Delaware Wills and Probate Records: A Research Guide

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.

Delaware Probate Records Database. Delaware Public Archives. Location: Internet (http://archives.delaware.gov/collections/probate.shtml): Available online from DPA. An index to the New Castle, Kent and Sussex County Register of Wills probate records in the Delaware Public Archives. Covers probates completed circa 1680 to circa 1925. This index is searchable by name of person whose property was in probate, year, and race; searches can be limited by country. If not available in Probate Record sources listed below, contact Delaware Public Archives to obtain copies of the wills and probates. Note: in Ancestry Library Edition.

Calendar of Sussex County, Delaware Probate Records: 1680-1800. Dover, DE: Public Archives Commission, 1964. Location: Morris Library (F172 .S8 D4) Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .S8 D4) Location: Library Databases (via Ancestry Library Edition) [restricted to UD]: Note: database version can be searched by any name in the record, e.g., a beneficiary. (Go to Advanced Search, browse... by state)

Calendar of Kent County, Delaware, Probate Records, 1680-1800. Dover, DE: Public Archives Commission, 1944. Location: Morris Library (F172 .K3 D45) Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .K3 D45) Location: Library Databases (via Ancestry Library Edition) [restricted to UD]: To access this file in Ancestry Library Edition, select Search, browse... by state, Kent County, Delaware Probate Records. Note: database version can be searched by any name in the record, e.g., a beneficiary.

A Calendar of Delaware Wills, New Castle County, 1682-1800. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, 1911; reprint 1991. Location: Morris Library (F172 .N5 N2 1911a) Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .N5 N2) and (Del F172 .N5 N2x 1991) Location: Library Databases (via Ancestry Library Edition) [restricted to UD]: Abstracted and compiled by the Historical Research Committee of the Colonial Dames of Delaware. Provides: place person lived, sometimes occupation, date will was made, date will was probated, names of beneficiaries/survivors, names of executors. Abstracts have a letters / number designation which refers to the Will Record book and page. Arrangement is chronological. Has a name index, which includes every person named in the will. See also: Virden, New Castle County ... Wills and Estates...

Colonial Delaware Wills and Estates to 1880: An Index. Edited by Donald Odell Virdin. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994. Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F163 .V567 1994)

Kent County, Delaware, Wills and Administrations, 1680-1800: An Index. Edited by Raymond B. Clark. St. Michaels, MD: R.B. Clark, 1985. Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .K3 C58 1985)

New Castle County, Delaware, Wills and Estates, 1682-1800: An Index. Edited by Donald Odell Virdin. St. Michael's, MD: Raymond Clark, Jr., 1982. Location: Morris Library (F172 .N5 V544 1982) Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .N5 V544 1982): A Name index to a Calendar of Delaware Wills... This index includes only the name of the person who made the will, unlike the index in the Calendar of Delaware Wills, which has a name index of every person mentioned.

Sussex County, Delaware, Wills and Administrations, 1680-1800: An Index. Edited by Raymond B. Clark. St. Michaels, MD: R. B. Clark, 1985. Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del F172 .S8 C52 1985)

A Random Sample of Kent County, Delaware, Estate Inventories, 1727-1775. Newark, DE: 1987. Location: Morris Library - Special Collections (Del Folio F172 .K3 R19x 1987): " ... 214 inventories selected at random from the probate files in the Hall of Records ..." Compiled by Richard L. Bushman and Anna L. Hawley.

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 The Index and Marriages list are available online.

Sussex County, Delaware Wills: 1800-1813. Edited by F. Edward Wright. Lewes, DE: Colonial Roots, 2004. Location: Morris Library (F172 .S8 W75x 2004)

New Castle County Probate Records, 1670-1860. Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfilm no. 3087): The wills and inventories are filmed alphabetically by the name of the person whose estate is being probated. 122 reels. This microfilm is a copy of the originals at Delaware Public Archives.

Will Book A / New Castle County Register of Wills, 1682-1854. Location: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfilm S 364): 7 reels. Reel 7 contains an index of wills and administrations, 1683-1885. Film produced by the Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

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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).

The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing Company, 1997. Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref CS49 .S65 1997): See pages 201-211.

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

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

This page is maintained by Rebecca Knight, Reference Department.

Version: 11/2007
Last modified: 06/17/09