Locality Guide
Morris County, New Jersey
Focusing on the 18th century through mid 19th century
Morris and Mendham townships
created by
Karen Stanbary
This document focuses on the records and finding aids for two specific townships in Morris County, New
Jersey from about 1700-1850. It is designed to assist the research who lives a great distance from New
Jersey to be more specific about record retrieval when hiring an on-site researcher.
Historical Background
 1665 - Two proprietors of NJ enticed settlers by granting sections of land and passing the
Concession and Agreement, a doc which granted religious freedom to all in NJ, (different
from British Church of England)
 1674-1702 – Province of NJ divided into East and West Jersey
o Exact boundary between East and West often in dispute. Lawrence Line established
in 1743. Research of time periods prior to 1743 should consult records for both
provinces.
o Quakers began to settle in the late 1670’s in West Jersey, present day Salem Co.,
largely in Salem and Burlington.
o East Jersey (essentially the NE corner of the present state): Elizabethtown, Newark,
Horseneck, Woodbridge, Piscataway, Shrewsberry, New Barbadoes Neck, English
Neighborhood and Maisland
o West Jersey: Salem, Burlington, Morristown
 1715 – New Hanover settlement by migrants from Southold, NY and New Haven, CT (now
Morristown).
 15 March 1738/1739 Morris County created from Hunterdon County, New Jersey
(Hunterdon was established 1714 from Burlington County. Burlington was established
1694).
 Puritans migrants from Long Island settled in Morris County.
Jurisdictional Boundary Changes
 1749 – boundary with Somerset County clarified
 16 May 1753 – Sussex County formed
Townships
 25 Mar 1740 – Hanover township
o 29 Mar 1749 – Mendham township
o 12 Feb 1806 – Chatham township
o 8 April 1844 – Rockaway township
 25 Mar 1740 - Morris township
© 2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.
2 |Morris County, New Jersey, Mendham and Morris townships

o 24 Dec 1749 - Roxbury township
o 29 Mar 1749 - Mendham township
o 12 Feb 1806 – Chatham township
25 Mar 1740 - Pequannock township
o 11 Feb 1804 – Jefferson township
o 8 Apr 1844 – Rockaway township
Record Losses
Colonial censuses taken in 1726, 1738, 1745 and 1772 were destroyed
U.S. census for 1790, 1800, 1810 and 1820 were destroyed.
EXTANT RECORDS
Key to Color Coding
New Jersey State Archives
Morristown and Morris Tshp Pub Lib
ONLINE Digital Copies
Newberry Library
Census Records
 1793 New Jersey Militia
 1820 enumerator census book for Morris County (New Jersey Historical Society)
 1830 Federal Census
 1840 Federal Census
 1850 Federal Census
Jackson, Ronald Vern, Altha Polson and Shirley P. Zachrison. Early New Jersey.
Bountiful, UT: Accelerated Indexing Systems.
Norton, James S. New Jersey in 1793, an Abstract and Index to the 1793 Militia Census of New
Jersey. Salt Lake City, UT: Author, 1973.
Vital Records
 Marriage records, 1795-1919 (Morris)
 Mendam township vital records, beginning in 1750
Requests are accepted by mail and phone. No restrictions regarding record access. You must supply complete
name and date of event. Search fee $2.00 (certified copy); .25 (photocopy). Address: PO Box 520, Brookside, NJ
07926 (973)543-4555
©2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.
3 |Morris County, New Jersey, Mendham and Morris townships
Probate Records
 Wills, estate records, beginning in 1670
Probate Abstracts/Indexes
Abstracts of Wills," Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey
[title various and is commonly called the New Jersey Archives], 1st series, vol. 23, 30, 32,
33-43. Trenton: MacCrellish and Quigley [publishers also vary], 1901-1949.
New Jersey Index of Wills, Volumes 1-3. (Originally published in 1912; reprinted by
GPC, Baltimore, 1969 etc.). This three-volume set indexes estate records from the 1670s
to the year 1900, providing the file and/or book and page reference to the original wills
(all held by the State Archives).
Jackson, Ronald V. Index to New Jersey Wills, 1689-1890. Salt Lake City: Accelerated
Indexing Systems, 1979.
William Nelson, editor, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey,
volume XXIII, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, volume I (1670-1730), with an introductory
note of the early testamentary laws and customs of New Jersey ( Patterson, NJ: The
Press Printing and Publishing Co.), 1901; digital image, Internet Archive
(http://www.archive.org : accessed 5 June 2012).
Land Records
 Colonial Deeds, beginning in 1650
 Deeds, Surveys and Commissions, 1650-1856, indexed
 Morris County Deeds, 1785-1885
o Also FHL has deeds and indexes on 225 rolls of microfilm
 Morris County Mortgages, beginning in 1765
Collection Descriptions, Published Abstracts for Early Land Records
Klett, Joseph R. “Using the Records of the East and West Jersey Proprietors,” New
Jersey State Archives : 2008; digital copy, New Jersey State Archives
(http://www.nj.gov/state/darm/pdf/proprietors.pdf).
Calendar of Records in the Office of the Secretary of State, 1664-1703: Documents relating to the
Colonial History of the State of New Jersey a.k.a. New Jersey Archives, First Series, Volume XXI
Paterson, NJ, 1899.
Tax Lists
 Morris Twp. 1778 – 1822 (missing 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1804, 1819)
 "A List of all the Ratables in the Township of Morris in the county of Morris in the province
of New Jersey with the assessment made thereon - October, 1768.'' Printed in Harriet
©2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.
4 |Morris County, New Jersey, Mendham and Morris townships
Stryker-Rodda, ed., Some Early Records of Morris County, New Jersey, 1740- 1799. (New
Orleans, 1975, pp. 58-78.
Collection Descriptions, Published Indexes
Stryker-Rodda, Kenn. Revolutionary Census of New Jersey: An Index, Based on Rateables, Of
the Inhabitants of New Jersey, During the Period of the American Revolution. Lambertville,
NJ: Hunterdon House, 1986.
Court Records
 Court of Common Pleas, minutes 1740-1866
 Justice of the Peace Dockets, 1773-1909
 Supreme Court Case Files 1704-1844
Newspapers
 Morristown, Palladium of Liberty, Jan. 1, 1810 - May 28, 1834 (genealogybank.com)
 Morristown, Genius of Liberty, 1798 – 1814, (genealogybank.com)
Church Records
First Presbyterian Church of Morristown New Jersey, transcriber. History of the First Presbyterian
Church, Morristown, N.J.: Part II The Combined Registers, from 1742-1882. Morristown, NJ:
"Banner" Steam Print, 1880; digital image, Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org).
Contents: pt. I. Records of trustees and session, 1742-1882 -- pt. II. The combined registers, 1742-1891.
Quaker Records: Hardwick and Mendham Monthly Meeting & Warren and Morris Counties, New
Jersey (index database on ancestry.com)
Finding Aids/Church Records
Donald A. Sinclair. Guide to Original and Copied Records of Religious Organizations –
Largely New Jersey Churches – in the Special Collections and University Archives of Rutgers
University. Trenton, NJ: Genealogical Society of New Jersey, 1999.
Publications/Histories/Guides
Cavanaugh, Cam. In Lights and Shadows: Morristown in Three Centuries. Morristown: The Joint
Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Twp, 1994.
Rae, John W. The Mendhams. Charlestown, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1998.
Rae, John W. Morristown: A Military Headquarters of the American Revolution. Charleston, SC:
Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Mary R. Murrin. New Jersey’s Historical Manuscripts: A Guide to Collections in the State. Trenton,
NJ: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1987.
©2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.
5 |Morris County, New Jersey, Mendham and Morris townships
Sarapin, Janice K. Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey: A Guide. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers,
1994.
Strykker-Rodda, Kenn. New Jersey: Digging for Ancestors in the Garden State. Detroit: Detroit
Society for Genealogical Research, 1970.
New Jersey Archives. A multi-volume work containing newspaper extracts, marriage records,
government meeting minutes, and will abstracts from the colonial period through the early 19th
century.
Sinclair, Donald A. A New Jersey Biographical Index. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1993. A name index of 100,000 biographies appearing in 23 New Jersey biographical sources
published before 1980.
Agthe, Claire Keenan. NGS Research in the State Series: New Jersey. Arlington, VA: National
Genealogical Society, 2009.
Marrin, Richard B. A Glance Back in Time: Life in Colonial New Jersey (1704-1770) As Depicted in
News Accounts of the Day. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994.
Smith, Samuel. The History of the Colony of Nova-Caesaria, or New Jersey: Containing An Account of
its First Settlement, Progressive Improvements, the Original and Present Constitution, and Other
Events, to the Year 1721. Trenton, NJ: Wm. S. Sharp, 1877; digital image, Internet Archive
(http://www.archive.org).
Bernard Bush, compiler, Laws of the Royal Colony of New Jersey, 1703-1775, New Jersey Archives,
3d series, vols. II-V (Trenton : New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 17771986).
Area maps
1740 – township boundaries - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/morris.htm
1796 http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=462099&imageID=11669
88&total=81&num=0&word=new%20jersey&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&lWord=854714&lField=1
0&sScope=Source&sLevel=1&sLabel=Maps%2520of%2520North%2520America%252E&sort=&imgs=20&
pos=14&e=w
1882 - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njmorris/maps/morriscomap.htm
©2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.
6 |Morris County, New Jersey, Mendham and Morris townships
Major Repositories
 New Jersey State Archives
http://www.njarchives.org
 New Jersey State Library
The Law Library (old laws and administrative codes)
http://www.njstatelib.org
 Morristown and Morris Township Library
North Jersey History and Genealogy Center
http://www.jfpl.org/NJHistoryHome.cfm
 Rutgers University Special Collections
houses the vast collection of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/genealogy/2002_genealogyguide.pdf
 Morristown National Historical Park
Archive of manuscripts from Morris County
http://www.nps.gov/morr/historyculture/index.htm
Online Digital Collections
Ancestry.com
 Biographical and Genealogical History of Morris County (1899)
 A History of Morris County, New Jersey embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913 (1914)
 Wright, Helen Martha. The First Presbyterian Congregation, Mendham, Morris County, New
Jersey, history and records, 1738-1938. (1939)
 History of Morris County, New Jersey, with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent
citizens and pioneers. (1882)
Fold3
Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention (digital
images)
Revolutionary War Pension Applications
Familysearch (indexed databases)
 45,751 marriages indexed
 18,214 births indexed
 875 deaths indexed
New Jersey State Archives (online indexes)
(http://nj.gov/state/darm/search.html)
 Marriage Records 1666-1799
 Revolutionary War Damages 1776-1782
 Supreme Court Case Files 1704-1844
 Proprietors Warrants and Surveys 1670-1727
©2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.
7 |Morris County, New Jersey, Mendham and Morris townships
o
o
East Jersey Survey Book L (1675-1688), O (1670-1716) and Liber II (1670-1727)
West Jersey's Basse's Book of Surveys (1677-1755)
New Jersey State Library
Register of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War
http://slic.njstatelib.org/new_jersey_information/searchable_publications
The Research Your Family History section of the New Jersey Digital Highway website,
http://njdigitalhighway.org/genealogy_ever.php
The Genealogy and History section of the official web site for the state of New Jersey,
http://www.state.nj.us/nj/community/genealogy
©2013, Karen Stanbary. All rights reserved.