New Jersey Colonial Records

Online Records
''Many records from the colonial era in New England were kept at the town or county level. Search the catalog at the town or county level to locate those records.''
 * 1600-1900- Indentures collection containing deeds, bonds, commissions, etc. of New Jersey individuals : and other states- images only.
 * 1665-1799- Colonial Marriage Bonds. Index available through the New Jersey State Archives.
 * 1666-1774- Deeds, patents and commissions- images only.
 * 1667-1783- East Jersey deeds images only.
 * 1685-1870- Lost deeds- index and images.
 * 1687-1859- Extracts from minutes of the Council of Proprietors of the western division of the State of New Jersey, from 1687-1859 : with additional notes and memoranda- images only
 * 1700s-1800s- Index to inquisitions on the dead- images only.
 * 1703-1862- Index to naturalization records- images only.
 * 1703-1856- Index to powers of attorney, surveyors reports, commissions, etc., referring to deeds, ca. 1703-1856- images only.
 * 1703-1856- East Jersey commissions- images only.
 * 1712-1866- Estates and partitions- images and some indexed.
 * 1743-1845- Chancery court cases- images only.
 * 1749-1873; card index, 1761-1860- Naturalization records- images only.
 * 1770-1774- Court records- images only.
 * Index to Supreme Court cases before and after the Revolution- images only.
 * Index to Prerogative court records, sets one and two- images only.
 * Clement papers, warrants, surveys, indentures in New Jersey- images only.
 * Index to deeds, grantee and grantor- images only.

History
A trading post built in 1618 by Dutch settlers was the first European settlement in New Jersey although it was not permanent. In 1640, Swedish settlers purchased land from the Lenape people which became part of New Sweden. New Sweden was soon conquered by the Dutch, becoming part of New Netherlands, and remained under Dutch control until New Netherlands was conquered by the British in 1664. Delaware was one of the original 13 colonies of the United States.

Resources

 * The journall of the procedure of the governor and councill of the province of New Jersey : from and after the first day of December anno D(o)m(i)ni -1682.
 * The Papers of Lewis Morris, Governor of the Province of New Jersey, from 1738 to 1746. (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1852).
 * An Analytical Index to the Colonial Documents of New Jersey, in the State Paper Offices of England, Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society by Henry Stevens. Vol. 5. (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1858).
 * Index of Colonial and State Laws: Between the Years 1663 and 1887 Inclusive by John Hood. (Trenton: State of New Jersey, 1877). There is a free e-book version on Google Books.
 * The Law and Practice of New Jersey from the Earliest Times: Concerning the Probate of Wills, the Administration of Estates, the Protection of Orphans and Minors, and the Control of Their Estates; the Prerogative Court, the Ordinary, and the Surrogates by William Nelson. (Paterson, NJ: Paterson History Club, 1909). also available digitally through Archive.org.
 * Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey by William Nelson. (Newark: The Daily Journal Establishment, 1880-1949).
 * General Index to the Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey by William Frederick Ricord. (1888. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994).
 * The Province of East New Jersey, 1609-1702 by John E. Pomfret. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962).
 * The Minutes of the Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey. 4 Vols. (Perth Amboy, NG: The Board, 1949-1985).
 * Record of the Governor and Councill in East Jersie, 1682-1703. (1872. Reprint. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1997).
 * Index to Minutes of the Council of East Jersey Proprietors, Liber 1, 1684-1705 by Charles Carroll Gardner. (n.p.:n.d.),
 * The East of Jersey: An History of the General Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey by John T. Cunningham. (Newark: New Jersey Historical Society, 1992).
 * East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments: A Narrative of Events Connected with the Settlement and Progress of the Province, until the Surrender of the Government to the Crown in 1703 by William Adee Whitehead. New Jersey Historical Society, Vol. 1. 2nd ed. (Newark: Martin R. Dennis, 1875).
 * An alphabetical list of names of all persons in the province of West New Jersey in America whose names are to be found upon the pages of Leaming and Spicer's Grants and Concessions, edition of 1738 compiled by Francis B. Lee. (Salt Lake City, Utah : Genealogical Society of Utah, 1965).
 * Guide to Local Church Records in the Archives of the Reformed Church in American and Genealogical Resources at the Gardiner Sage Library, New Brunswick Theological Seminary by Russell L. Gasero. (New Brunswick: Historical Society of the Reformed Church in America, 1979).
 * "Church Records in New Jersey" by William Nelson in Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society. (vol. 2 [March 1904]: 173-88, and 251-66. Reprint. Paterson: Paterson History Club, 1904).
 * Memorials of Methodism in New Jersey: From the Foundation of the First Society in the State in 1770, to the Completion of the First Twenty Years of its History Containing Sketches of Ministerial Laborers, Distinguished Laymen and Prominent Societies of That Period by John Atkinson. (1860. Reprint. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1990).
 * New Jersey Catholic Baptismal Records from 1759-1781: Index by Surname of Baptisms Performed in the State of New Jersey from 1759 to 1781 by the Catholic Missionaries of Old Saint Joseph's Church in Philadelphia by Janet Drumm Dirnberger. (Seabrook, TX: Brambles, 1981).
 * The Reformed Church in New Jersey by Herman Harmelink. (Woodcliffon-Hudson: Synod of New Jersey, 1969).
 * New Jersey Marriage Records, 1665-1800. Archives of the State of New Jersey, Vol. 22 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1973).