Record Atlas
7 eras · 1614–2026 · 57 places

New Jersey — East and West Jersey

Newark, Jersey City, Trenton, Camden, Perth Amboy, Burlington. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1614–1664 New Netherland (the Delaware shore also claimed as New Sweden, 1638-55) no registers survive

New Netherland included settlements in what became New Jersey, and its surviving records are at the New York State Archives in Albany. New Sweden lay along the lower Delaware River, in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, from 1638 until Dutch forces took Fort Christina on 15 September 1655.
1664–1673 Province of New Jersey — under the Duke of York's grant no registers survive

The surrender of Fort Amsterdam in September 1664 gave the English control of the region.
1673–1674 Dutch reconquest no registers survive

The Dutch Republic reasserted control for a brief period in 1673-74.
1674–1702 East Jersey and West Jersey — two proprietary provinces FamilySearch

The province was divided into East and West Jersey in 1674, a split that lasted until 1702, and both were added to the Dominion of New England on 7 May 1688. The proprietors' records are now at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton: the East Jersey board's moved from Perth Amboy after it dissolved in 1998, and the West Jersey Council of Burlington deposited its originals in December 2005. Probated deeds were filed with the provincial secretaries while land records stayed with the proprietors.
1702–1776 Royal colony of New Jersey FamilySearch

East and West Jersey were united as a royal colony on 17 April 1702, when both proprietary groups gave up their political rights; the proprietors kept their land records, so titles still trace to East or West Jersey surveys and deeds.
1776–1848 State of New Jersey FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

New Jersey adopted its first state constitution on 2 July 1776 and ratified the US Constitution on 18 December 1787. No 1790 census schedules for New Jersey are known to survive; the National Archives suggests they were probably destroyed in the British attack on Washington in the War of 1812.
1848–2026 State of New Jersey FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Statewide registration of births, marriages and deaths began in May 1848; the State Archives holds originals from 1848 to about 1915-16 (the cutoff differs by source) and the Bureau of Vital Statistics holds later years. Municipalities kept duplicate registers from 1848, but many records from before 1910 have not survived.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1614–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

57 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map