COLONIAL/PRE-STATEHOOD RECORDS - During the colonial period of Delaware’s history, the colony was under the dominion of three separate nations, Sweden (1638-1655), the Netherlands (1655-1664), and England (1664-1776). The English period is subdivided into two distinct governing periods: the Duke of York era (1664-1682), during which time the area was controlled by James, the Duke of York, through his governor in the colony of New York; and the Proprietary era (1681-1776) when the Three Lower Counties on the Delaware became part of the lands granted to William Penn known as Pennsylvania.
While few manuscript records of the earliest periods exist, the Archives has a collection of some of the miscellaneous records generated by the colonial administrations of each nation. This compilation, made up of some original documents as well as photostats and microfilmed copies of documents stored in other repositories, contains the records created by colonial governments to ensure the efficient management of the colony and the protection of its citizens.
The English period of control is the most completely documented era. The administrative activities of the colony while under the Duke of York’s control are found within this collection. Other records of the period are located within the governmental agencies established by the Duke to maintain authority over his distant colony. Under the English King, Charles, the Duke of York granted William Penn lands as partial payment of debt owed to his father; the area known as the Three Lower Counties became part of a benevolent and democratic proprietorship. Until 1704 the lower counties met in assembly with representatives from the counties of Pennsylvania; therefore, many of Delaware’s colonial records are found within the colonial records of Pennsylvania. In 1704, with Penn’s permission, the lower counties established their own legislative assembly but remained under the direct control of the Governor of Pennsylvania, subject to both proprietary and royal authority until 1776.
Penn and his successors granted land, appointed officials, mediated disputes, and created, or continued, existing colonial offices and thus ensured the growth and success of the Three Lower Counties. In 1776 Delaware severed its relationship with Pennsylvania. While some records of Penn’s administration are stored within this collection, the vast majority of the rich documentary evidence of life in the lower counties during the proprietary period is stored within the papers of the respective county agencies or in the colonial records of Pennsylvania.
From the second federal census of 1800, the records are complete for Delaware and are widely available. Published indexes through 1870 are also available, with two each for 1850 and 1870 and three for 1860.
The first census for 1790 was lost or destroyed. The claim that it was found in the Cornell University Library is unfounded, but a reconstruction from tax and assessment records was published by the National Genealogical Society as Reconstructed 1790 census of Delaware, NGS Special Publication No. 10, 2d printing (Washington, D.C.: NGS, 1962).
The original mortality schedules, which are at the Delaware State Archives, have been published, as have the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules. Other non-population schedules for 1850–80 are at the state archives, as are the original state copies of the federal population censuses for these years.
Colonial:
Some earlier Delaware “censuses” have been published from tax records. These include The Reconstructed Delaware State Census of 1782 (Wilmington, Del.: Delaware Genealogical Society, 1983), and Early Delaware Census Records 1665–1697 (Bountiful, Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1977), compiled from tax and other lists. A 1688 census for Kent County was published in volume 37 of The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine in 1991, which corrects the incomplete “Kent County Census” in Delaware Genealogical Journal 3 (1986): 49–51.
See Also Researching in Census Records - What is the name, age, sex, color, occupation, and birthplace of each person residing in this house? Which of these individuals attended school or was married within the year? Who among them is deaf and dumb, blind, insane, “idiotic,” a pauper, or a convict? Is there anyone in the household over twenty years of age who cannot read and write? What is the name of the slave owner? How many slaves belong to the owner? What is the tribe of this Indian? What were the places of birth of the person’s parents? In what year did this person immigrate to the United States and, if naturalized, what was the year of naturalization? For answers to these and other questions, researchers look to census records......
Census records are Federal documents that record information on the population of the United States at ten-year intervals. You can find information relevant to a house's history in the population census, including statistics on the property owner, the head of the household, the occupants of the house and their ages, occupations of the residents (including slaves or servants), race of occupants, and country of origin.
If your house was part of a farm, the Agricultural Census can provide you with information on the type of farming that was carried out on the property, including numbers of livestock, crops raised, and farm buildings. Another kind of census record is the Census of Industry. If your property was connected with some type of industry, such as milling or blacksmithing, you should also look at these records.
What census documents are available in Delaware? The first Federal population census was conducted in 1790. Delaware's census records for 1790 are missing and believed to have been destroyed during the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington, D.C. (Instead, see Leon De Valinger, Reconstructed 1790 census of Delaware, Wash. D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1954. At UD: Ref. HA 296 .D481954.) Delaware's census records for 1890 have also been lost. Population census records up to 1920 have been released and are available for Delaware. Delaware's Agricultural Census and Census of Industry are available for the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Until about 1850, the information collected by census takers varied considerably. You will find more consistency in later records.
How to use? It is necessary to know what hundred a person lived in to find that person in census records. What you want to use are the enumeration schedules for the population census. These schedules give you the detailed information recorded by the census taker at each house visited. They are not in alphabetical order, but are in the order of the houses visited by the census taker for each hundred. However, there is an easy way to find the person you are researching in the enumeration schedules. Indices have been created for census years 1800-1870. These are in separate bound volumes. All you have to do is look up the name of the individual in the index, jot down the reference number, and then go to the census records on microfilm. The Agricultural Census and Census of Industry are also organized by hundred.
Delaware Census, 1790-1890: This collection contains the following indexes: 1790 Federal Census Index; 1800 Federal Census; 1810 Federal Census Index; 1820 Federal Census Index; 1830 Federal Census Index; 1840 Federal Census Index; 1840 Pensioners List; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1860 Slave Schedules; 1870 Federal Census Index; 1890 Veterans Schedule
Assessment Records - Assessment records are the records of the taxable holdings of property owners, on which local taxes were based. Taxes were collected locally for such purposes as financing public schools. In order to base the taxes on the value of the property, tax assessors went door to door recording information on the owner's holdings, such as land, buildings, and outbuildings. In some years, only a monetary value was recorded, but you may find years when buildings, livestock, slaves, and other taxable property was listed. These public records are available for a wide range of years, from the late eighteenth century to the 1940s.
How to use? Look up the homeowner's name (under the first letter of the last name) in the hundred where the home is located. As with other records, you are looking for changes over time. Here, the change may be an increase in tax value from one assessment year to another. Such an increase could mean that a house was built. Or, the rise in value could refer to the construction of an addition or other improvement. It is useful to link the assessment information with other facts about the occupants. Have the occupants recently married? Is their farm producing exceedingly well? Such information assists when making a conjecture that an increase in the assessed value indicates the date of an addition.
Excerpts From the Book "Family History Made Easy"
There are numerous ways to determine the location in which to concentrate research for an ancestor. One of the most popular and productive is the census.
Alice Eichholz, Ph.D.,
In Ancestry’s Red Book: American State,County and Town Sources
Since 1790, the U.S. government has taken a nationwide population count every ten years. Unique in scope and often surprisingly detailed, the census population schedules created from 1790 to 1920 are among the most used of records created by the federal government. Over the course of two centuries the United States has changed significantly, and so has the census. From the six basic questions asked in the 1790 census, the scope and categories of information have changed and expanded dramatically.
Early censuses were essentially basic counts of inhabitants; but as the nation grew, so did the need for statistics that would reflect the characteristics of the people. In 1850, the focus of the census was radically broadened. Going far beyond the vague questions previously asked of heads of households, the 1850 census enumerators were instructed to ask the age, sex, color, occupation, birthplace, and other questions regarding every individual in every household. Succeeding enumerations solicited more information; by 1920, census enumerators asked twenty-nine questions of every head of household and almost as many questions of everyone else in the residence. (Only a very small segment of the 1890 census remains; a fire in the Commerce Department destroyed the vast majority of the original records for that year. Because of privacy considerations, census records less than seventy-two years old are not available to the general public; thus, the 1920 census is the most recent available to the public.)
Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do the U.S. federal censuses. The population schedules are successive “snapshots” of Americans that depict where and how they were living at particular periods in the past. Once home sources and library sources have been exhausted, the census is often the best starting point for further genealogical research. Statewide indexes are available for almost every census; they are logical tools for locating individuals whose precise place of residence is unknown. While some inaccuracies are to be expected in census records, they still provide some of the most fascinating and useful pieces of personal history to be found in any source. If nothing else, census records are important sources for placing individuals in specific places at specific times. Additionally, information found in the census will often point to other sources critical to complete research, such as court, land, military, immigration, naturalization, and vital records.
The importance of census records does not diminish over time in any research project. It is always wise to return to these records as discoveries are made in other sources because, as you discover new evidence about individuals, some information that seemed unrelated or unimportant in a first look at the census may take on new importance.
When you can’t find family, vital, or religious records, census records may be the only means of documenting the events of a person’s life. Vital registration—the official recording of births, deaths, and marriages—did not begin until around 1920 in many areas of the United States, and fires, floods and other disasters since have destroyed some official government records. When other documentation is missing, census records are frequently used by individuals who must prove their age or citizenship status (or that of their parents) for Social Security benefits, insurance, passports, and other important reasons.
How to Find Census Records
All available federal census schedules (those made from 1790 to 1920) have been microfilmed and are available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.; at the National Archives’ regional archives; at the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church) in Salt Lake City and LDS family history centers throughout North America, “The Family History Library and Its Centers”); at many large libraries; in genealogical society libraries; and through companies that lend microfilmed records. Some state and local agencies have census schedules for the state or area they serve. Generally, microfilm copies may be borrowed through interlibrary loan.
Starting With the Census
It is usually best to begin a census search in the most recently available census records (1920) and to work from what is already known about a family. With any luck, birthplaces and other clues found in these more recent records will point to locations of earlier residence.
Delaware Court Records - The Delaware State Archives has state and county level court records back to the colonial period covering civil and criminal records, naturalizations, and indentures. Some earlier records are in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. At the county level, the court of common pleas and superior court handle civil and criminal matters, depending on the offense. Cases involving equity and trust estates are heard in the chancery court. The office of the county prothonotary has custody of divorces until 1975, civil and criminal court records, and naturalizations, although the latter are now in the state archives. Land records are with the recorder of deeds, and estate matters are handled by the register of wills and orphans' court. The orphans' court was consolidated in 1975 with the court of chancery to handle estate disputes and other partitions, with records kept by the register in chancery in each county
See Also Research In State Court Probate - Even today, few people escape mention in court records at some time during their lives as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office, or as petition signatories. However, Americans of a few generations ago also expected to attend local court proceedings when they were in session. It was a civic duty-and they could be fined if they did not attend......
A Court of Chancery headed by a chancellor was not established in Delaware until 1792. Before that time chancery or equity cases were tried by justices of the law courts. Under the Duke of York, the town or country courts were responsible for equity cases. Some cases tried by common law were appealed and tried again in equity by the same court and justices. Under the Duke of York, the governor of New York also exercised equitable power by overturning excessively harsh law judgements.
The judicial system established by William Penn made every court a court of equity. The Provincial Court took appeals and heard all cases in equity not determined by the county courts. In 1701 it was required in equity cases that “the proceedings shall be by bill and answer, with such other pleadings as are necessary in Chancery Courts, and proper in these parts; with power also to the same justices to force obedience to their decrees in equity by imprisonment or sequestration of lands, as the case may require.”
Although the terms Court of Equity and Court of Chancery were used interchangeably in court documents as early as 1702, it is not until 1752-1753 that the court is referred to as the Court of Chancery in the Delaware Laws.4 By this law (1752-53), landowners could petition the court to appoint three commissioners to examine witnesses who could verify land boundaries. Depositions that resulted from the examination were returned to the court to be recorded. Registers in Chancery are first mentioned in 1770 in “An Act for regulating and establishing fees.”
Under the 1776 constitution, the justices of the Courts of Common Pleas were given the same power of holding “Inferior Courts of Chancery” as they had previously exercised. The president and Privy Council appointed the registers in chancery. The register could not be a justice of the court was given the authority to sign all writs issued by the judges and to take recognizances of bail.
The 1792 constitution introduced major changes in the state’s judicial system. The equity jurisdiction that had previously been exercised by the common pleas judges was “separated from the common law jurisdiction and vested in a Chancellor.” The chancellor held court in each county. In cases in which he was personal involved, the case was tried in the Court of Common Pleas. Appeals from the chancery were made to the High Court of Errors and Appeals; the Courts of Equity that previously had been exercising chancery jurisdiction remained in operation until October 1793.
In addition to equity jurisdiction, the Court of Chancery was given the responsibility for “the case of all idiots and lunatics above the age of twenty-one years.” The court would summon a jury to determine if a person was insane, and the court would then appoint a trustee to take charge of the person and manage his estate. The trustee had to file a recognizance for faithful discharge of his duties and render an account of the profits of the estate and his expenses for his trusteeship at least once every year.
An amendment to the constitution passed in 1802 made the chancellor the only judge for the Orphans’ Court. He was given the authority to “exercise the equity jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the Orphans’ Court, except as to adjusting and settling executors’, administrators’; and guardians’ accounts.” With these accounts he did have appellate jurisdiction over the register of wills’ rulings. The chancellor also could compel a removed executor or administrator to deliver papers and property belonging to the estate.
After 1816 a person holding land as a joint tenant could petition the chancellor to partition the land. If other joint tenants did not object, the chancellor issued commissions to five freeholders to make a fair partition and make a return with a survey included.
The 1831 constitution made few changes in the Court of Chancery but did abolish the Court of Common Pleas, so that cases in which the Chancellor was personally involved were now to be tried by the chief justice of the Superior Court. The chancellor continued to head the Orphans’ Court but was joined by the associate judge residing in the county. Either one or both could hold court.
In 1869 the Court of Chancery and the Orphans’ Court were permitted to invest money under orders of the court and to secure it for the use of the person entitled to it. An addition to the court’s responsibilities for the insance occurred in 1871 when relatives or friends could apply to the chancellor to have a mentally ill person placed in an institution for the insane in Pennsylvania instead of the county almshouse. The chancellor was then required to appoint a trustee to manage the estate and to get an annual report from the asylum.
Also in 1871 the chancellor was required to collect and publish the equity cases brought before the court. To save costs in cases that were appealed, the chancellor was permitted to send original depositions and exhibits to the Court of Errors and Appeals rather than copies.
Whenever a person made voluntary assignment of his estate to another person in trust for his creditors, the assignee had to file an inventory of the estate with the register in chancery. The chancellor then appointed two appraisers who determined the value of the estate, and the assignee gave bond for double the appraised value. The assignee had to render an account of his trusteeship every year.
Under the 1897 constitution, the court continues to have all the jurisdiction and powers vested by the laws of this state in the existing Court of Chancery. The chancellor is appointed by the governor for twelve-year terms. The appointment must be approved by the Senate. The chancellor and the resident associate judge held the Orphans’ Court in each county until the 1951 judicial reorganization. Since 1951 and until the Orphans’ Court was abolished in 1970, the president judge and the associate judges of the Superior Court held the Orphans’ Court.
Before 1939, if the chancellor was disqualified from hearing a case, the chief justice of the Supreme Court had jurisdiction. In 1939 the position of vice-chancellor was created to help relieve the caseload burden and to hold court in the chancellor’s absence. He was appointed by the chancellor and commissioned by the governor, but since 1949 has been appointed by the governor to twelve year terms, with Senate approval. In 1961 one additional, and in 1983 two additional, vice-chancellors were added to the court.
The register in chancery serves as the clerk of the Court of Chancery and as such is responsible for the records of the court. He is also required to report real estate transfers to the county Boards of Assessment. Until 1970 when the Orphans’ Court was abolished, the register was also the clerk of the Orphans’ Court.
In 1903 the chancellor was given the authority to appoint masters to assist the court in specified judicial duties. Since 1974, when the General Assembly created the Office of Public Guardian, the chancellor has been responsible for appointing a public guardian who serves as a guardian for the property and/or person of the aged, mentally infirm, or physically incapacitated.
Under the 1897 constitution, the court’s main responsibility continues to be “to hear and determine all matters and causes in equity.” Cases for which there are common law or statutory remedies can not be tried in chancery. In cases where issues of fact arise that are triable by jury, the issues of fact are referred to the Superior Court for trial.
Because of the equitable nature of many estate cases, the Court of Chancery was permitted to exercise jurisdiction in cases for which other courts had not been given specific power, “or for which methods of relief available before such courts are imperfect or inadequate.” The court has the authority to enter decrees of distribution in the administration of estates and can distribute assets of a decedent’s estate. Under certain circumstances chancery could exercise jurisdiction on exceptions to accounts passed before the register of wills and compel executors and administrators to account.28 Appeals from the Register’s Court are made to Chancery.
After the Orphans’ Court was abolished in 1970, the Court of Chancery took over all Orphans’ Court functions except for adoptions and terminations of parental rights. These responsibilities were given to the Superior Court.
A major function of the Chancery Court is to oversee trusts. Whenever a will that contains a trust is probated before the register of wills the Register of Chancery must be informed. The register in chancery then records the pertinent information. All trustees named in wills or appointed by the court have to file accounts with the register. Persons renouncing their trusteeship must file a written renunciation which the register records in the chancery docket. Trustees who are not properly administering their trust can be removed by the court.
Another responsibility of the Court involves corporations. In cases of bankruptcy or the dissolution of a partnership, the court appoints receivers. The court has the authority to prevent delinquent corporations from doing business. When a corporation is delinquent in tax payments, the attorney general requests that the court appoint a receiver to manage the corporation’s affairs. The chancellor also has the power to prevent the fraudulent sale or exchange of stocks, bonds, notes, and securities.
Beginning in 1931, the insurance commissioner was permitted to have the court enforce orders issued by him. Appeals to his decisions were to be made to Chancery Court. Appeals of State Housing Board decisions were also made to the Court of Chancery.
Other duties of the chancellor include appointing arbitrators in labor disputes, and enforcing union contracts by issuing restraining orders or injunctions and regulating picketing.
The court issues subpoenas, summonses, and other processes to force defendants to answer actions in court. It can force obedience to its judgments by imprisonment or sequestration of lands, and the court is permitted to sell real estate to execute a judgment. Appeals from chancery are made to the Supreme Court.
Immigration -
Ship passenger arrival lists for Wilmington, 1820–49, are on microfilm at the National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region (see page 9). See also Carl Boyer, ed., Ship Passenger Lists: Pennsylvania and Delaware, 1641–1825 (Newhall, Calif.: the author, 1980). Priscilla Thompson's Arriving in Delaware: The Italian-American Experience (Wilmington, Del.: History Store, 1989) provides a study of one immigrant group, from about 1870.
Naturalization -
A card index at the Delaware State Archives to a few naturalizations for 1788–1905 actually gives brief abstracts of the records. Federal court naturalizations for 1845–1910 are at the National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region, and county records originally with the prothonotary are now at the state archives. Naturalizations for New Castle County, 1826–58, were published in The Maryland and Delaware Genealogist 18 (1977): 2–4 and 19 (1978): 1.
Delaware Probate Records - The early probate records for Delaware, from 1676 into the twentieth century, are at the Delaware State Archives, either in their original form of books and files, or on microfilm, or both. From the early 1700s, there are orphans' court records with very useful partitions of land of intestates and consolidated card file indexes by county covering estates to 1850. Earlier probate information should be sought in records of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. It should also be pointed out that many early wills pertaining to Delaware residents, while proved, were never recorded. Later records are filed with the appropriate county register of wills. Calendars have been published for the wills of all three counties: Calendar of Kent County Delaware Probate Records 1680-1800 and Calendar of Sussex County Delaware Probate Records 1680-1800 and A Calendar of Delaware Wills New Castle County 1682-1800. The former two include the volume and page numbers not only for the county record volumes but also for those volumes at the state archives into which the early original documents were mounted. The latter work on New Castle County does not include intestate records.
See Also Research In State Probate Records - Probate records include a variety of documents created to support court proceedings in the settlement of an individuals' estates. The number and type of probate records created may vary over time in different jurisdictions and due to the amount of real and personal property involved. The various documents generated in the probate process are rarely filed together......
The origin and evolution of the office of Register of Wills can not be determined easily from early Delaware and Pennsylvania laws. However, by 1694 the register’s responsibility to probate wills, grant letters of administration, and settle estates was understood. These major responsibilities changed little in the succeeding three centuries until 1974 when some of his duties were given to the Court of Chancery.
Under the Duke of York, a law dated September 22, 1676 assigned the responsibility for probating wills and settling estates to both the constables and the county courts. When a person died, his death was investigated by the constable and two overseers of the parish to determine if a last will and testament existed. If none could be produced, it was assumed that the person died intestate (without a will); the constable determined the extent of the estate and submitted his findings to the justice of the peace. The justice could issue warrants to ensure that the property was not distributed before the next term of the Court of Sessions. At that time, the Court determined administration of the estate. If a widow or child was to administer the estate, the court appointed four men to inventory the appraise the property which was then divided among the widow and children. If there were no heirs, the property was sold by the court, and the money reverted to the king. If a will was produced, it was also proved at the Court of Sessions or Assizes, and administration was granted by the court. Wills involving estates of under one hundred pounds were not required to be recorded in New York.
Laws enacted under William Penn (1682) stipulated that a volume be kept by the register in which were recorded births, marriages, burials, wills, and letters of administration. Permissible fees for recording these instruments were determined by legislation passed the following year. Further delineation of the register’s duties is not noted until the 1694 minutes of the Provincial Council. At that time, the representatives and Governor approved a motion designating persons in each county to prove wills and grant administrations. This official became known as the Register General.
A Register of Wills is not mentioned in Delaware Law until 1706. Legislation confirmed that wills were proved in a register’s office. Other early laws required the register to post bond ensuring faithful performance of his duties and to take security from administrators or else void their letters of administration. The register was also compelled to transit copies of all bonds, inventories, accounts, and proceedings relating to the estates of orphans or minors to the Orphans’ Court. In 1766 a Court of Delegates was established to hear appeals from registers relating tot he probating of wills and the granting of letters of administrations. Three judges and a clerk were commissioned by the Governor to staff the court.
The State's 1776 Constitution makes little mention of the Register of Wills except to give the President and Privy Council the power of appointment. Under the 1792 Constitution, the Register was commissioned for five years by the Governor, although he could be removed by the Governor or both houses of the legislature on conviction of misbehavior in office. Currently, under the 1897 Constitution, a register is elected in a general election and commissioned by the Governor for four years. He is required to give security for faithful execution of his duties, such bond is filed with the Recorder of Deeds. He has the power to issue processes of citation, subpoena, attachment or capias; take acknowledgements; administer oaths; issue notices; certify and authenticate copies of instruments, documents, and records; and compel the appearance of witnesses and obedience to his orders by arrest, imprisonment and sequestration. Any deputies appointed to the office also have the power to administer oaths, make probate of wills, and grant letters testamentary and of administration. Their appointments are recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds. After the 1974 reorganization of the office, the Register is now considered a clerk of the Court of Chancery.
The Register of Wills’ primary responsibilities are to probate wills, to issue letters of administration or testamentary, and to settle estates. Any person having custody of a will is required to produce and deliver it to the Register of Wills within ten days of learning of the testator's death. A person failing to deliver a will is liable for damages or may be cited for contempt. A 1983 law allows any testator, testatrix, or attorney to deposit original wills for safekeeping in the office of the Register of Wills for New Castle County. The wills are then sealed, numbered, and indexed. Whenever notice of the death of the testator or testatrix is received, the Register opens the will and places it in a pending file to await probate.
Wills are proved before the Register of the county in which the testator resided at the time of his death. The will of a non-resident of the State is certified in the county in which property is owned. A will filed out of State and entered as evidence in a Delaware court is filed by the Register of the county in which the case is heard.
Wills being proved are recorded in the office of the Register; the original will is also preserved in that office. Proof of a will can be taken without giving notice to any person interested unless they request that notice be given. The Court of Chancery (before 1974, the Register of Wills) appoints a time for taking the proof and awards processes of citation requiring the presence of all interested, if they think necessay.
If the will is certified as genuine, the Register issues letters testamentary to an executor of the estate. If a person died intestate, letters of administration are granted by the Register to an administrator who manages the estate. Administrators are usually persons entitled to a residue of the estate; if no one is capable, then a creditor or other suitable person is selected.
In 1989, the Court of Chancery has the power to remove executors or administrators who neglect their duties. This was previously a function of the Register of Wills. Executors and administrators are required to post bond before assuming the duties of their position. The Register is required to note in his docket the granting of letters, the names of the sureties, and any penalties for default of responsibilities. Bonds are filed in the Register’s office. The Register posts and publishes notices of the granting of letters so that all persons having demands against the deceased’s estate can have them satisfied. This was the responsibility of the administrator or executor in earlier times. Any actions of the register relating to the granting or the revoking an executor or administrator are subject to appeal. Appeals were heard by the Supreme Court (until 1831) or the Superior Court (until 1974). In 1989 appeals are directed to the Court of Chancery.
After issuing letters, the Register of Wills appoints one or more persons to appraise and inventory the property of the deceased. After the inventory, appraisal, and a list of debts and credits is compiled, it is verified by affidavit signed by each executor or administrator. The Register can order the suppression of an inventory or list of debts and credits and require a further inventory or list be made if he believes them incomplete or incorrect. In the past appeals of this decision were made to Orphans' Court. Since the abolishment of the Orphans’ court in 1970, suppression of an inventory or list is currently a responsibility of the Court of Chancery.
The executor or administrator was required to render an account of his administration every year until the concerns of the deceased's estate were closed and the final account passed. As soon as was convenient, the Register examined, adjusted, and settled the account in the presence of the executor or administrator. When the account was settled, the executor notified in writing to all persons entitled to shares of the estate that the account was lodged in the Register's office for inspection. Currently the Register of Wills performs this duty. Exceptions to the accounts could be made by any person concerned and were heard in the Orphans' Court until its abolition in 1970. If an executor or administrator could not disburse money in his hands because of the infancy or absence from the State of any person entitled to any share of the estate, they could deposit that share in the Farmers' Bank to the credit of the person. The executor or administrator took a certificate of the deposit and deliver it to the Register to be recorded. After July 1807 all accounts, inventories, appraisements, and valuations were required to be made in United States money, not in pounds, shillings, or pence. A 1973 law required the rendering of all accounts to the Court of Chancery for settlement instead of to the Register of Wills. However, all accounts approved by Chancery recorded and indexed by the Register.
The 1792 Constitution gave the Register the jurisdiction to adjust and settle executors, administrators, and guardian accounts previously done by the Orphans' Court. The clerk of the Orphans' Court was required to deliver to the Register all administration and testamentary bonds as well as all accounts of deceased persons settled by the Orphans' Court. Whenever the court appointed any guardian, the clerk was required to notify the Register. Guardians rendered an accounting of their actions at the end of the first year; afterwards, such an accounting was made at the discretion of the Register. The Register of Wills had the power to order guardians to file such accounts and could enforce this power by attachment for contempt and imprisonment. In 1903, the settlement of guardian accounts again became the responsibility of the Orphans' Court. Registers were ordered to deliver to the clerk of the Orphans' Court all guardian accounts, indices, and other related records.
A 1933 law enabled executors and administrators claiming to have an interest in the estate to apply for a decree of distribution from the Register (currently, the Court of Chancery). Such decree determined apportionment of the estate.. Whenever the Register had a vested interest in a case brought before him, the Orphans' Court then probated the will, granted letters, and settled the account. Appeals were taken to the Supreme Court (after 1831 to Superior Court.) In 1970 the Orphans' Court was abolished; all of its duties relating to settlement of estates were given to the Court of Chancery.
The 1792 Constitution established a Register's Court. Held by the Register of Wills, this court settled disputes involving estates. The Register took written depositions of witnesses, which were made part of the proceedings of a case. He issued processes throughout the State to compelling the attendance of witnesses. Appeals of his decisions could be made to the Supreme Court (after 1831 to Superior Court). Appeals are currently made to the Court of Chancery.
The Register of Wills also had responsibilities relating to taxes. An 1877 law required that the Register obtain the assessment of property from the assessment records of the Levy Court in all cases where real estate was subject to the inheritance tax. The tax was based on this amount. A 1909 law required the Register to keep a separate docket, the Inheritance and Succession Docket, to record a general description of each parcel of real estate owned by the decedent; names of the parties entitled to any parcel; and the relationship of the person to the decedent. If the property was subject to a tax, the Register entered the amount of tax due and when paid into the docket. The tax was collected by the executor or administrator from the estate and given to the Register. Quarterly returns of collected taxes were made to the State Treasurer. In 1935 tax collection duties were assumed by the State Tax Department. The Register sent a monthly list of wills probated and administrators appointed to the State Tax Department. Currently every executor or administrator is required to file a tax return with the Division of Revenue. Final accounts cannot be approved until the Register receives a certificate from the Division of Revenue that the inheritance tax has been paid.48 The Register is also required to make a list of changes in ownership of real estate each month for the Board of Assessment (formerly to the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer).
An additional duty was given to the Register of Wills during World War II relating to missing or captured servicemen or merchant seamen. Since that time, the register may appoint a conservator to serve as a guardian of the absent serviceman's or seaman's property. On the petition of the absentee or his attorney, the Register terminates the conservatorship, transferring all property to the absentee or his attorney. If the serviceman dies while away, the Register appoints an executor or administrator for the estate and the probating of the estate begins.
Even today, few people escape mention in court records at some time during their lives as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office, or as petition signatories. However, Americans of a few generations ago also expected to attend local court proceedings when they were in session. Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D. “Research in Court Records”
In The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
American court files mirror U.S. history. Buried away in courthouses and archives everywhere are the dreams and frustrations of millions of citizens. The chances are great that your ancestors have left a detailed record of at least some aspects of their lives in court records.
Most of us don’t think of court records as the rich source of personal history that they are. But America’s English heritage established a tradition of court processes in which the people have a right to participate actively—and we always have. With relative freedom from royal supervision and with court enforcement of religious as well as civil laws, American courts tried many matters that were not subject to court action in other parts of the British empire and that are now considered too minor to warrant criminal action.
When a person dies, every state has laws that provide for public supervision over the estate that is left, whether or not there is a will. The term “probate records” broadly covers all the records produced by these laws, although, strictly speaking, “probate” applies only when there is a will.
Family historians use probate case files far more than any other kind of court record. Probate case files are logical sources because they tend to include so much personal data, and because Americans have depended on the courts to settle their estates since North America was colonized. According to Val Greenwood in his Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, “All records which relate to the disposition of an estate after its owner’s death are referred to as probate records. These are many and varied in both content and value, but basically, they fall into two main classes: testate and intestate” (page 255). Probate case files generally provide names, addresses, and biographical data for the deceased, but frequently provide the same information for other relatives named in the papers. Relationships, maiden names of wives, married names of daughters, past residences, and place of origin in a native country are just a few of the details that can be discovered in probate files. And probate files can be found in courthouses and archives across the United States.
When requesting probate information from the county clerk, it is important not to limit yourself by asking for a person’s “will.” The clerk will usually take you at your word and not copy other papers in the probate file that may have equally important information if there is no will.
Even if your ancestor is not mentioned in a probate case, consider all of the other procedures which might have resulted in him or her appearing in court records:
Delaware Church Records - The records of one of the oldest and most noted churches were published as The Records of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church, Wilmington, Del., From 1697 to 1773, With an Abstract of the English Records From 1773 to 1810 and Catalogue and Errata of the Records of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church, with a supplemental Catalogue and Errata, translated and edited by Horace Burr, in Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, 9 and 9-A (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1890, 1919). Because of the erroneous translations, this work should be used with material by Courtland B. Springer and Ruth L. Springer in Delaware History, vols. 5 and 6 (1954, 1957); the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal; and in manuscript at the Historical Society of Delaware. Other major publications of church records include Records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, 1701 to 1828, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, 42 (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1904); Friends in Wilmington 1738–1938 (N.p., n.d.), which includes marriages, burials, and genealogies; and Christopher M. Agnew, ed., God with Us: A Continuing Presence (New Castle, Del.: Immanuel Church, 1986), with an alphabetical list of baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1714–1985, of New Castle's historic Immanuel Church (Episcopal).
See Also Research In State Church & Cemetery Records - Church records rank among the most promising of genealogical records available. Indeed, for periods before the advent of civil registration of vital statistics (a very late development in many American states), church records rank as the best available sources for information on specific vital events: birth, marriage, and death. They are also among the most under-used major records in American genealogy. Part of the reason lies in the number of denominations-there are hundreds of them. Identifying and locating the records of these various churches makes even professional genealogists hesitate......
Some Delaware church records have been printed in the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal, Delaware History, and in other publications. Original and WPA-transcribed records of many Delaware churches are at the state archives and some are at the Historical Society of Delaware. At the historical society, the Kelso Collection contains a large amount of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Methodist records, mostly from rural circuits and charges, for Delaware and Maryland's eastern shore. An index to this valuable collection is in progress. Some Quaker records are at the state archives and the Historical Society of Delaware; others are at the Friends Historical Library in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
A project has been approved by the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington (which includes Delaware and the nine eastern shore counties of Maryland) to place microfilms of its baptismal records to 1910 and first communion, confirmation, marriage, and burial records to 1955 at the state archives and historical societies in the two states.
The Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in Delaware, compiled and published by the Public Archives Commission of the State of Delaware (while somewhat dated, is good for determining what records existed at that time.)
The Churches of Delaware (1947) by Frank P. Zebley (while it does not discuss their records, identifies almost 900 existing and defunct churches in the state)
Delaware Cemetery Records - The largest central file of grave marker transcriptions and abstracts is in the Tatnell Tombstone Collection at the Delaware State Archives, compiled by the Historical Records Survey. Also at the state archives is the Hudson Collection of Sussex County tombstones, which is more thorough than the Tatnell. For Kent County see also Raymond Walter Dill and others, Souls in heaven, names in stone: Kent County, Delaware, cemetery records, 2 vols. (Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 1989). Some cemetery records are at the Historical Society of Delaware, and some have been printed in the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal and in other publications.
Cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. Cemetery and other sources of information associated with death include:
Delaware Land Records - From 1680 the original deed and mortgage volumes, microfilms of them, or both, are at the Delaware State Archives, with corresponding indexes. Kent County holdings at the archives extend to 1970; New Castle to 1962; and Sussex to 1968.
The state archives also has a card index of original land patents, warrants, and surveys, arranged by county, as well as a list of some of the Maryland grants now located in Delaware. Information on related Maryland land should also be sought in the published Archives of Maryland. Warrants and surveys made during the proprietorship of the Penn family, 1682–1776 are at the state archives; those for 1759–61 are included in Warrants and Surveys of the Province of Pennsylvania including the Three Lower Counties 1759 (see Pennsylvania Land Records). Some land purchases are chronicled in the Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Series, vols. 7 and 19.
See Also Researching in Land Records - Land records provide two types of important evidence for the genealogist. Prior to the Civil War, more than eighty-five percent of all Americans owned or leased land. Therefore, almost every researcher, whether a seasoned professional or weekend hobbyist, has required land records to document the existence, association, or movement of an individual or ancestral family. Most beginning genealogists underestimate the importance of using land records to pin persons to specific locales. In the South, which has far fewer vital records than New England, the land records are even more crucial to genealogical success. For answers to these and other questions, researchers look to Land records......
Other published land records are Original Land Titles in Delaware Commonly Known as Duke of York Record, 1646-1679 (1899; reprint, Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1989) and “Dutch and Swedish Land Records Relating to Delaware: Some New Documents and A Checklist,” Delaware History 6 (1954): 25–52. The state archives acquired microfilm of official grants of land in present-day Delaware from New York and Pennsylvania sources, and these are listed in Delaware's fugitive records (Dover, Del.: Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, 1980).
In addition to county taxes, colonial Delaware landowners had to pay annual quitrents to the proprietor. The quitrents for 1665–71 (during the period Delaware was controlled by New York) were published in B. Fernow, ed., Documents Relative to the History of Dutch and Swedish Settlements on the Delaware River, Vol. 12 of Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York (Albany, N.Y.: Argus Co., 1877), pages 490–92. This volume contains other lists of Delaware residents during the 1670s. Some quitrent information is also found in private proprietors' records such as the Logan Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
In each of Delaware's three counties, the recorder of deeds has the primary land records, with deeds and mortgages kept separately. Only the most recent deeds are in the counties, however. Most have been transferred to the archives.
Prior to the Civil War, more than eighty-five percent of all Americans owned or leased land. Therefore, almost every researcher, whether a seasoned professional or weekend hobbyist, has required land records to document the existence, association, or movement of an individual or ancestral family. While many researchers may feel a sense of historical excitement when finding an ancestor in a land deed, many also fail to understand the importance of such a document and how land can be used to make vital links between generations; they are not aware that it can bridge distant origins and help solve even the most difficult problems. E. Wade Hone,
In Land and Property Research in the United States
The right to own land has always been one of the great incentives for living in the United States. Yet researchers often overlook the importance of land records as a source of family history information. Written evidence of people’s entitlement goes back in time further than virtually any other type of record family historians might use.
Land records meet the needs of researchers in different ways and contain a variety of genealogical and historical data. They are a major source of information for many family histories and provide primary source material for local history as well. They are closely related to probate and other official court records and should be investigated in connection with them. Land and property are leading issues in the settlement of estates, and the majority of civil cases in the courts deal with real and personal property. Although land records rarely yield vital statistics, in many instances they provide the only proof of family relationships. Often they include the names of heirs of an estate (including daughters’ married names and a widow’s subsequent married name) and refer to related probates and other court cases by number and court name. In some places where other records are scarce, the land records take on extra importance. Occasionally these documents disclose former residences and more often provide the new address of the grantors or heirs at the time of the sale of the property.
Land records provide two types of important evidence for the family historian. First, they often document family relationships. Second, they place individuals in a specific time and place, allowing the researcher to sort people and families into neighborhoods and closely related groups. One of land records’ most important qualities is that they are sometimes the only records that allow us to distinguish one person of a common name from another.
The National Archives has bounty-land warrant files, donation land entry files, homestead application files, and private land claim files relating to the entry of individual settlers on land in the public land states. There are no land records for the original thirteen states or for Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Hawaii. Records for these states are maintained by state officials, usually in the state capital. Searching for the record of a particular land grant from the federal government requires contacting both the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Archives (NARA).
Delaware Military Records - The National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region has a microfilm index of names of Delaware Civil War soldiers. Lists of Confederate prisoners at Fort Delaware are in the state archives, as are several card indexes of those called or who volunteered for federal service in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and the Mexican Border Campaign, 1916–17.
The archives also has a card file of World War I service medical applications, giving service information and often date of death and place of burial. De Valinger's collection of World War II photographs, letters, and lists of deceased soldiers should also be consulted at the state archives. Much military material is also found at the Historical Society of Delaware
The Delaware Archives, 5 vols. contains military rolls, pensions, and other records from colonial soldiers of 1744 through militia lists of 1815. Material for an unfinished sixth volume at the Delaware State Archives covers nonmilitary records of the Revolutionary War era.
William Gustavus Whiteley compiled The Revolutionary Soldiers of Delaware, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, (1896) by William Gustavus Whiteley.
Delaware's Role in World War II, 1940–1946, by William H. Conner and Leon de Valinger, Jr. (1955), does not list all military personnel, although thousands of names are mentioned..
See Also Researching in Military Records - The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest.......
The site U.S. Wars list conflicts dating from earliest to 1865. Wars covered that are availibele are:
Below is a list of online resources for Delaware in the Revolutionary War. Email us with websites containing information on Delaware in the Revolutionary War by clicking the link below:
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 from the State of Delaware (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Below is a list of online resources for Delaware in the Civil War. Email us with websites containing information on Delaware in the Civil War by clicking the link below:
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Delaware (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Military and pension records are among the most useful sources available to genealogists because of the detail they offer. These records are important because they may provide an ancestor’s date of birth, place of residence, the names and addresses of family members, and other details that can round out a picture of his or her life. Judith Prowse Reid,
Head, Local History and Genealogy, Library of Congress
Military records have originated at the federal, state, and local levels. Whether created in time of war or in time of peace, these records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served in the military forces of the United States. Almost every American family, in one generation or another, has seen one or more of its members serve in America’s armed forces. From regimental histories, which provide blow-by-blow accounts of a unit’s participation in military actions, to the personal details contained in the service and pension files of individual men and women, military records provide valuable information concerning a large and significant portion of the American population. And because military records have been preserved and made available at and through a number of research institutions, much information awaits the well-prepared researcher.
How to Find Military Records
To locate military records for any individual, it is essential to know when and where in the armed forces he or she served and whether that person served in the enlisted ranks or was an officer. (If you don’t have that identifying information, some potential solutions are discussed below.)
As in any research project, it is important to study carefully whatever is already known about the subject of interest. Families and communities frequently pass down stories of military heroes from generation to generation. In most cases, these stories retain some fact, but, with the passage of years and in the process of retelling, accuracy fades. At any rate, family stories should not be overlooked for clues at the start of a military search.
When and where did the individual live? Did the family keep evidence of military service? Certificates, letters, journals, diaries, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs, medals, swords, and other memorabilia kept in private collections may provide the basic facts needed to begin searching in military record collections.
Military Time Lines
Creating a historical time line can be especially useful for determining if and when the subject might have served in the military. By compiling a chronological list of the known dates and places of residence of an individual from birth through adulthood, it is frequently easy to discover the possibility of military service. Was the individual the right age to be eligible for the draft or to serve voluntarily in the Civil War? Is it likely that the person served on the Northern rather than the Southern side, or vice versa? For records from the colonial period to more recent military engagements, the place of residence is key to finding an individual’s records.
Evidence of Military Service in Hometown Records
There are a number of public records that are potentially valuable in discovering the military history of a veteran. It has been a long-standing American tradition to foster patriotism by honoring local sons and daughters who have defended the ideals of their country. Hometown military heroes are frequently noted on public monuments, and local newspaper files may yield surprisingly detailed accounts of a community’s well-known and less-famous military personnel.
Military History
Commercial enterprises and historically oriented groups and institutions have regularly published local histories. As a rule, these histories will include glowing accounts of the area’s involvement in military activities. Some volumes provide biographical sketches of military leaders, while others attempt to list all of the community’s participants in various military conflicts. Locally focused histories have been published at various times for virtually every state and county in the United States. Do not overlook them as an important research aid. P. William Filby’s A Bibliography of American County Histories is a list of five thousand such sources.
In addition to the standard histories, local public libraries and historical societies usually preserve and make available other types of publications that document the military history of the geographical areas they serve. Historical agencies collect biographies, letters, diaries, journals, and all sorts of memorabilia from military units and servicemen and -women. The personal accounts found in some collections are a fascinating means of stepping back in time. Firsthand accounts afford a better understanding of the day-to-day drudgery, loneliness, fears, and satisfactions of military life.
Evidence of Military Service in Cemeteries
Cemeteries provide yet another local source of information regarding individuals who served in the armed forces. Almost every cemetery in the United States contains some evidence of military events and veterans. Cemetery records and grave markers frequently identify military dead by name, rank, and unit designation. If a man or woman died elsewhere while in the service, the body was frequently brought home for burial; cemetery records often note the place and date of death.
Evidence of Military Service in Court Records
Court records are yet another potential source for identifying those who served in the military. Most counties formally recorded and indexed the names of their citizens who were discharged from the military. In some local courts, “military discharges” will be found indexed separately, and in others the military records may be oddly interspersed with deeds, naturalizations, or other categories of documents. The contents of military records may vary greatly from one courthouse to another. Some will provide biographical information, while others may simply list names and the event or names and date of certificate issue.
Military Records in the National Archives
Federal military documents that have been classified as archival material are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration. Not all records created by military agencies are judged to be permanently valuable. Generally, only records of historical or administrative importance are kept.
A wonderful array of federal military records are available in major libraries and archives and through microfilm rental programs. (Heritage Quest, a division of AGLL, Inc., PO Box 329, Bountiful, UT 84011-0329, is a source of rental microfilms.) With sufficient identifying information, you may request a search of the registers of enlistments or the compiled military service records. The minimum information required for a search is (1) the soldier’s full name, (2) the war in which he or she served or period of service, and (3) the state from which he or she served. For the Civil War, you must also indicate whether the person served in Union or Confederate forces. A separate copy of the form must be used for military service, pension, and bounty-land warrant applications. Submit requests for information about individuals who served in the military before World War I on NATF form 80 (Order for Copies of Veterans Records). Write to the National Archives and Records Administration, General Reference Branch, Washington, DC 20408 to obtain copies of NATF form 80. Always ask for “all records” for an individual.
Make requests for information about U.S. Army officers separated from the service after 1912 on standard form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records) and send it to the Military Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63132.
U.S. Military Records
By far the most comprehensive study of military records and how to use them is found in James C. Neagles’s U.S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal and State Sources, Colonial America to the Present. Neagles’s guide addresses primary and secondary military sources and accessibility, including the following information-rich sources:
Records of state militias and the National Guard
Records of the army, navy, and other branches of the U.S. military
Records of the military academies
Post-service records
Pensions
Bounty-land grants
Bonuses and family assistance
Soldier’s homes
Military burials
Military installations
Censuses of veterans
Conscription
Civilian affairs
Delaware Vital Records - State copies of vital records for Delaware are available from the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Services, State Health Building, P.O. Box 637, Dover, Delaware 19901-0637. The bureau holds birth records from 1920 and marriages and deaths from 1930. Delaware vital records became public records with no restrictions after seventy-two years for births and after forty years for marriages and deaths. Certified copies of later records can be provided to those needing them for personal or property rights and for genealogical purposes.
See Also Researching in Vital Records - Vital records, as their name suggests, are connected with central life events: birth, marriage, and death. Maintained by civil authorities, they are prime sources of genealogical information; but, unfortunately, official vital records are available only for relatively recent periods. These records, despite their recent creation in the United States, are critically important in genealogical research, often supplying details on family members well back into the nineteenth century.......
Earlier records at the Delaware State Archives include those formerly at the Bureau of Vital Statistics, covering births and deaths for 1861 to 1863; 1881 to 1919 for births; 1881 to 1929 for deaths; and 1847 to 1929 for marriages.
After 1881 the City of Wilmington had a registrar of vital statistics, with fairly complete records. Elsewhere, recording of vital events was the responsibility of the county recorders of deeds, and recording practices were quite poor until the creation of the bureau in 1913. Recorders of deeds' records of a very few births and deaths for 1861–63 and for 1881–1913, and marriages for 1847–1913, are at the state archives. Also at the state archives are county clerks of the peace marriage bonds from 1744 (more complete after 1793) to 1913 when bonds were no longer required.
For the period 1680 to the present, the state archives also has cards that index births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths from a variety of sources, such as marriage bonds, church and Bible records, and newspaper notices. There is a supplementary index for some deaths for 1888–1910. Some Kent County vital records for the late 1600s were recorded in deed books and published in Publications of The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania 7 (1920): 158–62 and reprinted in The Maryland and Delaware Genealogist 10 (1969) and 11 (1970). Some Kent and Sussex County vital records for the late 1600s to the 1750s were published in the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal 1 (1982): 92–96. A private doctor's records of births for Sussex County, 1835–69, were published in volumes 6–8 of The Maryland and Delaware Genealogist (1965–67). Also, “New Castle County...Court Records...of Illegitimate Births” was published in The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 33 (1984): 353–58.
For the period up to 1975, divorces should be sought in the county superior courts, of which the prothonotary is the clerk. Some of these records are at the state archives, but permission to see them must first be obtained from the court. After 1975 the records are in the county family court where the divorce was granted. The earliest divorces in Delaware, to 1773, were a matter for the governor and council. The legislature had jurisdiction until 1897, and the superior court had concurrent jurisdiction from 1832.
Legislative divorces are indexed as private acts in the published Laws of Delaware, 2–20 (1777–1897). Since 1913 courts have been required to register divorces and annulments with the state registrar.
Ordering Vital Records Online - Getting documents by mail can take a long as six weeks or more. Through VitalChek Express Certificate Service you can get Birth, Marriage, Divorce & Death Certificates Signed, Sealed, & Delivered in as few as three business days!
Facts on Birth Records - Most early birth records contain very little biographical information. Typical early New England town and church records, for example, give little information beyond the name of the child, date and place of birth, and parents’ names. Some localities listed only the name of the father.
While early birth records can be discouragingly lacking in information, by the mid-nineteenth century birth records in the United States began to include more information. Even though births were not widely recorded during the early years of America’s existence, the records that do exist may be the only source of a birth date for an individual and should always be consulted.
Delayed births are also important vital registrations that you should consider for obtaining biographical information. When Social Security benefits were instituted in 1937, individuals claiming benefits had to document their birth even if the state of their birth did not require registration when they were born. Individuals who were not registered with state or county agencies at the time of their birth often applied for a delayed birth registration. Obtaining passports, insurance, and other benefits also required proof of age.
Applications were accompanied with full name, address, and date and place of birth; father’s name, race, and place of birth; and evidence to support the facts presented. The evidence could be in the form of a baptismal certificate, Bible record, school record, affidavit from the attending physician or midwife, application for an insurance policy, birth certificate of a child, or an affidavit from a person having definite knowledge of the facts. Delayed birth records are usually filed and indexed separately from regular birth registrations, and it may be necessary to request a separate search for them.
Facts on Marriage Records - Because of the importance of the legal distribution and control of property, most states and counties began to record marriages before births and deaths. The recording of a marriage is a two-step process. Traditionally, couples apply for a license to marry, and the applications are usually filed loose among other applications or in bound volumes. Marriage returns are filed once the marriage has taken place. The latter document is the proof of a marriage (not the license application).
Marriage applications are often filled out by both the bride and groom and typically contain a significant amount of genealogical information. They may list full names of the bride and groom, their residences, races, ages, dates and places of birth, previous marriages, occupations, and their parents’ names, places of birth, and occupations.
Marriage certificates are issued by counties after the marriage ceremony is completed, and these are usually found among family items. While the certificates tend to have less biographical data than the application, the name of the individual officiating at the wedding may lead you to religious records by revealing the denomination. The religious records, in turn, may reveal the names of witnesses and other useful information.
Early American records sometimes include marriage bonds, which served as a protection for the future children of the marriage. A bond obligated a prospective groom to pay the bond if he were discovered to be a bigamist or imposter or otherwise ineligible to contract a valid marriage. As long as the marriage was legal, the bond was void. Bonds generally include the groom’s name, name of the surety, the sum, and the date of the agreement.
Facts on Death Records - Early death records in the United States provide little more than the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Obituaries and cemetery, court, and other records often provide more information about the deceased than do most official death records created before the last quarter of the 1800s.
By 1900 death records included more details. They often include the name of the deceased; date, place, and cause of death; age at the time of death; place of birth; parents’ names; occupation; name of spouse; name of the person giving the information; the informant’s relationship to the deceased; the name and address of the funeral director; and the place of burial. Race is listed in some records, and modern death certificates generally include a Social Security number.
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, NGS Special Publication No. 10, 2d printing (Washington, D.C.: NGS, 1962).
, with a supplemental Catalogue and Errata, translated and edited by Horace Burr, in Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, 9 and 9-A (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1890, 1919). Because of the erroneous translations, this work should be used with material by Courtland B. Springer and Ruth L. Springer in Delaware History, vols. 5 and 6 (1954, 1957); the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal; and in manuscript at the Historical Society of Delaware. Other major publications of church records include Records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, 1701 to 1828, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, 42 (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1904); Friends in Wilmington 1738–1938 (N.p., n.d.), which includes marriages, burials, and genealogies; and Christopher M. Agnew, ed., God with Us: A Continuing Presence (New Castle, Del.: Immanuel Church, 1986), with an alphabetical list of baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1714–1985, of New Castle's historic Immanuel Church (Episcopal). 
by Elizabeth Waterston (Author)
, 2 vols. (Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 1989). Some cemetery records are at the 
(1899; reprint, Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1989) and “Dutch and Swedish Land Records Relating to Delaware: Some New Documents and A Checklist,” Delaware History 6 (1954): 25–52. The state archives acquired microfilm of official grants of land in present-day Delaware from New York and Pennsylvania sources, and these are listed in 
(Dover, Del.: Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, 1980).
(Albany, N.Y.: Argus Co., 1877), pages 490–92. This volume contains other lists of Delaware residents during the 1670s. Some quitrent information is also found in private proprietors' records such as the Logan Papers at the 
by Leon de Valinger, Jr.
(1941) by Christopher L. Ward
(reprint, 1973) by Harold Bell Hancock
. (a list of Delaware Civil War soldiers in an appendix in Volume 1)
