Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy

United States New Jersey  Cumberland County

Cumberland 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.

Parent County

 * 1748, formed from Salem County
 * 1763, boundary clarified with Salem County
 * 1822, Cape May County boundary clarified and water boundary defined
 * 1844, part of Maurice River twp. to Cape May County's Upper twp. and returned in 1845
 * 1846, water boundary further clarified
 * 1867, Pittsgrove twp. from Salem County and returned in 1868
 * 1878, part of Maurice twp. to Cape May County's Upper twp.
 * 1891, part of Maurice River twp. to Cape May County's Dennis twp.
 * 1892, part of Landis twp. to Gloucester County's Franklin twp. and returned in 1897.

Boundary Changes
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.

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
The County Clerk has land records from 1800’s and immigration records 1840-1989. County Surrogate has probate records. Dissolution Office has divorce records.

Family History Centers

 * Vineland New Jersey Family History Center

Cumberland County, New Jersey Web Sites

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