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Mailing Address:
NJ State Archives
P.O. Box 307
Trenton, NJ 08625-0307

Office Address:
225 West State Street - 2nd Floor
Trenton, NJ

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Adoption Records


The State Archives' holdings of adoption records vary from county to county. Additional and/or more recent records are held by the county surrogates' offices and Superior Court; consult the county records and judiciary pages for addresses and links.

It should be noted that New Jersey's 1940 adoption statute did not retroactively seal earlier adoption files. The records listed below, therefore, are open to the public without restriction.


Series:
Camden County
Surrogate's Office
Adoption Files, 1911-1936
Control #:
CCDSU012
Format:
4.5 c.f. (9 boxes)
Arrangement:
By file number
Notes:
Include guardians' consents, decrees, and related papers. See also series: Requests for Partition, Renunications and Adoptions.
Finding Aid:
Click here!

Series:
Camden County
Surrogate's Office
Requests for Partitions, Renunciations and Adoptions, Volume A, 1880-1907
Control #:
CCDSU015
Format:
1 reel (35-mm)
Arrangement:
Chronological by filing date
Finding Aid:
Click here!

Series:
Cumberland County
Surrogate's Office
Adoptions, 1882-1940
Control #:
CCUSU009
Format:
2 reels (35-mm)
Arrangement:
Chronological by filing date
Finding Aid:
Click here!

Series:
Essex County
Surrogate's Office
Applications for Letters of Administration, 1878-1901
Control #:
CESSU015
Format:
6 reels (35-mm)
Arrangement:
Chronological by filing date
Notes:
Consult the surrogate's dockets to get a volume and page citation.
Finding Aid:
Click here!

Series:
Passaic County
Surrogate's Office
Adoptions, 1880-1901
Control #:
CPASU017
Format:
1 reel (35-mm)

Series:
Salem County
Court of Common Pleas
Divisions of Property, 1791-1935
Control #:
CSACP005
Format:
1 reel (35-mm)
Notes:
Later records also contain a few decrees of adoption.

Series:
Sussex County
Surrogate's Office
Miscellaneous Records, 1700s-1900s
Control #:
CSUSU018
Format:
1.25 c.f. (3 boxes)
Notes:
Includes warranty deeds, receipts, refunding bonds, renuniciations, accounts, bonds, inventories, and Townsend/Katison adoption (1903).

Series:
Union County
Surrogate's Office
Adoptions, 1885-1918
Control #:
CUNSU017
Format:
1 reel (35-mm)


~ The collections listed on this page represent 5.75 c.f. of paper records and 12 reels of microfilm ~


To contact the New Jersey State Archives about research, reference services, records transfers or donations, please email us at njarchives@sos.nj.gov


This page last updated 05/17/2006