Jersey Online Genealogy Records

Description
Mercer County is in the west central region of the state. It was created in 1838. Trenton is the county seat. The county was named for Continental Army General Hugh Mercer.

Parent County
1838, formed from parts of Hunterdon and Middlesex counties and part of Montgomery twp. from Somerset County.

Boundary Changes

 * 1839, more parts from Hunterdon County added.
 * 1844, Hopewell twp. returned to Hunterdon County and then returned in 1845.

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.

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

Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups
African American


 * Smith, Anna Amelia Bustill.Reminiscences of Colored people of Princeton, N.J., 1800-1900. -[Philadelphia : P. V. Baugh, c 1913] - 15 p. F144.P9 M6
 * The Princeton & Slavery Project

Migration
Early migration routes to and from for settlers included:


 * Delaware River a pre-historic pathway serving as the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania rises in Schoharie County, New York and flows by the Lehigh Canal in Pennsylvania, Frenchtown, Trenton where river meets tidewater, and past Bordentown in New Jersey, Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to empty into the North Atlantic Ocean.
 * King's Highway 1673 connected Boston, Massachusetts to Charleston, South Carolina and many coastal cities between including Philadelphia, Trenton, 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. A boat traffic carrying feeder canal from near Frenchtown also supplied water to the Trenton part of the D&amp;R Canal.

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1796-1991 - at FamilySearch — index

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

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
Mercer County Courthouse PO Box 8068; Trenton, NJ 08650-0068 Phone: (609) 989-6517 County Surrogate has probate records. County Clerk has court and land records from 1838, judgments, tax maps, and corporation records.

Societies
Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission 640 S. Broad St. Trenton, NJ 08650 Telephone: 609-989-6701

Central Jersey Genealogical Club PO Box 9903 Hamilton, NJ 08650-1903

Hamilton Township Historical Society 2200 Kuser Road Trenton, NJ 08650 Telephone: 609-585-1686

Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society 164 North Main Street Hightstown, NJ, 08520 Telephone: 609-371-9580

Historical Society of Princeton 158 Nassau St. Princeton, NJ 08542-7006 Telephone: 609-921-6748 Website

Hopewell Valley Historical Society PO Box 371 Pennington, NJ 08534 Telephone: 609-737-7751

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

Mercer County, New Jersey Websites

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

Mercer County, New Jersey Neighboring Counties



 * Burlington
 * Hunterdon
 * Middlesex
 * Monmouth
 * Somerset
 * Bucks, Pennsylvania