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Burlington County History and Information

Burlington County was created on 1694 and was formed from West Jersey Province. The County was named for a corruption of Bridlington, England. The County Seat is Mount Holly. See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Burlington County are Mercer County (north), Monmouth County (northeast), Ocean County (east), Atlantic County (south), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (west), Camden County (west), Bucks County, Pennsylvania (northwest).

Burlington County Boroughs Include Fieldsboro, Medford Lakes, Palmyra, Pemberton, Riverton, Wrightstown . Cities Include Beverly, Bordentown, Burlington. Townships Include Bass River, Bordentown, Burlington, Chesterfield, Cinnaminson, Delanco, Delran, Eastampton, Edgewater Park, Evesham, Florence, Hainesport, Lumberton, Mansfield, Maple Shade, Medford, Moorestown, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, New Hanover, North Hanover, Pemberton, Riverside, Shamong, Southampton, Springfield, Tabernacle, Washington, Westampton, Willingboro, Woodland. CDPs and Communities Include Browns Mills, Chatsworth, Country Lake Estates, Crosswicks, Florence-Roebling, Fort Dix, Jobstown, Leisuretowne, Marlton, McGuire Air Force Base, Moorestown-Lenola, |New Gretna, Pemberton Heights, Presidential Lakes Estates, Ramblewood, Vincentown.

The Burlington County Official Government Website
Burlington County Historian
Burlington County, New Jersey History Books at Amazon.com
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Records at the County Courthouse

County Vital Records

County Census Records

County Maps & Atlases

County Military Records

County Tax Records

County Genealogical Addresses

County Church & Cemeteries

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Burlington County ] [ New Jersey ] [ Main Page ]
Burlington County NJGenWeb Archives
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Burlington County, New Jersey Family Books at Amazon.com

Extended History

The lines of the old London and Yorkshire Tenths were first laid down in 1681, and that year has sometimes been named as a beginning date for the County. The formal County alignment and naming came later, under this Act of the West Jersey Assembly dated from Burlington in May, 1694:

"Be it further enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives in this present Assembly... that the two distinctions or divisions heretofore the first and second Tenths be laid into one County, named and henceforth to be called the County of Burlington."

This early year of formation points to the fact that, paradoxically enough, the County became an entity almost a century earlier than the State and Nation of which it is today a part.

The early boundaries, extending from the "Pensauquin" on the south to the Assunpink or "Falls of Delaware" (later Trenton) on the north, were next amplified by naming eastward bounds "from the mouth of Little Egg Harbour River along the seacoast to the line... between East and West New Jersey."

The County was therefore once far-flung to the sea, and it has been diminished somewhat in the course of time. The formation of Mercer County in 1838 carried the northerly boundary south, to Crosswicks Creek. The erection of Atlantic and Ocean Counties in 1837 and 1850 brought losses years later, after Court decisions and after, tradition says, gerrymandering in the State Legislature which took Little Egg Harbor Township to Ocean County in 1891.

In 1702 the early Province of West New Jersey became - by mutual agreement among the West Jersey Proprietors, the Assembly, and the "Lords of Trade and Plantations" in England - a Crown Colony under the protection of "Gracious Queen Anne."

The Queen named her cousin Edward Hyde (Lord Cornbury) as the first Royal Governor. The County of Burlington became host to a long succession of such Royal Governors from 1702 until 1776; their West Jersey residence being a columned colonial mansion on the riverfront at Burlington.

Burlington served as Capital of the Colony, as it had of the earlier Province, and was also the County Seat. The town's importance as a center of government continued after the Revolutionary period, until the new State Legislature, having led nomadic existence, finally settled at Trenton in 1790.

Stocks like these, and a whipping post, helped to enforce "Jersey justice" at Burlington and Mount Holly. This set of stocks could manage two occupants, seated on the slab with feet through the holes (courtesy Old Jail Museum, Mount Holly).
Burlington continued as the County Seat into the Federal period when, in 1795, the move to Mount Holly was voted by the electorate in hotly contested balloting. The population of the new County of Burlington in 1694 was less than 2,000 persons. Four decades later, in 1737, the colonial census named the count as: above age sixteen, 2,709; under sixteen, 2,186; slaves, 343; total 5,238. Serving such scanty numbers, County institutions emerged slowly and various functions were combined with those of the Colony at large.

Thus the time-honored Burlington Court continued much as it had in provincial days, carrying jurisdiction far beyond the County bounds.

When the County Coroner was eventually named, he was to serve as "the substitute for the High Sheriff" but was more ordinarily to "take inquests relative to deaths in prison, and of all violent, sudden, or casual deaths within thy County." The County Clerk was assigned multitudinous tasks, but was forbidden to "act as a Surrogate, or to practice as an Attorney."

County government under original concepts and early laws was to serve as an agency of the parent Colony and later of the State, "constituted to perform certain functions of state government." The early County Surrogate, therefore, acted as a substitute for the Governor in supervising the affairs of orphans, and in the probate of wills and settlement of estates.

The "Board of Justices and Freeholders of the County of Burlington" had its beginnings under enabling colonial legislation of the year 1713. County Judges shared the duties of the Board with elected Freeholders, representing every Township, until 1798. The role of the Justices having by then declined and the desire for fully elective leadership being strong, the new name under State legislation in that year became "The Board of Chosen Freeholders."

The requirement for representation from every Township still prevailed and made for a large Board, becoming larger as the Townships multiplied, until 1912 when a new State law permitted reduction in Board size to a few members elected from the County at large.

The term freeholder was a common but proud one in New Jersey, where land was held "free" of proprietary quitrents. In early Jersey any person owning 100 acres was considered a freeholder, and qualified to run for election to the Board. In no other State has the title "Freeholder" been carried down, across the centuries, to designate a member of a County governing body. Among the earliest Board members in Burlington County were Thomas French, Jacob Heulings, John Hollinshead, and Elios Toy, of the period 1713 to 1716.

The early Board named the County Collector, to raise monies "by precepts to the Assessors of the respective Town- ships." The Board of the colonial period also named the County representatives to the West Jersey Assembly.

Early and important was the County Sheriff, an elected official who dealt with crime in forthright fashion. His associates were a few "rangers" and the Township Constables - all of them traveling on horseback and "armed to the teeth."

Stocks and a whipping post stood before the original Court House in Burlington, and later before the Market House at Main and Mill Streets, Mount Holly, until these devices were outlawed in 1837. Across two centuries of County history the high gallows appeared from time to time at Bordentown, Burlington, and Mount Holly; the last of some thirty hangings occurring in 1906.

The census of 1830, a century and a half after the beginnings, listed 31,107 persons in Burlington County - then covering a larger area than does the County today.

Of the many population explosions across the next century and a half, leading to the present, none more dramatically demonstrates growth than the figure of 45,000 for Willingboro alone, on the site of an ancient Township numbering less than 100 persons at the outset. The present County total of more than 300,000 is in itself a study in contrasts with the earlier figures for the historic County of Burlington.

Early were the Colonizers	Bibliography
The Native Indians	The Earliest Homes Were On the Waterways
Place of Patriot Decision	Diversionary Battleground of December, 1776
Home of Notable Men, Shaping the Early Gov.	Prophet, Printer, and Poet were on the scene
Transportation Became a Key Element	Inventive Were the Pioneers
The Earliest Roads and the Ferries	Of the Tradition: Ice, Sleet, Fire, & Cavalcade
The Personalities Were From Every Walk	Memorable Were the Names
The Legends Were Many and Mysterious	The Place Names Tell Their Own Story
The County Bridges	A County Chronology
Schools and Hospitals Materialized	Historic Sites

Burlington County History and Information

Records at the County Courthouse

See Also New Jersey Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in New Jersey

County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for New Jersey

County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

County Military Records

See Also Military Records in New Jersey

County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Arkansas Genealogical Addresses

County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in New Jersey

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History