Proprietary and Colonial New Jersey Research Program Recap

Thank you to Melissa Johnson, CG, for her deep dive into proprietary and colonial records relating to New Jersey.  It can be very difficult to navigate records during these time periods as a vast majority of them are not digitized.  Additionally, indexes for different record collections may be scattered across a variety of secondary sources.  However, knowing what your are looking for and the historical context in which the record was created can save you a lot of time.  So let’s take a look at what records from the proprietary and colonial periods look like.

Proprietary Period (1664-1703) Records

Historical Context

To understand the records associated with the Proprietary period in New Jersey, it is important to understand the historical context.  New Jersey was originally divided into 2 colonies, East Jersey and West Jersey, and proprietorship was granted to Sir George Carteret and John, Lord Berkley respectively.  Upon their deaths, the colonies were divided up further between the East Jersey Proprietors (12 men) and West Jersey Proprietors (4 men) who were given authority to sell land within their designated areas.

There are some important distinctions regarding places during this time period and the names we associate with towns and boundaries today.  References to obsolete place names can be found in proprietary records, making it more difficult to pinpoint exact locations and some areas today, such as Freehold or Hackensack, were much bigger and considered townships rather than towns or cities.  Additionally, place names were often used prior to their official establishment so they may not appear on certain maps.

Record Collections

The East Jersey Proprietors were dissolved in 1998 and their records were transferred to the New Jersey State Archives.  These records include minutes (published through 1794), deeds, surveys, warrants, road records, quit rent records, dividend records, maps, and other collections.   The West Jersey Proprietors is still and active organization with land, but that is mostly in areas protected by environmental regulations.  Their records are currently housed at the New Jersey State Archives and include minutes, account books, surveys, warrants, Lawrence line division notes, maps, drawings, and other miscellaneous records.

The New Jersey State Archives has many published indexes regarding these collections.  However, there is an online database for Early Land records that covers many of these record collections available at https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/index.aspx.  This project is almost completed so new entries are being added on a continual basis.  Another important resource is the Abstract of Wills: 1670-1730; wills were originally filed with the proprietors, but are now arranged with later New Jersey wills.

Ancestry.com has digitized 2 important New Jersey Archives Series: Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State, 1631-1687 and Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State, 1687-1703, but they are not 100% optimized for searching so it may be necessary to visit the NJ State Archives in person.

There are a variety of county and municipal records for this time period as well.  You may be able to find County clerk deeds pre-1785, sometimes referred to as ancient deeds, County court of common pleas/quarter Session minutes, county-level road books, deeds and mortgages, or township committee minutes.

Colonial Period (1703-1787) Records

In 1703, the two New Jersey colonies were consolidated which did change the structure on how some documents were recorded.  Counties started creating their own records and more private records starting becoming available, such as personal papers, church records, and family bibles.  Additionally, there were colony-wide records such as marriage bonds and court cases that had once been separated by East and West.  Land records, however, were still recorded with the appropriate Proprietors and deeds, while probated in East and West Jersey, were filed with the provincial secretaries.

One of the best ways to start researching this period is through 2 periodicals: The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey and The Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society.  The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey includes abstracts of records, family histories, bible records, and tombstone inscriptions.  The first 50 volumes are indexed in 4 volumes by Stryker-Rodda, however the remainder are indexed individually; volumes 51-63 are indexed by surname only.  The Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, later renamed New Jersey History, contain indexes of colonial-era records.  Those volumes are indexed by name and produced annually.

The will abstracts for this period function very similar to the those of the Proprietary Period and provide the same level of information.   There is also the Newspaper Abstracts (part of the New Jersey Archives series) under Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, which can include a variety of public notices that can contain personal information.  There are also searchable databases from the New Jersey State Archives, available at https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/index.aspx, for the following collections:

• Supreme Court Case Files, 1704-1844
• Colonial Marriage Bonds, ca. 1666-1799
• Probate Record Search,  ca. 1660-1952

More Information

Melissa has put together a wonderful guide for finding and understanding the records during the proprietary and colonial periods, which can be found at https://www.njstatelib.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Proprietary-Colonial-Research-Handout.pdf.  Additionally, she has more resources available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/44549yjqpljt8uy/AACD8gfNVVz6j-Lyd-HYcXXIa?dl=0.

You can view a recording of the program on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/jy45AV3MoBI.

If you have any questions, please contact Melissa at mjohnson@johnsongenealogyservices.com.