CENSUS RECORDS

From the second federal census of 1800, the records are complete for Delaware and are widely available. The first census for 1790 was lost or destroyed, but a reconstruction from tax and assessment records was compiled by former state archivist, Leon de Valinger, Jr., and published by the National Genealogical Society as "Reconstructed 1790 Census of Delaware," NGS Special Publication No. 10, 2nd printing (Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society, 1962). The federal censuses were taken every ten years and are currently available through 1920, excepting the mostly destroyed 1890 census. All censuses are indexed except 1910.

Some earlier enumerations have been constructed from tax records and other lists. These include Harold B. Hancock, ed., The Reconstructed Delaware State Census of 1782 (Wilmington: Delaware Genealogical Society, 1983), and Ronald Vern Jackson, Early Delaware Census Records 1665–1697 (Bountiful, Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1977). There are no available state-enumerated censuses available for Delaware.

Delaware Research Sources

Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Delaware 1609–1888. 2 vols. 1888. Reprint. Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1972, and Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1990.

Delaware Genealogical Research Guide. Wilmington: Delaware Genealogical Society, 1989.

Clay, Henry, and Marion B. Reed. A Bibliography of Delaware Through 1960. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1966.

Boyer, Carl, ed. Ship Passenger Lists: Pennsylvania and Delaware, 1641–1825. Newhall, Calif: the author, 1980.

Weslager, Clinton A. Dutch Explorers, Traders and Settlers in the Delaware Valley 1609–1664. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961.

Johnson, Amandus. The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638–1664. 2 vols. 1911. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969.

Archives, Libraries, Societies, and Other Resources

Delaware Genealogical Society
505 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19801-3091
http://delgensoc.org/

Lower Delmarva Genealogical Society (LDGS)
P.O. Box 3602
Salisbury, MD 21802-3602
Tel: 410-742-3501
  410-546-0314
http://bay.intercom.net/ldgs/index.html

Historical Society of Delaware
Old Town Hall
505 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
Tel: 302-655-7161
Fax: 302-655-7844
Email: hsd@dca.net
http://www.hsd.org/

State Library of Delaware
43 S. DuPont Highway
Dover, DE, 19901
Tel: 302-739-4748
Fax: 302-739-6787

Delaware Digital Library
http://www.lib.de.us/