Primary Sources | Volunteer Projects | Government Goodies
Free full-text History/Genealogical Books and Magazines | Some of the Best Commercial Sites
Native American Genealogy Resources | African American Genealogy Sources
Primary Sources
- Search the US GENWEB Archives
The USGenWeb Digital Library offers actual transcriptions of public domain records. You will find copies of census records, marriage bonds, wills, and other public documents. - Archives
State archives are putting more records online every day. This link will take you to a simple alphabetical list of all the state archives. - Archival Internet Resources
This service from Tulane University is an archival "meta index," or index of archival indexes. From here you can find almost every major database of archival resources around the world. - Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Land Patent Records Site
created by the Bureau of Land Management to provide live database and image access to more than two million federal land title records for the Eastern Public Land States, dating back to 1820. Search Federal Land Patents databases, print out copies, and request certified Land Patents. - Census Links Online
As of June 14, 2002, this site had 17,092 links to Census Records. - Census Project
is an all-volunteer USGenweb project to transcribe census records in a standard format in order to make them available to genealogical researchers on the Internet. - CensusLinks
Another Census site. Be sure to check all three, since sometimes one has a link the other has missed. - Ellis Island American Family Immigration History Center
Research records of passengers who came to America through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. - Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
Provides online access to the passenger lists of many ships carrying immigrants to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. You can search for passenger lists by name of ship, port of departure or arrival, or by date. - Marriage Project
This USGenweb project provides actual transcriptions of Marriage Applications, and other Marriage Records, as found recorded in the county court house and state archives. Check back often. Records are added daily - Pensions Project
provides actual transcriptions of Pension related materials for all Wars prior to 1900. This is a fairly new project. Not much here yet, but it’s one to watch. - Tombstone Transcription Project
this USGenweb project has links to nearly every U.S. County. This address will take you to the main page. Click on "view the registry" to see a list of states. At the state level, you can browse the cemeteries or search for a surname.
Volunteer Projects
- RootsWeb
The granddaddy of all genealogy sites. The Rootsweb Project has two missions: 1. To make large volumes of data available to the online genealogical community at minimal cost. 2. To provide support services to keep it all growing. Many of the best sites in this guide are hosted by Rootsweb. - WorldConnect Project
Connecting the world one Gedcom at a time! 69.7 million names on file. Easy to search and navigate - U.S. GenWeb
This link takes you to the main page, then you can choose the state and county of your interest. Easy to navigate. No ads. - The World Genealogy Web Project
provides links to genealogy resources and information from countries all over the world. - Genealogy Mailing Lists
are a great way for genealogists to meet each other and share information. This is complete index to RootsWeb’s 22,058 genealogy mailing lists. - Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
A very comprehensive list of links to all kinds of Internet resources for genealogy. The links are arranged into categories such as adoption, cemeteries, heraldry, military resources and more. Links can also be viewed by geographical location - FamilySearch Online
The Church of Latter Day Saints allows free searching with this online version of FamilySearch - Glossary of Ancient Diseases
A great place for finding out what diseases used to be called. Olive Tree Genealogy also has other helpful lists, including obsolete occupations. - National Genealogy Society
Information about the society, how to join, resources available through the NGS, and more can be found here.
Government Goodies
- American Memory Project
offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections. - Ancestors
The companion site for the popular PBS television show includes, among other things, new genealogy tips each month, blank pedigree charts and other forms you can download, and a guide to libraries and other genealogy resources by state - Geographic Names Information Server
Search the USGS Geographic Names Database. You can limit your search to a specific county in a specific state and search for any geographic feature including: populated place, cemetery, stream, bridge, hospital, church, and more than 50 others. - Local History and Genealogy Reading Room of the Library of Congress
one of the world’s premier collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical and local historical publications. - National Archives and Record Administration’s Genealogy Page
includes explanations of how to get government records, an online Soundex machine, and several microfilm catalogs. - National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
a computerized database containing very basic facts about servicemen who served on both sides during the Civil War. The initial focus of the CWSS is the Names Index Project, a project to enter names and other basic information from 5.4 million soldier records in the National Archives - National Register of Historic Places
Free full-text History/Genealogical Books and Magazines
- William & Mary Quarterly.
This well known treasure house of Virginia history and genealogy has been transcribed by USGenWeb volunteers. - USGenWeb Special Collections
provides an entry page to scanned out-of-print books on family studies, historical books and various journals permanently stored in the USGenWeb Archives for free access. - The Online Books Page
at the University of Pennsylvania includes more than 17,000 online books searchable by title, author, & subject. Or, choose subject and browse down to History. - Project Gutenberg
is the very first free electronic text database. It actually began in 1971. - The American Colonist’s Library
Primary source document s. Don’t click on the survey – it’s an ad. Scroll down for a chronological list of documents 500 B.C to 1800 A.D.
Some of the Best Commercial Sites
- Ancestry.com
Although you must be a subscriber in order to access the full site, Ancestry.com is worth a look. Pedigrees are always free, and you can download entire gedcoms at no charge. The site also contains online newsletters and information about genealogy, tips for beginners, and more. - Family Tree Maker
Some information requires a subscription or a CD purchase, but this is still a good place to visit. There are hundreds of useful "how-to" articles, a search options that leads you to user home pages featuring your surname, and other free features. - Heraldry on the Internet
This site is designed to help you conduct heraldic research on the Internet. - Higginson Book Company
specializes in reprinting genealogy and family history books. Most of these are "out of print" through regular sources and hard to get through interlibrary loan. Scroll down the main page to find options for browsing by surname or locality. - Name Distributions
Enter a surname into the form and you’ll get a map of the United States showing the distribution of people with this surname within the 50 United States. - Professional Genealogists
Provides contact information for professional genealogists all over the world, sorted by the genealogist’s specialty.
Native American Genealogy Resources
- Cyndi’s List of Native American Genealogy Sites on the Internet
This site lists Native American resources on the Internet by categories. It’s well worth a look. Includes links to U.S. Genweb sites for several tribes. - History of the Cherokee
This helpful site provides links to a wealth of information about Cherokee genealogy. - Native American Sites
This site lists Native American sites on the World Wide Web. Not limited to genealogy sites.
African American Genealogy Sources
- African-AmericanGenealogy Resources on the Internet
A detailed list of links forpeople interested in African-American genealogy, provided by Cyndi Howell. - AfriGeneas
African Ancestored Genealogy. Includes a beginner’s guide, links toresources by state, country and world, census records & slave data,and more. - Christine’sGenealogy Websites
provides links to many African-American genealogyresources and information on the Internet
How-to-Guide
This is the online version of a booklet compiled by staff members of the Callaway County Public Library for “Genealogy on the Internet” classes held at the library
