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Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy

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Bergen County, New Jersey ancestry, family history, and genealogy research page. Guide to genealogy, history, and courthouse sources including birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, wills, deeds and land records, Civil War records, Revolutionary War records, family histories, cemeteries, churches, tax records, newspapers, and obituaries.


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Bergen County, New Jersey
Map
Map of New Jersey highlighting Bergen County
Location in the state of New Jersey
Map of the U.S. highlighting New Jersey
Location of New Jersey in the U.S.
Facts
Founded 1683
County Seat Hackensack
Courthouse
Address Bergen County Courthouse
One Bergen County Plaza
Hackensack, NJ 07601-7076
Jersey-Courts.htm Bergen County Website


County Information[edit | edit source]

Description[edit | edit source]

Bergen County is located in the northeast region of the state. It was created in 1683. Hackensack is the county seat. The county was named for Bergen, Norway or Bergen, North Holland.[1]


Bergen County, New Jersey Record Dates[edit | edit source]

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records[2]
Birth* Marriage Death* Court Land Probate Census
1901 1795 1901 1785 1766 1698 1830
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1840. General compliance by 1920.

Bergen County, New Jersey Historical Facts[edit | edit source]

Parent County[edit | edit source]

  • 1675, formed as original county of East Jersey.
  • Formally created 1 March 1683. [3]

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

  • 1710, New Barbadoes twp. added from Essex County
  • 1807, coastal boundary fixed.
  • 7 March 1837, Passaic County was set off. [4]
  • 22 February 1840, Hudson County was set off. [5]
  • 1852, part of Harrison twp. added as Union twp.
  • 1892, coastal boundary clarified.

For animated maps illustrating New Jersey county boundary changes, visit "Rotating Formation New Jersey County Boundary Maps" (1683-1928) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss[edit | edit source]

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy Resources[edit | edit source]

Bible[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

Tombstone Transcriptions Online Tombstone Transcriptions in Print List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com Family History Library Findagrave.com
NJGenWeb WorldCat Billion Graves
NJGenWeb Archives
NJTombstone Project
NJInterment
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See New Jersey Cemeteries for more information.

Census[edit | edit source]

Church Records[edit | edit source]

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about denominations, view the New Jersey Church Records wiki page.


  • 1675-1970 New Jersey, Church Records, 1675-1970 at FamilySearch — index and images
  • 1666-1788 - "The Bergen Church Records (Dutch Reformed)," Year Book of the Holland Society of New York. Baptisms 1666-1782: (1903); Marriages (1904); Burials 1666-1788 (1905). 1903 and 1905 volumes are available online. For access, see WeRelate.

Court Records[edit | edit source]

Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]

Ethnic, Political. or Religious Groups[edit | edit source]

Gazetteers[edit | edit source]

Genealogy[edit | edit source]

History[edit | edit source]

Local histories are available for New Jersey counties. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section New Jersey Local Histories.


Land and Property
[edit | edit source]

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See New Jersey Land and Property for information about New Jersey Proprietary land records. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.


Finding Land Records at Other Repositories

Additional land records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy Land and Property Records in online catalogs like:


Maps[edit | edit source]

Hudson CountyEssex CountyPassaic CountyRockland CountyWestchester CountyBronx BoroughManhattan Borough, New YorkNJ BERGEN.PNG
About this image
Click a neighboring county
for more resources



Migration[edit | edit source]

Military[edit | edit source]

Civil War[edit | edit source]

Regiments. Service men in Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy:


- 65th Regiment, New York Infantry, Company B.

Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.

To access newspapers, contact public libraries, Genealogical Society of New Jersey,  college or university libraries, the Library of Congress, Google News, or the The New Jersey Historical Society.

For more Ohio newspaper information see the Newspaper Guides on the wiki page New Jersey Newspapers.


Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:


Indexes[edit | edit source]

Occupations[edit | edit source]

Periodicals[edit | edit source]

Poorhouse, Almshouse[edit | edit source]

Populated Places[edit | edit source]

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:[6]

Cities
Boroughs
Villages
Townships


Probate Records[edit | edit source]

Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy Probate Court. From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. Most counties transferred all records to the Probate Court, but in some circumstances, Court of Common Pleas records should be searched for records prior to 1852. Most records are housed at the Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy Courthouse. Some records are on microfilm at the Ohio Genealogical Society and the Family History Library. For more complete information about the location of county probate records see:

See the wiki page New Jersey Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only).

Obtaining Copies of County Probate Records[edit | edit source]

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. (Family History Library book 973 D27rb 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
Phone: (609) 292-4978
Fax: (609) 777-0094

Online Probate Records

Repositories[edit | edit source]

Archives[edit | edit source]
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 Wikipedia has more about this subject: Bergen County,  New Jersey
Courthouse[edit | edit source]

Bergen County Courthouse
 1 Bergen County Plaza
Hackensack, NJ 07601
Phone: 201.336.7000 

County Clerk has divorce records from 1955,
Court and land records County Surrogate has probate records. [7]

Family History Centers[edit | edit source]

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

Libraries[edit | edit source]
Museums[edit | edit source]

Societies[edit | edit source]

Bergen County Genealogy Society
PO Box 432
Midland Park
Website

Bergen County Historical Society
120 Main Street
River Edge

Bergen County Historical Society
1201 Main St
PO Box 55
River Edge, New Jersey 07661-0055
Telephone: 201-343-9492
Website

Mahwah Historical Society
1871 Old Station Lane
Mahwah 07430
Telephone: 201-891-9049

Oakland Historical Society
PO Box 296
Oakland, New Jersey 07436
Telephone: 201-405-7726
E-mail:ohs1776@aol.com
Website

Pascack Historical Society
19 Ridge Avenue Park Ridge
NJ 07656
Telephone: 201-573-0307
E-mail:info@pascackhistoricalsociety.org
Website

Ridgewood Historical Society
650 E. Glen Avenue
Ridgewood
E-mail:info@ridgewoodhistoricalsociety.org
Website

Upper Saddle River Historical Society
245 Lake Street
Upper Saddle River NJ 07458
Telephone: 201-327-864
Website

Schools[edit | edit source]

Taxation[edit | edit source]

New Jersey tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information see the wiki page New Jersey Taxation.


Vital Records[edit | edit source]

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. United States Vital Records has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the New Jersey Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. Original marriage records are usually held at the county Bureau of Vital Statistics.


Birth[edit | edit source]
Marriage[edit | edit source]

Online Marriage Indexes and Records

1606-1981 - New Jersey, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $

Death[edit | edit source]

Bergen County, New Jersey Neighboring Counties[edit | edit source]

Bergen County

Bergen County, New Jersey Websites[edit | edit source]

Bergen County, New Jersey Genealogy References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Bergen County, New Jersey" in Wikipedia : the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen_County,_New_Jersey accessed 29 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Bergen County, New Jersey . Page 464-465 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002; Alice Eichholz, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, Third ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004), 460.
  3. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 181. [FHL book 973 D27e 2002].
  4. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 181. [FHL book 973 D27e 2002].
  5. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 181. [FHL book 973 D27e 2002].
  6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Bergen County, New Jersey," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen_County,_New_Jersey, accessed 8 August 2019.
  7. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Bergen County, New Jersey page 464, At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
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