Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

Genealogy

Links for how to do genealogical research, genealogy resources around the world, and databases of family trees.

Contents:

For information on how to do genealogical research at the National Archives, please see the Genealogy section of the NARA web site.

The Genealogical CD-ROMs Bibliography and The Bibliography of Books Related to Genealogical Research and Technology give a selection of materials available for research in the Archives I Library in Washington, DC.

How to Do Genealogical Research: NARA and Other Federal Web Sites

The 1930 Census
NARA’s comprehensive guide to the 1930 Census.
The 1940 Census
NARA’s comprehensive guide to the 1940 Census, which will be released on April 2, 2012.
Calendar of Events
See the calendar for scheduled genealogy workshops in Washington DC.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records
This web site provides "access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States. We also provide image access to more than three million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908." The database includes land patents, surveys, and land status records.
Family History: Clues in Census Records, 1850-1920
This article by Claire Prechtel-Kluskens appeared in the January 1998 issue of NARA’s The Record.
First in the Path of the Fireman: The Fate of the 1890 Census
This article, written by Kellee Blake, was published in the Spring 1996 issue of Prologue.
Genealogy Notes
Articles from NARA’s Prologue grouped by topic.
Local History & Genealogy Reading Room
The Library of Congress provides several guides for genealogical research including Bibliographies and Guides, Searching Tips, and links to Internet resources.
Missouri’s Union Provost Marshal Papers, 1861-1866
The Provost Marshal Papers for the state of Missouri are part of NARA’s Record Group 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records. Although they are records of the Union Army, they were associated with Confederate records in the War Department because they relate, in part, to Confederate citizens and sympathizers. The online database created by the Missouri State Archives is an index of the Missouri portion of the collection.
Mammoth Cave National Park Cemetery Database
There are many cemeteries in Mammoth Cave National Park, and the National Park Service maintains this database which provides information found on headstones.
Myths and Realities about the 1960 Census
This article by Margaret O. Adams and Thomas E. Brown appeared in the Winter 2000 issue of Prologue.
Nationwide Gravesite Locator
This Department of Veterans Affairs database allows users to "Search for burial locations of veterans and their family members in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker."
National Archives Publishes Revised Guide to Genealogical Research
NARA’s third edition of the popular Guide to Genealogical Research is available for purchase.
An Overview of Records at the National Archives Relating to Military Service
This Fall 2002 Prologue article was written by Trevor Plante and gives information on how to find an ancestor’s military service records.
Other Federal Web sites
Other federal web sites providing useful information in genealogical research are listed here.
Port of New York, New York, 1820-1957
Passenger lists and indexes for vessels arriving at the Port of New York from 1820-1957 are provided on this NARA web site.
State Archives
Contact information for state archives and historical societies.
USCIS Genealogy Program
This site, maintained by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), gives information about immigration and naturalization records and how to access them.

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Other Helpful Genealogy Sites

50 Most Popular Genealogy Websites for 2010
Here is a list of the most popular genealogy web sites for 2010 as determined by four web site ranking companies.
2010 Best State Websites
This article from Family Tree Magazine provides links to the best sites for records of genealogical interest in each state.
Ancestors
Originally a PBS series designed to inspire and inform beginning genealogists, this site provides information on how to conduct research and links to useful family history resources on the web.
College Newspapers Historical Archives
Links to digitized college newspapers.
Digital State Archives
Genealogists can find links to states’ digital collections on this web site.
GenDisasters
Interesting web site that allows researchers to find ancestors affected by disasters both natural and manmade. There is a search function, or researchers can browse by disaster, state, and year. A message board is also available.
Genealogy Today
This site provides news, links, and tools for genealogists.
Genealogy.com
Offers tips on starting genealogical research, web links, and searchable databases.
Houston City Directories
Digitized images of Houston City Directories covering the years 1866 to 1926. This resource is a project of the Houston Area Digital Archive.
Immigration History Research Center
Located at the University of Minnesota, the IHRC offers resources focusing on eastern, central, and southern European and Near Eastern ethnic groups.
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
"A web-based collection of selected historical materials from Harvard’s libraries, archives, and museums that documents voluntary immigration to the U.S. from the signing of the Constitution to the onset of the Great Depression."
International News Historical Archives
Links to digitized international newspapers.
National Genealogical Society
This web site for a national genealogical association provides "How to get started" guidance and a virtual library.
National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution
Provides resources for genealogists including an online catalog of the DAR Library’s holdings.
National, State & Local Newspaper Archives
Links to digitized national, state, and local newspapers.
New England Historic Genealogical Society
Located in Boston, the Society provides information on events, tours, and research. The Library is a valuable resource with many useful guides. A new website, AmericanAncestors.org, was launched in December of 2010, and provides improved functionality.
Obtaining EDs
With this page from Steve Morse’s web site, researchers can determine the Enumeration District in which an address is located. Identifies the microfilm roll where specific EDs can be found.
Online Historical Directories
Links to sites providing digitized copies of city directories as well as other kinds of directories such as business and social.
Pathfinder: Genealogy
This guide is designed to help people get started on researching their genealogy.
The Plymouth Colony Archive Project
This site provides searchable transcripts of texts such as court records, probate inventories, wills, town plans, and biographical profiles of selected colonists. Among other resources are architectural, archaeological and material culture studies.
Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861-1865
This digital version of William S. Stryker’s classic work is presented here by the New Jersey State Library.
Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
This site has a searchable database of names of immigrants who came through Ellis Island as well as advice on conducting genealogical research.
Surname to Soundex Code
With this tool, you can easily find the Soundex code for any surname.
Western History and Genealogy
The Denver Public Library’s Genealogy page provides access to several resources, including Colorado Genealogy and Obituaries, Colorado Pioneer Records, Colorado and Nebraska Military, and more.

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Resources & Searchable Databases

Across the Generations: Exploring U.S. History through Family Papers
Family papers contain a wealth of useful genealogical information, as well as providing a window onto evolving social conditions, on-going economic change, new political trends, and cultural shifts over time. This web exhibit was produced by the Sophia Smith Collection and the Bodman Family Foundation.
AncestralFindings.com
Search vital records, family surnames, and learn more about genealogical research methods.
Ancestry
Ancestry is a subscription database available free of charge from any NARA location nationwide. It offers searchable ancestor databases of over 600 million names, as well as specialized databases, including census images. Ancestry.com is available to individual researchers by subscription.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online, 1841-1902
This web site, which is a collaboration between the Brooklyn Public Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, makes over 70 years of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle available to the web-browsing public. Searchable by keyword, date, and content type, this archive includes an introduction to the paper’s history as well as a time line of important changes to the paper.
Castle Garden
This web site offers free access to an extensive database of information on 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892.
Cincinnati Birth and Death Records, 1865-1912
The database presented here consists of digitized card files from the Cincinnati Health Department. The collection is under development, proceeding in alphabetical order, so researchers will want to check back as the project adds data.
Colonial Connecticut Records, 1636-1776
Sponsored by the University of Connecticut Libraries, this site offers the Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1776, searchable and indexed.
Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
Provides links to 200,000 genealogy web sites.
DAR Genealogical Research System
"The DAR Genealogical Research System is a combination of several databases created in recent years to organize the large quantity of information that the DAR has collected since its inception in 1890." Included are the Ancestor Database, Member Search, Descendants Database, Genealogical Records Committee Report, and Resources.
Dead Fred’s Genealogy Photo Archive
Free photo genealogy research web site. Reseachers can search the surname database and post their own photographs.
Digital Library on American Slavery
Here is "a searchable database of detailed personal information about slaves, slaveholders, and free people of color." Data is drawn from petitions to southern legislatures and country courts filed between 1775 and 1867 in the slaveholding states and the District of Columbia. Researchers can search for petitions, search by name, or browse by category (such as Marriage and Women, Atttaining Freedom, Slave Ownership and more). A wealth of information.
Family Tree Connection
A subscription database that offers unusual resources such as graduation lists, railroad employees, orphanage residents, and more.
FamilySearch
This genealogical resource from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hosts 300 million names in two indexes, searchable by ancestor name, keyword, or custom search. The providers have not publicly stated whether this site will offer access to the entirety of their 2 billion name genealogical record repository.
Federal Township Plats of Illinois, 1804-1891
The passage of the Land Ordinance of 1785 created the rectangular survey system for the mapping and subsequent sale of the western public lands of the United States. In 1803, the first survey of lands began, which would later become the state of Illinois. This web site contains high resolution compressed images of all the township plats for the state of Illinois.
Free Genealogy Tools
A web site that provides access to many free family history resources online.
Free Newspaper Archives
This site contains links to digital newspaper archives. The links are arranged geographically, plus national and special collections.
Genealogy: Open Directory Project
This site indexes over 7,600 genealogy sites on the Internet. They are categorized by subject and geographic region. Links to foreign-language sites are also included.
Genealogy Resources: Digital Librarian
An extensive alphabetical list of genealogy resources available on the Web. Some entries are annotated.
GeneaSearch.com
Includes a searchable database, family newsletters, books from societies and individuals, queries, announcements of new sites, and information for beginning researchers.
Illinois State Archives Databases
These databases include all veterans from Illinois who participated in America’s wars from the War of 1812 to the Spanish-American War, Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database, and Database of Illinois Servitude and Emancipation Records.
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
Site consists of transcribed passenger lists published in eleven volumes. Researchers can use the search feature, or browse within volumes by date, ship’s name, port of departure, port of arrival, captain’s name, or passenger’s name.
Kentucky Land Office Databases
Databases available on this site include Kentucky Cities, Virginia and Old Kentucky Patent Series, Revolutionary War Warrants, West of Tennessee River Military Patents, and more.
Live Roots
Live Roots enables genealogists to search several resources at once by making use of data collected from a variety of providers and publishers. The site includes a daily update of new resources.
Maryland State Archives Census Indexes
Created and maintained by the Maryland state archives, this site allows searches of four different historical Maryland censuses.
Notable Women Ancestors
The majority of the pages located at this site have been contributed by descendants or relatives of the women profiled.
One-Step Portal for On-Line Genealogy
Steve Morse has "created alternate ways of accessing some of these [genealogical] websites" in an effort to make family history research simpler and more versatile.
Online Death Indexes, Records and Obituaries
A directory of online death indexes listed by state and county. Included are death records; death certificate indexes; death notices and registers; obituaries; probate indexes; and cemetery and burial records.
RootsWeb.com
This genealogy site offers a searchable name database as well as the Social Security Death Index. It also features opportunities for researchers to connect.
Soldiers’ Records: War of 1812-World War I
Database abstracted from the individual service cards, and listing more than 576,000 Missourians who served in the military from territorial times through World War I.
Source List for Genealogy Research
Created and maintained by Don Dale at the University of Kansas, this site links to many vital Internet resources for those interested in genealogy.
TheShipsList
Presents immigration reports, newspaper records, shipwreck information, ship pictures, ship descriptions, shipping-line fleet lists, as well as hundreds of passenger lists to Canada, USA, Australia and even some for South Africa.
USGenWeb Project
Volunteers around the country provide resources and transcribed records for genealogical research in every county and state of the United States.
Warren County Genealogical Society for Warren County, Ohio
This site provides indexes for such subjects as taxes, maps, funeral homes, churches, and more, all related to Warren County, Ohio.

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Genealogy Blogs

Ancestry Insider
A blog that supports the work of Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Also includes helpful articles on other subjects such as visiting NARA and Serendipity in Genealogy.
Blood and Frogs
This blog is subtitled "Jewish Genealogy and More." The title refers to the first two plagues in the Exodus story in the Bible.
Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
Genealogists can find a free newsletter, a premium subscription newsletter, a discussion board, and informative articles.
Genealogy Insider
This blog is published by Family Tree Magazine, and is written by Diane Haddad.
GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com
The blog of Genealogical.com. It contains postings about subjects of genealogical interest, and also includes information about upcoming genealogical publications.
GenealogyBlog
This blog combines Leland Meitzler’s passions for genealogy, publishing and blogging. He and his wife, Patty, also run a publishing company called Family Roots Publishing, which specializes in the publication and marketing of genealogy guidebooks.
Kimberly’s Genealogy Blog
Kimberly Powell writes this blog which gives advice on genealogical issues and news about developments in genealogical research.

See also additional genealogical material:

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