Morris County was created on March 15, 1738/39 and was formed from northern portions of original Hunterdon County. The County was named for Lewis Morris, the colonial Governor of New Jersey from 1738 to 1746, it originally included what are now the counties of Morris, Sussex.and Warren.. The County Seat is Morristown. See also County History for more historical details. (Consult the Hunterdon County page linked below for pre-1739 records) Sussex County set off, 1753.) Early surrogate's files and books, citcuit court and court of common pleas records, naturalizations, marraiges (1795-1876), and other material are located at the Morris County Records Center and Archives, 300 Mendham Rd, Morristown NJ 07960
Morris County Boroughs Include Butler, Chatham, Chester, Florham Park, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Madison, Mendham, Morris Plains, Mount Arlington, Mountain Lakes, Netcong, Rockaway, Riverdale, Victory Gardens, Wharton. Towns Includes Boonton, Dover, Morristown. Townships Include Boonton, Chatham, Chester, Denville, East Hanover, Hanover, Harding, Jefferson, Long Hill, Mendham, Mine Hill, Montville, Morris, Mount Olive, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Pequannock, Randolph, Rockaway, Roxbury, Washington. CDPs and Communities Include Budd Lake, Cedar Knolls, Cedar Lake, Convent Station, Flanders, Green Pond, Green Village, Hibernia, Lake Hiawatha, Lake Swannanoa, Lake Telemark, Landing, Long Valley, Mount Tabor, New Vernon, Pine Brook, Port Morris, Stirling, Succasunna-Kenvil, Towaco, Union Hill, Whippany, White Meadow Lake
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 Morris County Courthouse, Washington & Court Sts., Morristown, NJ 07963-0910; (973) 656-4000, unless otherwise noted below. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.morris.nj.us/. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.
Morris County Clerk has Land Records & Marriage Records from 1765/1785 and is located at the Hall of Records Administration Bldg,
Court Street,
P O Box 315,
Morristown, NJ 07963-0315;
973-285-6125 [ County clerks were required by law to file copies of deeds beginning in 1785 and mortgages beginning in 1766.] 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.
Morris County Surrogate Court / Orphan's Court has Probate Records from 1785/1804 and is located at the Administration & Records Bld. 5th Floor,
P.O. Box 900,
Morristown, NJ 07963-0900;
(973) 285-6500 Fax: (973) 829-8599;
E-Mail Address: jpecoraro@co.morris.nj.us. [ Recording of wills and estate inventories at the county level began in 1804. Orphans Courts were established in 1785.] 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 Morris County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Maps. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 Morris County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Morris 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 principal purchase made on August 13, 1713, by the West Jersey Proprietors took in all the land from the Whippany River southward to the Passaic below the Great Swamp. Westward it extended to the region of Mendham and Succasunna. This was approximately the land previously purchased by the New Britain men. Unlike the other deeds, only one sachem, Naweenake, who was presumably a Passaik, is named in the document. This important deed begins with these words: "To all Persons to whom these presents Shall Come, I Naweenake, an Indian Sachem and Owner of Land in the western Division of the province of New Jersey, Send Greetings."
For the boundaries of the purchase the wording reads, "I Naweenake - have given, bargained, Sold, aleined, Enfeoffed, and by these presents, Confirmed All that Tract or parcel of Land belonging to the said Naweenake being in the western Division of New Jersey Situate or adjoining to or Lying near Pesiak River as well as both Sides thereof as up arnongst between and about the branches of the same, the parts adjacent bounded northward with the Lands Taphaw and his relations, Eastwardly by the Lands formerly Sold to the inhabitants of Weepaniny and Southward with the said River."
The deed, like the others made at this time, left no rights or privileges to the Indians. On this point it reads, "Together with all and Singular Mines, Minerals, Woods, Waters, fishing, Hunting, and fowling, Rivers, Rivulets, Isles, islands, Brooks, Swamps, Savanahs, and all Liberties, profits, Commodities, heriditaments and appurtanances Whatsoever."
For this land with all that it held, Naweenake and his people received, as is stated in the deed, "four Guns, four Kettles, one large Kettle, forty Shillings in Silver money, four blankets, four shirts, five match Coats, Ten Quarts of powder, forty bars of Lead, two Drawing knives, ten hatchets, ten hilling hoes, forty Awls, One hundred flints, and Six gallons of Rum."
Why Naweenake and his tribe did not receive more for their property may seem strange. The price appears small even though there were large swamps and much hilly, rocky ground worth little at the time. The fact that the Indians had previously sold the same land to the New Britain patentees apparently had no bearing on the price. It may be that the price was small because there were so few Indians in the area.
Another purchase of land in Morris County, made on August 18, 1713, was presumably for land in the region of Lake Hopatcong. This sale was made by the Indian sachems, Quenemaha and Telakonis. As the deed states, the land extended from the Delaware eastward to the area owned by Taphaw and his relatives, who lived within Morris County.
A third purchase, which appears to have taken in what is now Washington and Mount Olive townships, was made with sachems named Menawhakihon, Mattamiska, and Lapparomra. The deed states that the boundaries on the boundaries were the lands of Quenemaha and on the cast, those of Taphaw.
The purchase of Morris County was rounded out by a large transaction made by the West Jersey Proprietors on November 1, 1714. This purchase took in all the land bounded by the Pequannock River on the north, the Passaic on the east, and the Whippany River on the south. Westward it extended as far as the western sources of the Rockaway River beyond Dover. In the latter region it excluded land purchased by Humphrey Davenport on the Rockaway River. It also excluded the land purchased earlier by Arent Schuyler and his Dutch associates in the region of Pompton Plains, as well as the area owned by the settlers of Whippany.
The deed fixing the boundaries is worded, "All that tract or Parcel of Land Situate and lying within the said Western Division of New Jersey on the southerly and Westerly Sides on the Rivers Pesaick, Pequanake bounded northwards & Eastwards with the rivers Kahkaunaugh and Pequanake and Southerly with the River Pesaick, Southwesterly with the Lands wheepanniny inhabitants and the Lands Lately of Naweenake and Queenemenha (Now also Sold to the said Proprietors), and on the Westerly Side with a Straight Line to Run from Megotanung by Succalamoning to a Mountain Called Lalingokakong to the Said River Kahanauehke [Kahkaunaugh]." The exclusion of the land sold to Schuyler and his associates and to Humphrey Davenport is worded, "Excepting . . . of the Said Tract Some Lands Lying upon Pequanake River by the Indian Sachem called Taphoued formerly Sold to Anthony Brockholst and Arinat Schuyler and also a Parcel of Land Lying on Rockaway River by the said Indian and sold to Humphry Davenport.".
The white men paid a good price for this area which contained some excellent land, especially near Parsippany. In all, Namaliskont, Nawishawan, Paquashakoppawa, and Walloghpehoman (who ostensibly were Pequannocks, Parsippanongs and Whippanongs) received three pounds in black and white wampum, fifty pounds in saver money and a quantity of powder. In addition they were given twelve kettles; one hundred bars of lead; one hundred flints; fifty strouds, blankets and duffles; ten yards of red and ten yards of white cotton cloth; fifteen shirts; six coats, twelve looking-glasses; fifty knives; twenty boxes and twenty pounds of tobacco; fifteen hatchets; fifteen hoes, five hats; four handsaws; one hundred pipes; three razors; three files; two buckskins, eleven gallons of rum; one barrel of cider; and fifteen gallons of wine.
In 1702, Arent Schuyler and his associates sold the lower part of Pequannock to Maurice Mourison (This may have been the Morris Morrison who later became a town official). Later, in 1711, another section was sold to Simon Van Ness and John Le Laitre, all of whom at the time were speculators rather than settlers. The first settler west of the Pompton River is thought to have been Gerbrand Claessen who came to Pequannock as early as 1699. By 1710, Peter Young, a German immigrant, had also settled at Pequannock. Another early settler, Paulus Vanderbeck, who came in 1712, may have been the first settler at Pompton Plains. Two years later, Michael De Mott, a blacksmith from Bergen, also settled at Pompton Plains. In 1715, John Reading mentioned George Ryerson (one of the original proprietors of 1696) and, in 1719, Philip Schuyler as living in Pequannock - which could have been almost anywhere in the area west of the Pompton River. As time went on, more and more settlers, mostly Dutch purchased land in the area and began farming. Almost all were related in some way and included such names as Brockholst, Schuyler, Ryerson, Vanderbeck, Van Riper, Van Ness, Terhune, Bayard, De Bow, Mandeville, De Mott, Roome, Van Gilder, and Van Dyne {Van Duyne, Van Duyn}.
Like the English, most of the early Dutch settlers built small log houses in which they lived until they had the time and means to erect more commodious houses. Many of these latter homes were of stone, and some still remain. The first Dutch church, doubtlessly built of logs, was erected in 1736 at the Ponds outside of Morris County, near the present-day Oakland.
As time passed, the Dutch and other settlers spread westward into Towaco, Montville, and beyond. Humphrey Davenport, one of the proprietors and owner of much land throughout the county, was probably the first settler at Uylekill, as Montville was called. The Parlamans were another early family in Montville. As early as 1709, members of the Parlaman family migrated from Paltz, Germany, and settled at Hackensack. It was not until 1736, however, that a member of the family acquired land in the lower part of Montville along the Rockaway River, land which had once belonged to John Reading, the surveyor. The solid stone house still standing was the second dwelling on the property; it was built by Johannes Parlaman. Michael Cook, another early settler had a grist mill at Montville by 1745. Nearby, Cornelius Doremus settled in the Towaco Valley in the 1740's. The site was sometimes called Doremustown or Tewechauw, its Indian name.
In the 1750's, two Germans, Jacob Knauss {Kanouse} and his brother, settled farther to the west near Powerville after working off their indenture held by a Dutchman named Luke Ryerson. Still farther west in the pleasant Rockaway Valley, Frederick Miller, of English descent, bought nearly eight hundred acres in the 1740's and built a house. Later in the 1760's, two stone houses, still standing today, were built on the property by his sons Adam and Aaron. About this time the Millers dammed a stream and built a grist mill near Aaron's house. To the south of the Millers, another grist mill was erected in Rockaway by Gilbert Hedden, who migrated from North Carolina. In the Rockaway area, John Davenport, one of the original proprietors, was no doubt the first settler. When he settled there is not known, but it was probably about 1715.
In the area of Morristown, first known as West Hanover, 5711 acres were acquired by proprietors John Kay, Thomas Stevenson, John Helby, Hannah Scott, and Thomas Lambert, as a result of the Indian purchase of 1713. Kay's tract, two thousand acres, included what is now the Village Green and Washington's Headquarters. Helby and Stevenson each obtained the usual 1250 acres, while joint owners Scott and Lambert received 1211 acres.
Nearby in the areas of Convent Station and Washington Valley, William Penn had several thousand acres. In Washington Valley, Joseph Kirkbride, Thomas Stevenson, and Joseph Helby each recycled the customary division of 1250 acres. Some of the surveys of the Morristown area were made by John Reading; others were made by Richard Bull, another proprietary surveyor. At the time of the surveys in 1715, John Cramer, a West Jersey Proprietor, lived near Convent. He was probably the only white man living in the area.
West Hanover remained vacant for many years after it was surveyed.
Morris County, among the fastest growing counties in the New Jersey, New York, Connecticut metropolitan region, nestles amid rolling hills, broad valleys and glittering lakes approximately 30 miles northwest of New York City.
Rich in historic lore and tradition, Morris County was created by an Act of the State Legislature on March 15, 1738/39 separating it from Hunterdon County, one of the state's largest counties of the period. Named after Colonel Lewis Morris, then Governor of the Province of New Jersey, it originally included what are now the counties of Morris, Sussex and Warren.
The county, first penetrated by the white man in 1700, today combines natural beauty and pleasant suburban living with proximity to metropolitan surroundings. Its rolling landscape is dotted with lakes and rivers which form most of its boundaries with the adjacent counties of Essex, Union, Somerset, Warren, Sussex and Passaic.
Much of its beauty has been protected and preserved by the Board of Chosen Freeholders through its Park Commission, formed by referendum in 1955 to set aside and develop land for leisure time and recreational use. Nearly 11,000 acres make up the system, one of New Jersey's finest. Included are outdoor education centers, a marina, golf courses, a riding stable, indoor ice skating arena, cultural center, arboretums, and numerous types of hiking, cycling, wildflower and nature trails.
At its most distant points, the county stretches 30 miles from east to west and 30 miles from north to south. Its temperatures vary widely from area to area, averaging in the middle 20's in the winter months and the low 70's in the summer. About 50 inches of rain and 35 inches of snow fall each year.
Hills and valleys that run east-west, with rocky out-croppings as high as 1,000 feet above sea level, have long hindered transportation from north to south. Major interstate highways (80, 10, 46, 287, 280) connect many municipalities.
There are 39 municipalities in the 477.8 square mile county, varying in size from tiny Victory Gardens Borough with 1,314 residents to Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, with almost 48,500 residents. All together more than 421,000 persons reside in Morris County.
During the Revolutionary War, Morris County was known as The Military Capital of the American Revolution , because of its strategic location, which prompted Gen. George Washington and his Continental Army to make their winter encampments near Morristown on two different winters. Much of the historic lore of these encampments is preserved today in Morristown National Historical Park.
In the years following the Revolution, Morris County was a leader in the iron ore industry, a fact made possible by the abundance of iron ore, timber to fuel the forges, and swiftly flowing streams to provide power. By 1880 Morris was the third county in the nation in the amount of iron ore mined, with 568,420 tons.
To process the iron ore, works and mills were built at several locations, including Morristown, Boonton and Dover. It was in Morristown that the steam boiler and some of the machinery for the Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and parts of the first American locomotive were manufactured and the telegraph perfected by Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail. The old barn in which the two men conducted their experiments and sent the first message " A patient waiter is no loser ", is still standing.
The Morris iron dynasty faced ruin, when in 1882 the iron industry discovered that iron ore could almost literally be picked off the surface in the Meabi region near Lake Superior. The Dickerson mine became one of the most prominent of the 1880's after giving up more than one million tons of iron ore. Another famous mine, Hurdtown, closed down in 1898 after shafts had been sunk more than 2,600 feet into the earth in search of the elusive ore. Some of the last mines in Hibernia closed in 1913.
As the population grew and the methods of transportation improved, industries sprang up throughout the county, many of them using the iron ore as raw materials for their finished products. Boonton's iron processors gained fame from nail production; Wharton attracted the tremendous foundry of the Replogle Steel Company, which closed in 1919; Kenvil, the giant Powder Company of California, later the Hercules Powder Company, and Dover, an extensive plant for making mine equipment.
In 1831 the Morris Canal, conceived and developed by a Morristown resident, George F. MacCulloch, was completed through the county. Crossing the state from Phillipsburg to Newark, a distance of 90 miles, it played a major role in movement of iron ore, coal and freight until, after many years of service, it fell into disuse and was dismantled in the 1920's.
The tracks of the then fledgling Morris & Essex Railroad reached Morristown in 1838, and 10 years later were extended to Dover, where the railroad's car shops were a major industry at the turn of the century.
By 1900 the nation's business and financial leaders, seeking escape from New York City, the financial capital of the nation, discovered Morris County, its isolation, ideal climate and unspoiled countryside, and started the construction of large country estates. Within a few years it was claimed that more millionaires lived within a one mile radius of the Morristown Green than elsewhere in the world.
The fabulous estates were numerous enough to fill the pages of a pre-World War I vintage picture book entitled Beautiful Homes of Morris County . Possibly the most opulent were those of Otto H. Kahn, Hamilton McK. Twombly, Charles Mellon, Eugene Higgins, the Frelinghuysens, Claflins, James, Allens, Wolffs and Kountzes.
The introduction of the Income Tax sounded the death knell for the large estates and the society style of living they bred. Slowly, through the 1930's and the 1940's the large mansions that lined Madison Avenue, for years known as "Millionaires Row", were demolished to avoid rising property taxes, increased cost of domestic help and the rising cost of living.
Within two years of Morris County's creation, the Townships of Hanover, Pequannock and Morris were formed, followed in 1740 by Roxbury Township and in 1749 by Mendham Township. Several years after its founding the community of West Hanover was renamed "Morristown" and designated the county seat of government.
At first, governing Morris County was a function of the judiciary. As the judges's court responsibilities grew, however, the need for help increased and two Freeholders were elected from each municipality. They were called "Freeholders" because they were men who owned land free and clear of debt.
As the number of municipalities in the county increased, the Freeholder Board grew in size to 25 to 30 members. The appropriate number was a subject of controversy for many years. Eventually the State Legislature passed a "Small Board Law" limiting the number of Freeholders in each county. In Morris, the number originally was five, a figure that was maintained until 1972 when the board's size was increased to seven. All are elected at large.
