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Starting Point

Ancestry Library Edition.
Location: Library Databases [restricted to UD]

Best viewed using the Internet Explorer browser. Select the Search tab, then "Browse by location", "Delaware". Or select "Court, Land & Probate Records." Also see the Learning Center available free through Ancestry.com.

Court Reports

LexisNexis Academic Universe.
Location: Library Databases [restricted to UD]

Contains the full-text of opinions. Select "Legal", then "Federal and State Cases". Or select the Sources tab, then select United States, Delaware, Cases. Includes:

• DE Court of Chancery, 1814 (1 Del. Ch.) -
• DE Supreme Court, 1790 (1 Del. Cas.) -
• DE Superior Court, 1832 (1 Del.) -
• DE Family Court Cases, 1979-
• DE Court of Common Pleas, 1972-
• DE Orphans' Court, 1790-1966 (selected)
• 3rd Circuit - US Court of Appeals Cases and District Court Cases
• The "nominative reports": S.M. Harrington, Houston, Marvel, Pennewill, Boyce, W.W. Harrington

Delaware Cases, 1792-1830. (Del. Cas.) 3 vols. Edited by Daniel J. Boorstin. St. Paul, MN: West Pub. Co., 1943.
Location: Morris Library (KFD47 1792-1830)

Also in LexisNexis Academic Universe.

Delaware Reports. (Del.) Wilmington, DE: Mercantile Press.
Location: Morris Library (KFD47 .A2) v.1(1832-1835)-v.59(1965-1966)
Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfiche S5) v.1 (1832)-v.11(1880)

Reports of cases argued and adjudged in the Superior Court and the Supreme Court. Other names for these courts: Court of Errors and Appeals, Court of Oyer and Terminer, Court of General Sessions. Includes the "nominative reports": S.M. Harrington, Houston, Marvel, Pennewill, Boyce, W.W. Harrington. Ceased in 1966 and continued by the Delaware Reporter. Also in LexisNexis Academic Universe.

Delaware. Court of Chancery. Delaware Chancery Reports. (Del. Ch.) Wilmington, DE: The Court.
Location: Morris Library (KFD531 .A514)
Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfiche S6)

Statements of cases coming before the Court of Chancery involving the division of property between the heirs of a decedent sometimes provide genealogical details. The Delaware chancery reports, however, are not complete; only cases having some significance as precedents are printed. Covers 1814-1968. (v.1-43). Volume 4 (1872-73) is missing and is available on microfiche. Also in LexisNexis Academic Universe; source: "DE Court of Chancery Cases from 1814".

Orphans' Court Records / New Castle County, Delaware.
Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfilm S 365)

11 reels. Covers extant Orphans Court records, 1742-1868; Chancery Court, 1833-1852. Reel 8 contains an index to the Orphans Court records, 1742-1868; reel 9 contains an index to the Guardian Accounts, 1803-1869; reels 9-11, Index to Chancery Records. Film produced by the Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The original Orphans' Court Books are in the holdings of the Delaware Public Archives.

Reports of Cases Decided in the Court of Oyer and Terminer and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery of the State of Delaware. By John W. Houston. Wilmington, DE: James & Webb, 1880.
Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (KFD51 1856-1879)
Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfiche S7)

Also known as Houston's Criminal Reports. The section of Delaware Reports known by the name of the court reporter: J.W. Houston.

Document Exhibits. Delaware Public Archives.
Location: Internet (http://archives.delaware.gov/exhibits/document/index.shtml)

Digitized page images of records from selected Delaware courts.

Colonial

Delaware (Colony), County Court (Kent Co.). Court Records of Kent County, Delaware, 1680-1705. Edited by Leon De Valinger. American Legal Records, vol. 8. Washington, DC: American Historical Association, 1959.
Location: Morris Library (KFD516 .K4 A7 1680)

New Castle, Delaware. Court. Records of the Court of New Castle on Delaware. 2 vols. Lancaster, PA: Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, 1904-1935.
Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F174 .N5 N5)

Contents: I. 1676-1681. II. 1681-1699. Provides extracts of many of the oldest original records of New Castle County, as found in the court minutes of the Government of The Three Lower Counties on Delaware. Records include criminal and civil suits, lists of tithables, records of indenture, contents of estates, wills, deeds, land records, probates and more. Each volume contains a complete name index to its contents. Based on photocopies of original records.

Orphans' Court Records / New Castle County, Delaware.
Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfilm S 365)

11 reels. Covers extant Orphans Court records, 1742-1868; Chancery Court, 1833-1852. Reel 8 contains an index to the Orphans Court records, 1742-1868; reel 9 contains an index to the Guardian Accounts, 1803-1869; reels 9-11, Index to Chancery Records. Film produced by the Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The original Orphans' Court Books are in the holdings of the Delaware Public Archives.

Records of Sussex County: Court Records, 1680-1699.
Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfilm no. 3060)

Also known as Deale-Sussex County Court Records, 1680-1699. Filmed from originals at Delaware Public Archives.

Records of the Courts of Sussex County, Delaware, 1677-1710. 2 vols. Edited by Craig W. Horle. A publication of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and the Welcome Society of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
Location: Morris Library (KFD516 .S97 A7 1991)

Turner, Charles Henry Black. Some Records of Sussex County, Delaware. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott, 1909.
Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .S8 T7)
Location: Library Annex (F172 .S8 T7)

Includes civil, court, church, and Bible records, such as land grants, civil suits, wills, administrations, and marriage records. Also included are vestry records of St. Peter's church for the early 1800's. Some Kent County records are included. Dates of coverage vary, most cover 1600s to 1775. The Index and Marriages list are available online.

DELCAT Examples

More Information

Delaware Genealogical Research Guide. 3rd ed. Wilmington, DE: Delaware Genealogical Society, 2002.
Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref F163 .D349 2002)
Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F163 .D349 2002)

The most important guide for doing genealogical research in Delaware. It covers specific types of records and where they can be found in the state. Edited by Thomas P. Doherty and published by the Delaware Genealogical Society (http://delgensoc.org).

Delaware Public Archives.
Location: Internet (http://archives.delaware.gov/)

Delaware Land Records: A Research Guide.
Location: Internet (http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/genealogy/resguide/land.htm)

Delaware Wills and Probate Records: A Research Guide.
Location: Internet (http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/genealogy/resguide/probate.htm)

Inventory of the County Archives of Delaware: New Castle County. Prepared by the Delaware Historical Records Survey, Division of Community Service Programs, Work Projects Administration. Dover, DE: Public Archives Commission, State of Delaware, 1941; Reprint Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994.
Location: Morris Library (CD3150 .I58x 1994)
Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Delaware Folio CD3150 .I58x 1994)
Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Delaware CD3150 .H5)

Orphans' Court. Delaware Public Archives.
Location: Internet (http://archives.delaware.gov/collections/aghist/2840.shtml)

A history of the Orphans courts.

Schaefer, Christina K. Genealogical Encyclopedia of the Colonial Americas: A Complete Digest of the Records of All the Countries of the Western Hemisphere. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1998.
Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref E18 .S33x 1998)

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