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.
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.
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.
* The date the earliest land deed was recorded appears in the second column. Where two years appear, the first refers to mortgages, the second to deeds.
** Where two years are given, the first is the date when orphans' court minutes begin, the second when surrogates' records and files begin
All Departments below are in the Burlington County Court Facility, 49 Rancocas Road, Mount Holly, NJ 08060; (609) 518-2600, unless otherwise noted below. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.burlington.nj.us/. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.
Burlington County Clerk has Land Records & Marriage Records from 1776/1785*, and is located at the address above. 1st floor Phone Number: (609) 265-5122 New Jersey county clerks are responsible for land records, including deeds and mortgages, naturalizations, marriages (usually 1795-1840s), and various county court records. A few original county justice of the peace dockets are at the New Jersey State Archives. Estate matters are handled in the surrogate's and orphans' courts.
Burlington County Surrogate Court / Orphan's Court has Probate Records from 1785/1804** and is located at the courthouse. Rm 102, Phone Number: (609) 265-5005. By virtue of laws enacted since 1844, the responsibilities of the County Surrogate have been expanded. The County Surrogate now has two major functions:
As Judge and Clerk of the County Surrogate's Court, the Surrogate is responsible for settling the estate of every county resident who dies individually owning any assets in New Jersey--whether or not that resident dies leaving a will. Therefore, the Surrogate reviews and probates wills and appoints Executors, Administrators and guardians of minors. In addition, the Surrogate administers and invests monies (now more than $30 million in Bergen County) primarily for minor children who receive judgments in the courts in Bergen County; and
As Deputy Clerk of the Superior Court, Chancery Division, Probate Part, the Surrogate dockets, reviews and schedules all actions pertaining to will contests, estate matters, accountings, mental incompetencies, guardianships of incompetents and all adoptions occurring in Bergen County. In addition, all documents involved in all County Surrogate Court matters are recorded, stored and maintained by the County Surrogate's Court.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Court Records by clicking the link below:
New Jersey Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
Click Here to Search New Jersey Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services, State Registrar Search Unit, PO Box 370, Trenton, NJ 08625-0370; (609) 292-4087, Fax: (609) 392-4292. It can take up to 4 months to get a vital record from New Jersey.
Vital records from May 1848 - May 1878 may be obtained from the State Archives. The Archives also holds microfilm copies of births from 1878-1923, marriages from 1879-1940 and deaths from 1878-1940. These materials are available for in-person use only.
Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates:
Cost: Initial search and one certified copy or certification of the record or No Record Statement is $25.00 per certificate.
Additional copies of the same record ordered at the same time are $2 are per copy
Additional years searched (genealogy records only) are $1 per year.
Make Check or Money Order payable to Treasurer, State of New Jersey. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $25.00 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Dates: from 1878 to the present
Processing Time: 14-16 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Divorce Certificates: Divorce records for 1900-1989 are kept by the Records Information Center of the State Superior Court. For records after 1989 contact the NJ County Court that issued the divorce decree.New Jersey divorce decrees are available through the Superior Court of New Jersey Records Center. For more information on obtaining a certified copy of a divorce decree, call the Records Center at: 609-777-0092
Cost: Include a fee of $10.00 per 10 year search per last name with request. Make check or money order payable to Clerk of the Superior Court.
Superior Court of NJ, Public Information Ctr, 171 Jersey Street, CN 967, Trenton, NJ 08625-0967
Order Online: You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering below
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE - Search over 82 million death records and get genealogical information crucial to your family research. New content added weekly! Most comprehensive SSDI site online!
Research Death records In The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of historical New Jersey newspaper articles about deaths. Search for local articles about an old family friend that died many years ago or a celebrity that committed suicide. Historical newspapers contain a wealth of information about the deceased.
New Jersey Marriages, 1684-1895: This database update adds marriage records for Salem County, in addition to records for Warren County, Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Sussex, Hunterdon, and Somerset counties.
New Jersey Marriages, Colonial Era, 1665-1800: In addition to the 45,000 names in this database, included is an historical introduction on the early marriage laws of New Jersey ,and the precedents on which they were founded.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Census Records by clicking the link below:
New Jersey Census, 1772-1890: This collection contains the following indexes: 1772-1822 Tax Lists Index; 1800 Cumberland County Federal Census Index; 1824-1832 Bergen County - Paterson City; 1830 Federal Census Index; 1840 Federal Census Index; 1840 Pensioners List; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1850 Slave Schedule; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1870 Federal Census Index; 1890 Veterans Schedule; Early Census Index.
Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Ohio and other states.
You can view rotating animated maps for New Jersey showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
You can view rotating animated maps for New Jersey showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Maps. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Maps by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search New Jersey Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Military Records by clicking the link below:
New Jersey Pensioners, 1835: This database identifies thousands of New Jersey soldiers who were covered under various pension acts in the early 1800s.
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 from the State of New Jersey (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of New Jersey (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Because New Jersey's pre-1830 federal censuses have not survived, tax records are quite an important substitute for placing persons and families prior to that time. Tax lists arranged by township are available for 1773-1822. The originals, at the New Jersey State Archives, show heads of households, landowners, and single adult males, with information about their property that was taxable, including land, horses, cattle, slaves, and mills. Only about half of the 1773-4 lists are extant, and for some places, such as Sussex County, coverage is very slight. Microfilms of these records are at the state archives, the New Jersey Historical Society, Rutgers University, and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. The 1784 tax lists for thirty-eight municipalities (predominantly in southern New Jersey) are the only ones to indicate the size of a household, with a column for number of whites and a column for number of slaves.
Later tax records are found in the counties starting about 1869-70. Tax lists for some extinct New Jersey municipalities are at the state archives.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Tax Records by clicking the link below:
The Repositories
in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical
and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical
Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly,
quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies
should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are
usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived
materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be
more generalized and over look the smaller details that local
societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to
look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy
section and may have some resources that are not located at
archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums
in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years
gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All
these places are vitally important to the family genealogist
and must not be passed over.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
Department of State Division of Archives and Records Management
Bureau of Archives and Records Preservation State Library Bldg, 185 West State Street, CN-307, Trenton, NJ 08625-0307 The New Jersey State Archives has many of the basic research materials for the state, such as federal and state census records; probate, land, and court records; newspapers; and vital records.
New Jersey State Library, State Library Building, 185 West State Street, CN-520, Trenton, NJ 08625-0520
Genealogical Society of New Jersey,
PO Box 1476, Trenton NJ 08607-1476
The Genealogical Society of New Jersey has published The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey since 1925. The society houses its collection of genealogical materials, including cemetery transcriptions, family Bibles (over 4,800), military records, notes of genealogists, and so forth, in the A. S. Alexander Library at Rutgers University.
New Jersey Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search New Jersey Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
The important work of grave marker transcribing has been the goal of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, which was originally formed by "Tombstone Hounds." Their core collection is at Rutgers University, where there is a card index by county and name of the cemetery as well as a "master index" arranged alphabetically by surname but only for selected cemeteries. Many of the society's transcriptions have been published in their journal, The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey. Another large collection of cemetery records is that gathered by the New Jersey DAR chapters, with copies deposited at the New Jersey State Library and the New Jersey Historical Society. Both these places have other cemetery records, as do the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and the New York Public Library. Some individual books of cemetery inscriptions have been published, and some are found in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.
Below is a list of online resources for Burlington County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Burlington County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
Find Obituaries in The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of New Jersey obituaries to help you research your family history. Search for a New Jersey newspaper obituary about your ancestor or a celebrity. Begin your search today and find death notices and funeral announcements printed in newspapers from Indiana.
Click Here to Search New Jersey Family Tree Records! - 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:
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
New Jersey Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
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.
