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.

Cumberland County, New Jersey
Map
Location in the state of New Jersey
Location of New Jersey in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	, 1748
County Seat	Bridgeton
Courthouse
Address	Cumberland County Courthouse 60 W Broad Street Bridgeton, NJ 08302 Phone: (856) 451-8000 Cumberland County Website

Description

Cumberland County is located in the Southwest region of the state. It was created in 1748. Bridgeton is the county seat. The county was named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.

Cumberland County, New Jersey Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1901	1777	1901	1840	1766	1747	1830
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1840. General compliance by 1920.

Cumberland County, New Jersey Historical Facts

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.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Resources

Bible

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
NJGenWeb Archives	WorldCat	Billion Graves
NJTombstone Project
NJInterment
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See New Jersey Cemeteries for more information.

Census

• 1855 New Jersey, State Census, 1855 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1865 New Jersey, State Census, 1865 at FamilySearch — images
• 1895 New Jersey, State Census, 1895 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1915 New Jersey State Census, 1915 at FamilySearch — index and images

Church Records

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about denominations, view the New Jersey Church Records wiki page.

• 1675-1970 - New Jersey, Church Records, 1675-1970 at FamilySearch — index and images

Court Records

Emigration and Immigration

Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups

Gazetteers

Genealogy

History

Local histories are available for New Jersey counties. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section New Jersey Local Histories.

Land and Property

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See New Jersey Land and Property for information about New Jersey Proprietary land records. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Migration

Military

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1796-1991 - New Jersey Naturalization Records, 1796-1991 at FamilySearch — index

Populated Places

Cities
Boroughs
Towns
Villages
Hamlets
Unincorporated communities
Native American communities
Census-designated places
Townships
Historic communities
Historic African American communities
Unorganized territories
Ghost towns

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy Probate Court. From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. Most counties transferred all records to the Probate Court, but in some circumstances, Court of Common Pleas records should be searched for records prior to 1852. Most records are housed at the Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy Courthouse. Some records are on microfilm at the Ohio Genealogical Society and the Family History Library. For more complete information about the location of county probate records see:

See the wiki page New Jersey Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only).

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. (Family History Library book 973 D27rb 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 New Jersey Probate Records 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

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Vineland New Jersey Family History Center

Libraries

Museums

Societies

Cumberland County Historical Society
PO Box 16
Gibson House
Greenwich, NJ 08323
Telephone: 609-455-4055
E-mail:cchistsoc@verizon.net
Website

Cumberland County Historical Society
960 Ye Greate St.
Greenwich, NJ 08323
Telephone: 856-455-4055
Website

Mauricetown Historical Society
1229 Front Street
Mauricetown, New Jersey 08329
Website

Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: NJGenWeb and its coordinators who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

Schools

Taxation

New Jersey tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information see the wiki page New Jersey Taxation.

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. United States Vital Records has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the New Jersey Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. Original marriage records are usually held at the county Bureau of Vital Statistics.

Birth

• 1901-1903, New Jersey, Reclaim the Records, New Jersey Birth Index, 1901-1903 at FamilySearch — index

Marriage

Online Marriage Indexes and Records

1606-1981 - New Jersey, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $

• 1670-1980, New Jersey, Marriages, 1670-1980 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1930-1938, New Jersey, Bride Index, 1930-1938 at FamilySearch — index

Death

• 1901-1903 - New Jersey, Death Index, 1901-1903 at FamilySearch — index

Cumberland County, New Jersey Websites

• 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
• FamilySearch Catalog

Cumberland County, New Jersey Neighboring Counties

Local histories are available for New Jersey counties. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section New Jersey Local Histories.

Atlantic Cape May Gloucester Salem

Cumberland County, New Jersey Genealogy References