Cape May County, New Jersey Genealogy

Cape May 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.

Description
Cape May County is located in the southern tip of the state. It was created in 1685. Cape May Court House, Middle Township is the county seat. The county was named for Cornelis Jacobsen Mey a Dutch explorer, captain and fur trader.

Parent County

 * 12 Nov 1692 from Cumberland County.

Boundary Changes

 * 1685, court set up
 * 1692, county given boundaries in West Jersey
 * 1694, boundaries changed to transfer Great Egg Harbor area to Gloucester County
 * 1710, boundary changed
 * 1822, boundary with Cumberland County clarified
 * 1844, part of Cumberland County added
 * 1845, the 1844 part of Cumberland County returned
 * 1846, coastal boundary established
 * 1878, part of Maurice River twp., Cumberland County, added to Upper twp.
 * 1891, part of Maurice River twp., Cumberland County, added to Dennis twp.
 * 1906, coastal boundary established.

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
 * 1708-1985 - Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – $, free to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry.com – $; 7,542,774 entries. This database is incomplete for all counties.


 * Contains the church records of:
 * Ocean View: Calvary Baptist Church

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1796-1991 - at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

 * Cape May County Herald


 * Cape May Star and Wave

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
Cape May County Courthouse 4 Moore Road Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Phone: (609) 465-1010 County Clerk has military records 1795-1878, land records from 1692, Court Records 1793-1948, Military are cords from 1919 and naturalization records 1900-1960. County Surrogate has probate records from 1783.

Societies
The Museum of Cape May Historical Museum and Genealogical Society 504 Route 9 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Telephone: 609-465-3535 Genealogy, Ext.5 E-mail:[mailto:cmchgs@gmail.com cmchgs@gmail.com] Website

Greater Cape May Historic Society 653 Washington Street Cape May, NJ 08204 Telephone: 609-884-9100 Website


 * Cape May County Library
 * Greater Cape May Historical Society

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


 * Archives of the Cape May County Clerk

Cape May County, New Jersey Websites

 * The Cape May County NJGenWeb Project, a member of The NJGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * Cape May County, New Jersey History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
 * Cape May County NJ Genealogy
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Cape May County.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Cape May County. (Backup site)
 * FamilySearch Catalog for Cape May County.