New Jersey Births and Christenings - FamilySearch Historical Records/Known Issues

Question 1
Question 1: When I searched for my ancestor, the Source Film Number 1455522 does not contain birth records for 1897 according to the Catalog Film Notes. Will you verify the film number? Answer 1: It is possible that Batch C59558-2 (Saint Michael Catholic Church, Union City, Hudson, New Jersey) may be associated with two films and that only one was listed:


 * Film 1455521: Combined 1861-1865 (No marriage index) (baptisms, confirmations, marriages) Combined 1865-1873 (St. Paul) (baptisms &amp; marriages mixed) Combined 1865-1898 Baptisms 1876-1901
 * Film 1455522: Baptisms 1901-1906 Baptisms 1906-1908 Baptisms 1908-1913 (English) Baptisms 1913-1917 (English) Marriages 1865-1877 (no index) Marriages 1877-1908 Marriages 1908-1921 Communion 1887-1911 (English with index)

Question 2
Question 2: I have found death information associated with birth and christening records. Is this correct? Answer 2: Batch C05093-2 (Bayonne, Hudson, New Jersey) has lots of death dates that were indexed with the birth and christening records. Film 494244: Births Gloucester-Middlesex v. 62 1899-1900 (New Jersey index to records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1848-1900) is associated with Batch C05093-2. There is an unlabeled column on the original page following a column labeled "Medical attendant". The unlabeled column contains dates that the indexer has put into the death date field. The month is often the same (March, June, or December) whenever it is listed. To date, it has not been determined if the data in this column is really a date of death or some other date.

Question 3
Question 3: While searching for my ancestors, the record details page has the Source Film Number listed as unknown. How can I determine the correct film number? Answer 3: To determine the correct film number,


 * Go to the Catalog and perform a Keyword (beta) search using “New Jersey index to records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1848-1900”
 * Next, click on the search result link and view the available records under Film Notes. Search for the county and year of birth as found on the record detail page.

Question 4
Question 4: I have found birth records that are listed as 1890 when I believe they should be 1891. What is the correct birth year? Answer 4: If the record detail page for an 1890 birth indicates that it is from Batch C01122-8 (Gloucester County and Hudson County, New Jersey) and Film Number 494217 (New Jersey Index to records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1848-1900, specifically Births Gloucester-Middlesex v. 35 1890-1891), then the correct birth year could be either 1890 or 1891.

In this specific set of birth records, the New Jersey Index records do not give any indication of the year on each page. The records are listed by city and county, starting with January 1890 to December 1890, and then cycle again starting with January 1891 to December 1891. The indexers would only know the correct year if they were aware of which cycle (1890 or 1891) that they were transcribing. Within this batch, there are also late entries (births prior to 1890) in the New Jersey Index with no year indicated. If you have found multiple birth records for your ancestor, the most reliable source is the original record (for example, a film from a church record), not the New Jersey Index.


 * Go to the New Jersey Births and Christenings - FamilySearch Historical Records article
 * Go to the New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980 collection at FamilySearch.org