Find Trenton Genealogy Records
Trenton is the capital of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. This gives genealogy researchers a unique advantage. The state archives, the Department of Health, and the state library are all within walking distance of each other in Trenton. Local vital records are handled by the Trenton City Clerk at City Hall. Searching for Trenton genealogy records means you can access local, county, and state resources in a single trip. Few cities in New Jersey offer this kind of convenience for family history research.
Trenton Quick Facts
Trenton City Clerk Genealogy Records
The Trenton City Clerk's office is at Trenton City Hall, 319 East State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608. The city clerk is Dwayne M. Harris. The phone number is (609) 989-3187. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The clerk handles birth, marriage, and death certificates for events that took place in Trenton.
The Trenton City government website provides information about the clerk's office and other city departments.
Check the city website for updated hours and contact details before your visit.
To request a vital record from the Trenton clerk, you need to provide the full name on the record, the date of the event, and your relationship to the person. A valid photo ID is required. Only qualified applicants can receive certified copies. If the record you need is not held at the local level, the state offices in Trenton can help.
New Jersey State Archives in Trenton
The New Jersey State Archives is at 225 West State Street in Trenton. The phone is 609-292-6260. This is the official research center for public records of lasting historical value. The archives holds over 37,000 cubic feet of paper records and more than 32,000 reels of microfilm. Records date from the founding of New Jersey as a British colony in 1664.
For Trenton genealogy research, the archives has birth records from 1848 to 1923, marriage records from 1848 to 1948, and death records from 1848 to 1963 on microfilm. These are free to view in the search room. The archives also holds colonial marriage bonds from 1666 to 1799, divorce records from 1743 to 1947, wills and inventories from 1670 to 1952, land records from East and West Jersey Proprietors, military records from the Civil War, naturalization records, and tax records from 1773 to 1822.
Online databases let you search marriage records from 1666 to 1799 and 1848 to 1900 from home. Death records from 1848 to 1900 are also indexed online. The archives also has records relating to slaves and children of slaves, including manumission records. County clerks were required by law to record slave manumissions starting in 1786. The 1804 Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery required recording births of children born to enslaved mothers. All of these records are open to the public at no charge.
Note: The State Archives search room is free to use, though there are fees for photocopies and other reprographic services.
Trenton Vital Records at the State Level
The New Jersey Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics is at 140 East Front Street in Trenton. The mailing address is P.O. Box 370, Trenton, NJ 08625-0370. The toll-free phone number is 877-622-7549. Walk-in hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Customers arriving after 3:30 PM can only drop off completed applications.
The Department of Health maintains birth records starting in 1925, marriage records from 1951, death records from 1951, and domestic partnership records from 2004. For genealogical purposes, births must be more than 80 years old, marriages more than 50 years old, and deaths more than 40 years old. The fee is $25 for the first copy and $2 for each additional copy ordered at the same time. For genealogical applications, an additional year search costs $1 per year.
You can order records online through VitalChek, by calling 877-622-7549, or by visiting the walk-in center in Trenton. Mail orders take 10 to 12 weeks to process. A valid photo ID is required for all orders. New Jersey law restricts the release of vital records, so you must show proof of your relationship to the person on the record when requesting a certified copy. Trenton residents have the advantage of same-day walk-in service since the office is right in the city.
Genealogy Collections in Trenton
The New Jersey State Library is at 185 West State Street in Trenton. The genealogy collection has about 18,000 items in book or microform format. This includes 6,000 family histories and 1,000 New Jersey city directories. The library also has electronic subscriptions to Ancestry.com Library Edition, HeritageQuest, and NewsBank. These are available for public use at the Trenton location.
The state also hosts historic digitized newspapers through the New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project. The State Library catalog can help you find specific materials before your visit.
The State Library is one of the best genealogy research stops in all of New Jersey.
City directories in the collection are helpful for tracking Trenton ancestors between census years. They show names, addresses, and occupations. The library also has hand-written and published lineage charts, maps, atlases, and Sanborn fire insurance maps on microfilm. All genealogy materials must be used on site. They do not circulate.
The Ancestry.com New Jersey collection is another resource available both online and at the state library.
Ancestry has digitized millions of New Jersey records that can help trace Trenton family lines.
More Trenton Genealogy Resources
The Mercer County Clerk's Office at 209 South Broad Street holds property records and older marriage records for all of Mercer County, including Trenton. The phone is 609-989-6464. The Mercer County Surrogate at 175 South Broad Street handles probate records. Call (609) 989-6331 for that office. Both are walking distance from the Trenton City Hall and the state offices.
The Genealogical Society of New Jersey has resources for Mercer County research. Founded in 1925, the society publishes a quarterly journal and maintains cemetery transcriptions. Their collections are at the Alexander Library on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick. The New Jersey Historical Society in Newark has 1,200 family files and 75,000 biographical card index entries that may include Trenton families.
- Trenton City Clerk for local birth, marriage, and death records
- State Archives for historical records from 1664 onward
- Department of Health for certified vital records
- State Library for family histories and city directories
- Mercer County Clerk for land and property records
- Mercer County Surrogate for wills and estates
Note: Trenton is the only city in New Jersey where the local clerk, county clerk, state archives, state library, and Department of Health are all within a few blocks of each other.
Mercer County Genealogy
Trenton is the county seat of Mercer County. All county-level genealogy records, including land deeds, probate files, and older marriage records, are filed in Trenton. For a full guide to Mercer County genealogy resources and offices, visit the county page.