It is wise to acquaint yourself with any repository which you might visit by writing to the appropriate archive or library in advance. Every repository has published materials that introduce its collections and research policy. State archives and historical agencies also have Internet sites that provide the same information. Some even have downloadable databases for some or parts of their collections.
"Genealogists are generally positive and energetic, and most are ready to share their findings or research experience with anyone they can help. There are hundreds of genealogical societies at the grass-roots level. Knowledge of the genealogical community will place you in the midst of much activity, increase your productivity, and alert you to the importance of research standards and etiquette." Sandra Hargreaves Luebking,
Editor of FGS Forum, Co-editor of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
Because family history research relies greatly upon records found at the county level, many local societies represent counties. Organizations also form around shared interests. Ethnic or religious origins account for many groups, such as the Polish Genealogical Society of America and P.O.I.N.T. (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together). Societies also form around common locales of origin for members’ ancestors; hence, the Palatines to America and Germans from Russia societies. To locate these and other societies, consult Juliana Szucs Smith’s The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. It lists addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and Internet addresses of thousands of organizations throughout the United States.
For almost every state there is a state genealogical society, a state genealogical council, or both. In addition to their own work, state-level groups sometimes help coordinate the efforts of local societies within the state. Their publications, newsletters and quarterlies, supplement those produced by the local societies.
The Historical Society of Delaware,
505 Market Street,
Wilmington, DE 19801 The Historical Society of Delaware has an extensive collection of early northern Delaware newspapers, but papers in the adjoining states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey should also be consulted. Southern Delaware newspapers are at the Delaware State Archives
Delaware History has been published by the Historical Society of Delaware semi-annually since 1946; volumes 1–7 were reprinted in 1968 by Kraus Reprint of Millwood, N.Y. The society has also published papers in sixty-seven volumes from 1879 to 1922 and in three volumes in a new series from 1927 to 1940.
The Delaware Genealogical Society Journal has published, since 1980, the usual fare of source record material, including Bible records, births of blacks, orphans' court indexes (for Sussex County), and Maryland records. For The Maryland and Delaware Genealogist.
Two short-lived periodicals with useful source record material are Delaware Historical and Genealogical Recall (1933; reprint, Wilmington, Del.: Delaware Genealogical Society, 1984) and Del-Gen-Data Bank, edited by Mary Fallon Richards (Wilmington, Del.: the editor, 1986). Statewide or regional publications include the following: [ see specific county page for individual county list ]
Delaware Genealogical Research Guide (1997)
published by the Delaware Genealogical Society, soft cover
More pages, easier to use. A 52-page guide (including cover) on how to do Delaware genealogical research. Lists Delaware hundreds, towns and churches (before 1900) with details on how to find vital records, family genealogies, city directories, church, tax, census, probate, land and military records. Four Delaware maps of hundreds spanning 220 years. Lists of key libraries and record repositories with maps showing their locations, hours, copying charges and important holdings. Identifies valuable references and where to find them.
Delaware 1782 Tax Assessment and Census Lists (1994)
transcribed and compiled by Ralph D. Nelson, Jr., Catherine B. Nelson, Thomas P. Doherty, Mary Fallon Richards and John C. Richards and published by the Delaware Genealogical Society, hard cover, 8 1/2" x 11" acid free paper.
This all new publication replaces The Reconstructed Delaware State Census of 1782 (1983) by Dr. Harold B. Hancock. It contains 11,322 names, 31 tax and census lists (including 11 new lists not in Hancock's book) with names in their original order as well as in an overall statewide index, tax assessment amounts and soundex codes. Over one year was spent retranscribing and proofreading the names.
Delaware Genealogical Abstracts from Newspapers
A volunteer group meeting at the Historical Society of Delaware is abstracting vital records from old Delaware newspapers from a period when there are no official vital records. Records were extracted from "Local Intelligence" columns, Registrar estate notices, executor and estate sales as well as death and marriage notices. This is the first volume which references 4654 names.
Volume 1: Deaths from the Delaware Gazette, 1854-1859, 1861-1864 (1995)
edited by Mary Fallon Richards; published by the Delaware Genealogical Society, hard cover, acid free paper
Volume 2: Marriages from the Delaware Gazette, 1854-1859, 1861-1864 (1996)
edited by Mary Fallon Richards and John C. Richards, published by the Delaware Genealogical Society and Picton Press, hard cover, acid free paper
Volume 3: Delaware Marriages and Deaths from Newspapers, 1729-1853 (1997)
edited by Mary Fallon Richards and John C. Richards, published by the Delaware Genealogical Society and Family Line Publications; over 10,000 names, hard cover, acid free paper
Volume 4: Delaware Marriages and Deaths from the Delaware Gazette, 1865-1874 (1998)
edited by Mary Fallon Richards and John C. Richards, published by the Delaware Genealogical Society and Family Line Publications; over 7,300 names, hard cover, acid free paper
Volume 5: Delaware Marriages and Deaths from the Delaware Gazette, 1875-1879 (2000)
edited by Mary Fallon Richards and John C. Richards, published by the Delaware Genealogical Society and Family Line Publications; over 2,800 names
Delaware Genealogical Society Surname Index (1995)
edited by Robert Redden, soft cover.
Over 1500 surnames that members are working with county, dates of primary interest, names and addresses of submitters.
Milford, Delaware and the Milford Area After 1776 (1985) - Out of Print
by E. Dallas Hitchens and E. Millis Hurley (surname index, maps and illustrations), soft cover, acid free paper.
A land record study and an historical and sociological study. Many marriage and family records.
A History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware ... an Account of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Swedish Settlers and a History of Wilmington (1846; 1987 reprint with new surname index)
by Benjamin Ferris published by the Delaware Genealogical Society (acid free paper, hard cover).
The Delaware Historical and Genealogical Recall (1936, reprint 1984)
by Matilda Spicer Hart including new 27 page index by Mary Fallon Richards.
Births, marriages, deaths, etc. from various obscure sources; all three counties.
Calendar of Sussex County Delaware Probate Records 1680-1800 (1964, 1993 reprint)
compiled by Leon deValinger, reprint by Heritage Books, soft cover
Names, relationships, witnesses and dates of wills and administrations
Includes an 87 page index of over 9,000 names.
Delaware Genealogical Society Journal
published by the Delaware Genealogical Society, soft cover, acid free paper
The Historical Society of Delaware has an extensive collection of early northern Delaware newspapers, but papers in the adjoining states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey should also be consulted. Southern Delaware newspapers are at the Delaware State Archives. F. Edward Wright, Delaware Newspaper Abstracts, 1786–95 (Silver Springs, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1984), covers two Wilmington papers.
While records of birth, marriage, and death are the most commonly sought and the most consistently helpful records, only the genealogist’s imagination and resourcefulness limit newspapers’ usefulness in supplying clues about historical events, local history, probate court and legal notices, real estate transactions, political biographies, announcements, notices of new and terminated partnerships, business advertisements, and notices for settling debts.
Newspapers can provide at least a partial substitute for nonexistent civil records. For example, a person’s obituary may have appeared in a newspaper even when civil death records for that person do not exist. And newspapers are an important source of marriage records, particularly in those states where civil recording of marriages was essentially nonexistent until the twentieth century.
Unlike official records, newspapers are not limited to a particular geographical area. They often include reports of the weddings of local citizens (even those that occurred in a neighboring county or another state), and they sometimes report visits of geographically distant relatives or the visits of former local residents. They often published death notices of individuals who had left the area long before but who still had local family or friends as well. In each case the newspaper account can identify the date and place of an event, thus opening the possibility of turning up additional documentation in other sources.
The first step in searching a newspaper is to identify those which served the area of interest and which have survived. The three most necessary tools are bibliographies (What was published?), inventories of library and depository holdings (Where is it?), and indexes (How do I find what I want in it?).
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