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A list of my favorite genealogy research sites. These site will lead to you
many others.
Add a genealogy tab to your favorites. Bookmark your favorite ones so you
can get to them quickly. Enjoy!
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Ancestry |
Free family tree searches, and some other free
searches. This site also includes areas that you must subscribe to
in order to
search. It also has forms, lessons, articles and much more. You can
also become an indexer for them which you do free and in return
Ancestry allows you free access to some records.
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Roots Web |
Generally free. It includes; mailing lists, surname
lists, message boards and much more. If you join one of these lists
you will be linked to people searching the same areas or names you
are looking for. If you post a question -called a query- you will be
notified by email if there is a response to your query..
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| Cyndi's List |
Premier site for finding records, web sites,
articles, lessons etc. It contains over 262,000 + links to websites. It
is continually growing.
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FamilySearch |
LDS church free site, and probably the best
comprehensive site available. You can search their huge
databases such as the IGI; Pedigree Resource File, and Ancestral
File, also the Social Security Index as well as others. There are
free research guides for about any area you are researching in.You can also
see the online catalogue of the Family History Library. The films
listed can be rented for $5.00 through your local LDS Family History
Center. You can also download a free genealogy program call PAF [Personal
Ancestral File], which is
a great program and easy to use.
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Bureau of Land
Management |
Search the BLM Land Patents on line. If you find
your ancestor there you can print the actual land record, or order a
certified copy. Occasionally this site is down so try back. If this
link doesn't work google "blm land patents"
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National
Archives
Records
Administration |
Online access to many records housed in the National
Archives. Many military records are included on this site. See
footnote.com below because it gives greater access to many NARA
records
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BYU Family History Site |
Two very exciting projects are available through
this site. Both are free. One is the Immigrant Ancestors Program,
the other is a site dedicated to the collection of individual
histories. Visit the link to find out more.
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Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild |
Transcribers continually add immigrations records to
this site.
It can be searched by year of immigration, or by the ship they
sailed on, country of origin, or port of arrival. Since my family
didn't come through Ellis Island this has become one of my
favorites for immigration.
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Find A Grave |
Locate a grave and you just might find an ancestor, their biography and a
picture. You may also find the relative who posted it. If you have burial
information you can add it and you can also leave a virtual flower and note
on the grave of an ancestor. I have made many family connections through
this site.
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USGenWeb |
Grassroots as good as it gets. Dedicated to keeping genealogy free on the
internet. This site is manned by volunteers from all the US who post records
unique to their area. You can usually search by state or county. If your
county isn't there you can become a volunteer.
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BMD-Certificates British Isles |
Looking for a birth, marriage or death in the UK? If it was after 1837 some
people on the other side of the pond will search the British Isles for you
and send you a certificate if they find it. It will cost you, but it is
cheaper than a trip. |
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Google.com
THIS IS ALL FREE
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I know that this is a search engine, but Google is so much more and
all is free. You can set up your homepage with links to your most visited
sites [I like this feature better than Favorites]. You can add a Google
Calendar that tracks your appointments, shows you an agenda, and allows you
to have a calendar view by day, week, or month.If you like the limitless
possibilities of spread sheets but don't have Excel or Quattro Pro - Google
has spread sheets for you.
Your home page can be customized to help you search. One thing I have
added is a To-Do list. You can also download and customize a Google toolbar,
and a feature called Google desktop will index everything on your hard
drive, plus the recent web pages you have visited and allow you to view them
in a browser. This is the fastest way I know to find files. Need More.
- Google Books features books readable online
- Google Scholar finds only scholarly articles about a subject - cuts
through the junk.
- Google Earth helps you locate towns and cemeteries and lets you view
them from all angles and gives you the coordinates.
- Goggles Picassa helps you organize and view your photos, you can
also do a bit of editing easily.
- Google Images just may locate a picture of an ancestor or ancestral
home
- Google Alerts allows you to set alerts from information you are
looking for and sends you an email and link when anything new is posted
on the web.
- Google Genealogy gives strategies for ancestor searching.
- Language Translation tool will not only translate text, but will
translate a webpage into the language of your choice.
- Google Desktop indexes your computer and lets you search for files,
and also the latest web visited for your search results and displays all
in a browser.
- + There is too much more to cover here - Go to Google and start
studying.
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Open Office |
If you don't like the cost of the commercial Word and Spread Sheet programs
you can download Open Office Free. You will have a hard time telling the
difference between it and the more expensive versions such as Microsoft
Office and WordPerfect Office. Among other features it has:
- A word program called Writer
- A spread sheet program called Calc
- A program called Impress
which looks identical to PowerPoint
OpenOffice is downloadable for free and one of the
great features is that you can open any other program ie Word, Excel and
save it as a Open Office doc, or you can create a document in OpenOffice and
save it as a file that can be opened by any other program. It also creates
PFD docs.
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Footnote.com |
A project that is in process of digitizing the National Archives. Some parts
are free, but the entire site is free at your local Family History Center.
You can view the actual images. My new favorite site. You will be surprised
where your ancestors will pop up in these records. Includes
Revolutionary War muster and pension files [the entire files have been
digitized], Civil War records, and way to many to include here. Try it at
home and see what is there, but you'll need a subscription or visit to your
local FHC to see the images. |
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World Vital
Records |
This site also allows you to see digitized images and has forced Ancestry to
now do the same. Parts of this site are free, but again the entire site may
be viewed free at your local Family History Center. This is a wonderful site
with lots of collections including newspapers. You really need to spend some
time here and it may be worth a subscription to you. Another favorite. |
