New Jersey Records: A Genealogical Haystack Full of Needles

New Jersey Records A Genealogical Haystack Full of Needles* KENN STRYKER—RODDA, F.A.S.G. T HE implication of the above title is, of course, that there are no records, and I am a little tired of being told that genealogical research in New Jersey is like looking for a needle in a haystack. On the contrary, I assert that there are many — enough so that he or she who goes pawing through the haystack is likely to be pricked by one or another of them. New Jersey genealogy is not for the lazy minded, the unimaginative, or those who demand quick results. Let us admit that New Jersey is different from other states in respect to records, and that the reasons are principally geographical and historical. Today, the Garden State accepts the fact that it is a corridor; its superior highways certainly "welcome the coming, speed the parting guest." But as a colony it was seldom traversed. Admitted, the Old Mine Road did bring travelers and settlers down from Esopus, and later from Goshen and Middletown, New York, to start the settlement of Sussex County, and help Orange County people from New York rejoin cousins who, on leaving Southold, Long Island, had gone to the Black River area of Morris County. There was also the Old York Road, along which so many Germans went from Philadelphia to Hunterdon and Morris Counties. When working with German families of these counties, the lists transcribed by Strassburger and Hinke should be examined (both Rupp and Chambers have erred concerning some of their names) as most of the early inhabitants of German — now Long • Excerpted from "New Jersey Records: A Haystack Full of Needles" presented by Dr. Stryker-Roofda at a meetMg of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania on 26 May 1964. Ralph Heaver Strassburger end William John Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers (Norristown, Pa., 1934), ) volumes. I. Daniel Rupp, Chronologisch geortinete SansmIsing von mebr a, 30,000 Hansen von Einwandemm its Peanrylvanien . . . von 1727 his 1776 (Pbiladelphia, 1876). Rev. Theodore Frelinghuren Chamben, Tbe Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches end Genealogies (Dover, N. J., 1895), is important also for their non-Germanic neighbors. 3 4 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine — Valley appear on the 1738 ship and oath lists in Philadelphia. A few roads did exist; but settlements along through roads were late, rather than early. Except for its relatively short and once hotly contested northerly border, New Jersey is completely surrounded by water. Today the Hudson (or North) River separates New Jersey from New York, the Arthur Kill separates it from Staten Island, the Delaware (formerly the South) River separates it from Pennsylvania and Delaware. But in colonial days, these bodies of water connected the shore- and even inland river-settlements of New Jersey with the neighboring colonies. Many of the inhabitants of the Woodbridge-Piscataway area and of Staten Island owned property in one another's neighborhoods. Marriage licenses issued in Kings County, New York, or on Manhattan Island, are often mentioned in the Hackensack or Bergen records. Children born in Monmouth County were not infrequently baptised in New Utrecht, whence their parents had probably come. For, until long after the American Revolution, it was easier to sail or even row a greater distance than to trudge or be bounced on horseback a shorter one over rough and wooded terrain. Consequently, the northeast and eastern sectors of the colony were much more closely associated with New Amsterdam and its successor, New York City, than with the settlements in Salem and Burlington. The latter were so closely tied to Pennsylvania that couples from one colony were of ten married in the other, and Quaker meetings at Falls and at Chester were part of the Burlington Monthly Meeting as of 1681. In fact, so close was this tie that the New Jersey team of the W.P.A. Historical Records Survey worked on Bucks County church records as well as on some of Delaware. Moreover, as late as a century ago, the mortal remains of many a Philadelphian were rowed across to Camden for burial — sometimes directly from the boat — in the old Newton cemetery. New Jersey was also colonized from the water: in the east, along the Hudson, Hackensack, and Passaic Rivers; at Perth Amboy, and along the Raritan in progressive stages. On the west, colonization was along the Delaware: at Salem, at Burlington, and up Big Timber Creek. Of the seventy families at Cape May by 1690, all had probably come by sea, and almost all from Southampton, Long Island. Even the New Englanders who settled Newark, Elizabeth, and parts of Monmouth County came by water. Next, we must realize that, in a very real sense, there never was a colony of New Jersey; for that matter, the State of New Jersey lacks certain powers enjoyed by every other state. Up to 1664, New Jersey New Jersey Records 5 was just part of New Netherland — unnamed, and with but a few fringe settlements. When the Dutch were superseded, Charles II gave what are now New York and New Jersey to his brother, the Duke of York, who transferred Nova Caesaria to two courtiers to whom he was inaebted. After a short-lived recovery of the colonies by the Dutch in 1673, New Jersey reverted to the English Crown, and was almost immediately divided into East and West New Jersey, each with its own set of Proprietors who owned and still own the land, though they surrendered their claim to govern in 1702.' Even today, any unclaimed or undeeded property in New Jersey, or any new land formed, belongs to the proprietors of one or the other division. Not only were there two colonies, with capitals at Burlington and at Perth Amboy, but from 1702 to 1738 the royal governors were also governors of New York and, at times, of New England. Dr. Carlos Godfrey was not being facetious when he wrote an article entitled, "When Boston was the Capital of New Jersey." What are the consequences? Land records — that is, the original grants and deeds — were generally kept at Burlington and at Perth Amboy, and some there remain, though many were transferred to Trenton, to the office of the Secretary of State, whence they have recently been removed to the jurisdiction of the Division of Archives and History. However, any action requiring the governor's sanction, such as the proving of a will, could take place only where he was at the time, or, later, where one of his few surrogates might be. Therefore many New Jersey wills were recorded in New York County,' and it is only because no wealthy resident of the colony died during the Andros administration T that no will was proved in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, as were some New York ones.' As William Penn became a proprietor of both East and West New Jersey, there is much of genealogical importance in the Penn papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in the Logan papers and in other collections of that society. Similarly, since James Alexander was the counsel and surveyor-general for the East New Jersey Proprietors, there is very valuable information conFor a description of the East and Welt New Jersey Proprietors, see William Starr Myers, The Story of New Jersey, Vol. I. 5 Proceedings of tbe New jersey Historical Society (PHIHS), Li, 1. They have been abstracted, along with those legitimately of New York and many from Long and Staten Islands and 'Westchester County, -In the New-York Historical Society Collections (1892-1908) 7 1686-1688. For mample, the will of Elbert Elbertse of Flatlands, the ancestor of the Stcothuff family, for which see Suffolk County, Mass. Wills #1680. 6 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine cerning families of the disputed Peapack Patent and other areas in the Alexander papers at the New-York Historical Society.° Let us consider another historical influence on New Jersey records. Although not a corridor in colonial days, New Jersey was, during the Revolution, corridor, campsite, and battleground for seven years. In the introduction to Church Archives (Vol. II, 1941) of the Guide to Vital Statistics Records in New Jersey appears the paragraph: In many New Jersey churches the pastors and officers were active in promoting the cause of independence. There were quick repercussions. Churches were frequently burned by the enemy, and while these could be replaced later, the valuable record books were of ten destroyed in the fires. In support of this statement we might note, in the present Union County, the burning of the Springfield and the Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Churches in 1780, and the disappearance or destruction of the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, except for some burial records kept by the sexton." Concerning many other churches it might be written as it was of Northfield Baptist Church in Essex County, "The early registers . . . were not kept in the church book, but in the private records of the different pastors, who carried them away when they left."" Occasionally these have been retrieved: those of the Rev. Jonathan Elmer for Turkey (now New Providence, Union County) from 1762 to 1797," the marriage records of the Piscataway Seventh Day Baptist Church, 1745 - 1776, discovered "in Western Pennsylvania" and printed in the New Jersey Archives, Volume XXII, 643 - 647; and we don't forget that the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania published the earliest records of the Somerset County Six-Mile Run Church, 1710 1711, which had been incorporated with those of North- and Southhampton." According to William Nelson, some of the marriage records of the First Church of Paterson are "in a Western Historical Society." " Doubtless the Rev. Samuel Swayze, Jr., took the records of o There are also some leases, deeds, and other legal papers most the Alexander manuscripts at the New Jersey Historical Society, NO Broadway, Newark, N. J. to See "Record Book of the Sextons of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, Essex County (now Elixeheth, Union County, N. J.)" for burials 1766 to 1800, in the New England Historic Genealogical Register, XLIV (July 1890), 264-269. it W.P.A. Guide to Vital Statistics Records in New jersey: Church Archives, Vol. ll (1941). 20 Published in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey (GMNJ), Vols. 18 to 20. 1.0 "Records of the Dutch Reformed Church, Bensalem, Buck, County, Pennsylvania," the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (PGSP). V (March 1912), 29. n Introduction, New Jersey Archives, 1s5 Series, XXII. Pcblic-aliuus of New Jersey Records 7 the Morris County Chester Congregational Church, of which he had been pastor from 1740 to 1768, when he went to Western Florida.' Not all pastors were rebels. Many, especially among the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Reformed clergy, were loyalists, and departed to Canada, to England, or behind the British lines with church records. Some might feel that a just retribution overtook the rector of St. Peter's who, during the Revolution, took the church records, but was drowned while crossing the St. Lawrence River, the records apparently perishing with him. On the other hand, foresight prevented a loss of valuable information. In the register of St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church of New York City appears, under date of 31 October 1776, this note: "Whereas the circumstances of the country church at Hackingsack (sic) are so deplorable and bad that, from all appearance, its condition is continually growing worse, therefore it is deemed necessary to transfer the church register in this our N.Y. church book so that in case of accident the memory of the same shall not be forgotten." The substance of the records thus preserved, together with other early Lutheran records of New Jersey and New York, were published in the Holland Society Yearbook in 1903. A word about lists of church records. The most available is the W.P.A. volume already mentioned; but, like the companion volume on vital records " in public custody (which fails to list as extant the marriage records of Essex, Hunterdon, Somerset, and Salem Counties from 1795), this omits much available material. The omission is partly due to the uncooperative attitude of some ministers and clerks, and partly to their ignorance of what was lying dust-covered in parsonage broomclosets, cemetery toolsheds, and parishioners' garrets. Moreover, many records are no longer in the possession of the individual church. Probably the second source one would consult would be E. Kay Kirkham's Survey of Church Records, Volume I, which is essentially a survey of what is in the library of the Genealogical Society of the Latter-Day Saints and, in the case of printed copies, does not always list the most authentic one." The third finding list, and probably the best despite its having been printed sixty years ago, is William Nelson's Church Records in New Jersey (Patterson, N. J., 1904), especially if it is supplemented by references to the Holland Society Yearbook for 1912, the But on cemetery inscriptions in . Chester Congregaturnal Church Yard, Mortis County," in GMNI, Vol. 11 (1936). W.P.A. Guide to Vital Statistics Records in New Jersey: Public Archives, Vol. I (1941). 10 5, Ray Kirkham, A Survey of American Church Records for the period before the Civil War east of the Mississippi Rivn (Salt 1.ake City. Utah, 1959), Vol. 1: Major Denominations: For an example of one omission, ue the Harlingen Reformed Protestant Dutch Church records published m GMNI vol,. IS 00 20- The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 8 three volumes of Donald Lines Jacobus's Index to Genealogical Periodicals, published in 1932, 1948 and 1953, and Donald A. Sinclair's subject-and-author index to the first thirty-five volumes of the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey," the last of which is especially valuable for locating such items as the baptisms (1766 1768) and marriages (1773 1775, 1791, 1801 2 3), omitted from the supposedly complete history of the Westfield Presbyterian Church and printed in the ninth volume of GMNJ. However, none of these mentions the copies of the records of the Rockaway German Reformed Church and of many South Jersey churches in the collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. The Revolution had a deplorable effect on secular records also. Thus, Colonel Simcoe's burning of the courthouse at Millstone late in October 1779, wiped out most of the early recorded history of Somerset County. To mention but one other example, the Essex County Loan Office books went behind the enemy lines. Just one more glance at the gloomy side: New Jersey is the most unfortunate of the states so far as census records are concerned. The Federal census books for the state were destroyed when the British sacked Washington during the War of 1812, and those for 1820 never even left Trenton. There are, however, several records of New Jersey that no mercenary in British pay ever used for kindling, in which no mouse ever sought sustenance, that were never stored where rust and mold could corrupt them, that county clerks never threw out because they were more than twenty years old, that shortsighted Boards of Freeholders never sold for wastepaper." All of these sad fates did befall some of their companion records, and their departure may be lamented sincerely. But it is with the surviving ones that we are concerned. First, as to the future of our past. Currently, no public record other than such ephemera as checks, vouchers, and invoices, can be destroyed without the consent and direction of the State Records Committee, whose secretary is, by law, the head of the Bureau of Archives. Moreover, adequate physical protection is being given, for the first time, in the library's archives section, and all archival material is being microfilmed, with the negatives deposited in a safe place far from Trenton. - - - - 18 There is also available on microfilm from the Genealogical Society of New Jersey a first-name genealogical index to the first th;rty volumes of GMNJ, compiled by the author. See Kenn Stryker-Rodda, "That Genealogical Quagmire: New Jersey," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 48 (June 1960), 59, and the author's "Genealogical Spadework in the Garden SUM" PNRIS, LXXIX (Oct. 1961), 244. for extended discussions of New Jersey New Jersey Records 9 Enlightened legislation, especially concerning vital records, is not new to New Jersey. As early as 1675 the General Assembly empowered town clerks to enter all births, marriages, and deaths, imposing a twoshilling fine for failure to report. We do not know how well this was obeyed, as the only town records that go back that far — those of Woodbridge — reflect the local ordinance requiring such registration from 1671." One way of avoiding the slow method of advertising bans had been, through the entire English period, that of filing a marriage bond. The names of the principals of such licensed marriages are listed in the New Jersey Archives, Volume XXII; but for the years 1727 to 1751, the more authentic list is that prepared by Charles Carroll Gardner.' Handy as the published lists may be, the originals are worth examining, as they always show fellowbondsmen and often the previous marital state or something else not copied into what is essentially an index. From 1795 the State of New Jersey required both ministers and justices of the peace to transmit marriage records to the county clerks twice yearly. These, although incomplete, are extant, and many have been published." As of 1799, county clerks were empowered to record births and deaths, provided applicants (who, we must presume, were never the principals) filed the information within three years of the event, thus making such recording a privilege, not a requirement. But in 1848, New Jersey became the third state to require registration of all three vital facts. Especially for the early years, these records are no more complete than are the corresponding ones in other states, and there may be discrepancies between the original county record and that at the state level. Divorce records are not easy to find. The enrolled decrees in the Court of Chancery, from 1795 (including annulments from 1797) have no index prior to 1824. Although the only governor who presumed to grant a divorce was overruled, in both colonial days and until 1844, when the new constitution specifically forbade them, there were Di See IntroductIon, cited in Note 14 above. 03 F the Gardner list see MINI, Vols. 14 to 23. Those for Somerset County are M the old Somerset County Historical Quarterly; for Morris County m GMNJ, Vols. s to 9, for Fssex County, ibid., Vols. 9 to 12. Those for Hunterdon County, omitting sorne of the identifying data of the original, were published by 1-litam E. Dens in Marriage Records of Hunterdon County (Flemington, N. J., 1918); those for Monmouth County m the Monmouth Democrat. Bergen County marriages have been cmnpiled by Mrs. Frances A. V7estervelt; those for the southern counties: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Burlington, Gloucester. by H. Stanley Craig. Mrs. Dorothy Agans Stratford should soon publish those for Sussex County. The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 10 legislative divorces, some 247 in all, which appear in the Public Laws of New Jersey as private acts.' Various court records can help the genealogical searcher. At Trenton one early series, "Cases Before and After the Revolution," is not well known as it has been separately catalogued. The minutes and other records of inferior courts can be rewarding, but their use requires time and patience, as they are seldom indexed. Among these might be mentioned the minute books of the Court of Common Pleas from 1778, and of General Quarter Sessions, 1777 - 1782, at Somerville, Somerset County, the latter containing prosecutions for joining the British army or for not reporting for militia duty in addition to the general run of cases. There are similar records at other county seats and at the State Library. It is axiomatic that, to obtain information concerning a person we must know where he lived; but even when we know the exact spot on which his house stood, we must often know the history of the area to determine where to look for deeds, mortgages, wills, etc. Like Pennsylvania, New Jersey was divided into counties in a series of steps. Let us consider present-day Belvidere, Warren County. Three hundred years ago it was an uninhabited area within West New Jersey. On 17 May 1694, Burlington County was erected; from that was set off, on 11 March 1714, Hunterdon County, the northern part of which was created Morris County on 15 March 1739; the northwest portion of Morris became Sussex County on 8 June 1753, and the southern portion of Sussex was taken to form Warren County on 20 November 1824. Thus this one spot has been in five counties, and records concerning it and its inhabitants may appear in the books and files of those five counties, as well as in those of the Proprietors of West New Jersey. Moreover, this area has been closely connected with Northampton County, Pennsylvania, through migrations of parts of families, sharing of clergy, and in more recent times, by newspaper coverage. It must also be born in mind that many in Warren County are descended from Hunterdon and Somerset County families, which suggests probable rodts in Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, and earlier migration from Staten Island or Kings County, New York. We must also be aware of the migratory township. In 1844 there were three changes that were reversed the following year: part of Maurice Township in Cumberland County was added to Upper Township, Cape May County; part of Middlesex County was annexed to Mon23 other genealogically valuable pnvate acts types of pennons. ■ nclude pens;ons, nacurali>at;ons, and responses to vanous New Jersey Records 11 mouth County, and Tewksbury Township was added to Somerset County, with which it has more genealogical affinity than with Hunterdon County. For those few months, records of individuals must be sought in a different county. Other transfers were permanent: part of Harrison Township, Hudson County, became Union Township, Bergen County in 1852, and Little Egg Harbor Township was transferred from Burlington County to Ocean in 1891. All who have done research in New Jersey families know that extant wills to 1804 are at Trenton," that original wills since 1804, and administration papers for earlier years, if the estate was not settled until after 1804, are at the county seats, often with supporting papers including renunciations, distributions, and especially orphans' court minutes and dockets. They also know that most of the wills through 1817 were abstracted and published at the turn of the century in the New Jersey Archives, First Series. Whenever possible, the original or the complete transcript should be consulted, as even the most careful and diligent abstractor will misread a crabbed script or omit a relationship, residence, or other minor but crucial fact. Pre-Revolutionary land records are, for the most part, now in the State Library. The deedbooks of the thirteen original counties of the state usually begin in 1785, but the mortgage books often start earlier. However, deeds were frequently not recorded until the owner sought a mortgage or wished to sell. For the eighteenth century, the county loan-office books are a prime source, with the signatures of witnesses intact though those of principals were torn off when payment in full had been made.' Often disregarded because somewhat fugitive are the township books, which give lists of elected officials, earmarks, estrays, indigents, and many minor facts that help to place a person.' One of the most important substitute records for New Jersey is the group of 1845 duplicates of tax ratables, starting with 1773 or 1774 Is These have recently been transferred from the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court to the Division of Archives and History. The early books of the Hunterdon Loan Office, from the 1730's to 1779, three volumes of the Burlington books (1724 to 1750), and those for Gloucesmr and Somerset Counties for 1786, are in the State Library. The Burlington books from 1776 to 1798 (sio volumes) are in the New Jersey Historical Society. Those for Salem County from 1733 to 1751 are at Rutgers Llniversity Library: the post-Revolutionary ones for Morris County are in the Morris County Clerk's office, etc. 903 addition to the township books at the State Library, at the New Jersey Hiscodical Sodity are those of Saddle River (1789 - 108) and of Mansfield (1697-1773). Earmarks from the Pimataway township book were published in GMNI, Vols. 21 to 35, edited by Oliver Drake. Sec also "Abstracts of New Jersey Commissions, Civil and Military, from Lob,, A.A.A. of Commissions in the Secretary of Stace's Office at Trenton," 1703-1769, PGSP, VI, 181, 286; VS, 62, 07, 236; X, 51, 133, 250. 12 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine for nearly half of the colony, and going on to 1822. For some town.. ships there are almost yearly lists; for others, especially in Sussex County, there is seldom more than one. In that they do list single men, they are superior to the lost census books, but they do not indicate the numbers in families or the ages of heads and dependents. Close examination will of ten suggest an age, as when a man first appears as single, a few years later as having a horse, and shortly thereafter as a householder or land-owner. Relationships are sometimes specifically stated, particularly if more than one man of the same name lived in a township. Relationships can of ten be inferred if the original owner disappears from the record, but the same number of acres and other similar holdings appear as a widow's or possibly as a son's. Another very useful source, when the locality in which a person lived is known, is the account book of an individual, a store, an undertaker, a physician, or a coffin-maker. The last three are obviously cluefactories; but the others of ten reveal relationships, occupations, marital status, or even personal interests. The most useful collections are at the New Jersey Historical Society and at Rutgers University Library, but almost all historical societies have one or two." Tombstones are less combustible than the churches with which they are associated, though redstone shales off (and fitting together the chips can be more fascinating than solving a jigsaw puzzle), marble is much affected by acids in the air, horizontal stones become illegible, and the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey has decreed that cemeteries cannot be hallowed forever, lest the dead eventually push the living from the earth. Unless a family Bible is available, for persons born before 1848 a tombstone may be the only substitute for vital records. For that reason, the Genealogical Society of New Jersey has always made careful copying and checking of inscriptions one of its major projects, and has always viewed with suspicion copies made by individuals and never checked. Of course, a stone is no better than the memory of the person who gave the information and the care of the person who chipped out the letters and the numbers; in that respect it is in the sameclass with a death certificate, a census record, or an obituary. In addition to those published by the Genealogical Society of New Jersey,. there are many inscriptions collected by D.A.R. chapters — ranging in quality from excellent to misleading — copies of which are deposited both at the State Library and the New Jersey Historical Society. Dr. John S. Condict's 1847 transcript of cemetery inscriptions in and about New. For more on this topic, see introduction to the Janeway Account Books 0 GMN1, Vol. 35 (1938). 1-4. New Jersey Records 13 ark, is at the New Jersey Historical Society, and Budke's similar collection for north Jersey, is at the New York Public Library. We all reach higher by standing on the shoulders of our predecessors. If I could mention but one collection from a library, I would probably start with Gilbert Cope's in the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, pertaining mostly to Burlington, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties; Charles E. Sheppard's at Vineland, covering substantially the same area, though there is little Burlington and some Cape May; those of Hiram E. Deats at Flemington, including the results of seventy years of Deats's research in Hunterdon County, plus the Emley papers and many original documents; the Charles Carroll Gardner collections at the New Jersey Historical Society and at Rutgers University Library, state-comprehensive, but especially good for Essex County; the John Dornan files left to the Genealogical Society of New Jersey and housed with its collections also in the Rutgers University Library, covering most of South Jersey, particularly Quaker families. There is no bibliography of New Jersey genealogical sources. For this reason, the Genealogical Society of New Jersey plans to compile one. For the nonce, we must get along with general lists: The Historical Records Survey's Guides to (1) Manuscript Collections in New Jersey, and (2) Manuscript Collections in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Greene and Morris's Guide to the Principal Sources for Early American History (1600-1800) in New York City, and its sequel, to 1900, by Carman and Thompson; A. P. Clark's analysis of the Princeton University Library manuscript collections; Fred Shelley's of the New Jersey Historical Society's; and Miss Doris M. Perry's This is New Jersey: A Bibliography, although genealogical is misspelled consistently throughout the pamphlet. Of published indexes, Jacobus's three volumes mentioned above, and Mrs. Ellen Stanley Rogers' Genealogical Periodical Annual Index, 1962 (Bladensburg, Md.), keep us abreast of periodical literature; Howard S. F. Randolph's list of abbreviations for use in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record and Charles Carroll Gardner's similar one for GMNJ are practically lists of basic primary and secondary sources. The Bureau of Archives and History at Trenton has issued three useful mimeographed booklets: Genealogical Research: A Guide to Some Materials in the New Jersey State Library and other State Agencies (1957), Guide to County Archives in the Bureau of Archives and History and a companion volume for municipal archives (both 1963); as soon as practicable, it plans to issue a more comprehensive guide to the 14 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine collections housed in the archives section of the new State Library. There are also many distinguished card catalogues: at Princeton and Rutgers University libraries, analyzing manuscript sources; at the New Jersey Historical Society, especially the one on marriages and deaths reported in newspapers; at the New Jersey State Library, the family analysis catalog, the index to newspaper vital records from 1796 to 1900, as well as the subject-index to archival materials in the Bureau of Archives and History (including name analyses of tavern applications and naturalization applications), to groups of archival material elsewhere in the State Library, and to some materials in local historical societies and libraries. Inadvertently omitted but of course of supreme value, are family or Bible records, of which the Genealogical Society of New Jersey has more than 2600. There must be at least as many in the collections of the D.A.R.; and every library has some. Closely related to these are diaries and collections of papers, such as the Robert Hunter Morris collection at Rutgers University Library. Although they are secondary sources and of greatly varying degrees of dependability, county and church histories must be mentioned. Among the best are J. P. Snell's History of Somerset and Hunterdon Counties (Philadelphia, 1881) , and Frank R. Symmes's History of the Old Tennent Church (Freehold, N. j., 1897), both of which record primary sources. Regional histories containing ancestral accounts of subscribers are as suspect in New Jersey as elsewhere. Because of the early links between New Jersey and her neighbors, there is much pertinent to her genealogy in the libraries of the Historical Society and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the New-York Historical Society, as well as in her own historical associations, such as the Monmouth County Historical Association at Freehold, or in public libraries, such as the one at Morristown. Though there may not be enough needles in our New Jersey haystack to sew up all our "ravelled sleaves" of genealogical care, there are enough to give the lie to those who declare that New Jersey has no records-