Salem County · New Jersey Slavery Records · New Jersey Slavery Records

Identifier: NJS-PLC-00177
Place Type: County or Parish
Description: Salem County is located in the southwestern part of New Jersey on the Delaware River where the river flows into the Delaware Bay. It was one of the original counties formed in the Province of West Jersey in 1681. It was originally about twice as large as it is today until the eastern portion of the county was cut off to form the new Cumberland County in 1748. Salem County boundaries have not changed since 1748. The City of Salem serves as the county seat.

County demographics from the 1800 U.S. census, when slavery in New Jersey reached its peak:

In 1800, Salem County had 692 Black residents (representing 6.1% of the total county population) and ranked 10th in the state for Black population. The vast majority of the Black residents in the county were free, with 87.7% of Black residents being free and the remaining 12.3% still living in slavery. On this metric of freedom attainment among the county's Black population, Salem ranked 2nd in the state, closely trailing the neighboring Gloucester County (where 91.4% of Black residents were free). Salem led the state on another important metric: with 607 free Black residents, which represented 5.3% of the county's total population, Salem's population had the highest percentage of free Black residents in New Jersey. Enslaved persons numbered 85 (0.7% of the total county population).
County (Modern): Salem County
State or Province: New Jersey
Country: United States of America
Latitude: 39.573122
Longitude: -75.466519
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_County,_New_Jersey
Record Contributor: Jesse Bayker
Linked Places: Places located in Salem County:

Pittsgrove

Salem

Places that were historically in Salem County, but are now associated with a different county:

Cohansey

Fairfield

Places formed from a portion of Salem County or formerly associated with this place:

Cohansey

Cumberland County
Linked Persons: 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.

White persons linked to Salem County:

Gideon S. Flanagin

Joseph Sheppard (1786-1838)

Thomas Bilderback (1797-1858)

William Sheppard Walker (1806-1864)
Linked Events: To see all events that occurred in this county, visit the Events browsing page and filter the records by county.