Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy
Mercer 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.
| Mercer County, New Jersey | |
| Map | |
 Location in the state of New Jersey, United States Genealogy | |
 Location of New Jersey in the U.S. | |
| Facts | |
| Founded |
|
|---|---|
| County Seat | Trenton |
| Courthouse | |
| Address | Trenton County Courthouse PO Box 8068 Trenton, NJ 08650-0068 Phone: (609) 989-6517 Mercer County Website |
Contents
- 1 County Information
- 2 Mercer County, New Jersey Historical Facts
- 3 Parent County
- 4 Boundary Changes
- 5 Record Loss
- 6 Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy Resources
- 6.1 Bible
- 6.2 Cemeteries
- 6.3 Census
- 6.4 Church Records
- 6.5 Court Records
- 6.6 Emigration and Immigration
- 6.7 Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups
- 6.8 Gazetteers
- 6.9 Genealogy
- 6.10 History
- 6.11 Land and Property
- 6.12 Maps
- 6.13 Migration
- 6.14 Military
- 6.15 Naturalization and Citizenship
- 6.16 Newspapers
- 6.17 Occupations
- 6.18 Periodicals
- 6.19 Poorhouse, Almshouse
- 6.20 Probate Records
- 6.21 Repositories
- 6.22 Societies
- 7 Mercer County, New Jersey Websites
- 8 Mercer County, New Jersey Neighboring Counties
- 9 Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy References
County Information[edit | edit source]
Mercer County, New Jersey Record Dates[edit | edit source]
| Birth | Marriage | Death | Census | Land | Probate |
| 1840 | |||||
Mercer County, New Jersey Historical Facts[edit | edit source]
Parent County[edit | edit source]
1838, formed from parts of Hunterdon and Middlesex counties and part of Montgomery twp. from Somerset County. [1]
Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]
- 1839, more parts from Hunterdon County added.
- 1844, Hopewell twp. returned to Hunterdon County and then returned in 1845.
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[edit | edit source]
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.
Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy Resources[edit | edit source]
Bible[edit | edit source]
Cemeteries[edit | edit source]
| Tombstone Transcriptions Online | Tombstone Transcriptions in Print | List of Cemeteries in the county |
| Findagrave.com | Family History Library | Findagrave.com |
| NJGenWeb | WorldCat | Billion Graves |
| NJGenWeb Archives | ||
| NJTombstone Project | ||
| NJInterment | ||
| EPodunk | ||
| Billion Graves | ||
| See New Jersey Cemeteries for more information. | ||
Census[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]
Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups[edit | edit source]
African American
Smith, Anna Amelia Bustill.Reminiscences of Colored people of Princeton, N.J., 1800-1900. -[Philadelphia : P. V. Baugh, c 1913] - 15 p. F144.P9 M6
Gazetteers[edit | edit source]
Genealogy[edit | edit source]
History[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
Migration[edit | edit source]
Early migration routes to and from Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy for settlers included:[2]
- Delaware River a pre-historic pathway serving as the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania rises in Schoharie County, New York and flows by the Lehigh Canal in Pennsylvania, Frenchtown, Trenton where river meets tidewater, and past Bordentown in New Jersey, Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to empty into the North Atlantic Ocean.
- King's Highway 1673 connected Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Genealogy to Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina Genealogy and many coastal cities between including Philadelphia, Trenton, and New York City.
- Delaware and Raritan Canal 1834 connected New Brunswick, New Jersey on the Raritan River (and NY City) to Bordontown, New Jersey on the Delaware River and parts of Pennsylvania including Philadelphia. A boat traffic carrying feeder canal from near Frenchtown also supplied water to the Trenton part of the D&R Canal.
Military[edit | edit source]
Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]
Newspapers[edit | edit source]
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:
- WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
- Do a Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).
Occupations[edit | edit source]
Periodicals[edit | edit source]
Poorhouse, Almshouse[edit | edit source]
Probate Records[edit | edit source]
Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Mercer 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 Mercer 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[edit | edit source]
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
Repositories[edit | edit source]
Archives[edit | edit source]
Courthouse[edit | edit source]
Mercer County Courthouse
PO Box 8068;
Trenton, NJ 08650-0068
Phone: (609) 989-6517
County Surrogate has probate records. County Clerk has court and land records from 1838, judgments, tax maps, and corporation records.[3]
Family History Centers[edit | edit source]
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. See family history center for more information. Search the online FHC directory for a nearby family history center.
Libraries[edit | edit source]
Museums[edit | edit source]
Societies[edit | edit source]
Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission
640 S. Broad St.
Trenton, NJ 08650
Telephone: 609-989-6701
Central Jersey Genealogical Club
PO Box 9903
Hamilton, NJ 08650-1903
Hamilton Township Historical Society
2200 Kuser Road
Trenton, NJ 08650
Telephone: 609-585-1686
Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society
164 North Main Street
Hightstown, NJ, 08520
Telephone: 609-371-9580
Historical Society of Princeton
158 Nassau St.
Princeton, NJ 08542-7006
Telephone: 609-921-6748
Website
Hopewell Valley Historical Society
PO Box 371
Pennington, NJ 08534
Telephone: 609-737-7751
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Schools[edit | edit source]
Taxation[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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.
Mercer County, New Jersey Websites[edit | edit source]
- USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
- Mercer County, New Jersey History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
- Mercer County NJ Genealogy
- FamilySearch Catalog
Mercer County, New Jersey Neighboring Counties[edit | edit source]
Mercer County, New Jersey Genealogy References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 464. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ Handybook, 847-61.
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Mercer County, New Jersey page 464, At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
