The New Jersey Death Index

In 2016, the non-profit organization Reclaim The Records obtained microfilm copies of the data for these years from the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, and the non-profit organization FamilySearch donated the microfilm digitization equipment and labor, thereby creating the first-ever digital copies.

The information provided by these early years of the death index is very basic. However, 1902 is the only year of the index that provides information as to the race of the deceased person, denoting every African-American with the notation "(B)" (for "Black"). No other racial categories are noted and no other years of the state index do this.

• 1901: Surnames A-Z (dark copy) and Surnames A-Z (light copy)
• 1902: Surnames A-Z
• 1903: Surnames A-Z

These records were obtained from the New Jersey Department of Health under an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request. The death index for the 1920's is unusual in that the records are grouped in five-year periods, 1920-1924 and 1925-1929. Within each grouping, they are then separated out by locality name, such as county or major city. Within each locality, they are broken down by year, as represented by the single final digit of the year, such as "4" for 1924. And finally, within each of those years inside each of those localities, the records are then listed alphabetically by surname.

Note that half of the 1920-1924 index is missing, as the New Jersey Department of Health could not locate their own copy of the information. A copy of the missing document is being sought from the reference microfilms at the New Jersey State Archives and if found, will be digitized and put online, probably by the end of 2018.

• 1920-1924: Atlantic County - Hoboken
• 1925-1929: Atlantic County - Hoboken and Jersey City - Warren County

These records were obtained from the New Jersey Department of Health under an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request. These years of the death index supply only basic information, including the month and year of death, but not the exact day. They also provide numeric locality codes for the place of death and place of residence. Use this locality code master key (used by the state between 1949-1984) to translate that code into a named location.

• 1949: Surnames A-K, Surnames L-Z
• 1950: Surnames A-K, Surnames L-Z
• 1951: Surnames A-K, Surnames L-Z
• 1952: Surnames A-K, Surnames L-Z
• 1953: Surnames A-K, Surnames L-Z
• 1954: Surnames A-K, Surnames L-Z
• 1955: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-M, Surnames N-Z
• 1956: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-M, Surnames N-Z
• 1957: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-P, Surnames Q-Z
• 1958: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-N, Surnames O-Z
• 1959: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-O, Surnames P-Z
• 1960: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-N, Surnames O-Z
• 1961: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-M, Surnames N-Z
• 1962: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-M, Surnames N-Z
• 1963: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-M, Surnames N-Z
• 1964: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-N, Surnames O-Z
• 1965: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-P, Surnames Q-Z
• 1966: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-N, Surnames O-Z
• 1967: Surnames A-G, Surnames H-O, Surnames P-Z

Starting in 1979, the state death index starts to provide two more pieces of information: the deceased person's age at death, from which one can then infer their approximate year of birth, and their Social Security Number, which can then be cross-referenced with the Social Security Death Master File (SSDMF), also known as the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). (These numbers cannot ever be legally reused once a person is deceased, so yes, it is perfectly fine to list them.)

The place of death and place of residence are still provided as numeric locality codes, so you'll still need to reference the state's locality key for 1949-1984.

• 1979: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-L, Surnames M-R, Surnames S-Z
• 1980: Surnames A-D, Surnames E-K, Surnames L-Q, Surnames R-Z
• 1981: Surnames A-D, Surnames E-K, Surnames L-Q, Surnames R-T, Surnames U-Z
• 1982: Surnames A-D, Surnames E-K, Surnames L-R, Surnames S-Z
• 1983: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-L, Surnames M-R, Surnames S-Z
• 1984: Surnames A-F, Surnames G-L, Surnames M-R, Surnames S-Z

In 1999, the state death index starts to spell out many more characters of the county name and the town or city name for both the place of death and the place of residence, not just the first few characters.

• 1999: Surnames A-D, Surnames E-K, Surnames L-Q, Surnames R-S, Surnames T-Z
• 2000: Surnames A-E, Surnames F-L, Surnames M-R, Surnames S-Z