Guides to Online Genealogy Resources
- Cyndi's List
A comprehensive list of links relating to genealogy, arranged by topic and geographical area.
- Linkpendium
Links to genealogical resources organized by state and surnames.
- RootsWeb
Now a subsidiary of Ancestry.com, RootsWeb is a free service that hosts tens of thousands of websites for the genealogy community, including message boards , sites related to specific localities and surnames, databases, and WorldConnect (see below).
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Genealogy Search Websites
- Ancestry.com
Probably the most popular online genealogical resource. The site contains an impressive array of records and resources invaluable to genealogical researchers, including one of the most extensive collections of US census records available on the web. Access to much of the content requires a paid subscription. Among Ancestry's free resources:
- Family Facts
A resource to find the meaning and origin of thousands of surnames of diverse ethnic origins, linked to maps showing where they occur in the United States and United Kingdom.
- Social Security Death Index
An invaluable resource for locating the birth and death dates of over 82 million American citizens who have died since 1962. The database is not totally comprehensive: many deceased persons are not included for a variety of reasons.
- FamilySearch
An official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library, Familysearch.org is free, and being improved constantly. Much of the information is submitted by individual researchers and is of variable accuracy, however.
Its new pilot search interface (http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0) is not fully operational but promises to be impressive.
- Genealogy.com
This service offers a wide range of family and local histories, vital records, military records and much more. Genealogy.com takes advantage of the powerful search engine and database provided by Ancestry.com and has many of the same user-friendly features including the WorldFamilyTree. Requires paid subscription.
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Genealogy Source Documents
- DistantCousin
DistantCousin is a free online archive of genealogy records and scanned images of historical documents from a wide variety of sources, such as newspaper obituaries, city directories, census records, ship lists, school yearbooks, military records, and more. In all there are more than 6 million genealogy records from over 1,500 sources online.
- Footnote
Footnote has made available, through their partnership with the National Archives, original source documents that include information about an individual's birth, immigration history, marriage, occupation, death, and other genealogical research data. Requires paid subscription.
- GenealogyBank
GenealogyBank is an online genealogical resource from NewsBank, inc. Features a collection of primary material useful for genealogical research, including modern obituaries, over 2,400 historical newspapers, books, pamphlets, military records, government documents and more.
- HeritageQuest
A subscription-based service including U.S. census records, Revolutionary War records, historical books, serials, periodicals, and other sources for genealogical research.
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Mailing Lists and Resource Sharing
- ROOTS-L
ROOTS-L is a mailing list for people who are interested in any or all aspects of genealogy, anywhere in the world. It is the original Internet genealogical mailing list (founded in 1987), and the largest. A good resource for sharing and locating genealogical information.
- USGenWeb Project
A free genealogy website created by volunteers, providing a clearinghouse for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. Organization is by county and state, with links to state genealogy websites which provide gateways to individual counties.
- WorldConnect Project
A database of pedigrees submitted by thousands of RootsWeb.com researchers. There are currently more than 372 million ancestor names included.
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Wikis
- WeRelate.org
WeRelate.org is the world's largest genealogy wiki with pages for over 1,500,000 people and families and growing. Contributors have created wiki pages for their ancestors, including scanned documents and photos, family stories and biographies, maps of ancestors' life events, and multi-generation pedigree charts.
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Federal Records
- National Archives: Resources for Genealogists and Family Historians
A guide to the National Archives’ vast holdings of U.S. Federal records useful for genealogical research. While the majority of these records are not available online, some useful collections are, including selected military records, prisoner of war records, records related to WWII Japanese internment and Chinese exclusion, fugitive slave records, and Native American enrollments.
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Illinois Genealogy Resources
- Genealogy in the Illinois State Archives
Links to the Illinois State Archives’ resources for genealogical research, including information on the Archives’ many online databases (Public Domain land sales, statewide marriage index, statewide death index, military records, etc.)
- Illinois Regional Archives Depositories (IRAD)
Depositories of county and other local government records useful for research in Illinois genealogy and history. The seven depositories are located at state universities around the state of Illinois, and include records of birth, marriages, and deaths, a variety of court records, naturalization records, deed and tax records, and many others dating from the Territorial Period onward.
- ILGenWeb Project
Collected links to genealogical resources in Illinois, organized by county.
- Illinois Vital Records
The Illinois Department of Public Health’s Office of Vital Records preserves the state's records on births, deaths, marriages and divorces. Since birth and death records first began to be collected by the Department in 1916, 27 million have been placed on file, including some delayed records dating back to the mid 1800s. These records are not available online; copies may be ordered from the Office of Vital Records for a fee.
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