Find Hunterdon County Genealogy

Hunterdon County is one of the oldest counties in New Jersey, with records that stretch back to 1785. The county seat is Flemington, where the Clerk, Surrogate, and Historical Society all keep files useful for genealogy. Rural farms, small towns, and deep roots define this part of the state. If you are searching for family records in Hunterdon County, you will find land deeds, wills, census data, and church records that go back centuries. This guide covers the main places to look and what you can expect to find.

Hunterdon County Clerk Records

The Hunterdon County Clerk's Office is at 71 Main Street in the Hall of Records Building in Flemington, NJ 08822. County Clerk Mary H. Melfi leads this office. The phone number is (908) 788-1214. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. On Wednesdays, the office stays open until 7:00 PM for recording documents only.

All records from 1785 to the present are on file here. That is over two centuries of land records for Hunterdon County. The types of records include deeds, mortgages, certificates of incorporation, maps, mechanics liens, military discharges, financing statements, and trade names. For genealogy, the land records are among the most useful. A deed can show when your ancestor bought land, who they bought it from, and where they lived in Hunterdon County. Military discharge records can confirm a family member's service. The Archives Division can be reached at (908) 788-1394.

The Clerk has indexed, filed, and digitally imaged all records. Microfilm copies are stored off-site as part of a disaster recovery plan. A public search room is open daily from 8 am to 4:00 pm. If you need extra help, call (908) 788-1218 to set up an appointment. The Clerk also offers a free program for veterans to record Honorable Discharges and DD-214s at no charge.

The Clerk's website has more details on visiting and what records are on hand for genealogy research.

The search room is the best place to start when you visit Flemington for Hunterdon County genealogy research in person.

Hunterdon County Probate Genealogy

The Hunterdon County Surrogate's Court is at 65 Park Avenue in Flemington, NJ 08822. Surrogate Susan J. Hoffman runs this office. The phone is (908) 788-1156. The Surrogate is a Constitutional Officer elected every five years. This court is a branch of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division.

The Surrogate handles probate of wills, administration of estates, guardianship of minors, guardianship of mentally incompetent persons, adoption reviews, trusteeships, conservatorships, and estate accountings. For genealogy, wills and estate records are some of the best sources you can find. A will names heirs. An estate inventory lists what a person owned at death. These records can tell you about family ties, property, and even the daily lives of your ancestors in Hunterdon County.

The Surrogate Court does limited searching for genealogy requests. All search requests must be in writing, and the fee is $10 per search. Send your request by mail with the name and any dates you have.

Probate files in Hunterdon County can reveal family connections that no other record type provides.

Note: Surrogate search requests must be in writing with a $10 fee per search, so prepare your query before contacting the office.

Hunterdon County Historical Society Collections

The Hunterdon County Historical Society is at 114 Main Street in Flemington, NJ 08822. Call (908) 782-1091 for general questions. The Society has built one of the strongest local genealogy collections in New Jersey.

Their holdings include genealogies of more than 1,200 Hunterdon County families. They also have family bibles, wills, deeds, census records, and church records. One of their most notable collections is the Manumission Books from 1787 to 1856, which contain over 500 acts of manumission. These are records of enslaved people being freed in Hunterdon County. The Society also holds Hunterdon County Children of Slaves birth certificates from 1804 to 1835 and the original 56 slave manumission documents. Another key set is the NJ General Assembly Tax Ratables from 1768 to 1846, which show early property ownership and taxation in the area.

The Society also has Lenape Indian artifacts tied to the land before European settlement. Photocopy requests are accepted by email or mail. You can reach the Manuscript Curator at hunterdonhistory@gmail.com and the Librarian at HunterdonHistoryInfo@gmail.com.

With over 1,200 family genealogies on file, this is a must-visit for anyone researching Hunterdon County roots.

Vital Records for Hunterdon County

Birth, death, and marriage records for Hunterdon County come from the state level. The New Jersey State Archives in Trenton holds birth records from 1848 to 1923, marriage records from 1848 to 1948, and death records from 1848 to 1963 on microfilm. You can view these for free on site. The NJ Department of Health has more recent records. Birth records start at 1925, marriage records at 1951, and death records at 1951.

To order copies by mail, the fee is $25 for the first copy and $2 for each extra copy. For genealogy searches where you do not have all the details, the state charges $1 for each extra year searched under N.J.S.A. 26:8-24. Processing time for mail requests is about 10 to 12 weeks.

The Hunterdon County government website can help you find local offices and contact details for further research.

For records older than 100 years, the State Archives is your best bet for Hunterdon County vital records.

Note: New Jersey vital records are not public records and cannot be searched online, so plan to visit or mail your request.

Online Genealogy Search for Hunterdon County

You can search for Hunterdon County genealogy records online through several tools. Reclaim The Records has free digitized indices for New Jersey births, marriages, and deaths from the early 1900s on the Internet Archive. FamilySearch has free New Jersey vital records going back to the 1660s, plus probate records from 1678 to 1980 and naturalization records from 1796 to 1991.

Ancestry.com has census records for every federal census year from 1790 to 1950. These can help you find Hunterdon County families at each decade. They also have wills and probate records from 1656 to 1999 with images. The NJ GenWeb Project has a Hunterdon County page with volunteer-posted records, cemetery transcriptions, and query boards.

The Genealogical Society of New Jersey, founded in 1925, publishes the quarterly "Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey." Their collections are housed at the Alexander Library on the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick. They produce county locality guides with updated records access details.

Hunterdon County Family Research Tips

Hunterdon County was formed in 1714. It is one of the oldest counties in New Jersey. The early records here can take you back to colonial times. Land was the main form of wealth, so deeds and tax records are plentiful. Church records are also strong because many small towns had their own congregations that kept careful logs of births, baptisms, marriages, and burials.

When planning your Hunterdon County research, keep these tips in mind:

• Start with the Clerk's search room for land and deed records from 1785
• Check the Historical Society for family genealogies and church records
• Request probate searches from the Surrogate in writing
• Use the State Archives for vital records before 1923
• Search census records on FamilySearch or Ancestry

The manumission records at the Historical Society are rare and important. If your research involves African American ancestry in Hunterdon County, these documents from 1787 to 1856 may hold key details about your family. The Children of Slaves birth certificates from 1804 to 1835 are also a unique resource found at the Society.

Municipalities in Hunterdon County

Hunterdon County has 26 municipalities. The county seat is Flemington, where the Clerk, Surrogate, and Historical Society are all located. There are no city-level pages for Hunterdon County at this time. All county-level genealogy records for every town in Hunterdon County are kept at the offices in Flemington.

Nearby Counties

These counties share borders with Hunterdon County. Families in rural areas often had ties across county lines, so check nearby counties if you cannot find a record in Hunterdon.