Sussex County, Delaware Genealogy

United States Delaware  Sussex County

Guide to Sussex County, Delaware ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Formerly known as Deale County, the name was changed to Sussex on 4 Dec 1682. The Recorder of deeds has land records from 1693. Register of Wills houses the probate records

Parent County
1673--Sussex County was created 8 August 1673 from Deale (old) County. County seat: Georgetown

Boundary Changes
Because of the ongoing boundary disputes between Lord Baltimore of Maryland and William Pitt of Pennsylvania, much of Sussex County (excepting a few miles inland from the coast) was also recognized as part of Maryland's Somerset County up through 1760. Both Pennsylvania (and, after 1710, Delaware) and Maryland issued land patents for the area, sometimes in conflict with each other.

The British Crown ordered the dispute to be settled in 1760, and commissioned Charles Mason and Jermiah Dixon to survey the boundary. In 1769, the survey was completed, defining the border between Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania that exists today.

The border between Sussex and Kent Counties, Delaware was set in 1683 and has not changed since then.

For animated maps illustrating Delaware County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Delaware County Boundary Maps" (1673-1841) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places
Cities:

Towns:

Hundreds: More information can be found at Delaware Hundreds.

Unincorporated communities:

Gazetteers

 * United States Geographic Survey Place Names - GNIS for Sussex County (over 1990 entries) (may not always be present in alphabetic order on first try.)

Probate

 * DeValinger, Leon. A Calendar of Sussex County, Delaware Probate Records, 1680-1800. Dover, Delaware: Public Archives Commission, 1964.
 * Moore, Marguerite R. indexes for Sussex 1800-1869, three volumes(Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1995-97.)

Vital Records
See also How to order Delaware Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application for Delaware Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Death Certificate to mail.

Societies and Libraries
See also a List of Delaware Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * Sussex County, DE History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Delaware Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Delaware Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * The Sussex County NYGenWeb Project, an member of The DEGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Sussex County
 * FamilySearch Catalog for Sussex County
 * Sussex County, Delaware Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Sussex County Genealogy (Delaware Genealogy)