best genealogy websites of 2012: part 2
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given in September, 2012. Updated presentation rounds up and examines the best genealogy websites of 2012 available for researchers to use. List includes paid and free websites.TRANSCRIPT
May P. ChanEmail: [email protected]
Prairie History Room, Regina Public Library©September 2012
Outline
“The Usual Suspects”
Brief Introduction
“By Record Type” – e.g. BMDs
“Crossing the Pond” – eg. English
“Handy Research Tools”
Why do you need such a list?
Not all genealogy websites are the sameSome require a paid subscription (per view or
monthly) or are free; some provide only images, an index (points you to the original source), etc.; some are created by libraries/archives/genealogical societies while others are done by volunteers
List of online resources is not meant to replace “traditional” formats like books & microfilm. Rather the list is meant to be used “in addition to”
List features both paid $ and free web resources
Criteria Offers the most authoritative and trustworthy
websites to use for genealogy How did I select the best genealogy websites for you
to use? Annual “Best of” featured on the Family Tree
website: http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/101-best-websites-2012
Magazines such as Internet Genealogy & Family Chronicle
Various genealogy blogs Tips from other genealogists Personal experience helping patrons
“The Usual Suspects”
These websites consistently top the “Best of the Best” online resources to use: Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com or
http://www.ancestry.ca) - $ (ALE is free to access at all RPL branches)
FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) – FREE Cyndi’s List (http://www.cyndislist.com/) – FREE World Vital Records (www.worldvitalrecords.com) - $ Canadian Genealogy Centre (Library& Archives
Canada; http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/) – FREE
Tips #1 & 2 – FamilySearch.org
Sign-up for a free account!Take advantage of its free research guides!
Tip #3 – “Browse by Location” feature
Click on “Canada” and scroll down SK Provincial
Records, 1879 - 1987 - this link takes you to the Homestead Files!
SK Judicial District Court Records, 1891-1954
SK Probate Estate Records, 1887-1931
Tip #4 – CGC’s Guides
• Really helpful guides on how to locate and use specific records
Tip # 5 – CGC’s New Records
Microfilm Digitization Page http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/index-e.html Browse by topic or by
record type
“By Record Type”
Births, Marriages & Deaths Indexes (BMDs) Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics (https://
novascotiagenealogy.com/) – FREE British Columbia Vital Events Indexes (
http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-5B37DD3/gbsearch/Births,Marriages,Deaths) - FREE
Manitoba Vital Records (http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php) – FREE
Free BMD (UK; http://www.freebmd.org.uk/) – FREE
DeathIndexes (US; http://www.deathindexes.com/) – FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Census Records Automated Genealogy (Canada; http://
www.automatedgenealogy.com) - FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) 1940 website - (http://1940census.archives.gov/) - FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Cemetery Records SGS Burial Index (http://
www.saskgenealogy.com/databases/indexes.aspx) - $
Canada’s GenWeb Cemetery Project (http://cemetery.canadagenweb.org/search.html) - FREE
Deceased Online (UK; http://www.deceasedonline.com) – $
Interment.Net (Global; http://www.interment.net/) - FREE
“By Record Type” - continued
Find A Grave (Global; http://www.findagrave.com) - FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
City Directories Peel’s Prairie Provinces (AB, MB & Saskatoon;
http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/henderson.html) - FREE
British Columbia’s City Directories, 1860-1940 (http://www.vpl.ca/bccd/index.php) - FREE
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) (Quebec; http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/collection_numerique/index.html?categorie=1) - FREE
City Directories - continued
Toronto City Directories 1833-1899 (http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/digital-archive/) - FREE
Distant Cousins (US; http://distantcousin.com/Directories) - FREE
Historical Directories of UK (http://historicaldirectories.org/hd/) – FREE
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) (http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/street_directories.htm) - FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Immigration & Passenger Lists Ellis Island (New York, US; http://
www.ellisisland.org/) - FREE Castle Garden (New York, US; http://
www.castlegarden.org) - FREE Bremen Passenger Lists, 1920-1939 (Germany;
http://www.passengerlists.de/) – FREE Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG)
(Global; http://www.immigrantships.net/) - FREE The Ships List (Global; http://
www.theshipslist.com/) – FREE Ship Index (Global; http://www.shipindex.org/) -
$
Tip #6 – Really Interesting Database…
Swiss Refugee Database 1942-1945 (Switzerland; http://etat.geneve.ch/dt/archives/a_votre_service-liste_refugies-1700.html) – FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Local/Family/General Histories Heritage Quest - $ (FREE access through
RPL) Our Roots (Western Canada; http://
ourroots.ca) - FREE Canadiana (http://www.canadiana.ca/en/home
) - FREE Google Books (http://books.google.com/) -
FREE Internet Archives
(http://archive.org/index.php) - FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Maps Canadian County Atlases (Ontario; http://
digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas) - FREE Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Online (global; http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn) - FREE
Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection (global; http://lib.utexas.edu/maps) – FREE
David Rumsey (global; http://www.davidrumsey.com/) – FREE
Tip # 7 – Really Cool Map!!!
Atlas of the German Empire by Ludwig Ravenstein (Europe; http://library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein) – FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Military Records Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial (
http://www.svwm.ca) – FREE Commonwealth War Graves Commission (British
Commonwealth; http://www.cwgc.org/) - FREE National Archives & Records Administration:
Military Resources (US; http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/military/) – FREE
War of 1812 Resources Olive Tree Genealogy: War of 1812
(http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/mil/1812/) - FREE
War of 1812 resources – continued
Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com/) - $ except for War of 1812 pension files which are free!!!
War of 1812 resources - continued
The War of 1812 at Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/war-1812-library-archives-canada.aspx) – FREE
“By Record Type” – continued
Newspapers Google News Archives (US & Canada;
http://news.google.com/newspapers) - FREE Chronicling America (US;
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) - FREE British Newspapers, 1800-1900 (
http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs) - $ Trove – National Library of Australia
(http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper) - FREE International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON)
(global; http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm) - FREE
Tip#8 – Handy Leader Post indexes
Saskatchewan Newspapers Index (http://library.usask.ca/sni/) – FREE
SaskObits (http://www.saskobits.com) - FREE
Regina Leader Post Index (1992-2007) – FREE but in-house use only at Regina Public Library!
“Crossing the Pond”
English Genealogy FindMyPast (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/) - $
(available through SGS) Origins Network (http://www.origins.net) – $ UK National Archives (
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) - FREE The Genealogist (http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk)
- $ The National Library of Wales (
http://cat.llgc.org.uk/probate) - FREE Genuki (http://genuki.org.uk) – FREE London Lives 1690-1900 (
http://www.londonlives.org) - FREE
“Crossing the Pond – continued”
Scottish Genealogy Scotland’s People (
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) - $
“Crossing the Pond – continued”
Irish Genealogy The National Archives of Ireland (
http://nationalarchives.ie) – FREE Find My Past (Irish version;
http://www.findmypast.ie) - $ Ireland Gen Web (http://irelandgenweb.com) –
FREE Irish Family History Foundation
(http://www.rootsireland.ie/) – $
“Crossing the Pond – continued”Scandinavian Genealogy
Digital Archives of Norway (http://arkivverket.no/eng/Digital-Archives) – FREE
Swedish National Archives (http://www.svar.ra.se) – FREE
Genline (Sweden; http://www.arkivdigital.net) – $ Finnish Family History Association (FFHA) (http://
www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/index_eng.htm) – FREE Danish Demographic Database (
http://www.ddd.dda.dk) - FREE
“Crossing the Pond – continued”
Eastern European Genealogy HalGal (Western Ukraine & Galicia;
http://www.halgal.com) – FREE EastEuropeGenWeb (
http://www.rootsweb.com/~easeurgw) – FREE Federation of East European Family History
Societies (http://feefhs.org) – FREE PolishRoots (http://www.polishroots.org/) -
FREE
“Crossing the Pond – continued”
Western European Genealogy German Roots (Germany; http://
www.germanroots.com/) – FREE The German Genealogy Network (http://
www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html) - FREE
GeneaNet (France; http://www.geneanet.org/) – FREE
Genelias (Holland; http://www.genlias.nl/en/page0.jsp) – $
Italian Heritage and Home Page (Italy; http://www.daddezio.com/) - FREE
“Handy Research Tools”
Search Engines Mocavo (http://www.mocavo.com/) - FREE One-Step Web Pages
(http://stevemorse.org/) – FREESoftware & Hardware Reviews
GenSoftReviews (genealogy software; http://www.gensoftreviews.com) – FREE
CNET (software and hardware; http://www.cnet.com/) - FREE
“Handy Research Tools”
Message Boards Roots Web (http://www.rootsweb.com) - FREE
Tech Tools Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/)
– FREE Google Earth (http://
www.google.com/earth/index.html) - FREE Evernote (online notes ; http://
www.evernote.com) – FREE XnView (screen capturing & basic photo editing;
http://www.xnview.com/) - FREE
“Handy Research Tools”
Staying Up-to Date Dick’s Eastman’s Newsletter (
http://blog.eogn.com/) – FREE Dear Myrtle (http://blog.dearmyrtle.com) -
FREE Ancestry Insider (
http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/) - FREE Genealogy Blog Finder (
http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/) – FREE Genealogy Guys
(http://www.genealogyguys.com) - FREE
Tip #9 - Canadian-based Newsletter!!! GenealogyinTime
Magazine (http://www.genealogyintime.com/index.html) – FREE
• Offers Genealogy Search Engine and a Family Tree Search Engine
• Updates on new genealogical resources
• Archives of handy research articles