Internet Genealogy I: Free Genealogical Websites
Becky Hill, Head Librarian
Hayes Presidential Library
2011 Classes Sponsored by RootsMagicTM
I. Obituary Index www.rbhayes.org/index
A. Indexes 1.7 MILLION people from all of Ohio and especially Northwest Ohio.
B. Indexes all of the Fremont, Tiffin and Clyde newspapers, part of Bellevue, Bloomville, Green Springs,
Sandusky, Woodville, and Rising Sun.
Other libraries entering their newspaper indexing: Ada, Amherst, Ashland, Barnesville, Bellefontaine,
Bloomville, Bluffton, Bowling Green, Carey, Chillicothe, Covington, Defiance, Deshler, Fostoria, Gallipolis,
Hillsboro, Huron, Kenton, Liberty Center, Lima, Lorain, Luckey, McComb, Marietta, Martins Ferry, Metamora,
New London, Norwalk, Oak Harbor, Ottawa, Paulding, Pemberville, Rossford, Springfield, Upper Sandusky, ,
Van Wert, Vermilion, Wadsworth, Wapakoneta, Wayne, Wooster and Worthington.
C. Use the Advanced Search Engine to search for maiden names, alternate spellings, specific newspapers or a
range of dates.
D. Shopping cart option allows long distance users to order the copies of the obituaries for $3.00 each. Copies
in the library cost $.25 each.
E. Other online obituary indexes in area:
1. Findlay/ Hancock Co., Ohio: http://www.findlay.lib.oh.us/genedatabase.htm
2. Cleveland, OH – Necrology File: http://www.cpl.org/
3. Toledo, OH - http://www.toledolibrary.org/obits/ (only 1970 to present)
F. Now duplicated on Ancestry.com up to March 2009; will soon be updated to November 2010.
G. Special features: Notebook and Post-em features.
II. Family Search: Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) web site: www.familysearch.org
A free website of genealogical information that helps researchers to identify their ancestors and organize family
history information. To get full access to images you must register – no cost, no obligation. Beta and pilot websites are
now being integrated into Familysearch.org.
A.
Historical Records
1. Includes digital copies of various genealogical resources, of special interest is Ohio Death certificates
from 1908 to 1953 and the Toledo Diocese Catholic church records
2. Census Records – Includes complete or partial access to the 1880 U.S. census for 1850 to 1930, plus
some for the British Isles and Canada. plus some for the British Isles and Canada.
3. List of North America records as of 2/12/11 https://www.familysearch.org/s/collection/list#page=1&region=NORTH_AMERICA
B.
Family Trees – Includes submitted information from Mormons and other interested family historians,
linked to family members.
C. Family History Library Catalog. Describes the records available at the Family History Library for the whole
world. The catalog provides a guide to family histories; birth, marriage, and death records; census records;
church registers; and many other records that may contain genealogical information. These records may be in a
book, on microfiche or microfilm, or in a computer file. Copies of most microfilm and microfiche records can
be loaned to the Hayes Presidential Center for a low cost.
D. http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/ - Family History Archives – This digital history project will target over
100,000 published family histories and thousands of local histories and provide them for free on the web.
III.
USGenweb and World Genweb - www.usgenweb.org, www.worldgenweb.org
A. County-by-county access to genealogical information - always an important way to search. Easy to use.
Logical
B. Wide variety of what is available at each site. Some have volunteers who have packed their site with useful
content; others have only minimal information. Can change frequently. Keep checking back. Typical topics
included on the sites: queries, surname lists, general information on the county and its resources, e.g.
courthouse hours, free look-ups, and information on message boards or email lists for that county.
C. Genweb Archives - http://usgwarchives.net/ - actual documents, databases.
material. Usually have search boxes to help find your family name.
IV.
Also check out statewide
Rootsweb: A vast clearinghouse of genealogical data, co-sponsored by Ancestry.com; www.rootsweb.com, but
free.
A.. Massive search engines that index a variety of databases.
B.. Worldconnect – http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com - index to thousands of
gedcoms, some of which you can download.
C.. Immigrant Ship Transcribers Guild http://www.immigrantships.net/ listing of ship
passenger lists
D. Obituary Daily Times - http://obits.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/obit.cgi – listing of fairly current obituaries
V.
Google: http://www.google.com/
A. Best search engine for the web. Try your names. Put in quotes; add location, to cut down on hits (e.g. “Asa
Cory” Coryville).
B.
www.books.google.com - Find complete books and preview versions at this website. Go to Advanced
Search and search for “full view” and that will bring up books that are completely digitized and free on the
web.
C. Google Images, Maps, etc.
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VI.
Other Genealogical Websites of Interest
A. OPLIN research databases – FREE – http://oplin.org/databases/index.php - includes Sanborn Maps of
Ohio towns which show outlines of houses, also NewsBank – digital copies of fairly recent newspapers for
Ohio’s large cities.
B. FindaGrave.com – “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.”
C. http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/index.html – Fort Wayne, Indiana’s huge genealogy library
catalog
D.. http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/archlib/index.html Ohio Historical Society’s various
databases, including Ohio death certificates.
E.. http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/ – Center for Archival Collections at Bowling Green
State University. Includes listings of northwest Ohio newspapers, church records, manuscripts
F. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ - Bureau of Land Management – lists original land
patents for the US govt., including Northwest Ohio lands.
G.. http://familytreemagazine.com/article/101-Best-Websites-2010- Family Tree Magazine lists their 101
top genealogy sites – wide cross section of a limited amount of good sites to check out.
H. http://genealogybuff.com/np/ohio_newspapers.htm - Listing of Ohio newspapers with their
websites, mostly very recent archives.
I. Kris Kuhn Krumm’s personal page, highlighting pictures of tombstones from local cemeteries:
http://www.kriskuhn.net/
VII. Library Catalog
A.
The Hayes Library book collection is on-line and available from your home computer.
http://maurice.bgsu.edu . Also our catalog is part of Bowling Green State University’s BGLink and part of
OhioLink and WorldCat. Search by author, title, subject, keyword or call number.
1. BGLink – searches BGSU and Hayes Presidential Center: http://maurice.bgsu.edu
2. OhioLink – searches all of Ohio’s public universities’ libraries, including BGSU and Hayes –
http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search/
3. WorldCat.org – searches libraries nationwide. http://www.worldcat.org/
B. Examples of genealogical searches: try for your family name to see who has books about the “Sherman
Family”; try a locality to see what books are available for “Clyde, Ohio”; try a name of a relative who may be an
author or a recorded musician and see what libraries have their books or recordings
C. Manuscript collections are also being put online – try WorldCat.org for your family name and you may
come up with some original material. Example – Thaddeus Hurd.
VIII.
Personal Genealogical Programs
A. My favorite: Roots Magic Easy to use, inexpensive, flexible, good support.
Purchase from the Hayes
Museum Store for $29.95. Used for Hayes family genealogy. Download free demo or RootsMagic Esssentials.
Also can be ordered online at http://www.rootsmagic.com or by phone 1--876-766-8762
B. Family Tree Maker: Popular program widely available, linked to ancestry.com. $40.00 1-800-262-3787
http://www.familytreemaker.com
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C. Personal Ancestry File – Free LDS program; free download at www.familysearch.org
D. Web-based genealogy programs – If you have only put your genealogy in a website like ancestry.com, you
should also have your information in a program in your own computer. Download gedcom of your file and
import into your own in-house software.
IX. Immigration web sites
A. www.ellisisland.org – Ellis Island records from 1892 to 1924
Register (for free) to access full information. Example – Donato Iannantuono. Be sure to see if there is more
than one page of information.
Different sections – printed info. on form, manifest listing of image; printed listing of manifest, image of ship.
Photos of ship and manifest can be ordered for a fee.
B. http://www.castlegarden.org/ - offers free access to a database of information on 10 million immigrants from
1830 through 1892, the year Ellis Island opened. Over 73 million Americans can trace their ancestors to this
early immigration period
C. http://stevemorse.org/ Steve Morse created these One-Step tools: they provide more powerful interfaces for
searching existing databases. Indexes Ellis Island, Castle Garden, Ancestry’s databases, census, etc.
http://stevemorse.org/onestep/onestep.htm - explains why his index is helpful. Good examples on how to
search for ancestors using names like Irving Berlin and Albert Einstein.
Note that some links on his site are to fee-based databases($) and some are free (1 step).
D. Cyndi’s List: Largest site for finding genealogical web pages by general topics – over 270,000 links listed
http://cyndislist.com
http://www.cyndislist.com/immigrat.htm - lists about 500 web sites, all on immigration, divided into web sites
on Ellis Island , Migration Routes, Roads & Trails, Ports of Departure. Ports of Entry, Ships & Passenger Lists
E. All about immigration and migration from Genealogy.com - free informational pages
http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/00000388.html?priority=0000900
F. Immigration: The living Mosaic of People, Culture, and Hope
Informative site on the history of immigration into the United States with interesting graphics.
G. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maggieoh/pioneer.html - A web site for pioneer migration routes through
Ohio
Becky Hill, Head Librarian
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Spiegel Grove
Fremont, OH 43420-2796
419-332-2081 ext. 231
bhill@rbhayes.org
2/2011
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