BEGINNER'S GUIDES
Cyndislist.com's
links to beginner guides
Cyndi's List shows many sites that
offer beginner's guides and tips. Use Cyndi's List (without
/beginner.htm at the end) to find anything and everything related to
your family history research. Cyndi's List is THE index to genealogy
on the Internet.
FORMS & SOFTWARE
Ancestry.com
Forms to print
BYU
Forms to fill out on your computer and print
RootsMagic
Software (Free trial edition available) Top Rated
Family Tree
Maker Software
Legacy
Software (Free trial edition available)
The Master
Genealogist Software (Free trial available)
LOCATIONS -- VERIFYING IS
ESSENTIAL
You need to know where a place is and
what county, province, town or township it is in or was in
since many records and volunteer projects are kept at these levels.
The sites below, along with many books, will help. Make sure the locations
are verified on your forms before you start your research.
Geographic Name Information System
(GNIS)
Enter a current U.S. place name and
this site will give you basic geographic information including the
county.
County/Town Finder
A program that simplifies searching and
results for the GNIS shown above.
Google Maps – Worldwide
Searching
Google Maps lets you look up current
countries, cities, towns, and even specific addresses.
Geonames – Worldwide Searching
Geonames is a worldwide geographical
database with a search function, browsable maps, and downloadable
data files.
U.S. County Boundaries –
Boundary Changes Through the Years
County boundaries have changed
dramatically through the years. Use the Interactive boundary maps at
the Newberry Library to find them. Under “Quick Links” on the
right, choose a state in the “Interactive Maps” drop-down menu.
Here, you put in a date and see the boundaries that were active on
that date overlaying the current boundaries.
Federal Land Patent Records
This site finds your ancestor's FEDERAL
land claim starting with 1820. The site lists lots of
limitation, but it even has some California claims and links to the
state land office. It covers Eastern Public Land States best. Often
actual images of the patent can be viewed.
(Early California mining claims are
held by counties and are extremely incomplete.)
VITAL RECORDS –
Births, Marriages, and Deaths
Vitalrec.com
Vitalrec.com is the best place to find
where to write for U.S. birth, marriage, and death certificates
including dates covered and prices. Ignore the order online forms
unless you want to pay a lot of money.
Click on States & Territories and choose the state you want. Then page down to the official state vital records office and its official information. IGNORE THE MILLION ADS. You can print out the forms from the OFFICIAL state area to mail an order to the state. Below the official state office is a list of counties with information on county official record offices. Counties will process your request more rapidly than the state. With each county's information are links to USGenWeb projects and other local databases. These sites are free and valuable. They vary in quality based on the volunteer efforts available in each county.
Click on States & Territories and choose the state you want. Then page down to the official state vital records office and its official information. IGNORE THE MILLION ADS. You can print out the forms from the OFFICIAL state area to mail an order to the state. Below the official state office is a list of counties with information on county official record offices. Counties will process your request more rapidly than the state. With each county's information are links to USGenWeb projects and other local databases. These sites are free and valuable. They vary in quality based on the volunteer efforts available in each county.
United States Social Security Death
Index – Approximately 1960 to present
FamilySearch version
http://tinyurl.com/896wmon
OR
Ancestry.com in the drop-down SEARCH menu choose “Birth, Marriage & Death” and
then look for “Social Security Death Index“ in the group of
databases on the right. OR Just choose the Card Catalog from the
SEARCH Menu drop-down list, and type in the title.
Obituary Indexing
Some nice person indexed all The Record
obituaries from 1999 through 2006. Include “Stockton Record”
and a name in your keyword search. Try a name alone to see if you are
lucky enough to have a volunteer indexer covering some other place
where your relative died. The list is national. There are several
large obituary sites, but most charge fees.
Ancestry.com or Ancestry Library
Edition – Vital Records
Ancestry has lots of vital records
databases for all parts of the U.S. Ancestry requires a subscription
fee from home, but you can use it for free in the Library and in
Family History Centers.
FamilySearch.org
FamilySearch has a huge collection of
vital records from every state and around the world.
Online Searchable Death Indexes &
Records – A Genealogy Guide
This site links to a wide variety of
free and subscription death record databases.
CEMETERIES
Cemetery records and inscriptions offer
birth and death dates and places, family relations, occupations, and
sometimes a glimpse into the personality of the deceased or his
family. Below are three of the biggest projects. Look for singular
projects at Cyndislist.com. None of these transcriptions claim to
list everyone in the cemetery. Records and tombstones get lost. But
you may find your families here.
USGenWeb Tombstone Project
Volunteers around the country have made
tombstone transcriptions for their county cemeteries. Some have lists
of burials; others have photographs as well. Quality and quantity
varies by county and cemetery.
FindAGrave.com
FindAGrave has excellent search
features and results may include tombstone photos and family facts.
You can even request that a volunteer add a photograph if you know
where your ancestor is buried.
Interment.net
Notice that the extension on this site
is .NET, not .com or .org. This cemetery site boasts extensive lists
of burials in cemeteries around the world. The only search function
is your computer's FIND command.
BOOKS – FAMILY AND
LOCAL HISTORIES
Particularly around the turn of the
last century, 1880-1910, several publishers crossed the country
writing county histories and inviting individuals to submit
biographies to be included for a fee. These books are invaluable for
the family and local historian. And, if you are lucky, someone might
have printed a history of one of your family lines. If the book in
question was written before 1923 its copyright has expired, and it
may be available for free somewhere online.
Family History Books
Major additions are being made to this
collection right now. Check often.
Archive.org
Google Books
While reading online each of these
sites has a search box that lets you find all references to a name or
place within the book. You will find books on many other sites as
well. Be sure to check for online files on library, museum,
historical society or university web pages.
To find libraries owning actual books,
go to www.worldcat.org
INDISPENSABLE
Cyndi's List
If you are looking for a genealogy site
on any topic or locality, Cyndi's List is the place to go for help.
She tries to maintain active links to every site related to genealogy
research.
FamilySearch
The Mormon Family History Library is in
the process of digitalizing the millions of rolls of microfilm it has
created over the years. It is starting with vital records—birth,
marriage, and death—from many sources and many countries. It has
the complete 1930 census of Mexico as well. In its learning section
it has guides and tutorials for doing genealogy research in every
state in the U.S. and most other countries. You will find addresses
and hours for local Family History Centers here as well. Centers are
free and offer free access to Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, Fold3 and
a host of other subscription databases.
Besides performing general searches on
the opening screen, scroll down the page to choose records from a
specific section of the world. Then scroll through the list of
individual databases to see what is available for a country or a
state that interests you. Some of these databases are not included in
the general search index. They are “browsable” image by image
like microfilm.
US GenWeb Project
In the U.S. GenWeb project, volunteers
from all over the United States have created local state and county
genealogical web sites linked geographically at this address. Many
primary sources, particularly cemetery records, have been uploaded
here.
World GenWeb Project
The World GenWeb Project, like the U.S.
Version, offers genealogy web sites for countries around the world.
Rootsweb
Rootsweb is another site dedicated to
volunteer genealogy projects and web pages. Use its search box (the
one on the left, not the Ancestry box to the right) to find family
trees submitted by thousands of individuals along with other database
links. Choose the ”WorldConnect” link to see the index to family
trees. To narrow your search you must go to the bottom of the first
results page and add more details about your ancester. Avoid the many
ads on this page. Look for the free information. The site includes
many other useful databases and tools.
National Archives and Records
Administration – The Genealogy Page
Records maintained by the National
Archives form a major part of the resources used by genealogists to
trace their family histories. The National Archives genealogy page
has guides to these records and information for finding and using
them. The Archives is the source for census, military records, and
immigration and naturalization records, African American and Indian
records created by the federal government, federal court records, and
some post office and other federal employee historical records.
AccessGenealogy
Choose a state or subject and find
links to great free sites. It has extensive information and databases
for Native American tribes. It links to free census projects for all
the states too. A great place to browse for databases and how-to
guides.
There are hundreds more wonderful
genealogy and local history sites, but these are the ones we
recommend regularly to start a family history project.
Try Cyndislist.com for any other genealogy and family history topic.
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