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The State of New Jersey is divided into twenty-one counties in which are recorded transfers of land, estates, court, and other records. Each county is governed by a Board of Freeholders, whose records should not be overlooked. Other useful county records may be located in the courthouses or at the New Jersey State Archives, including Justice of the Peace Dockets; tavern, peddler's, and shopkeeper's licenses; road books; and slave births and manumissions.
Some New Jersey counties have established or are establishing county record centers and archives, to which older records are transferred for better preservation and use by researchers. Such facilities, in one stage or another, exist in the counties of Bergen, Cape May, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, and Somerset. Most clerks still retain custody over such material and should be contacted first about the location and access to a particular record.
Most municipal records are still in the townships, boroughs, and cities, but some are at the state archives and the New Jersey Historical Society. These list earmarks (although some are also found in county records), indigents, elected officials, stray animals, and so forth. Choose from the counties below to view the county information.
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