Carol York hyork@exit109.com
15 June 2002
1. Surrogate’s Probate Files (Begin 1804).
Use Monmouth County Estate Index first, then Proceedings Index which will indicate file number (for packets of loose papers) and volume and page references for recorded items. Of particular importance are the “Applications for Probate” and “Petitions for Administration,” which begin in 1878. Note also that early adoptions are listed here. The later listings in the
Estate Index also give date and place of death – a shortcut for obtaining vital records.
2 . State Archives:
Beyond the Revolutionary War Soldiers’ Card Index:
State of New Jersey. State Archives, Trenton. Record Group: Department of Defense,
Military Records. Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts.
#10292, “Return of the Sums of Money Paid to the Widows of Officers and Soldiers Who
Were Killed or Died in Service; Return of Invalid Pensioners, To Sec. of War
Henry Knox 25 Nov. 1790.”
#10301, “Return of Officers’ and Soldiers’ Widows and Orphans Who Received Half-
Pay; James Mott to Henry Knox attesting to Accuracy of Document, 25 Jan.
179[?]”
Example highlighted shows that Rebecca, widow of Joseph Murray who was killed at
Middletown June 8, 1780, remarried ____Patterson on Jan. 20, 1788.
Computer Indexes.
ARMADA : Catalogue to the manuscript collection (eg, Civil War Vouchers database)
ISYS : Search engine for the electronic guides prepared for Archives collections
Petitions (eg, for and against slavery)
Petitions found in other Record Groups. Example:
State of New Jersey. State Archives, Trenton. Record Group: Department of Defense,
Adj. General’s Office. Indian Campaign/Pennsylvania Insurrection, 1791-1794. Box 2,
Misc. Materials, Bk. 1, leaf 66. “Petition of a Number of Inhabitants of the Township of
Middletown...” (Concerns financial arrangements for raising the militia quota.)
State of New Jersey. State Archives, Trenton. Record Group: Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Case Files, 1704-1844.
The State Archives has prepared an “Index to Supreme Court Cases, 1703-1850,” which is arranged in a single alphabetical index to both plaintiff and defendant. Note particularly the cases with King or State as plaintiff.
Example: The King vs. Robert Patterson, Case #21144 (October 31, 1755).
Lost Deeds, 1758-1838. This series resulted from a legislative attempt to assist those who had lost their property deeds. The Guide lists the resulting deeds by name, county, township and date.
Photographs
State of New Jersey. State Archives, Trenton. Record Group: Works Progress
Administration, NJ Writers Project. Photographs, 1935-1942. Box 11.
“Police Force, 1880, Long Branch”
“Police Force, 1895, Long Branch.”
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Civil War Descriptive Muster Rolls- give place of birth:
State of New Jersey. State Archives, Trenton. Record Group: Department of Defense,
Adj. General’s Office. Civil War. Regimental & Company Books, 1861-1865. No. 37,
29 th Regiment, Co. F, Descriptive Book 1862-1863.
NOTE: Place of birth also sometimes given on Middletown 1860 Federal Census and
Ocean Twp.1875 State Census.
3. Periodicals and their indexes. Be sure to check the periodical after the index date too!
Judith Green Watson, compiler, Monmouth County Articles in The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, 1925-2000: Summary and Descriptions . Lincroft, NJ: MCGS, 2001.
Donald Arleigh Sinclair, compiler, An Index to the Magazine New Jersey History, through
1966 called “Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society,” Volumes 1 through 110,
1845-1992.
New Jersey Research Series Number 4. Metuchen, NJ, Upland Press, 1996.
William J. Eisenring, “Monmouth and Essex Counties’ 1769-70 Riots Against Lawyers:
Predecessors of Revolutionary Social Conflict,” New Jersey History, 112
(Spring/Summer 1994): 1-20.
Douglas V. Shaw, “Infanticide in New Jersey: A Nineteenth-Century Case Study,”
New
Jersey History, 115 (Spring/Summer 1997): 3-32.
Michael S. Adelberg, “`A Combination to Trample All Law Underfoot’: The Association for
Retaliation and the American Revolution in Monmouth County,”
New Jersey History, 115
(Fall/Winter 1997):3-36.
4. Donald Arleigh Sinclair, compiler, A New Jersey Biographical Index . Baltimore, Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1998. This is NOT an every-name index, but an index of biographical sketches which covers many obscure publications. Much information on relatives of the listee is often included in these articles. Do not overlook the key to abbreviations in the front. The State Library has a copy of this book with the call letters written in. (Ask at the desk on level 4).
5. Newspapers and newspaper indexes
Trenton Newspaper Index –does list Monmouth people; but note limitations
NJ Historical Society Biographical Index does index some Monmouth papers; scope unclear
On the web. A number of subscription sites have begun posting newspaper runs on-line. If you are a member of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, you can now have access to
ProQuest’s database of the New York Times, 1851-1997, at home.
Niles’ Register. A weekly newspaper published in Baltimore 1811-1849 (under several titles), this periodical is unique in its scope and in the fact that each of the 75 volumes has its own index.
In addition, a CD-ROM index to the entire run has recently been completed. The newspaper is available on microfilm (part of the American Periodical Series) at the Monmouth County Library,
Eastern Branch; both CD-ROM and the periodical are also at Rutgers and probably elsewhere.
For more information, and a listing of the New Jersey entries, see:
W.H. Earle, “ Niles’ Register and New Jersey: A Cumulative Index,” New Jersey History, 115
(Spring/Summer 1997): 65-106.
Eg: “Prospects of Monmouth County,” Niles’ Register, 50 (April 23, 1836): 4.
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4 . Federal Records (found at the National Archives in Washington and as noted):
The Revolutionary War Prize Cases: Records of the Courts of Appeals in Cases of Capture,
1776-87. Micropublication M162. Washington: National Archives. These records concern the cases appealed from State courts to early Federal courts concerning vessels and cargoes captured during the Revolution. There is a set of these films at the David Library.
Record Group 26, Records of the United States Coast Guard. Here are found most of the records concerning the lighthouse system, beginning in 1789. Paper records only at Washington, but some of the microfilm is at the National Archives in Philadelphia.
For an example of what can be done with these records, see:
Sandra MacLean Clunies, “Benjamin Harriman, Lighthouse Keeper: Genealogical Treasures from Lighthouse Records,”
The Maine Genealogist 20 (November 1998): 169-181.
5. PhD Theses: Most of these will be found on microfilm, and can be purchased.
Dennis Patrick Ryan, “Six Towns: Continuity and Change in Revolutionary New Jersey.” Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1974. Microfilm edition. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Xerox
University Microfilms, 1974. Printout of this microfilm located at the Alexander Library, Rutgers
University. Towns include Middletown and Shrewsbury; also note “Essay on Sources.”
David J. Fowler, “Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders: The Pine Robber
Phenomenon in NJ During the Revolutionary War.” Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ,
1987. (Film 300, David Library of the American Revolution. This facility has many more!)
6. Maps. Many held at the State Archives, MCHA, and Monmouth County Archives; also try Guyot Hall at Princeton. Scanned New Jersey Geological Survey Atlas Sheets, published between 1884 and
1894, at http://gisserver.princeton.edu/njgsatlas.html.
Monmouth County 1851 map for sale at Monmouth County Archives for $2.00.
7. “Manhattan Bodies in Transit from 1859/1894.” Family History Library Microfilm #1671686. A surprising number of people were transported through Manhattan after their deaths, either from
Monmouth County or to it. For example, Hiram Bennett died on 20 April 1860, in Jersey City (of bilious fever). On the same day his body was transferred to Freehold for burial.
New Jersey State Archives
225 West State Street, CN 307
Trenton, NJ 08625-0307
New Jersey State Library
185 West State Street, CN 520
Trenton, NJ 08625-0520. http://www.njstatelib.org/cyberdesk/DIGIDOX/Digidox20.htm
W.S. Stryker’s Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War
Rutgers University
Special Collections and University Archives
Alexander Library
College Ave.
New Brunswick, NJ 08903 (732) 932-7006
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Monmouth County Archives http://www.visitmonmouth.com/archives/index.asp
125 Symmes Drive
Manalapan, NJ 07726
(732) 308-3772
Monmouth County Historical Association Library
70 Court Street
Freehold, New Jersey 07728
(732) 462-1466
New Jersey Historical Society http://www.jerseyhistory.org/
52 Park Place
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 596-8500
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
(212) 873-3400
David Library of the American Revolution
River Road (Route 32) PO Box 748
Washington Crossing, PA 18977
Geosciences Library and Map Collection
Guyot Hall, first floor, Museum Area
Princeton University Library http://www.nyhistory.org/ www.dlar.org
(215) 493-6776
Princeton, NJ 08544 Telephone (609) 258-3267; Map Collection 258-3247
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