BEST GENEALOGY WEBSITES
Listed below are some of the most notable websites
available. But, there are many
more. Sometimes, using a “Search Engine”, you can find a small
site full of information !!
ONE VERY BIG WORD OF WARNING !!………….
There is a LOT of erroneous information about family lines that has been listed online. Unfortunately, when one person puts the wrong information online, others tend to pick it up and carry it forward.
Use what you find online as possible “Clues”, but don’t take it as the Gospel Truth unless the person posting it has also listed the source of the information. (And this warning applies to the LDS site, “Family Search”, also, because some of that information has been “submitted”; as opposed to being taken from Vital Records)
The best thing about finding information listed, is that the person who submitted it is also listed, and you can contact them. I, usually tell them that I have more on the line if they are interested, and ask a casual question relating to an item that might be in doubt. SOMETIMES, you hit the Jackpot and have a whole new source of information!!
Often, you can find new information by simply typing the name that you are trying to find into your Search Engine. (I use Google, but there are others). Type in the name you want in quotation marks, i.e. “John Smith”. And make use of the + sign…..”John Smith” + Iowa. That will help narrow down your search.
My favorites still include:
USGenWeb http://www.usgenweb.com/
Within the 50
state pages you'll find pages for individual counties. All of the information was typed and
submitted by volunteers. Special
projects include census transcriptions and tombstones.
Since GenWeb is
strictly volunteer, each county will differ as to what you will find. The counties who have active volunteers
helping transcribe vital records, biographies, obituaries, etc. will have more
on their website. Most county
coordinators welcome information.
So, if they have a place for obituaries, and you have an old obituary
pertaining to that county, consider typing it and emailing it to
them.
GenForum
http://genforum.genealogy.com/
This is one of the
GREATEST ways to connect with others researching your family line. Some names, of course, may have
thousands of messages. But, use the
“Search” box and you can narrow it down.
And Don’t Be Afraid to put on your own Query, or answer or ask
questions if something looks familiar. It can bring great
results!!
FamilySearch
http://www.familysearch.org/
Online Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the home to the International Genealogical
Index of vital records, Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File databases of
user-submitted family trees, the US Social Security Death Index of 64 million
records, and special vital-records indexes for Scandinavia and Mexico. And now
it's added census records: the 1880 US census, 1881 Canadian census and 1881
British census. The nice thing
about this site is that it is not “picky” about the spelling, so you normally
get the variations of a name.
WorldConnect http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/
This is a part of
rootsweb, but this web address is a faster way to get to it. You start with putting in the name you
are seeking. But, if you get too
many results, there is an advanced search at the bottom of the page to help you
narrow it down. (BEWARE…this is one
of the areas where the wrong information keeps getting passed on. But, you can also get some GREAT
information…..and contacts)
Now for Other
Pages………..
(Note: I have not had
experience with ALL of them, but they are rated as some of the
best)
I will list the Free pages first, and note
the ones that you have to pay to access 
Searches
Cyndi's
List
http://www.cyndislist.com/
Cyndi
Howell's list of links—more than
180,000 are sorted into 150-plus categories continues to set the standard. A search box now makes this mammoth site
easier and faster to use.
Cyndi’s List probably
has the most links to the most subjects of any site on the
internet.
RootsWeb www.rootsweb.com
This
volunteer effort has survived an acquisition by the “for-profit” Ancestry.com and remains a favorite for
free online genealogy. Use the multiple search engines to probe RootsWeb's collections of user-submitted records
(notably death records, obituaries, military records and cemeteries). Don't miss
the guides to getting started in genealogy and to mailing lists on
everything. Message boards
and pedigree files are the same as Ancestry.com's versions, but many users
prefer the RootsWeb interface.
Bureau of Land Management
General Land Office Records http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/
You can search
more than 2 million federal land—title records for Eastern public-land states
(generally, Eastern states excluding the original 13 colonies) issued between
1820 and 1908. Land titles issued between 1908 and the mid-1960s, including
those in Western states, are now being added. If you get a hit, you may be able
to view a digitized image of your ancestor's land patent.
GenCircles
http://www.gencircles.com/
Not only does this
Global Tree contain more than 45 million user-submitted ancestors, you can use
the matching technology to connect your kin with those in the database. Besides
GenCircles' own forums ("clubs"), the Genealogy Message Searcher also hunts for
results in the Ancestry-RootsWeb boards.
Connecting
with Other Researchers
CousinConnect http://www.cousinconnect.com/
With more than
24,000 queries from around the world, this is among the best stand-alone sites
for hooking up with other genealogists and distant cousins researching your
family. (Genealogy.com's GenForum and the Ancestry-RootsWeb message boards still
dwarf it, though.)
Mailing Lists http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html
These are special
interest lists that sends you an email when someone in the group posts a message
to them. You subscribe (free) to
the ones that interest you. If it
generates more mail than you want or need, then you
“Unsubscribe”.
If you are going to
pay to subscribe to something, it is probably a battle between these first
two:
Ancestry.com (Ancesty.com
DOES have some Free information)
http://www.ancestry.com/
This giant
commercial site can meet almost every online genealogical need, from census
images ($99.95 a year) to old newspaper pages ($79.95 a year) to family tree
software (free). You'll pay for the best stuff here—$189.95 a year for the
works—but Ancestry.com probably comes the closest to delivering on the dream of
doing real research from your desktop. The basic US Records Collection ($79.95 a
year) includes more than 3,000 sources of digital data; British Isles
researchers will also want the UK & Ireland Records Collection ($99.95 a
year).
Genealogy.com (Genealogy.com
has Free information, also)
http://www.genealogy.com/
Begun as a home
for Family Tree Maker software users (who can still access the site via http://www.familytreemaker.com/),
this has blossomed into a valuable site for all researchers. You'll find a
wealth of how-to information, celebrity family trees and user Web pages,
For a fee,
Genealogy.com also leads you to World Family Tree pedigree files ($49.99 a
year), the Genealogy Library of digitized books ($49.99 a year, includes 1850
census images), the Family and Local Histories collection ($79.99 a year),
International and Passenger Records ($79.99 a year) and the US Census Collection
($99.99 a year).
GeneaNet (You can find a lot of
Free connections on this site)
http://www.geneanet.org/
You can search
databases with more than 70 million entries or scour the whole Web with the
associated GeneaSeek search engine http://www.geneaseek.org/. Special sections
include databases of family photos and postcards from around the world.
"Privileged" members (beginning at about $40 a year) get extra perks, but this
site is valuable even for occasional visitors.
FOR FREE VOLUNTEER
HELP:
(Keep in mind, that if
you can offer any help (looking up
an obituary; looking in a book that you own; taking a picture of a tombstone,
these volunteer sites always welcome more help!)
Books We Own www.rootsweb.com/~bwo
Somebody,
somewhere has that genealogy book with the fact you need to get past your brick
wall. If only you had some way to find her and ask her to look it up for you!
There is—the Books We Own site, where (to the horror of genealogy book
publishers) generous researchers all over put their libraries at your
fingertips. A wonderful service, but don't abuse it; if you need more than a
lone lookup or two…..buy the book.
Random Acts of Kindness http://www.raogk.org/
The 4387 volunteers of this movement have agreed at least once per month to do a research task in their local area as an act of kindness. This is not a FREE service. The cost to you would be reimbursing the volunteer for his expenses in fulfilling your request (video tape, copy fees, etc.).
US
GenWeb
http://www.usgenweb.org/statelinks-table.html
Nearly
all counties in all states have a Look-up category.
Genealogy
Helplist
helplist.org
Another site that
shows how genealogists can indeed depend on the kindness of strangers, the
Genealogy Helplist connects you with far-flung researchers willing to look up
your ancestors in their local libraries, archives and courthouses.
Lost
Pictures, Heirlooms, Bibles, etc.
Heirlooms Lost
http://www.heirloomslost.com/
Find your waylaid
family heirlooms with this site that helps connect orphaned stuff with the
families that once owned it. The database contains more than 1,600 items and
covers 4,400-plus surnames.
Past
Connect
http://www.pastconnect.com/
Another site that
unites people with the lost pieces of their past, Past Connect contains rescued
items. Visitors to the site can discover treasures sold at auctions, estate
sales, flea markets, yard sales and the like, such as letters, diplomas,
marriage certificates, photographs, birth certificates, receipts, postcards and
funeral cards.
Bible Records Online www.biblerecords.com
Tracy
St. Claire not only rescues family Bibles—she puts them online. At last count,
this site was home to 718 Bibles representing 2,431 surnames. You can search the
collection or browse by Bible or by surname.
Ancient
Faces
http://www.ancientfaces.com/
Claiming to be the
largest visual genealogy exchange on the Internet, Ancient Faces boasts more
than 17,500 old family photos of more than 20,000 people. Help identify unknown
folks or find missing pages from your own family album here.
Dead Fred
deadfred.com
The original
online orphaned-photo site has grown to more than 20,000 old pictures. Your
ancestors might be waiting for you here.
Newspapers
Newspaper
Abstracts
http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/
This is the
USGenWeb (see above) for newspaper abstracts and extracts. Organized by
state and county and depending on volunteers, this site focuses on US newspapers
prior to 1923, with some articles
from other countries prior to 1900. The pages here now number more than 10,500.
The Olden
Times
theoldentimes.com
Unlike Newspaper
Abstracts this is a one-man
show—but it's an impressive site nonetheless. You'll find obituaries, birth and
marriage announcements, all scanned from a collection of 18th-, 19th- and early
20th-century newspapers from the United States, British Isles and
Australia.
Cemetery
Information
Find A
Grave
findagrave.com
Find A Grave lets
you search 4.1 million grave records or look for specific cemeteries. You can
also create virtual memorials and even add "virtual flowers" and a note to an
ancestor's grave.
Interment.net
http://www.interment.net/
This cemetery site
puts online more than 3.2 million records from nearly 7,000 cemeteries
worldwide. Browse by region and check out special collections of veterans
cemeteries.
USGenWeb http://www.usgenweb.com/
Many of the State’s
County websites have cemetery transcription online.
Immigration
and Passenger Lists
American Plantations and
Colonies english-america.com
Early arrivals to
America are listed here, with more than 800 passenger lists and 25,000 Colonial
immigrants dating to the first settlers at Jamestown.
Immigrant Ships Transcribers
Guild immigrantships.org
Another volunteer
effort, this site serves up transcriptions of passenger lists from more than
4,000 ships. If your ancestors didn't come through Ellis Island, start here—and
don't miss the search engine buried near the bottom.
Ellis
Island
http://www.ellisisland.org/
If your ancestor
was among the 17 million immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and the Port
of New York between 1892 and 1924, you can find his or her passenger listing
here. Once you've identified the right record in this vast database, you can
view the digitized actual manifests and an image of the ship your ancestor
traveled on. Even if you don't have an Ellis Island immigrant in your family
tree, check this site to see if you have an ancestor among the 5 million other
passengers and crew included in the database.
TheShipsList http://www.theshipslist.com/
Besides links to
passenger lists, TheShipsList offers a virtual education in 19th-century
shipping, from photos of ports and vessels to period narratives. (NOTE: The Search Engine at the
top of the page is for Ancestry.com…..go down farther to get to the Search
Engine for the ShipsList)
Free Genealogy
Forms Choose the
style that you like from sites below:
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forms/download.html
http://www.1stopfreeshop.com/genforms.htm
http://www.pbs.org/kbyu/ancestors/charts/
Genealogy
Tips
http://www.a1webdesign.com/rebick/26tips.htm