Genealogy Research Online
Sites and Strategies That May Surprise You
Laura G. Prescott
www.LauraPrescott.com
Some positives of genealogy research on the internet.
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Access the greatest knowledge base available.
Locate and correspond with your long-lost relatives.
Find photos, records, documents, more!
Learn from others.
Connect to events, workshops, online courses.
Share successes and frustrations.
Some negatives of genealogy research on the internet.
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Many resources are not online and therefore often overlooked.
It is the greatest disseminator and perpetuator of false and harmful information.
Privacy issues.
Transcriptions and some databases need to be verified with original sources.
Citation complications.
Copyright issues.
The most popular and heavily used genealogy sites.
Most require a subscription, all have some free content.
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Ancestry.com
Archives.com
FamilySearch.org
HeritageQuestOnline.com (available through your library for free)
MyHeritage.com
WorldVitalRecords.com
findmypast.com
AmericanAncestors.org
Fold3.com
Newspapers.com
GenealogyBank.com
101 Best Genealogy Websites for 2012
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/101-best-websites-2012
Professionally Preferred Websites for Family History
http://www.progenealogists.com/genealogysites.htm
© 2013 Laura G. Prescott. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reprinted
or reproduced in any form for any purpose without prior written permission
Some sites that my surprise you. (Psst. They’re all free!)
Cyndi’s List
cyndislist.com
The online “card catalog” for genealogy. For more than 15 years, Cyndi’s List has been a
free online resource. Cyndi describes it as a “comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced
list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.”
It’s a great place to start and an even better place to return to often.
The US GenWeb Project
USGenWeb.org
Self-described as Land of the Free … Genealogy. “The USGenWeb Project consists of a
group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research
in every county and every state of the United States. The Project is non-commercial and fully
committed to free access for everyone.”
This is the site to visit when you want to drill down into the counties and towns, to learn
the history and access data provided by those who have a passion for the communities their
ancestors lived in.
DoHistory
dohistory.org
A site that shows you how to piece together the past from the fragments that have
survived. It uses Martha Ballard’s 1785-1812 diary as a case study.
Library of Congress
loc.gov
Our nation’s library hosts many records of which you may not be aware. Historic
newspapers, sound recordings, manuscripts, maps, letters and diaries, and books. The LOC is
dedicated to digital preservation and teaches you to take care of your own records.
Be sure to check out “Today in History” in American Memory.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
loc.gov/coll/nucmc
This is a site within the Library of Congress and often overlooked. It’s one-stop shopping
to locate letters, family papers, diaries, and other manuscripts sequestered in a library or
archive perhaps unknown to you. There are other ways to locate records within archives
around the country, but this is a great site to start with.
Academic Archives
Various URLs will be presented.
We’ll review a few academic archives for an idea of what awaits the genealogist in these
overlooked institutions. Your ancestor need not be a college graduate to have papers within
the “Special Collections” and “Archives” at a college or university.
© 2013 Laura G. Prescott. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reprinted
or reproduced in any form for any purpose without prior written permission
Dead Fred
deadfred.com
A genealogy photo archive where you can search on surnames, locations, and keywords,
as well as browse over 100,000 records to discover a photo that is helpful in your research.
Post your own photos to connect with cousins, or find the families of the unidentified
records in your personal collection.
One-Step Webpages
stevemorse.org
One-step searching on websites for records: census, immigration, naturalization, vital
(especially helpful in NYC). Sites searched include Ancestry, Castle Garden, Ellis Island,
Fold3, FamilySearch. Also connects to Holocaust, calendar information, DNA, and foreign
alphabets.
Find A Grave
findagrave.com
Search 65 million grave records, locate a cemetery, and contribute your own photos in an
act of genealogical kindness. The site encourages you to “find the graves of ancestors, create
virtual memorials, add 'virtual flowers' and a note to a loved one's grave, etc.” It succeeds
because we all contribute.
Bureau of Land Management
glorecords.blm.gov
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records provides
“live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image
access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the
present … and images related to survey plats and field notes, dating back to 1810.”
LibraryThing
librarything.com
Catalog your library, see what others are reading, and read personal opinions of books
you’re considering adding to your own collection. Access your library online anywhere!
© 2013 Laura G. Prescott. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reprinted
or reproduced in any form for any purpose without prior written permission
