Online Genealogy Resources

Ancestry.com Library Edition is available for use in the library. There is also a comprehensive list of free resources listed below.

Free websites that you may or may not be aware of. Be sure to read the "About" section of each site to see exactly what type or records are included. This list was received at a workshop that was presented at the Texas Library Association Conference 2022.

Credits are at the bottom of page 2.

General:

FamilySearch- www.familysearch.org:
- Billions of records (Search)
- Research wiki (Search)
- Hundreds of free recorded classes (Get Help- Learning Center)
RootsTech- www.rootstech.org
- Free recorded conference sessions
- Blog posts
Cyndi’s List- www.cyndislist.com:
- Directory of free genealogy resources and databases online
US GenWeb Project- www.usgenweb.org:
- Massive free genealogy resource directory by US state and county
WorldGenWeb Project- www.worldgenweb.org:
- Genealogy resources by country and region
Traditions of the Ancestors- www.tota.world
- Cultural knowledge and experiences
- Contributions are welcome

Libraries

Allen County Public Library- Genealogy Center- www.genealogycenter.org:
- Special collections focus on Native American, African American, military and family Bible records.
Midwest Genealogy Center- http://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy:
- Index to 1.5 million US Railroad Retirement Board Pension Records

Cemeteries and Obituaries

BillionGraves- www.billiongraves.com
- Millions of headstone records
Find a Grave- www.Findagrave.com:
- Over 210 million memorials
Arkansas Gravestones- http://arkansasgravestones.org/
- Browse over 1 million gravestone photos from across Arkansas
- Fantastic state project

Military

Preserve the Pensions- www.preservethepensions.org:
- War of 1812 pension records access free through fold3
- https://www.fold3.com/title/761/war-of-1812-pension-files

Free Books

Digital Public Library of America- https://dp.la/:
- Over 44 million digitized items from libraries, archives and museums

Internet Archive- www.archive.org:
- Non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and more
- A large amount of information useful to genealogist, but digging required
- Wayback machine- archive of how website pages appeared in certain time periods

Ethnic

AfriGeneas- www.afrigeneas.com:
- Education and resources for African- American research
Jewish/Eastern European- https://www.rtrfoundation.org/index.shtml
- Jewish and Civil records from Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova
JewishGen- www.jewishgen.org:
- Jewish ancestry research

Immigration

Castle Garden- http://www.castlegarden.org/
- America’s first immigration center
- Over 100 Million names
Ellis Island- www.libertyellisfoundation.org:
- Immigration records, free indexes and original records
- Fee to download copies

Newspapers

Chronicling America- https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
- Huge database of archived US newspapers from the Library of Congress
Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection- https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/
- IL newspapers, Farm newspapers, Vaudeville newspapers, student newspapers, Black newspapers
Fulton History- www.Fultonhistory.com:
- Historical newspapers from the US and Canada
- Historic postcards

United States

Bureau of Land Management- https://www.blm.gov/
- Generated when ancestors bought land from the federal government
- 5M records dating back to 1820
Missouri State Archives- www.sos.mo.gov/archives/:
- Repository for state records of permanent and historical value
TXGenWeb Project- www.txgenweb.org:
- Volunteer genealogical/historical effort
- Each county webpage contains useful tips and online databases
Seeking Michigan- https://michiganology.org/
- Death records (1897-1920), Civil War heritage, old photos, state censuses and more
US National Archives- www.archives.gov:
- Official US National Archives site
- Many free genealogy databases and resources