Delaware Gazetteers

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U.S. Gazetteers

Delaware

Gazetteers

Online Gazetteers

• FamilySearch Places
• Delaware USGenWeb Genealogy
• Delaware Historical Maps
• History of Counties in Delaware
• Delaware Place Names L H Heck...[et al.], Delaware Place Names, Washington, D.C. : United States. Government Printing Office, 1966
• National Gazetteer of the United States: Delaware 1983 U.S. Geological Survey. National Gazetteer of the United States: Delaware 1983. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1984
• Gazetteer of Delaware Henry Gannett. Gazetteer of Delaware. Washington D.C. : Govt. Print. Off. 1904
• The Delaware state directory and gazetteer for 1874-75 William H Boyd. The Delaware state directory and gazetteer for 1874-75. Wilmington, Del., The Commercial printing company 1886

Print Only Gazetteers

• Geographic Names Information System U S Geological Survey. Delaware Geographical Names : Alphabetical Finding List. Reston, Virginia : U.S.G.S. Topographic Division, [1981]
• A Gazetteer of Maryland and Delaware Henry Gannet. A Gazetteer of Maryland and Delaware. Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976

Why Use Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a state with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteer Contents

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:

• Different religious denominations
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
• The population size.
• Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
• Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
• Longitude and latitude.
• Distances and direction from other from cities.
• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Denominations and number of churches.
• Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)