Salem County, New Jersey Genealogy

United States &gt; New Jersey &gt; Salem County

History
1642-1643: The New Sweden Colony expanded from present-day Wilmington, Delaware east to New Jersey. Fort New Elfsborg (Nya Älfborg), now west of Salem, Salem, New Jersey was built as part of New Sweden in 1643 and garrisoned until 1651.

1654-1655: In 1654 New Sweden captured Fort Casimir (now New Castle, Delaware) from the Dutch without a fight and renamed it Fort Trinty (Trefaldighets). In 1655 New Netherland returned with a large army and all of New Sweden in presend-day Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey submitted to Dutch rule.

1664: As part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War New Netherland including West Jersey was surrendered to the English.

1673-1674: A new war broke out and the Dutch sent a large armada to retake New Netherland for a few months. But as the war ended the colony was ceeded to England for the last time.

Parent County

 * 1681, part of West Jersey
 * Created 17 May 1794, from the Colonial lands.

Boundary Changes

 * 1700, part of Cape May County added.
 * 1710, boundaries clarified.
 * 19 January 1748, part set off to become part of Cumberland County.
 * 1822, water boundaries established and clarified in 1846.
 * 1867, Pittsgrove twp. to Cumerland County and returned in 1868.

Neighboring Counties
Cumberland | Gloucester | Delaware counties: Kent | New Castle

Lutheran
Settlers from Penns Neck attended a Swedish Church at Crane Hook as early as 1667..

A 1786 membership list of Penns Neck Parish is preserved in Archivum Americanum at the Consistory Court of the Archbishop of Upsal in Sweden.

Obtaining Copies of County Probate Records
Copies of recorded probate records and the estate files can be obtained from the surrogate's offices for a fee. Addresses of surrogate's offices are found in:


 * Eichholz, Alice, Editor. Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Revised Edition. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1992. (.) Explains state-by-state history, vital records, census, background sources, periodicals, archives, libraries, societies, maps, land, probate, court, tax, cemetery, church, and military records. Includes county boundary map and table which shows when each county was created and the parent counties.

In addition, copies of the original wills, administrations, inventories, and guardianships sent to Trenton since 1901 can be ordered from:


 * Clerk of the Superior Court
 * Records Information Center
 * P.O. Box 967
 * Trenton, NJ 08625-0967
 * Telephone: 609-292-4978
 * Fax: 609-777-0094
 * Internet: http://www.answers.com/topic/new-jersey-superior-court

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.