Essex County Vital Records
Births - Marriages - Deaths
At the state level, New Jersey has Birth, Marriage and Death records going back to May 1848 (There are no state vital statistics records prior to May 1, 1848). These records are located at The New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, NJ and are available to researchers in-person via microfilm and bound Index books.
| Records Available at the New Jersey State Archives (Trenton, NJ) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dates | B/M/D | Notes |
| pre-1878 | B - M - D * | No state vital records available prior to May 1, 1848. |
| 1848 - 1923 | B | Availability of Birth records. |
| 1848 - 1940 | M - D | Availability of Marriage and Death records. |
| 1848 - 1878 | B - M - D | For May 1848 through May 1878 only transcriptions of vital records can be requested by mail for a fee from the archives. The archives has consolidated indexes for births, marriages and deaths. |
| 1878 - 1903 | B - M | Consolidated indexes. |
| 1901 - 1903 | M | Index for grooms only |
| 1904 - 1923 | B | Microfilms of the state birth certificates - arranged by year and then alphabetically. |
| 1904 - 1940 | M - D | Microfilms of the state marriage and death certificates - arranged by year and then alphabetically. |
| B - M - D | Due to privacy laws, birth records are not available to the general public after 1923. Marriage and death records are not available after 1940. | |
| * B=births, M=marriages, D=deaths | ||
Here is a listing of the availability of vital records (birth, marriage, death)
for Essex County, New Jersey and their location.
Locations and Addresses for obtaining Records
| Record Type | Location | Indexed |
|---|---|---|
| Birth Records | ||
| Marriage Records 1711 to 1795 (Marriage Bonds) |
NJ State Archives (mail or in person) | Indexed |
| Marriage Records 1795 to 1848 | Essex County Clerk (mail or in person) | |
| Marriage Records 1848 to 1878 | NJ State Archives (mail or in person) | Indexed |
| Marriage Records 1879 to 1940 | NJ State Archives (in person) | |
| Marriage Records 1879 to Present | NJ State Dept. of Health (mail) | |
| Marriage Records (Lookups) | USGenWeb Archives | |
| Death Records 1848 to 1878 | NJ State Archives (mail or in person) | Indexed |
| Death Records 1879 to 1940 | NJ State Archives (in person) | |
| Death Records 1879 to Present | NJ State Dept. of Health (mail) | |
| Divorce Records 1743 to 1850 | NJ State Archives (in person) | |
| Divorce Records 1850 to Present | Superior Court of New Jersey (mail) |