This page of our website provides links to Delaware genealogy databases and historical narratives about Delaware. These genealogical records may include, vital records (birth, marriage and divorce, death), ethnic records (Black, Native American), court records (land, probate and wills, criminal and civil), church records (Bibles, baptisms, marriages, burials and histories), cemeteries, census records, military records directories and yearbooks.
Delaware Black Genealogy
- Delaware African American Genealogy
- Free African-Americans of Maryland and Delaware
- African-American History in DE and MD’s Eastern Shore
Delaware Cemeteries
Delaware Census Records
Delaware Church Records and Histories
- Churches
This is an index to Delaware Public Archives church holdings. It includes the WPA records as well as original manuscript records. - Centennial services of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilmington, Delaware, October 13-20, 1889
Delaware Court Records
- Apprentice Indentures
This database is to legal contracts made for minors to learn a trade. - Bastardy Bonds
Bastardy bonds were filed in response to a law that required a bond be filed by the father of an illegitimate child, to ensure that the child did not become a burden on the county. - Coroner
These indexes are to all three counties from the office of the coroner. They are the manuscript record of the reports of investigations into the causes of deaths occurring in suspicious or unusual circumstances. - Orphans Court
This index is of the Orphans Court case files for all three counties. It dealt with the guardianship of minors, real estate left intestate, partition of real estate, and appeals from the register of wills. - Probate Records
These indexes are of our holdings created for the settling of a deceased person’s estate for all three counties starting around 1680. Probates file folder #’s after 120085 must be requested from the New Castle County Register of Wills.
Delaware Directories
- 1895, The medical, pharmaceutical and dental register-directory and intelligencer … for Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia
Delaware Genealogy
- Family Files Index
From the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture. Donated by patrons and staff members, these materials could include handwritten notes, obituaries, photographs, and other types of material related to the family name. - Leslie Dryden Collection Index
Although not indexed, the Dryden Collection is surname-based, making research within the collection quite easy. The collection gives much information for those researching families in Worcester, Wicomico, and Somerset Counties, Maryland and other Eastern Shore counties. The collection is almost entirely handwritten; correspondence and newspaper clippings may also be included. Public record entries have been summarized, with sources identified. The actual surname files from this collection may be viewed onsite at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture.
United States Genealogy
USGenWeb Project
Kent , New Castle, Sussex
American History and Genealogy Project
Delaware History
- Scharf’s History of Delaware, 1609-1888
- Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707
Delaware Immigration
- Naturalization Records
This index covers naturalization records from Superior Court in all three counties.
Delaware Land Records
- Ballard Miles Surveys Index
Salisbury University and the Nabb Research Center have been the custodians of survey documents prepared by three generations of the Miles family, namely William F.W.; Samuel F.; and W. Ballard Miles. These documents consist mainly of plats and descriptions of parcels of land in Somerset County [Maryland], but also include many in Worcester and Wicomico Counties. The following is the index only to this collection. The actual survey files, housed with the archival collections, may be viewed onsite at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture.
Delaware Military Records
- Delaware Forts
List of colonial forts, trading posts, named camps, redoubts, reservations, general hospitals, national cemeteries, etc., established or erected in the United States from its earliest settlement to 1902. - Revolutionary War Records
- Civil War Records
- Civil War Pensions Index Cards
Each card gives the soldier’s name, unit, the application number, the certificate number and the state from which the soldier served. In some cases, the soldier’s rank, terms of service, date of death and place of death are given. The index cards refer to pension applications of veterans who served in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917. The majority of the records pertain to Civil War veterans, but they also include veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, Indian wars, and World War I. - Delaware, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865
Union service records of soldiers who served in organizations from Delaware. The records include a jacket-envelope for each soldier, labeled with his name, his rank, and the unit in which he served. The jacket-envelope typically contains card abstracts of entries relating to the soldier as found in original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, inspection reports; and the originals of any papers relating solely to the particular soldier. For each military unit the service records are arranged alphabetically by the soldier’s surname. The Military Unit field may also display the surname range (A-G) as found on the microfilm. This collection is a part of RG 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917 and is National Archive Microfilm Publication M1961. Index courtesy of Fold3.
- Civil War Pensions Index Cards
- World War I Records
- World War II Records
- World War II Casualties – Army – Army Air Corps
- Delaware Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard World War II Casualty List
- Korean War Casualty List
- Vietnam War Casualty List
Delaware Maps and Gazetteers
- Maps
This is the index to the map holdings in the Delaware Public Archives. - Gazetteer of Delaware
Delaware Native American Records
- Delaware Indian Tribes
- Mitsawokett: A 17th Century Delaware Native American Community
- Edward F. Heite’s Articles on Delaware’s Invisible Indians
Delaware Newspapers
The Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History at Salisbury University invites you to search its digital collection of historical Eastern Shore newspapers that provide a unique glimpse into a by-gone way of life, major events, and people. Made possible, in part, by a grant from the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, this unique collection includes digitized regional newspapers from 1745 through 1922 and represents the Nabb Center’s commitment to preserving, providing access to, and facilitating research on these original resources.
- Berlin Advance
- Berlin News
- Borderer
- Courier
- Delaware Advertiser and Farmer’s Journal
- Delaware Weekly Advertiser and Farmer’s Journal
- Eastern Shore Whig and People’s Advocate
- Easton Gazette
- Easton Gazette, and Eastern Shore Intelligencer
- Herald and Eastern Shore Intelligencer
- Maryland Gazette
- Maryland Gazette and Political Intelligencer
- Marylander and Herald
- Republican Star
- Salisbury Advertiser
- Salisbury Advertiser and Eastern Shoreman
- Snow-Hill Messenger
- Snow-Hill Messenger and Worcester County Advertiser
- Wicomico News
- Worcester Banner
- Worcester Sentinel, and Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Shield
Newspapers – This is the index to the newspapers that are available on microfilm at the Delaware Public Archives
Delaware Vital Records
- Delaware Vital Records
- Delaware State Birth Records
Name index and images of state birth records. The birth returns are complete for 1861-1922, including delayed birth records. - Delaware Births and Christenings
Name index to birth, baptism and christening records from the state of Delaware for the years of 1710-1896. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers. This set contains 30,298 records. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later. - Delaware, Death Records, 1855-1961
Name index and images of statewide death records. - Delaware Deaths and Burials
Name index to death and burial records from the state of Delaware for the years of 1815-1955. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers. This set contains 209,592 records. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later. - Delaware Marriages
Name index to marriage records from the state of Delaware from 1713 to 1953. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers. This set contains 70,024 records. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later. - Death Register
Registers of deaths and burials within the City of Wilmington.