Hunterdon County
- Place Title
- Hunterdon County
- Identifier
- NJS-PLC-00053
- Place Type
- County or Parish
- Description
-
Hunterdon County is located in the western part of New Jersey, along the Delaware River north of Trenton. Its county seat is Flemington. It was formed in 1714 from the northern part of Burlington County. Originally, for the first 25 years of the county's existence, Hunterdon included all of northwestern New Jersey, including the entire territory of present-day Morris, Sussex, and Warren counties. That territory split off in 1739. Thus, records mentioning "Hunterdon County" between 1714 and 1739 may be referring to areas in these other counties.
Note also that the city of Trenton was in Hunterdon County during New Jersey's slavery era. Trenton and the surrounding area (including Ewing, Lawrence, and Hopewell) were moved to Mercer County when that county was created in 1838. Due to this history, many archival records related to Trenton (and the surrounding area of present-day Mercer County) will mention Hunterdon County.
Hunterdon County slavery-era birth certificates of Black children (Series CHNCL004) and manumission documents (Series CHNCL003) have been digitized by the New Jersey State Archives. See the Related Resources field for links to those collections, which include documents related to Trenton.
County demographics from the 1800 U.S. census, when slavery in New Jersey reached its peak:
In 1800, Hunterdon County had 1,740 Black residents, ranking the 5th in the state by Black population. The number of enslaved persons in the county was 1,220. In terms of population percentages, 8.2% of the residents were Black, and 5.7% of the residents were enslaved. About 70.1% of the county's Black residents were living in slavery, while 29.9% of Black residents were free. There was a significant free Black population numbering 520 persons; this was the 4th largest free Black population in the state. Free Black people made up 2.4% of the overall county population. The total population of the county was 21,261, ranking 4th among New Jersey's 13 counties by population. - Address
- Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States of America
- County (Modern)
- Hunterdon County
- State or Province
- New Jersey
- Country
- United States of America
- Latitude
- 40.510383
- Longitude
- -74.858951
- Related Resource
- Hunterdon County Birth Certificates of Children of Slaves, 1804-1835. New Jersey State Archives.
- Hunterdon County Manumissions of Slaves, 1788-1836. New Jersey State Archives.
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Places
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Hunterdon County was formed in 1714 from a portion of Burlington County.
Places located in Hunterdon County:
- Alexandria
- Amwell
- Bethlehem
- Flemington
- Henry Dusenbery Mansion House, New Hampton, Lebanon
- Lebanon
- New Hampton, Lebanon
- Pittstown
- Readington
- Hopewell
- Lawrence (formerly Maidenhead)
- New Jersey Penitentiary, Trenton
- Trenton
- Trenton gaol (jail), Trenton
- Linked Persons
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To filter persons by location and other criteria, visit the Persons browsing page.
Note that only persons whose town or village is uncertain will show up on this list for the county. Check the place records for specific communities within the county to find out who lived there.
Persons of African descent linked to Hunterdon County:
White persons linked to Hunterdon County:
- Linked Events
-
To see all events that occurred in this county, visit the Events browsing page and filter the records by county.
- Resource class
- Location
- Item sets
- PLACES
Part of Hunterdon County
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