Finding relatives in

NJ Newspapers

Some advice when searching for relatives in old newspapers:

Even though your relative may have lived in New Jersey, the best available newspaper record might appear in a nearby Pennsylvania or New York paper. Consider all angles.

The best obituary might be found not where your relative died, but where he/she lived earlier in life. You may want to start by looking in regions where the individual seemed to spend most of his/her adult years.

The older the marriage or death notice is, the more precious it is to find but the more unlikely it is that it will provide a lot of meaningful detail. The modern obituary with its detailed family background appears to have become a mainstay sometime after World War I. On occasion, older newspapers can offer entire front page stories when a resident passes away. It is often hit or miss when searching for early notices.

While most often you will want to determine an exact day or month of death or marriage before searching newspapers, in some cases fishing through several months worth of newspapers may be your last hope of pinning down a date. As you search, you may stumble over other records that pertain to your family.

A list of towns whose newspapers I search:

NJ
Absecon, Allentown, Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Atlantic Highlands, Bayonne, Beach Haven, Belleville, Belmar, Belvidere, Bergenfield, Berlin, Bernardsville, Beverly, Blackwood, Blairstown, Bloomfield, Boonton, Bordentown, Bound Brook, Bricktown, Bridgeton, Browns Mills, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Carlstadt, Cedar Grove, Chatham, Clark, Clayton, Cliffside Park, Clifton, Clinton, Collingswood, Cranbury, Cranford, Denville, Dorothy, Dover, Dunellen, East Brunswick, Edgewater, Edison, Egg Harbor, Elizabeth, Englewood, Erskine Lakes, Fairlawn, Fairview, Flagtown, Flemington, Florence, Fort Dix, Franklin, Franklinville, Freehold, Frenchtown, Garfield, Gibbstown, Gladstone, Glassboro, Glen Gardner, Glen Ridge, Glen Rock, Hackensack, Hackettstown, Haddonfield, Hawthorne, High Bridge, Highland Park, Hightstown, Hillsborough, Hoboken, Hopewell, Jamesburg, Jersey City, Keansburg, Kearny, Kendall Park, Keyport, Lake Hopatcong, Lakehurst, Lambertville, Lawrence, Livingston, Lodi, Long Branch, Lyndhurst, Madison, Manasquan, Manville, Maple Shade, Matawan, Maurice River, Mays Landing, Medford, Merchantville, Metuchen, Midland Park, Milford, Millburn, Millington, Milltown, Monroe, Montclair, Montvale, Moorestown, Morristown, Mount Holly, Mount Olive, Mountain View, Netcong, New Brunswick, New Market, New Providence, Newark, Newfield, Newton, North Arlington, North Bergen, North Plainfield, Nutley, Oakhurst, Ocean Beach, Ocean City, Ocean Grove, Orange, Palisade, Palmyra, Paramus, Park Ridge, Passaic, Paterson, Paulsboro, Peapack, Pennington, Penns Grove, Pennsville, Perth Amboy, Phillipsburg, Piscataway, Pitman, Plainfield, Pleasantville, Pompton Lakes, Port Norris, Princeton, Rahway, Red Bank, Ridgefield Park, Ridgewood, Riverdale, Riverside, Riverton, Rockaway, Roselle, Rutherford, Salem, Sea Isle City, Seaside Heights, Secaucus, Short Hills, Somers Point, Somerville, South Amboy, South Orange, South Plainfield, South River, Spring Lake, Stone Harbor, Summit, Swedesboro, Teaneck, Tenafly, Tennent, Toms River, Totowa, Trenton, Troy Hills, Tuckerton, Union City, Ventnor, Verona, Vineland, Waldwick, Wantage, Washington, Wayne, Westfield, Westmont, Westville, Westwood, Whitehouse, Wildwood, Williamstown, Woodbridge, Woodbury, Woodstown
NY
New York Times
PA
Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Inquirer