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Search the Land Records from All States, , View Property Reports Now!
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.
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.
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Excerpts From the Book "Family History Made Easy"
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
U.S. House of Representative Private Claims, Vol. 1, Vol. 2 or Vol. 3
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).
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