External Resources:

 

 

One of the main challenges of genealogical research is finding just where to look for one's ancestores.

The links show are ones I have used and recommend others.

Also don't forget your local Family History Center. By logging into the FHC Portal you will have access to additional resources without cost.

FHC Portal sites include:

Free Reources

FamilySearch.org The original LDS genealogical website

FamilySearch Research Wiki

  • Find information and resources for family history research in a particular geographic area.
  • Determine where to best look for records from a specific time period
  • Add information about a place you have been or researched
  • Add information about records or archives that will help others

FamilySearch Forums here you can find answers to any question you may have. Here you can ask about:

  • Specific ancestory that you're trying to find.
  • Which records are best for a particular time period
  • Locations of resources
  • Any other FamilySearch product or Web site, such as the indexing site.

Mesa Arizona Regional Family History Center A Regional Family History Center is a branch of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, serving 54 Stakes in the Valley of the Sun.

  • 180 Missionaries trained to help more than 50,000 patrons who visit the Center each year
  • Open 64 hours per week to assist patrons.

The Los Angeles Family History Library or LAFHL was established in 1964 to service the needs of the then 6.4 million citizens of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Non members are welcome and there is no charge for facility use. About 60% of those coming to the LAFHL were not members of the Church. The LAFHL has one of the LARGEST holdings of any branch in the Family History Library System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The center has access to the 2.4 million microfilms in the Salt Lake City Family History Library.

Orange Regional Family History Center Located at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 674 South Yorba Street, in the City of Orange, California, the Orange Regional Family History Center welcomes the public. Entrance is from the parking lot in the back.

The London Family History Centre The premises are due for refurbishment this autumn. To ensure a continuity of service for their patrons we are looking at options and are in discussion with The National Archives on temporarily relocating their facility to The National Archives in Kew.

History at Home: A Guide to Genealogy. Former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a pretty impressive family tree. By blood or marriage, he had ties to 11 other past presidents. While most people aren't related (even by a shoestring) to a single world leader, tracing a family's history is an exciting journey. Genealogy involves searching for the clues that link relatives from one generation to another.

The Family History Guide is a free website that represents a best-in-class learning environment for family history. Its scope is broad, but its focus is narrow enough to help you achieve your goals, step by step. Whether you're brand new to family history or a seasoned researcher—or somewhere in between—The Family History Guide can be your difference maker.

Family Name Specific Resources

Rawlin(g)s-Rollin(g)s Family History Association Lots of newsletters various Rawlin(g)s-Rollin(g)s family members.

Cyndi's List A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.

  • A list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
  • A free jumping-off point for you to use in your online research.
  • A "card catalog" to the genealogical collection in the immense library that is the Internet.
  • Your genealogical research portal onto the Internet.

US Geb Web Welcome to The USGenWeb Project! We are a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.

Organization is by county and state, and this website provides you with links to all the state genealogy websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level and this website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well.

The USGenWeb Census Project on this site was transcribed and proofread by USGenWeb Census Project volunteers. Without their dedication this web site would not exist.

Broad River Genealogical Society We have family photographs, picture postcards, buildings and landmarks from the counties in our area of North Carolina. We also have a few we need help to identify. Can you help, or do you have photos to share?

Corona Genealogical Society The society is open to anyone who wishes to research his/her family history. Monthly programs are offered to assist us in successfully identifying our ancestors of all backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, religions, etc.

The Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group (SVCGG) was named in 2004. The group formerly was called the Silicon Valley PAF Users Group; PAF is the acronym for the free PAF software. SVCGG meetings and seminars feature classes popular family history software programs, provides opportunities for participating in projects.

Ancestor's Website links to the BYU's Ancestors TV Programs

Ancestry Insider The unofficial, unauthorized view of Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. The Ancestry Insider reports on, defends, and constructively criticizes these two websites and associated topics. The author attempts to fairly and evenly support both.

Welcome Ancestor Hunters!
Inside you will find many of the lessons this ancestor hunter has learned as I have traveled the bumpy and satisfying road to my ancestors.

Roots of the Sixty Colonists F.L.Weis collected a set of lines from sixty colonists, who came from New England between 1623 and 1650. These lines are entries into the world of higher nobility of Europe.

Descendants of Charlemange - The data base can be read in various languages. English, German, French, Spanish, Polish and Dutch are available. Use the name based access to select a language. Note that the names are not in the selected language! (According to the data bases they are in English, Dutch, or German, respectively.) In the data base the names are intended to be in the nationality of the person.

Family History Archives

  • 60,000 Genealogies and local histories - and growing!
  • Search on every word.
  • Can download page or complete book.
  • Permanent URL
  • Books from many libraries and individuals
  • Can upload your "book" - permanent site

Scribd.com Scribd is the largest social publishing and reading site in the world. We've made it incredibly simple for anyone to share and discover informative, entertaining and original written content on the web and mobile devices. Our vision is to liberate the written word, to connect people and organizations with the information and ideas that matter most to them.

  • Publish and share your family's story
  • Search for genealogies and histries

German Roots The original purpose of German Roots was to link to the best and most informative resources for doing German genealogy research with a focus on Americans of German descent. These resources were divided into easily searchable topics.

www.germanheritage.com This German-American history website is financially sponsored by the German Corner, and does not generate any revenues for the German Corner or Davitt Publications. The sole purpose of this site is to be of service to the public.

German Spelling One wonderful thing about German spelling is that you basically spell how you hear the word. There are not many exceptions. The only trick is that you need to learn and understand the sounds of German letters, dipthongs, and disgraphs, some which are completely different from English pronounciation. (See The German Alphabet.) The following tips highlight in particular spelling traits of German consonants and digraphs, which once understood, will help you spell better in German.

Pennsylvania German Naming Customs. Uncover a subtle way to identify other family members.

About.com is a valuable resource for content that helps you to solve the large and small needs of everyday life. Search for Genealogy for a surprizing amount of information.

Answers.com marries the best of community-driven questions and answers with hundreds of respected and trusted editorial reference books. The site knows the best answer to give you, whether it summons the expansive, ever-growing collection of community answers from WikiAnswers, or it taps into its ReferenceAnswers database, a comprehensive set of editorial, licensed reference topics.

Steve Morse's One-Step Webpages This site has links to many databases and is an excellent starting point for any researcher.

South African Genealogy You will find information here on how to research your own family, regardless of where in the world you come from. More specifically these pages will provide information on how to research your genealogy and family history in South Africa.

Old Bailey Online The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674 to 1913
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

Cheshire Tithe Maps Almost 500 Cheshire tithe maps are now available online. Together with the information recorded in tithe apportionments, they are a unique record of land ownership, occupancy and use in Cheshire 150 years ago.

Access Genealogy Access Genealogy is the largest free genealogy website not owned by Ancestry. As such, it relies on the revenue from commercial genealogy companies such as Ancestry to pay for the server and other expenses related to producing and warehousing such a large collection of data. If you're considering joining either of these programs, why not join using the links above, and help support free genealogy online!

Blacksheep Ancestors Search for your Blacksheep Ancestors in Free Genealogical Prison and Convict Records, Historical Court Records, Executions, Insane Asylum Records and Biographies of Famous Outlaws, Criminals & Pirates in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

Genealogy Buff The purpose of GenealogyBuff.com is to be a free genealogy search site that will hopefully inspire new family researchers. By providing a means to gather a large amount of data for a surname, one can build a family tree very quickly. (Hint: start with yourself, work backwards, using the census records. Then build using the many databases referenced from this site.

Library of Congress links to State Digital Archives The Library of Congress American Memory project, Primary Sources by State, State Resource Guides, and other digital initiatives provide free access through the Internet to the treasures of the Library’s collections that document America’s history, culture, and creativity.

The Mountain West Digital Library is a portal to digital resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, and Hawaii.


The Digital Public Library of America empowers people to learn, grow, and contribute to a diverse and better-functioning society. We do this by maximizing public access to our shared history, culture, and knowledge.

ScotlandsPlaces is a free resource that lets you explore thousands of records about Scotland simply by searching for a place name, clicking on a map or typing in your postcode. Search results bring together three national collections so that you can easily find maps, photographs and written records about your chosen place.

 Reclaim The Records, a new not-for-profit activist group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates. We identify important genealogical records sets that ought to be in the public domain but which are being wrongly restricted by government archives, libraries, and agencies. We file Freedom of Information and Open Data requests to get that public data released back to the public. And if the government doesn’t comply, we take them to court.

The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist provides a searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The online checklist is based upon the Library's 1981 publication Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress and will be continually updated to reflect new acquisitions.

The Bomb Sight project is mapping the London WW2 bomb census between 7/10/1940 and 06/06/1941. Previously available only by viewing in the Reading Room at The National Archives, Bomb Sight is making the maps available to citizen researchers, academics and students. They will be able to explore where the bombs fell and to discover memories and photographs from the period.

The International Bomber Command Center. The IBCC Digital Archive is an extensive repository of the personal stories of those who served and suffered during WWII, including personal memorabilia and one of the biggest collections of eyewitness testimonies.  It is being created as part of this project to ensure that the story of the Command and the bombing campaign is preserved in perpetuity.

GenServ The GenServ System was the First Genealogy Web-Site on the Internet with Searchable Online GEDCOM Datafiles.

Library Spot a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information.

GWEST Directory of US Genealogical Libraries An index to genealogical libraries throught the United States.

Eastman Genealogy On Line The DAILY newsletter for genealogy consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether the vendors like it or not! This is the most popular online genealogy magazine in the world.

English Poor Law Records The Workhouse often evokes the grim Victorian world of Oliver Twist, but its story is a fascinating mix of social history, politics, economics and architecture. This site, www.workhouses.org.uk, is dedicated to the workhouse — its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets...

Genealogy and Military Records The United States military keeps detailed records of its servicemen and -women making it the perfect resource for your genealogical search. From the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783, to the Vietnam War, 1955-1975, and beyond there are detailed service records. These resources are an invaluable tool in the search for your family.

International Coalition on Newspaper The International Coalition on Newspapers is a coordinated multi-institutional effort to increase the availability of international newspaper collections by improving both bibliographic and physical access to global newspaper collections.

Appalachian American Genealogy They focus on providing genealogical research information for the Southern Appalachian Region known as the "Tri-State Area"; but, include the Northwestern area of South Carolina because it was significant in ancestors' migration patterns into this area.

Gramps-Project Gramps is a free software project and community. We strive to produce a genealogy program that is both intuitive for hobbyists and feature-complete for professional genealogists. It is a community project, created, developed and governed by genealogists.

Facebook I didnt expect this one either, but it can be used to find family members and for them to find you. It worked for me!

Wikipedia is a free web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 16 million articles (over 3.4 million in English) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site.

Lost Cousins LostCousins is about bringing people together, not just people who share an interest in family history, but people with a shared interest in the same families, people who share the same DNA.

London Lives makes available, in a fully digitised and searchable form, a wide range of primary sources about eighteenth-century London, with a particular focus on plebeian Londoners.

Index of Old Occupations - Think your job it the pits? Stop whining and check out some really wretched ways to make a living.

Welcome to Trade Union Ancestors - Discover your family history in the trade union movement

The scale of the British trade union movement is astounding. Tens of millions of people have been members, and 5,000 trade unions are known to have existed at one time or another.

Vital Record Sources

BMD Registers The Official Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial BMDs Service For records of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial taken from non parish sources. Non-Conformist Records, Early Births, Baptisms and Burials including Overseas records Methodists, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Protestant Dissenters, Congregationalist, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Quakers (Society of Friends), Dissenters and Russian Orthodox. Maternity Records. Overseas Records. Early Birth Registers plus various other BMD records.

Find a Grave.com Find A Grave is a resource for finding the final resting place of family, friends, and 'famous' individuals. With millions of names and photos, it is an invaluable tool for the genealogist and family history buff. Find A Grave memorials can contain rich content including photos, biographies and dates. Visitors can leave 'virtual flowers' on the memorials they visit, completing the online cemetery experience.

Interment.net Interment.net is a publisher of cemetery transcriptions for use by genealogists and local historians. Visitors use our online library to help them locate burials of their family and friends, trace their family history, and learn something about cemeteries in general.

Gravestone Preservation This web site is destined to become a continual work in progress. As I compile information on a specific topic, new sub-topics arise. Nearly every subject discussed, may be further elaborated, or expanded to include more information, photographs and commentary.

The Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) was founded in 1977 for the purpose of furthering the study and preservation of gravestones. AGS is an international organization with an interest in gravemarkers of all periods and styles.

Finding Obituaries Online & Writing Obituaries

ObituariesHelp.org An informative and respected website designed to offer resources for obituaries, funerals and genealogy search.

Ohio Obituary Index Started in the 1970's on cards, the obituary card file indexed death notices and some marriage notices from local newspapers. The earliest Fremont papers were from the 1830's and have been completed for obituaries up to the current day.

Ancestry Obituaries Obituaries celebrate life stories.With obituaries, you can gain a deeper level of understanding about your ancestors—who they were, what they cared about, and how they lived.

AncientFaces is a free network comprised of a growing community of 50,000+ members who actively share family photos, stories & recipes that have been passed down through generations. We believe in sharing our treasured family memories with the world in order to connect with family and friends & preserve our family legacies through building links to the past.

Death Indexes This website is a directory of links to websites with online death indexes, listed by state and county. Included are death records, death certificate indexes, death notices & registers, obituaries, probate indexes, and cemetery & burial records.

Minnesota Marriages Welcome to MOMS, The Minnesota Official Marriage System (MOMS) is a program of the Minnesota Association of County Officers (MACO). Its development and oversight is led by a steering committee of local registrars who are members of MACO.

American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity.

Common-place is a common place for exploring and exchanging ideas about early American history and culture. Common-place is a common place for all sorts of people to read about all sorts of things relating to early American life--from architecture to literature, from politics to parlor manners.

Linkpendium is being developed by Karen Isaacson and Brian Leverich, founders of the extremely popular RootsWeb genealogical community site. At the time of its merger with Ancestry in June 2000, RootsWeb had about 600,000 registered users, was serving about 100,000,000 Web page views monthly, and was delivering about 160,000,000 pieces of email monthly to the subscribers of its 18,000 mailing lists.

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness Our volunteers have agreed to do a free genealogy research task at least once per month in their local area as an act of kindness. While the volunteers of Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) have agreed to donate their time for free, you MUST PAY the volunteer for his/her expenses in fulfilling your request (copies, printing fees, postage, film or video tape, parking fees, etc.).

Genoom With Genoom, users can create their own family network and genealogical family tree to connect with relatives from around the world. Basic membership to Genoom is free, with the ability to add a family tree (including importing GEDCOM files), upload photos, videos, and documents, and send messages to members within the user's family network.

Refdesk.com Since 1995, Refdesk is a free and family-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources.

Hamrick.com US Surname distribution. Enter a surname (last name) into the form below and you'll get a map of the United States showing the distribution of people with this surname within the 50 United States.

The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.

The principal objectives of the WDL are to:

  • Promote international and inter-cultural understanding;
  • Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
  • Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
  • Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.

Histpop - The Online Historical Population Reports Website A collection of British Historical Population Reports. The Online Historical Population Reports (OHPR) collection provides online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937.

The collection goes far beyond the basic population reports with a wealth of textual and statistical material which provide an in-depth view of the economy, society (through births, deaths and marriages) and medicine during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

FreeUKGen is an initiative to help make more high quality primary (or near-primary) records of relevance to UK genealogy conveniently available online, preferably for free, in a coherent, easy to access and search, facility or set of facilities.

FreeUKGen projects include:

  • FreeBMD is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records. It is a part of the FreeUKGen family, which also includes FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers).
  • Free CEN Have YOU ever thought of the benefit of the U.K. Census data being centrally available on ONE database, and being able to trace your ancestors from 1841 to 1891? This project aims to provide a "free-to-view" online searchable database of the 19th century UK census returns.
  • Free REG Our objective is to provide free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records, that have been transcribed from parish and non-conformist registers of the U.K. FreeREG is a companion project to FreeBMD (a database of the GRO birth, marriage and death indexes from 1837) and FreeCEN (a database of census information).

The Society of Genealogists offers a unique combination of research material, guidance and support for those interested in family history and the lives of earlier generations. It is a charity whose objects are to "promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge of genealogy"

Genealogy Blog Finder links to over 1,700 genealogical related blogs. You just never know what you'll find in here.

Electric Scotland is a very large site mostly about the history of Scotland, the Scots and people and places around the world of Scots descent. We thought we'd open up the site by showing you many of the links below. When you do genealogy it's also good to know how your ancestors lived at various times in history and here you'll discover much of interest.

Welcome to Somos Primos™, a publication dedicated to past and present articles, events and information concerning Hispanic heritage issues.

Genealogy for Beginners Learning about your families roots can be an interesting and exciting way to feel close to your ancestors. Genealogy connects you to your family's past. The Internet has several resources to trace your family tree.

Beginning Genealogist This site grew out of a myriad of questions that I have received from persons who are just getting started researching their family history. They write to me having visited my web site African-Native American.com. Others write to me, because they have stumbled upon the message board.

Fifty Questions for Family History Interviews A great way to uncover clues to your family history or to get great quotes for journaling in a heritage scrapbook is a family interview. By asking the right, open-ended questions, you're sure to collect a wealth of family tales. Use this list of family history interview questions to help you get started, but be sure to personalize the interview with your own questions as well.

Welcome to the Institute for Oral History Through dynamic, recorded interviews, oral history preserves the stories of individuals who helped create the fabric of history and whose lives, in turn, were shaped by the people, places, events, and ideas of their day.

Exploring your Irish family history, step-by-step Follow our guide to researching your Irish family history. Including what to look for and planning your trip.

IrelandGenWeb Project homepage. This site is part of the WorldGenWeb Project and is the local resource index page for Ireland research. To learn more about the history of this project or to contact us for more information, please visit our About This Project.

DistantCousin is an online archive of genealogy records and scanned images of historical documents from a wide variety of sources, such as newspaper obituaries, city directories, census records, ship lists, school yearbooks, military records, and more. In all there are more than 6 million genealogy records from over 1,500 sources online. There are no fees or memberships required to use the records at DistantCousin.

Welcome to Genealogy Trails! Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data for the free use of all researchers.

Migration websites

Ellis Island Passenger Arrival Lists The American Family Immigration History Center® (AFIHC)

The newest and most exciting Foundation project is the American Family Immigration History Center® (AFIHC), which opened in 2001 on Ellis Island and the World Wide Web, and makes the 25 million immigrant arrival records in the Ellis Island Archives available to everyone. Note: Ellis Island only has records between 1892 and 1924. If your ancestor did not immigrate between those years you will not find them here.

Castle Garden Passenger Arrival Lists before immigrants came through Ellis Island they came though Castle Garden. This free website includes record from 1830 to 1892.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation In 1982, President Ronald Reagan asked Lee Iacocca, then Chairman of Chrysler Corporation, to head a private sector effort to raise funds for the restoration and preservation of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (SOLEIF) was founded.

The Foundation's fundraising drive sparked a dramatic response. The American people contributed more than $700 million (and counting!) to the repair, restoration, and maintenance of these two great monuments to freedom. All funds for the Foundation's projects have come from the American people — no government funds have been used

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild" aka "ISTG". Was founded by a small group of people in late September of 1998. Today, they have over 500 volunteers who work diligently to decipher and transcribe passenger lists which are then uploaded to our website.

www.digitalpanopticon.org Tracing London Convicts in Britain & Australia, 1780-1925 This website allows you to search millions of records from around fifty datasets, relating to the lives of 90,000 convicts from the Old Bailey. Use our site to search individual convict life archives, explore and visualise data, and to learn more about crime and criminal justice in the past.

Finding Family from Ship's Passenger Lists Have you ever wondered where you came from? Unless you're descended from a country's own native people, your family must have immigrated to your country generations ago. As time passes, many people have forgotten where their families originally lived and it can be difficult to find out. One of the best ways to figure out where your family came from is by using the passenger lists from ships that docked in your country.

Institute of Migration aims to promote and carry out migration and ethnic research and to encourage the compilation, storage and documentation of material relating to international and internal migration in Finland. It serves also as a resource site for genealogists.

American Migration Fact Sheets Ten years of study of American Migration Patterns and the Routes followed
have led to the development of this set of fact sheets in PDF format.

Pioneer Company search The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868, is the most complete listing of individuals and companies in which Mormon pioneer emigrants traveled west to Utah from 1847 through 1868. It is an incomplete listing, as rosters have not been found for all companies. It also identifies sources to learn more about the experiences of each company.

Irish Passenger Lists Research Guide Finding Ship Passenger & Immigration Records - Ireland to America. This web-page is divided into two sections: Irish Immigration Records to America before 1820 (just below) and Irish Ship Passenger Lists 1820-1950s

Keep in mind that most passenger lists were handwritten. Deciphering this handwriting was sometimes difficult when the lists were later indexed. So you may need to search for alternate spellings of a surname when using indexes.

Early American Roads and Trails by Beverly Whitaker, MA I am a professional genealogist and author, located in Kansas City, Missouri. I am keenly interested in the influence geography has had on both history and genealogy.

The NATIONAL OREGON/CALIFORNIA TRAIL CENTER, located in MONTPELIER, IDAHO, offers visitors a unique and entertaining interpretive indoor adventure; simulating an actual wagon train experience of the 1850s. Re-enacted entirely within our comfortable center, this interpretive experience features historically accurate interpretive areas and live actors. Patrons will go back in time to visit a gun shop, mercantile, ride in a covered wagon and spend time around the evening encircled wagon train at the Clover Creek Encampment.

American RIVERS and WATERWAYS Pathways for migration, commerce, entertainment. Includes many links to websites (Bibliography, Canals, Lakes, Rivers). A mini-glossary of terms. A set of links focusing on the boats used on the rivers.

Erie Canal - Welcome to NewYorkAncestors.org, a Web portal from New England Historic Genealogical Society. Since 1845, we have compiled one of the leading collections of New York genealogical resources in the country.

Olivetree Genealogy Your link to the past since February 1996! Search for your ancestors in free Ships' Passenger lists, Naturalization Records, Palatine Genealogy, Canadian Genealogy, American Genealogy, Native American Genealogy, Huguenots, Mennonites, Almshouse Records, Orphan Records, church records, military muster rolls, census records, land records and more.

Tools for place names

To find correct spelling of places, or which county a town is in, etc., there are many tools available such as the following:

The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names ® (TGN), the Art & Architecture Thesaurus ® (AAT), the Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), and the Cultural Objects Name Authority ™ (CONA) (in development) are structured vocabularies that can be used to improve access to information about art, architecture, and material culture.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names is a Federal body created in 1890 and established in its present form by Public Law in 1947 to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government. The Board comprises representatives of Federal agencies concerned with geographic information, population, ecology, and management of public lands. Sharing its responsibilities with the Secretary of the Interior, the Board promulgates official geographic feature names with locative attributes as well as principles, policies, and procedures governing the use of domestic names, foreign names, Antarctic names, and undersea feature names.

ePodunk provides in-depth information about more than 46,000 communities around the country, from Manhattan to Los Angeles, Pottstown to Podunk. Our listings also include geocoded information about thousands of parks, museums, historic sites, colleges, schools and other places across America.

This UK Parish Locater program is free-ware and will run on Windows 95/98, ME, NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP & Windows Vista. The Database is available to users of other operating systems as a CSV file (see Download section below).

The Windows program enables you to locate any one of nearly 15,000 UK parishes. It will produce a list of parishes in any County or a list of parishes within a given radius of any other parish and also allows Import and Export via "csv" files. It is possible to plot the location of parishes to either the screen or the printer. This version also includes a number of corrections to errors found by users.

Interactive Maps of Mexico "Un mosaico de mapas para explorar y descubrir" En México, prácticamente todos los sectores de la Administración Pública Federal (APF) cuentan con unidades productoras de información geográfica; lo mismo ocurre en el ámbito de las entidades federativas y los municipios.

Digital maps of Mexico A second resource for maps of Mexico.

WITH U.S.CITIESGALORE2 you can: Quickly find 303,000 U.S. cities, towns, townships and counties. Copy and paste results into your genealogy program. (commercial software)

Google Maps One more part of Google's objective to organize the world's information.

Historic Map Works, LLC is an Internet company formed to create a historic digital map database of North America and the world. Drawing on the largest physical collection of American property atlases of its type, it is our aim to be the single best online destination for map enthusiasts and researchers alike.

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection The collections of the University of Texas Libraries are the result of more than one hundred years of continuing commitment by librarians, faculty, students, and private donors to build one of the great library collections of the world. Containing more than eight million volumes, the library directly supports the research and instructional needs of the University, while also serving as a custodian of culture and discovery

Placenames Database of Ireland, developed by Fiontar (DCU) and The Placenames Branch (Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs).

The Bomb Sight project is mapping the London WW2 bomb census between 7/10/1940 and 06/06/1941. Previously available only by viewing in the Reading Room at The National Archives, Bomb Sight is making the maps available to citizen researchers, academics and students. They will be able to explore where the bombs fell and to discover memories and photographs from the period.

David Rumsey Map Collection The historical map collection has over 22,000 maps and images online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.

Ancestral Atlas the unique map-based genealogy site that enables you to add and share your family history events worldwide. The map is shared by everyone using Ancestral Atlas - just pin your family history data to it and choose whether to make that information visible in order to network with others.

Government Resources

US Census Bureau What We Do: Our Mission - To serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. Full Mission Statement

  • Our Authority - The United States Census Bureau operates under Title 13 and Title 26, of the U.S. Code
  • Our Goal - To provide the best mix of timeliness, relevancy, quality, and cost for the data we collect and services we provide.

Caribbean Genealogy Research
Details of Country Resources
More information and accuracy is always welcome.

National Archives from around the world

US National Archives The National Archives offers insight into the lives of people, their families and our history. Because the records at the National Archives come from every branch of the Federal government, almost all Americans can find themselves, their ancestors, or their community in the archive.

UK National Archives The National Archives is the UK government's official archive, containing over 1,000 years of history.

Ireland National Archives Occupying a key position in the cultural and intellectual life of the nation, the National Archives holds the records of the modern Irish state which document its historical evolution and the creation of our national identity.

National Archives of Australia At the National Archives, we have a dual role, to: promote good records management in Australian Government agencies
manage the valuable records of our nation, and make them accessible now and for future generations.

National Archives of Canada In 2004, the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada were drawn together by the Library and Archives of Canada Act to create a new knowledge institution for Canadians—Library and Archives Canada, a source of enduring knowledge and the continuing memory of the government of Canada and its institutions.

Digital Archives of Norway The Norwegian National Archives is doing their best to make it easier to trace your Norwegian ancestors.

National Archives of Scotland The mission of the NAS is to preserve, protect and promote the nation's records; to provide the best possible inclusive and accessible archive that educates, informs and engages the people of Scotland and the world.

National Archives of South Africa Of particular interest for those of us whose family origins include South Africa. Other ZA Resources available here

Archivenet is a search device for websites by archival services at home and abroad. Archivenet is being updated on a daily basis since 1995.

The Finnish National Archives Service preserves records belonging to the cultural heritage. The task of Finland's National Archives Service is to ensure that records belonging to the national cultural heritage are preserved and to promote their use for research. Research and development in the sector is also part of its remit.

National Archives of Mexico El Archivo General de la Nación es el órgano desconcentrado de la Secretaría de Gobernación, rector de la archivística nacional que debe custodiar, ordenar, describir y conservar los documentos que conforman su acervo, con el fin de facilitar y promover la consulta y aprovechamiento público.

Magazines & other publications

Some offer both printed and digital editions. One advantage of digital is you can keep it on your notebook computer for easy reference any time or any place.

*FamilyTree Magazine an exceptional research tool which has a wide range of help articles. Available in both printed and digital download formats. Available by subscription and at many newsstands and book stores.

*Internet Genealogy is available by subscription, on many newsstands and in the future as an online edition. To subscribe, complete our subscription order form to start receiving Internet Genealogy at your home. Internet Genealogy can also be found on certain newsstands, including Barnes and Noble, Borders, Chapters and many more.

Your Family History magazine is different from other genealogy magazines you might have seen in two important respects. Firstly, we've assembled a team of leading experts, researchers and historians to show you not only how to discover who your ancestors were, but also guide you into the rich local and social history that brings context to their lives.

Family Chronicle Magazine is your resource guide to successful genealogical research. Family Chronicle is the premier magazine for researching and documenting your family history. Whether you are a beginner, or an experienced genealogist, each issue provides you with proven techniques and sources for discovering your ancestors.

Google Books

  • Over 12,000,000 books
  • Over 100,000 Genealogies and local histories.
  • Search on every word.
  • Download book and retain search-ability
  • Permanent URL

Archive.org

  • Over 2,300,000 books
    • Over 50,000 genealogies and local histories
  • Search on every word
  • Download book and retain search-ability
  • Permanent URL
  • Wayback Machine Browse through over 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago. To start surfing the Wayback, type in the web address of a site or page where you would like to start, and press enter.

Handwriting Help

So now you finally have a long sought hand written will of your most elusive ancestor! The hand writing you see looks very different from what you are used to. Don't give up, help can be found online at:

Script Tutorals This website offers guidance in the deciphering of manuscripts and other old documents that were printed in old typefaces or written in old handwriting styles. Languages covered here include English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The content of this website may be useful for genealogical, historical, and literary research.

FamilySearch Research Courses several helps for reading old handwriting from around the world along with a great assortment of other helps.

Scottish Handwriting.com, the website offering online tuition in paleography for historians, genealogists and other researchers who have problems reading manuscript historical records written in Scotland in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Paleography - UK National Archives reading old handwriting 1500 - 1800
A practical online tutorial Paleography is the study of old handwriting. This web tutorial will help you learn to read the handwriting found in documents written in English between 1500 and 1800.

Genealogical Podcasts

You can search iTunes or other sources for genealogical Podcasts and hear other's experiences in tracing their family histories.

To subscribe visit the links below or you can subscribe through iTunes.

Genealogy Gems Podcast Lisa Louise Cooke has been passionate about family history since she was a little girl sitting at her grandmother's knee looking at old family scrapbooks.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast George G. Morgan and Drew Smith discuss genealogy. This is the longest-running regularly produced genealogy Podcast in the world!

The Family Tree Magazine Podcast Hear about the best genealogy tools and tips directly from Family Tree Magazine's editors and experts! Tune in to the Family Tree Magazine Podcast for a dose of genealogy education and fun.

Irish Roots Cafe Podcast Their first Irish genealogy 'radio shows' were created in 1984. Today, our Irish Roots Cafe on the web gives you a great variety of shows. We talk with authors, shopkeepers, dancers, and everyday Irish.

The National Archives Podcast (UK) On this site, you can subscribe to our selection of Podcasts and have them automatically delivered directly to your computer. By subscribing, you will receive each new talk free of charge. You can choose to stop receiving these files at any time should you wish to unsubscribe. If you'd rather not subscribe to the series, you can download individual episodes of a Podcast series by simply selecting 'download' and saving the link.

Episodes include:

Download able documents

One Month plan to start (or restart) your research. (pdf)

Important Dates in Genealogical Research (pdf)

Genealogy Tool Kit from NARA (pdf)

Finding Information on Personal Participation in World War II from NARA (pdf)

Free Forms Getting organized and knowing how to address government agencies and organizations can help you get quicker, more effective results. Family Tree Magazine has created forms that can help you access and organize your family history information.

Basic Charts and Worksheets Every family historian needs certain staple charts and worksheets for tracking relatives and research progress. These basics belong in every genealogist's toolkit.

youtube

The video cousin to podcasting is found on YouTube

A few of the Genealogical Channels include:

American Ancestors

Ancestral Findings

Ancestry

BYU Family History Library

Dear Myrtle

Family History HELP by Carol Hill

Family Tree Magazine (UK)

Family Tree Magazine (US)

FamilySearch

MyHeritage

RootsMagic TV

The Family History Guide

WebGenealogist.com

You just have to pay attention to what you are viewing or the next thing you'll be aware of is someone telling about the earth being flat, or all about UFO's or Sasquatch or....

Has all this research made you hungry? How about cooking up something your ancestors would have eaten.

The British Food Trust Website This website is a major resource for all those in the UK and around the world who are enthusiasts for British cooking, its past traditions and future potential. Most of the 1,210 recipes here are indeed traditional and, taken together, define the legacy of British Cuisine.

The Historical American Cookbook Project The Feeding America project has created an on line collection of some of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century.

Professional Genealogists websites

Zroots Barbara Rennick's home page with many links for all levels of research

Circle Mending This is the web site of Jean Wilcox Hibben, Board-Certified Genealogist, family historian, national speaker, folklorist, and troubadour. If you have found your way here, you most likely have an interest in genealogy and/or family folklore, are involved with a family history center or historical or genealogical society, or a combination of these.

Paid or subscription sties

*Ancestry.com They've spent more than a decade building the world's largest on line family history resource - including historical records, photos, stories, family trees and a collaborative community of millions.

*Ancestry Obituaries Obituaries celebrate life stories.With obituaries, you can gain a deeper level of understanding about your ancestors—who they were, what they cared about, and how they lived.

Family Chronicle Family Chronicle is a how-to magazine. People who are trying to discover their family roots know that there is no "master plan" that tells you how to conduct your research. While some ancestral lines can be traced back several generations with relatively little effort, others can only be discovered after painstaking research.

Mocavo is the world's first and largest genealogy search engine. Our search index indexes over six billion names and is the fastest search in the industry by more than ten times. We have recently doubled the size of our data center, allowing us to provide our users with more information than ever, and faster.

*Archives.com gives you access to over 1.3 billion digital records and is adding approximately 50,000 new records to our Collections every day! Data sources are checked for quality & accuracy.

The Origins Network (formerly Origins.net) was founded in 1997 and offers on line access to some of the richest ancestral information available to help you research your family history. Origins Network services include subscription access to exclusive genealogy related collections on British Origins, Irish Origins, National Wills Index, plus free Scots Origins services.

*GenealogyBank.com

  • Over 1 billion names
  • Over 4,300 newspapers
    • All 50 states
    • 1690 to present
  • Over 263,000 rare books & documents

ShipIndex.org is a site created to make researching a vessel easier and more effective than it has ever been. We find valuable resources that serve as quality reference material for ships and put every mention of a vessel in that resource into our database.


Deceased Online is the first central database of statutory burial and cremation registers for the UK and Republic of Ireland -- a unique resource for family history researchers and professional genealogists. Until now, to search these records you had to approach about 3,000 burial authorities and nearly 250 crematoria in the UK alone, each independently holding their own registers, mostly as old fragile books. No official central repository exists


LegacyStories.org Our mission is to provide a secure platform to document, share and back-up life stories that represent your personal history and to give voice to your ancestors. We provide legacy building tools and a platform to compose or record the legacy stories that matter most.

Genealogical Research Library (GRL) Their library was incorporated in Canada in 1981, although indexing techniques, the collection of rare maps, and collection of details about ancestors around the world had been underway by our founder since the 1970's. Canada was the natural choice to begin such an undertaking, since the United Nations recently declared Canada to be the most multi-ethnic country in the world.

*Findmypast.com is constantly adding records you will not find anywhere else. Here are just a few examples.

  • The British Newspaper Archives (Coming Soon)
  • 40 million parish baptisms, marriages and burials from across England and Wales dating back to 1538
  • Passenger lists of ships leaving the UK 1890-1960
  • British Army Records 1760-1915
  • Rapidly growing collection of local UK records dating back to 1700, including school admissions, workhouse registers and apprenticeships indentures
  • Irish Prison Records

  • Findmypast participated in indexing the 1940 US Census

*MyHeritage was founded by a team of people with a passion for genealogy and a strong grasp of Internet technology. Our vision has been to make it easier for people around the world to use the power of the Internet to discover their heritage and strengthen their bonds with family and friends. *As of 2005, we were based in the beautiful village of Bnei Atarot, near Tel Aviv, Israel, founded by German Templers in 1902 under the name of Wilhelma.

Genealogical Software Sites

Genealogical Software Comparison (Wikipedia) with so many choices how do you choose which to use?

Gensoft Reviews I'm Louis Kessler, a long time programmer and genealogist, living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I've always been interested in finding the right software package for me to enter all my family information and help me in my genealogy hobby. I've tried many different ones, and found some things I like in all of them as well as some things I don't like.

*Family Tree Maker makes it easier than ever to discover your family story, preserve your legacy and share your unique heritage. If you’re new to family history, you’ll appreciate how this intuitive program lets you easily grow your family tree with simple navigation, tree-building tools, and integrated Web searching. If you’re already an expert, you can dive into the more advanced features, options for managing data, and a wide variety of charts and reports. The end result is a family history that you and your family will treasure for years to come!

Mac Genealogy MacGenealogy.Org's goal: – to keep Mac users informed of the latest news and information concerning genealogy on the Macintosh platform. We hope to increase awareness of genealogy software for the Macintosh platform, as well as assist Mac users with their genealogy questions.

Ancestral Quest (AQ) family tree software is the easiest to use and most versatile genealogy program for Windows on the market. Its format is perfect for the beginner and yet powerful enough for the most advanced genealogist. Easy data entry, keyboard shortcuts, scrap-booking, and excellent sourcing capabilities are just some of this genealogy software program's wonderful award-winning features.

Branches was developed by the software engineers at Sherwood Electronics Laboratories, Inc. (SEL). SEL has been in business over 27 years and has developed hardware and software for the mainframe, mini and PC computer markets. Branches grew out of a project to simplify the tedious tasks of exporting, importing, manipulating and correcting genealogical data. A relational database, combined with a 2D graphics based user interface, gives Branches its powerful visual capabilities and makes it very easy to use.

Progeny Genealogy is the leading developer of family tree software that works directly with most popular genealogy database programs. Founded in 1995, Progeny's mission is to develop useful and easy-to-use genealogy research resources. The company is currently focused on marketing three family tree software products that allow users to create various types of genealogy charts:

  • Charting Companion™ offers a complete solution for viewing, printing and publishing colorful, customized family tree charts that surpass those provided by any genealogy database program.
  • Genelines™ creates unique time line charts that show an individual or family lineage against a backdrop of historical world or family events.
  • Map My Family Tree™ shows the geographical distribution and migration patterns that shaped the family's history.

The MagiKey, LLC was initially created to market, distribute, and publish the genealogy program MagiKey Family Tree which was developed by ArmidaleSoftware. The MagiKey. LLC hopes to be an on line publisher for genealogical books, provide support for the beginning and and advanced genealogist, and make available other great genealogy tools and programs such as Family Tree. The MagiKey, LLC is co-owned and operated by a mother and two of her daughters.

*Heredis offers three different angles for visualizing your family. The Immediate Family Tab displays all the members of the immediate family (parents, spouses, children, grandparents). Go straight to the point by adding a new family member in the Immediate Family tab. Adding a child, a spouse, a parent, a grandparent is obvious! One click and you access the quick entry screen.

Legacy The feature-rich Legacy 7.4 makes it easy to preserve your genealogical information. Family trees containing millions of people can be recorded, displayed and reported in a variety of styles and formats. Legacy 7.4 includes all standard genealogical reports, as well as calendars, time lines, questionnaires, research logs and a multitude of blank forms and more!

*MacFamilyTree.com - share your very own family trees, online! Create your own private account on MacFamilyTree.com and upload your family trees for protected access over the Internet, worldwide, using whichever web browser you wish. If you decide to publish your family trees, you may protect them with passwords to limit access to a dedicated audience, e.g. members of your own family.

*Reunion Reunion is a genealogy software program — a "family tree program" — for the Macintosh. Reunion is also available as a companion product on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad. The current version of Reunion for Macintosh received the highest rating for genealogy software in MacWorld, MacAddict, and Mac Home Journal magazines. Reunion also received a MacWorld Editor's Choice award.

(Reunion 10 and greater have Internet search capabilities that will likely make other software companies cry!)

*Roots Magic For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose- to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular "Family Origins" software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

The Master Genealogist (or "TMG") v7 is the gold standard in family history software. Used by novices and professional researchers alike, the latest version reinforces TMG's reputation as the most powerful family history project manager on the market while adding many new features to make it easier and fun to use.

Ancestral Author is a Windows program that constructs hyper-linked Adobe Acrobat PDF files from GEDCOM files, text files, images, and other user inputs. It is very simple to use, and creates high quality documents that can be printed, emailed, published on the Internet, or sent to a service bureau for conversion into a bound book.

Brother's Keeper is a Windows genealogy shareware program that will help you input and organize your family history information and let you print a large variety of charts and reports. BK6 works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7. There is no charge to download BK to try it out.

Bygones is a computerized genealogical note-keeping system in computer database form, for genealogists with laptop or desktop computers. If you have a laptop or desktop computer available where you do research, you can record your genealogical research notes on your computer as you do your family history research. Bygones is available as free-ware for Windows 95/98/me/XP/NT and Macintosh 8.1+ computers.

*Family Tree Builder MyHeritage was founded by a team of people with a passion for genealogy and a strong grasp of Internet technology. Our vision has been to make it easier for people around the world to use the power of the Internet to discover their heritage and strengthen their bonds with family and friends.

Gramps is a free software project and community. We strive to produce a genealogy program that is both intuitive for hobbyists and feature-complete for professional genealogists. It is a community project, created, developed and governed by genealogists.

LifeLines is a free and open source genealogy program to help with your family history research. It has native versions for Unix-like, Mac, and Windows operating systems. The real power of LifeLines is its scripting ability. There are a number of LifeLines reports (aka scripts) that generate all manner of output -- ahnentafels, ancestor/descendant reports, formatted ancestor reports, beautiful books of all ancestors, fan charts of ancestors, vital records of all individuals in a format suitable for importing to palm pilot databases (specifically DB which is also hosted here on SourceForge). All the reports are included in the kit.