GUIDE TO GENEALOGY ON THE INTERNET

 

Can you really use the Internet to fill in your family tree? Can you find your ancestors back to Adam and Eve? The answer is a qualified … maybe. Remember as you go through these sites that no matter what you find you still need to check the original sources. Much of this information is not documented with source notation and you can’t be sure of the quality of the data. After that disclaimer, I will tell you that sometimes what you CAN find may give you just enough information to find the truth.

  1. "Directory" sites – These sites will help you navigate the web. They each list hundreds or thousands of sites and many group sites by category. The best known of these sites is probably Cyndi’s List but you may want to check several of them to get a good feel for sites on the particular topic you are interested in.

TOP GENEALOGY SITES http://pages.prodigy.com/Strawn/sites.htm#sites from this site you can go directly to

Cyndi’s List http://www.cyndislist.com/

Genealogy gateway to the web http://www.polaris.net/~legend/mainsite.htm

Best genealogy links on the web http://pages.prodigy.net/middleton/topten.html

Genealogy is my hobby http://home.earthlink.net/~middleton/index.html

The Mining Company http://genealogy/miningco.com

A Barrel of Genealogy Links http://cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/mark.html

Genealogy Home Page http://www.genhomepage.com

  1. Linked family tree sites – You can search for particular members of your family on these sites. Software companies sponsor some, some are by subscription and some are just other genealogist’s contribution to the Web.

    2. The site that all genealogists waited for from the Later Day Saints is now a reality. http://www.familysearch.org This contains the IGI (International Genealogical Index) and Ancestral File (linked pedigree files submitted by members of the Church and other genealogists) and more!

    Family Tree Maker http://www.familytreemaker.com

    Family Origins http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/registry.html

    Kindred Konnections http://www.kindredkonnections.com

    GenDex http://www.gendex.com

    Online Genealogical Database Index http://www.gentree.com

    GeneaNet http://www.geneanet.org

    Ancestry World Tree http://www.ancestry.com

    World Connect Project http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com

  2. GenWeb – It’s hard to say enough good about this site, it covers all of the United States and they are adding to the number of foreign countries all of the time. For the U.S., each state has a website and within each state, each county has a website. A volunteer coordinator runs each site and each site is different! The quantity and substance of the site is directed by the interest of the coordinator. You may find old bible records, transcribed cemetery records, census records, veterans records or vital statistics. Many, if not all, have a query section where you can post information about what you are looking for. If you do not know the specific county, usually the state site has a general inquiries page.

    3. USGenweb http://www.usgenweb.org or http://www.usgenweb.net

    Use the links from this site to visit the WorldGenWeb too.

  3. Rootsweb – This is where the GenWeb is hosted. Check this site for the granddaddy of all mailing lists. The Roots_L list is simply where you can post the name you are researching and search the list to see who is working on the same lineage. http://www.rootsweb.com
  4. GenConnect -- You can search for your surname here in the queries section of USGENWEB pages, not all counties are here but you might get lucky! http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs
  5. Single surname and other mailing lists – Here you can find if your surname is already being discussed by a group of people by means of a mailing list. You simply mail a query to the list and your message is distributed to everyone on the list by email. Rootsweb hosts many of these lists but there are others. For the single surname mailing list the focus is just to correspond with anyone researching that surname. Some of the other lists focus on a specific geographic region or topic. I have learned more from these kinds of lists than probably another other single source.

    6. Rootsweb mailing lists http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/

    Other sites for mailing lists http://members.aol.com/johnf14246/gen_mail.html

    New mailing list site http://www.genweb.net

  6. Web Rings – This seems to be a fairly new idea (at least to me) to link sites by means of a "ring". Go to the site to see what kinds of topics are available. Under the topic "genealogy" you will find different kinds of genealogy sites. The idea is that you can move from site to site without typing a URL, just clicking on the webring symbol will advance you to the next site.

    7. http://www.webring.org

  7. Commercial sites – These may be sites sponsored by a genealogy software vendor, such as Family Tree Maker or Family Origins. Other sites may be by book, CD vendors or magazine publishers, etc. The focus of these sites is to help you but also to sell you something. A few of them are listed here.

    8. http://www.ancestry.com

    http://www.familytreemaker.com

    http://www.everton.com

    http://www.heritagequest.com/

    http://www.parsonstech.com

  8. Mapping sites -- need to look up towns, cemeteries or even streets? http://www.mapquest.com and http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html are two good ones to try.

 

Questions or comments? Email me at herkimergenealogy@yahoo.com

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