New Castle County, Delaware Genealogy

United States   Delaware    New Castle County

County Courthouse
The New Castle County Government Center 87 Reads Way New Castle, DE 19720-1648

History
1638 Swedes and Finns settle at Fort Christiana (now Wilmington). They eventually spread as far north as Philadelphia. See New Sweden wiki article for more details. 1651 Dutch build Fort Casimir and Sandhook (now New Castle City). See New Netherland article for details. 1654 New Sweden captures Fort Casimir without a fight. It is renamed Fort Trinity (Trefaldighets). 1655 New Netherland returns a large army and forces all of New Sweden to submit to Dutch rule. 1664 As part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War New Netherland is surrendered to England. 1673 A new war breaks out. The Dutch send a huge armada to recapture New Netherland, but at the end of 1674 it is finally ceded to England. Nieuw Amstel is renamed New Castle after the English take control.

Parent County
1673 New Castle County was created 8 August 1673 from New Amistel (old) County. County seat: Wilmington

Populated Places
Cities: Towns: Villages: Hundreds: More information can be found at Delaware Hundreds. Unincorporated Communities:

Neighboring Counties
Kent | Maryland counties: Cecil | Kent | New Jersey counties: Gloucester| Salem | Pennsylvania counties: Chester | Delaware

Gazetteers

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

Civil War

 * The 1890 Census Veterans Schedules for the Delaware State Hospital for the Insane are available on roll 118 of "Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War" (NARA M123). The schedules list veterans and their widows who served as Union soldiers in the Civil War. For more information on the 1890 Veterans Schedules see Union Census Records.

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital version at Google Books. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Delaware, New Castle County on page 126.]

Naturalizaitons
Delaware Public Archives has placed the New Castle County Naturalizations Original petitions and other legal documents of immigrants wishing to become American citizens on-line. There is an alphabetical listing of the names and dates.The date listed reflects the year of the file and may vary from the document displayed. The file for each individual may contain more documentation.

Probate

 * A Calendar of Delaware Wills, New Castle County, 1682-1800. New York, NY: National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1911; Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969. (Family History Library book .)

Vital Records

 * New Castle County, Delaware Obituary and Death Notice Collection Free from GenealogyBuff.com.  Obits and death notices from Various Funeral Homes in the Wilmington, Newark, Elsmere, New Castle, Middletown, Delaware City, Newport, Bellefonte and Odessa areas.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Newark Delaware Family History Center
 * Newark, Delaware
 * Wilmington Delaware Family History Center
 * Wilmington, Delaware

Web Sites

 * The New Castle County DEGenWeb Project, an member of The DEGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for New Castle County
 * Family History Library catalog for New Castle County
 * New Castle County, Delaware Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)