Camden County was created on March 13, 1844 and was formed from Gloucester County . The County was named for the Earl of Camden. The County Seat is Camden. See also County History for more historical details.
Camden CountyBoroughs Include Audubon, Audubon Park, Barrington, Bellmawr, Berlin, Brooklawn, Chesilhurst, Clementon, Collingswood, Gibbsboro, Haddon Heights, Haddonfield, Hi-Nella, Laurel Springs, Lawnside, Lindenwold, Magnolia, Merchantville, Mount Ephraim, Oaklyn, Pine Hill, Pine Valley, Runnemede, Somerdale, Stratford, Tavistock, Woodlynne. Cities Include Camden, Gloucester. Townships Include Berlin, Cherry Hill, Gloucester, Haddon, Pennsauken, Voorhees, Waterford, Winslow. CDPs and Communities Include Ashland, Barclay-Kingston, Blackwood, Cherry Hill Mall, Echelon, Erial, Erlton-Ellisburg, Glendora, Golden Triangle, Greentree, Sicklerville, Springdale.
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.
All Departments below are in the Camden County Hall of Justice, 101 South Fifth Street, Camden, NJ 08103; (856) 379-2200 , 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.
Camden County Clerk has Land Records & Marriage Records from 1844 and is located at Room 102,
520 Market Street Camden,
New Jersey 08102;
Phone Number: (856) 225-5300 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.
Camden County Surrogate Court / Orphan's Court has Probate Records from 1844 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: 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 Camden County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Camden 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.
Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Camden County, New Jersey are 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930.Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Camden County, New Jersey are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms.
Below is a list of online resources for Camden County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Maps. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Camden 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 Camden County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Camden 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.
"Let it be remembered," wrote Thomas Sharp in 1718, "That upon the nineteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and eighty-one, Mark Newby, William Bates, Thomas Thackara, George Goldsmith and Thomas Sharp set sail from the harbor...of Dublin...We took our land in tract together...bounding in the forks of Newton Creek and so over to Cooper's Creek..." Sharp's narrative account of the first permanent European settlement in what is today West Collingswood is the most accurate history of the establishment of Camden County.
Many of the early settlers in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century West Jersey (modern-day South Jersey) were like the Newton Colony people. Quakers, members of the Society of Friends, were persecuted in England for their religious beliefs and way of life. They came, lured by the Concessions and Agreements, a document written in 1677 by proprietors such as William Penn, who owned a large portion of the land in West Jersey and wished to encourage Quaker settlement in the area. The settlement offered the promise of religious freedom, equitable taxation, and representative government.
Quakers were not the first people to arrive on New Jersey's shores. Some 13,000-15,000 years earlier, after a long migration eastward beginning in Asia and leading over the Bering Strait through Alaska and across the American continent, the Paleo-Indians (Old Stone Age peoples), whose descendants eventually became known as the Lenape, had arrived. The Lenape were peace-loving, semi-nomadic people who lived in small family groups along the banks of waterways, spoke an Algonkian language, farmed, hunted, and fished.
According to Herbert Kraft, author of The Lenape, published in 1986 by the New Jersey Historical Society, "Lenape" in the Unami dialect meant "our men," "men of the same nation," or "common people." Names such as Delaware, Munsi, Lenape, Unami, etc. are 17th and 18th century appellations that did not exist at the time of European contact: as a matter of fact, Kraft states, the Lenape Indians "...were not a tribe in any political sense." To the explorers who encountered them along the Delaware River they simply became known as "the Delaware."
The Quakers had also been preceded by a small band of Dutch families sent by the Dutch West India Company to establish a minor trading and fur post on the Delaware River. Fort Nassau, probably established in 1626 near today's Gloucester City, continued in use however for only about 25 years; it was taken over in turn by the English and the Swedes and again came under the authority of the Dutch. Finally, it was ordered dismantled by Peter Stuyvesant in 1651. Thirteen years later the English again triumphed in New Jersey, and the Dutch were forced to cede the entire colony.
Camden County's institutions, municipalities, and streets still bear the names of many of those who made this area their new home. Elizabeth Haddon, immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Tales Of A Wayside Inn, arrived alone in 1701 to look after her father's land claims and gave the family name to "Haddon's Field." She married John Estaugh, a Quaker minister with whom she had an acquaintance in England. Elizabeth herself was much esteemed by the Friends and was a minister in her own right.
Early settlers also included William and Benjamin Cooper, whose descendants founded Cooper Hospital and Coopers Ferry, as well as the Kaighns, Gills, Stokes, Collings, Coles, Ellises, Zanes, Burroughs, Kays, Morgans, Matlacks, and many others.
A ferry operated as early as 1688 by William Royden, then by William Cooper, and after 1693, by Cooper's son. Daniel provided the earliest means of communication and transportation between the two colonies on the Delaware River. For nearly a century, the settlement that grew up around it was known as Coopers Ferry. It became a center of activity during the Revolutionary War period (1777-1778) while the British occupied Philadelphia. British troops often crossed the river, disembarking at the ferry landing near the Benjamin Cooper House (Point and Erie Streets) to forage for food supplies in the surrounding countryside.
Because Quakers opposed war and most would not bear arms for either side, many of the sect were harassed and imprisoned. Military skirmishes in the area involved such well-known figures as General "Mad" Anthony Wayne , the young Marquis de Lafayette, who earned a command for his attack on British forces near today's Gloucester City in November 1777, and the Polish count Casimir Pulaski.
Even though in 1764 William Cooper's great-grandson, Jacob, purchased land for subdivision in what is today known as Camden, few homes were established there until well after the Revolutionary War. By the close of that period only three houses had been erected between Third Street and the Cooper River, and all belonged to members of the Cooper family. The namesake of the new settlement was Charles Pratt, Earl of Camden, an English nobleman who supported the American cause in Parliament.
In 1803 additional lots were laid out north and south of Arch Street between Front and Fifth Streets. In 1820, Edward Sharp, envisioning a bridge and ferry system between Camden and Philadelphia, broadened the enclosure from the south side of Federal Street to just beyond today's Mickle Boulevard, from the river to Fifth Street and called it Camden Village.
Nonetheless, the City did not really begin to grow until 1834. The coming of Camden and Amboy Railroad helped spur its population growth to 9,500 by mid-century. In 1838, a canal had been cut through Windmill Island in the middle of the Delaware River, making ferry travel easier under all weather conditions. This shortened commuter time combined with an increasing number of businesses and services made Camden an attractive place to live.
During the period following Camden County's separation from Gloucester County in 1844, the county population, having expanded greatly, exceeded 25,000. In 1853 a new county courthouse designed by noted architect Samuel Sloan was erected halfway between Market and Federal Streets. That same year the Camden and Atlantic Railroad (later the Pennsylvania Railroad) began its first run from Camden to Haddonfield. The following year, it was extended to almost Atlantic City.
Later, during the Civil War, many Camden residents supported and fought for the Union cause. The Zouaves, a volunteer company, was the first to apply for service in state regiments. They fought at Antietam, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, and in the Wilderness Campaign. They marched with Sherman, fought in the Shenandoah Valley, and served under courageous officers such as General William Joyce Sewell. Those who died are memorialized at the Gettysburg Battlefield and by the Soldiers' Monument at Haddon Avenue and Mickle Boulevard next to Cooper Hospital.
The postwar period brought the poet Walt Whitman to Camden, where he first lived with his brother, George, on Stevens Street and later at 330 Mickle Street, today a National Historic Landmark maintained by the State of New Jersey. Whitman prepared the final or "deathbed edition" of Leaves of Grass in the Mickle Street house.
Portions of Specimen Days, a long essay on nature in diary form, was written during the summer months Whitman spent convalescing at Laurel Springs. The poet's remains rest in a mausoleum of his own design in Camden's Harleigh Cemetery, a late-Victorian burial ground in the park-lawn style.
The end of the nineteenth century marked the beginning of Camden's emergence as an industrial and commercial leader. Eldridge Johnson's machine shop gave way to the Victor Talking Machine Company, predecessor of RCA, which ended its presence in the city in 1988.
In 1869 Joseph Campbell and Abram Anderson founded a preserving company that eventually became known as The Campbell Soup Company. The company flourished in the city of Camden during the next century. Although the company relocated its processing facilities, the corporate headquarters is still located in the city.
The Esterbrook Pen and New York Ship Building companies had established themselves in Camden before World War I. By then a popular saying was, "On Camden's supplies, the world relies." Immigrant labor seeking economic opportunity helped increase the city population, providing a welcome source of abundant and cheap labor for the many industries that sprung up. Cigars, sausages, patent drugs, leather goods, iron products, ships, linoleum, carriage bodies, gas mantles, and terra cotta items were among the hundreds of products manufactured in the county.
In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the Delaware River Bridge, later renamed for Benjamin Franklin. It opened the way for commuters to work in Philadelphia and live in the Camden suburbs. A second bridge, the Walt Whitman, opened 31 years later, connecting Philadelphia and Gloucester City. In 1976, the Betsy Ross Bridge, linking Philadelphia and Pennsauken, opened to traffic.
These routes and the development of high-speed rail transportation between Camden and Philadelphia helped to push the county's population over the half-million mark. This, combined with a broad economic and industrial base, several centers for higher education, three major hospitals, and an excellent interstate road system and connections, offer a bright future for the county.
