Rick Crume
Genealogist, Writer and Speaker
Genealogy Links: Category Index
Subscription sites are marked $.
Blogs
RSS feed readers are an efficient way to follow news and blogs. They regularly check the blogs and news sites you specify and retrieve updates, which you can view whenever you want. To use RSS feeds, you’ll need a news reader. Two of the most popular news readers are Web-based and free: Google Reader and the news reader on My Yahoo!. Once you have a news reader, choose the news you want it to retrieve. Look for an orange RSS button, which indicates there's a news feed.
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About Genealogy
Kimberley Powell dispenses practical advice and interesting stories for online genealogists. -
The Ancestry Insider
News on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org -
Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
Dick Eastman reports on the latest news and trends in technology for genealogists. -
The Genealogue
This site’s Genealogy Blog Finder lists more than 1,600 blogs. -
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Genealogy Gems Podcast
Lisa Louise Cooke interviews genealogy experts. -
Genealogy Insider
News from Diane Haddad of Family Tree Magazine. -
Genea-Musings
Randy Seaver covers online genealogy, software, research tips and news.
Books
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BYU Family History Archive
More than 17,000 family history & local history books -
Genealogy Book Links
A directory of online biographies, genealogies, maps, atlases and newspapers. -
Google Books
Search the full text of millions of books. You can view books whose copyrights have expired, but only snippets of copyrighted works.
Online Books Page
A
meta-catalog of free online book collections
Project Gutenberg
Full-text
search in test stage
Cemeteries
- Findagrave.com
The site has information on more than 50 million grave markers. - Interment.net
Cemetery records from thousands of cemeteries around the world.
Census Records
-
Ancestry’s US Federal Census Records
$
This site offers the entire run of US censuses from 1790 to 1930. Every-name indexes are linked to images of the census pages. Many public libraries subscribe to Ancestry Library Edition and, as a cardholder, you can access the census records for free. -
FamilySearch
Resources on this site, completely free, include a transcription of the 1880 U.S. census and the 1881 censuses of Canada, England and Wales. FamilySearch Beta is adding US federal census records and will eventually have every-name indexes linked to pages images for all years from 1790 to 1930. -
HeritageQuest Online
Indexes cover the censuses of 1790 through 1820 and 1860 through 1920. There’s a partial index to the 1930 census. Most census years have just head-of-household indexes, but the 1880 census has an every-name index. Subscribing libraries provide free access to this service from within a library or from home. Log in on your library's website with your library card number.
Census Records: 1940
The 1940 census is available for free on the following websites:
Denmark
-
The Danish Emigration
Archives
The Copenhagen police recorded the names of these 394,000 emigrants leaving Denmark from 1869 to 1908.
Directories and Public
Records
Your long-lost relatives may have old family papers
and photographs and knowledge of your ancestry. Use online directories
and public records databases to find your relatives’ contact
information.
- BirthDatabase.com
This database provides name, date of birth and place of residence. - Intelius
Information on this site includes name, age, place of residence and family members. Basic information is free. - Pipl
Pipl searches social networking sites, phone directories and other online resources. - Yahoo! People Search
Search for U.S. phone and address and e-mail directories or do a reverse phone number search.
DNA
You can now use DNA to prove family relationships.
- Ancestry.com DNA testing
$
Ancestry does both paternal lineage (Y-DNA) and maternal lineage (mtDNA) tests. - Family Tree DNA
$
Search the directory of surname projects. For a fee, you can have a DNA test that may indicate how closely you are related to other people with the same last name. - YSearch
Search this Y-DNA database by last name or for genetic matches if you’ve already had a test.
Eastern Europe
- Federation of Eastern European
Family History Societies
If your ancestors hailed from Central or Eastern Europe, be sure to check this site. In addition to research guides, you’ll find databases of immigrants.
Family Trees
These databases contain millions of names submitted
by thousands of genealogists. Individuals are linked together in
families so, once you make a connection, you might instantly extend your
pedigree back several generations. Online family trees aren't always
accurate, so be sure to verify the information.
- Ancestral File
Closed to new submissions, this file on FamilySearch has 36 million names. - Ancestry Member Trees
$
Anyone can build an Ancestry Member Tree for free, but you need a paid subscription ($19.95/month or $155.40/year) to search all the trees. You can attach photos and invite family members to view your tree and contribute to it. - Ancestry World Tree
A huge file with over 575 million names, this file offers many useful search options and includes notes and sources. - GenCircles Global
Tree
"SmartMatching" technology produces unusually accurate matches when searching the 85 million-plus names in this file. - MyHeritage
Free/$
Enter your family information online or download and install Family Tree Builder, a free, full-featured genealogy program, to organize your family history information offline and publish it to your family site with one click. This multilingual site has family trees from all over the world. Up to 250 names, free. Unlimited names, $119.40/year. - Pedigree Resource File
This file has 300 million names, and you can search it on either FamilySearch or Progeny Software’s site. The online version of the PRF is just an index. The disk version ($19 for a set of 5 CDs or $13 per DVD) contains complete information, including notes and sources. - RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project
This file is nearly identical to the Ancestry World Tree. Data submitted to either file also appears in the other one. - SharedTree
It works much like desktop genealogy software, but also lets you collaborate with relatives on an online family tree.
Finland
- Finnish Institute of
Migration Emigrant Register $
You can search this index to nearly a million names in Finnish passport and passenger records from 1850 to 1960 for free. Registration for about $21 a year gives you full access to the databases.
Genealogy Megasites
- American History and Genealogy
Project (USGenNet)
Similar to the USGenWeb Project, this site is linked to pages for each state and county. You’ll find research help for each locality and even record transcriptions. - Ancestry.com
Genealogy’s biggest subscription site offers US, Canadian and British census records, immigration records, military records, newspapers and more. The US Deluxe Membership costs $19.95 a month or $155.40 a year. LARL provide free access to Ancestry Library Edition, which includes most databases available with a US Deluxe Membership. - FamilySearch
This free site from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides free access to birth, marriage, death and census records from around the world. - Fold3 $
Access census, military and naturalization records, as well as city directories and other resources for $11.95 a month or $79.95 a year. - HeritageQuest
Online
This virtual library features digital images of over 28,000 family and local history books, all US census records from 1790 to 1930, the PERSI index to genealogical periodicals, Revolutionary War pension files and the Freedman’s Bureau bank records on former slaves. Subscribing libraries provide free access, usually from within the library or by logging in from home with your library card number. - National Archives
Online databases include 20th century military records, Native American records and New York passenger lists from 1846 to 1851. You’ll also find guides to other family history resources at the National Archives. - RootsWeb
Resources here include the Social Security Death Index, the RootsWeb Surname List to help you find other people researching the same families, mailing lists and the WorldConnect Project of family information submitted by researchers. - The USGenWeb Project
Maintained by volunteers, this network of sites includes a page for each state linked to county pages. They typically include research guides and transcribed records. Many county pages also have a surname registry and a place to post queries. If there’s a site-wide search engine, be sure to check for the names you’re researching. - WorldGenWeb Project
Similar in organization to the USGenWeb Project, this site is a network of genealogy sites for many countries. - WorldVitalRecords.com
$
The U.S. Collection, $39.95 a year, has about 5,000 family and local history books, including titles from the Genealogical Publishing Company, and selected titles from NewspaperARCHIVE.com.
Germans from Russia
- Janet’s Germans
from Russia Research
If your German ancestors made a detour to Russia before coming to North America, you just might find them mentioned on this site. You’ll find passenger arrival lists for New York from 1891 to 1922, Baltimore from 1907 to 1912, Galveston from 1909 to 1913 and Philadelphia from 1909 to 1912. - Odessa Digital Library: Ship
and Immigration Records
An indispensable resource for anyone researching genealogy of the Germans from Russia, this extensive site brings together cemetery, census, church and land records, as well as family histories, village histories and more. You’ll also find declarations of intent from Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, lists of German emigrants and passenger arrival lists for several American and Canadian ports.
Germany
-
Archives in Germany
Contact information for many German archives -
Background and Index for Full Names Finding Aid: Full Names from the
Pal-Index (Palatine Index), 1727-1775, by Charles M. Hall
This index covers about 6,000 Germanic emigrants from Alsace-Lorraine, Switzerland and southern Germany. - Bremen Passenger Lists
1920-1939
Bremen started keeping passenger departure lists in 1832, but most were lost in war or discarded. Only this site’s 2,851 lists naming 637,880 passengers survive. - Cyndi’s List:
Germany
Web site links - Emigration & Immigration Records & Links
- Emigration from Southwest
Germany (Auswanderung aus Südwestdeutschland)
this index includes records from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Most of the Baden records cover 1850 to 1880. The Württemberg and Hohenzollern lists contain more than 53,000 names, mostly from 1800 to 1860. - Genealogy.net
This site, from the German Society for Computer Genealogy, has many useful resources for German family history, including contact information for German genealogical societies, archives and libraries. German genealogical societies often maintain indexes, collections and lists of members’ surname interests. -
German-Bohemian Immigrant Surname Database
The German Bohemian Heritage Society compiled this database of Bohemian immigrants and the people who are researching them. - German Emigrants
Database (Deutsche Auswanderer-Datenbank)
Drawing on passenger lists of ships leaving German ports for the United States, this database names 4.4 million emigrants and covers the years 1820 to 1833, 1840 to 1891, 1904 and 1907. Eventually it will cover 1820 to 1939. -
German Gazetteers
Covering most of Germany’s provinces, these gazetteers give each town’s parish and civil registration offices—the key information you need to find church and vital records. - Germanic Genealogy Society
- IGI Index: Deutches
Batchnummern Verzeichnis
lets you narrow your IGI search to a specific batch number, which usually covers the records of a specific town or church. That’s a handy feature if you’re searching for a common last name and know the town where your family lived. - Internet Sources of German Genealogy
- The National Archives
Access to Archival Databases: Data Files Relating to the Immigration
of Germans to the United States
This database lists more than four million passengers, mostly German, who arrived in the United States between 1850 and 1897. To search the file, click on Passenger Lists and the Search button next to “Germans to America Passenger Data File, 1850 – 1897.” -
The Olive Tree Genealogy: List of Ships to Philadelphia Pennsylvania
1727-1808
This list includes links to passenger lists on this site and elsewhere, drawing on transcriptions from Rupp, Strassburger & Hinke and other sources. - Online German Emigration Records, Lists & Indexes
- The
Palatine Project: Reconstructed Passenger Lists, 1683-1819
This impressive site uses sources from both colonial America and German-speaking countries to reconstruct passenger lists in the first large wave of German immigration. -
Pennsylvania German Pioneers
Most of Strassburger & Hinke’s book, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, a list of German immigrants arriving in Philadelphia between 1727 and 1808, has been transcribed online, but on sites scattered across the Web. This site is a directory of those transcriptions. There’s no index to names, so you’ll have to browse. -
Pennsylvania German Pioneers – Ships from Germany to Philadelphia
Carrying Palatines
Like the previous site, this one has links to online transcriptions of lists of German passengers arriving in Philadelphia. This site covers 1727 to 1775. - ProGenealogists’ German Genealogy Research
- Resources for German Genealogy on the Internet
Great Britain
- Access to
Archives
A catalog of more than 9 million items held by 418 local archives in England and Wales - British Library Integrated Catalogue
- The British
Newspaper Archive
A result of a partnership between the British Library and brightsolid, this site will eventually have 40 million newspaper pages. You can search the newspapers for free. Two days of access (500 credits) costs about $11. An annual subscription gives you unlimited access and costs about $128. Genes Reunited Platinum members can add the British Newspaper Archive to their current subscription for about $64. - Copac
The merged online catalogues of many major University, Specialist, and National Libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library - FreeBMD
Transcriptions of the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales - GENUKI
Extensive resources for genealogy in the United Kingdom and Ireland -
National Archives
Great Britain - National
Library of Wales
Includes an index to pre-1858 wills and administrations proved in Wales, with images of wills. Also, an index of applicants for marriage licenses, 1616-1837. -
Ordnance Survey
This online version of the wonderfully detailed Landranger maps of England, Scotland, Wales, and
Northern Ireland even shows houses and farms by name (although you can’t search on house or farm
names). - Scotland’s People*
Scotland’s official online source for church records provides indexes linked to images of birth, baptism and marriage records from 1553 to 1854. The site now has images of death and burial records, too, but many have not survived or were never kept in the first place. - Society of Genealogists
- Streetmap.co.uk
Like the Ordnance Survey site, this Web site locates a place on a Landranger map of England, Scotland,
or Wales (but not Northern Ireland). Unlike the Ordnance Survey site, Streetmap supports searches on
house and farm names. - UK Census Collection
$
Ancestry.com has indexes linked to images of the censuses of England, Wales and the Channel Islands from 1841 to 1901, and transcriptions of Scottish censuses from 1841 to 1901.
How-To Guides
- FamilySearch
For handy guides and reference materials for both beginning and advanced genealogists, click on the Research Helps tab to access these resources.- Articles. You can view and print research outlines for many countries, US states and Canadian provinces, as well as genealogical word lists and guides to statewide indexes and collections.
- Guidance. This guide helps you identify resources for the place and time period you’re researching.
- Search the Wiki. Free family history research advice contributed by the public.
- Ask a Question. Use the forum to ask and answer questions on family history research and FamilySearch.
- Online Classes. Learn how to research your family history in the U.S. and several other countries.
- Family Tree Magazine
free/$
Educational resources include online articles, classes and research guides. - ProGenealogists
This very useful site created by professional genealogists features many useful resources. From the Research Tools tab, select Articles & Education to access how-to articles; Links Library to access the Genealogy Sleuths; Our Online Data to search several databases; and Country Websites for guides to research in several countries. - Roots Television
This innovative site features videos on many topics, including DNA research, homeland studies and how-to topics, as well as blogs and vlogs (video logs).
Iceland
- The Emigration
from Iceland to North America
In addition to lists of Icelandic immigrants to the United States and Canada, this site has helpful guides to Icelandic genealogy, the Icelandic alphabet and Icelandic names.
Immigration
- Ancestry's Immigration & Travel Collection
$
Databases in the U.S. Immigration Collection include lists of colonial immigrants, passenger arrival lists for all major U.S. ports (mostly beginning in 1820) and some naturalization indexes. Important databases include U.S. Passport Applications from 1795 to 1925; Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956
; and U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972
.
- Castle Garden
Castle Garden, America’s first official immigration center, processed passengers landing in New York City before Ellis Island opened. This new site has information on 11 million passengers arriving from 1820 to 1892. - Ellis Island Records
Search a database of 22 million immigrants, passengers and crew on New York City passenger arrivals from 1892 to 1924. Then view digital images of the lists. - Emigration & Immigration Records & Links
- FamilySearch Beta
Databases on this test site include New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924; New York, Southern District Index to Petitions for Naturalization, 1824-1941; and New York, Southern District Naturalization Index, 1917-1950. - Immigrant Ancestors Project
This database sponsored by Brigham Young University’s Center for Family History and Genealogy draws on emigrant records created in the countries of departure. The project’s current focus is emigrants from England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and Spain. - Immigrant Servants Database
- Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild
Volunteers have transcribed millions of names from 11,000 manifests—and you can search them all for free on this site. You’ll find passenger lists for everything from the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria in 1492 and the Mayflower in 1620 to the SS Marconi carrying Yugoslavian passengers to Australia in 1966. - Magellan - The Ships Encyclopedia
- New York Arrivals
- Virtual Jamestown: Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654-1759
Internet Directories
- Cyndi's List of Genealogy
Sites on the Internet
More than 282,000 links - Linkpendium
Millions of genealogy links arranged by surname and place - Online
Genealogy Records and Resources
Joe Beine has gathered links to the best online databases in several categories, including census, vital, military and immigration records. You’ll also find links to Canadian death records and passenger lists research guides. -
ProGenealogists: Links
Professional genealogists created this guide to helpful online databases in several areas, including vital records, naturalization and passenger lists and cemetery sites.
Ireland
-
Boston Passenger Manifest 1848-1891
The Massachusetts Archives created this index to immigrants arriving by ship at the port of Boston between January 1848 and July 1891. Eventually the database will have over a million names. - A Database of Advertisements
for Irish Immigrants Published in the Boston Pilot
Between 1831 and 1921, the Boston Pilot ran a “Missing Friends” column with advertisements from people looking for friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland. Created by Boston College’s Irish Studies Program, this free database includes key details from the ads. So far, more than 31,000 records from 1831 to 1890, 1893, 1901 and 1913 are online. - Famine Irish Passenger
Record Data File
Part of the U.S. National Archives’ Access to Archival Databases, this database has information on 604,596 people who arrived in the United States from 1846 to 1851. About 70% listed their native country as Ireland, but others came from Canada, Brazil, Saint Croix, Russia, Morocco, the United States and countries throughout Europe. - Irish
Famine Migration to New Brunswick 1845-1852
This file lists more than 23,000 passengers arriving in the port of Saint John, one of the most important gateways for Irish Famine emigrants.
Land Records
- BLM General Land Office
Records
If your ancestors were homesteaders, check out this database on the initial transfer of land titles from the federal government to individuals. You can view images of more than two million federal land title records issued between 1820 and 1908.
Library Catalogs
Every book and manuscript that could help in your
family history research isn’t online yet, so check library resources,
too.
- Allen County Public Library
- DAR Library
-
Family History Library Catalog
Search this catalog to identify materials that pertain to the families and places you’re researching. Most materials on microfilm and microfiche can be borrowed through Family History Centers. - Genealogical Library Master Catalog
$
Requires a subscription to Ancestry.com - Lake Agassiz Regional Library
Search the holdings of libraries in northwestern Minnesota. - Library of Congress
The largest library in the world has an impressive collection of family histories and local histories. If you find a title that looks promising, ask your local librarian if you can get a copy on interlibrary loan or photocopies of selected pages. - Melvyl
The catalog of the University of California Libraries - New York Public Library
- NUCMC: National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
- WorldCat
1.5 billion books and other items at more than 10,000 libraries
Military Records
-
American
Memory, Library of Congress, Selected Civil War Photographs,
1861-1865
These 1,118 photographs, mostly made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, include battle sites, officers and some enlisted men. Browse the subject index for battles and a soldier’s name, regiment and commander. -
Civil War Pension Index Cards
This transcription of Union pension index cards also covers some veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection and World War I. Enter the soldier’s name and, optionally, narrow your search by typing his state of enlistment in the Place field. Eventually, you’ll be able to view images of Union pension records at Footnote (with a subscription) or at Family History Centers for free. - Civil War Soldiers and
Sailors System
The National Park Service, the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Federation of Genealogical Societies collaborated on this database of 6.3 million Civil War soldiers. The National Archives’ General Index Cards to both Union and Confederate soldiers’ service form the basis of the database. The site also has regimental histories, battle descriptions and records of prisoners on both sides. - Daughters of the American
Revolution
The DAR Patriot Index summarizes key facts on over 100,000 Revolutionary Patriots whose service has been proven. If you don’t have access to the three-volume set, take advantage of the Patriot Index Lookup Service, www.dar.org/natsociety/pi_lookup.cfm. Fill out the form and a volunteer will reply by e-mail. If someone has joined the DAR based on descent from your Patriot ancestor, get a copy of the membership application. It costs $10 and instructions are at www.dar.org/library/record_copy.cfm. -
National Archives ARC Gallery: Civil War
You can page through thumbnails of hundreds of Mathew Brady’s Civil War-era photographs. Click on a category, such as Battlefields. Then click on Refine Search and search on a term, such as Antietam. You might have luck searching on the name of the commanding officer of your Civil War ancestor’s regiment. - The On-Line Institute
for Advanced Loyalist Studies
In addition to an index to Loyalist muster rolls, this free site has regimental documents, land petitions and postwar settlement documents. - Sons of Union Veterans of the
Civil War Grave Database
This database lists the burial places of both Union and Confederate soldiers. - The Spanish-American War
Centennial Website
This site includes unit profiles, rosters and photos, and tells how to research a Spanish-American War veteran.
Minnesota
- Dalby Database
This massive index compiled by John Dalby covers more than 875,000 names from 2,074 Minnesota cemeteries. - FamilySearch Beta
The site includes the Minnesota births from 1850 to 1989; marriages from 1849 to 1950; deaths from 1835 to 1990; state censuses of 1875, 1885 and 1895; and wills from 1849 to 1918. - Iron Range
Research Center
Databases on this site include Alien Registration Records of 1918 and Minnesota Naturalization Records (from the 1800s to the mid-1950s). - Minnesota Historical Society
Resources include indexes to Minnesota births from 1900 to 1934, deaths from 1904 to 2001 and state census records from 1849 to 1905. - Minnesota Official Marriage
System (MOMS)
Most Minnesota counties are covered in this index and records go back as far as 1850 and up to the present day.
Naturalization
- Archives of Michigan
Naturalization Record Indexes
Search the site for 'naturalization.' - Indiana: ICPR Naturalization Search
- Kings County Clerk’s Office Index To Brooklyn Naturalization Records 1907-1924
- Minnesota’s
Iron Range Research Center
If your immigrant ancestors settled in the “land of 10,000 lakes,” check out this index to Minnesota naturalizations and 1918 Alien Registrations records. It covers over 865,000 records in all of Minnesota’s 87 counties. - New York City Naturalization Records
www.italiangen.org/databaselist.stm or www.germangenealogygroup.com/otherdb.stm - North
Dakota Naturalization Records Index
A cooperative effort of the State Historical Society of North Dakota and the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, this database contains over 212,000 names. You can request copies of naturalization records for $5 per person. - The Olive Tree
Genealogy
NaturalizationRecords.com is part of the Olive Tree Genealogy Family of Websites. - Online Searchable Naturalization Indexes & Records
- Sampubco
Best known for its probate indexes, Sampubco also has indexes to naturalization records filed in various counties in Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin. - South Dakota Naturalization Records Index
- [South Dakota] Name Index to Naturalization Records from Dakota Territory and South Dakota
- Washington State Digital Archives: Naturalization Records
New Brunswick, Canada
- New
Brunswick Genealogical Society
The site has a list of surnames members are researching. -
New Brunswick Place Names and Maps
From the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick - Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
New York
- Brooklyn Daily
Eagle Online (1841-1902)
Search for words and view matching articles. - New York Public Library
- New York State Historical Association
- New York State Library Catalogs
- New York State Library Historical Documents
- The New York
Times Archives
Free access to newspapers from 1851 to 1923 and from 1987 to the present. - New York University
Libraries
This catalog covers the New-York Historical Society and the Brooklyn Historical Society. - Old Fulton New
York Post Cards
Over 13 million New York State newspapers - Sampubco
Indexes to New York probate records and guardianships
Newspapers
- Brooklyn Daily
Eagle Online (1841-1902)
Search for words and view matching articles. - California Digital Newspaper
Collection
Search almost 5 million articles in 16 newspapers. - Chronicling
America: Historic American Newspapers
Online newspapers and a newspaper directory from the Library of Congress - GenealogyBank.com
$
Search newspapers, obituaries and other resources for $19.95 a month or $69.95 a year. - Legacy
$
This site publishes death notices and obituaries for just about all the 2.4 million Americans who die each year. - The New York
Times Archives
Free access to newspapers from 1851 to 1923 and from 1987 to the present. - ObitsArchive.com
Here you’ll find obituaries from over 900 newspapers from across the United States dating from 1980 to the present. You can search for free. Pay $2.95 per article or get 100 articles a month for $19.95. - Obituary Daily
Times
Most of these citations to over fifteen million obituaries date from 1998 to the present. - Old Fulton New
York Post Cards
Over 13 million New York State newspapers
North Dakota
- NDSU
Libraries – Institute for Regional Studies & University Archives
Databases include the Dakota Territory 1885 census, the Fargo Forum Obituary Index, the North Dakota Biography Index, North Dakota Naturalization Records Index and Cass County Marriage, Divorce and Probate Records. -
North Dakota Department of Health Public Death Index
The index goes back to 1881 and up to one year ago. You can’t search more than a ten-year increment at a time. The records from about 1881 to 1924 are incomplete.
Norway
-
Digitalarkivet
Search Norwegian church, census and probate records for free. -
Fylkesarkivet
Includes place names, land registers, censuses and church registers. -
Norway Heritage
Emigrant search 1825-1873
This growing database has more than 70,000 names of Norwegian passengers from over 450 passenger lists. -
The Norwegian
Historical Data Centre
Census and church records. - Oluf Rygh: Norwegian Farm Names
Photo Sharing
Just upload your photos from your computer to one of these sites and your pictures are available to everyone or just to those you invite. Most photo sharing sites offer at least some online storage space for free.
- FlickR
free/$
Simple editing. Organize your photos and videos in collections and add tags and captions. - Picasa Web Albums
free/$
It works well with the free Picasa photo-editing and -organizing software. There are no ads and you get 1 GB of online photo storage for free. - Photobucket
free/$
It offers 1 GB of space for free. You can use titles and tags to organize your photos. It integrates well with social networking sites, so it’s easy to display your photos on Facebook and MySpace. - Shutterfly
free/$
It offers free online storage for unlimited photos and up to ten video clips. You can edit your pictures and choose from more than 400 borders and add personalized captions. - SmugMug
$
It offers more features than other photo-sharing services and there are no ads, but it charges a fee. A Standard account, $39.95 a year, includes unlimited storage and attractive online albums and slideshows. A Power account, $59.95 a year, lets you share videos. - Snapfish
It offers unlimited photo storage and free photo-editing tools and slideshows. You can let your friends add comments to your album.
Search Engines
Social Networking
Social networking sites let you interact with other people online and collaborate in generating Web content. Most sites let you make your site public or private, especially useful if you don’t want to make information on living people available to everyone. You can also control who may contribute information, make edits and add photos.
- Geni.com
In addition to networking with relatives on an online family tree, Geni offers a family calendar, birthday reminders and messaging. - MyHeritage
free/$
MyHeritage has an excellent online genealogy program and works in 35 languages. The free Basic plan supports up to 250 names in family trees, 15 members and 250 MB of storage.
Societies
Members receive subscriptions to scholarly journals, news magazines and access to online resources.
- National Genealogical Society $
- New England Historic
Genealogical Society $
Membership gives you access to books and newspapers on this site. - New York Genealogical and Biographical Society $
Surname Lists, Message Boards and Mailing Lists
The Internet offers many opportunities to ask your fellow genealogists for general advice or specialized help with software, ethnic research and other topics. Message boards and mailing lists are devoted to a surname, county, state, province, region or country.
- Ancestry.com Message Boards
This free area of Ancestry.com has boards covering surnames, places and topics, and you can easily search all the messages at once. The same page has an Ancestry Member Directory where you can contact people researching the same surnames as you. - GenForum
This free resource sponsored by Genealogy.com has forums for surnames, places and topics. - RootsWeb Mailing Lists
Over 31,000 mailing lists cover surnames, places and other topics. Post a message to a list and all the subscribers will receive a copy. - RootsWeb Surname List
Search the 1.2 million surname entries in this file to find other researchers interested in the same names. Be sure to submit your own surname interests.
Translation Tools
Vital Records
- Vitalsearch
Search statewide vital records indexes, mostly for the 20th century, from Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Access to most databases is free. - Social Security Death Index (SSDI)
This massive database has information on over 87 million people who had Social Security numbers and whose death was reported to the Social Security Administration. The file covers primarily deaths since 1962, but some date back to the 1930s. Most entries include an exact date of birth, the month or exact date of death and the last place of residence. You can search the SSDI for free on FamilySearch and the RootsWeb SSDI.
Sites that I Maintain
- Glyndon
Congregational United Church of Christ
Founded in 1872, it's the oldest church in Clay County, Minnesota. - ProDiet
Pet Food
Dog food for all stages of your dog's life
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