Delaware Colonial Records

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Delaware

Colonial Records

History

In 1638, the first European permanent settlement was founded in Delaware by Swedish immigrants. The colony was named New Sweden, and was conquered by the Dutch in 1655, and the English in 1664. Until Delaware's provincial assembly was established in 1703, it was under the control of Pennsylvania. Maryland claimed portions of Delaware from 1682-1736.

Earliest Church Records	Earliest Land Records	Earliest Court Records	Earliest Newspapers
1646	1640	1642	1762

Statewide Records and Resources

The earliest courts in Delaware are:

• Chancery Courts (1684-) County courts of equity.
• Courts of Common Pleas (1701-) Civil and criminal county court records, also includes appeals and adoptions.
• Orphans' Courts (1728-)
• Clerk of The Peace (1642-)
• Probate records from 1682 are kept at the county level.
• 1683-1744 Philadelphia Administrations, 1683-1744, Vol. 2, Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, n.d. This includes collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, and includes administrations that were granted for residents of the present state of Delaware.
• Colonial Delaware Wills and Estates to 1880: An Index by Donald Odell Virdin, Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994.

Land Records

• 1646-1679 - The Swedes and Dutch were the first to give land grants. After the English acquired Delaware, propriety deeds were granted by the Duke of York. These can be found in the General Assembly of the State of Delaware. Land Titles in Delaware Commonly Known as the Duke of York Record: Being an Authorized Transcript from the Official Archives of the State of Delaware, and Comprising the Letters Patent, Permits, Commissions, Surveys, Plats, and Confirmations by the Duke of York and Other High Officials from 1646-1679, (Wilmington, DE: Sunday Star Print, 1903).
• 1682-American Revolution - Warrants and Surveys of the Province of Pennsylvania Including the Three Lower Counties, 1759 compiled by Allen Winberg and Thomas E. Slattery under the directory of Charles E. Hughes, Jr., (Knightstown, Indiana : The Bookmark, 1975).
• Delaware's Fugitive Records: An Inventory of the Official Land Grant Records Relating to the Present State of Delaware by Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records, (Dover: Department of State, Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, 1980).

Tax Records

• 1682 - Delaware was divided by the Penn Proprietary into "hundreds." These were areas created for tax purposes and supposed to be occupied by ten families. Until 1897, the original twelve hundreds were divided and added to. The original twelve were:

Kent County
Duck Creek
Mispillion
Motherkill
Murderkill
Saint Jones
New Castle County
Appoquinimink

Brandywine
Christiana
New Castle
Saint Georges
Sussex County
Broadkill
Rehoboth

Original tax assessment records, beginning in 1693, can be found at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

• The First Tax List for the Province of Pennsylvania and the Three Lower Counties, 1693, (Bedminster, Pennsylvania : Adams Apple Press, 1994).
• Colonial Delaware Records 1681-1731 by Bruce A. Bendler, (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1990).

Military Records

• Records of colonial military service can be found in: Delaware Public Archives Commission. Delaware Archives. 5 Vols, (Wilmington:n.p., 1911-, film 0928150ff).
• Colonial Delaware Soldiers and Sailors 1638-1776 by Henry C. Peden, (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1995).

Colonial Census Records

In 1693, a census was taken of the Swedes in Delaware to see if there was a need for more pastors and religious books in Swedish.

• The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware: Family histories of the Swedish Lutheran Church Members Residing in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West New Jersey and Cecil County, Maryland, 1638-1693 by Peter Stebbins Craig, (Winter Park, FL: SAG Publications, 1993).
• Early Delaware Census Records, 1665-1697 by Ronald Vern Jackson, (Bountiful, UT: Accelerated Indexing System, 1977).

Church and and Vital Records

Major religions in Delaware included Baptists, Protestant Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Society of Friends. Many of these church records date back to the 1680s, and an inventory of about half of the church registers was transcribed by the Historical Records Survey. These are available on microfilm. A card index of vital records, 1680-1913, is available at the Hall of Records in Dover (film 0006416 ff.).

• The Swedish Church in America: Discourse Delivered Before the Historical Society of the American Lutheran Church, May 18th, 1848 by William Morton Reynolds, (Gettysburg, PA: H.C. Neistedt, 1849, film 1698058).
• Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in Delaware by Delaware Historical Records Survey, (Dover: Public Archives Commission, 1942, film 1036702).
• Delaware Church Records: A Collection of Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths and Other Records and Tombstone Inscriptions. From 1686-1880 by Raymond B. Clark, (Saint Michaels, MD: The Author, 1986).
• Vital Records of Kent and Sussex Counties, Delaware, 1686-1880 by F. Edward Wright, (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1986).