Best Genealogy Websites and

Tools of 2014

Presented by May P. ChanPrairie History Room, Regina Public Library

November 22, 2014© 2014

REVISED AND UPDATED VERSION

Agenda

Why do I need this type of list?Why do I need this type of list?

How was this list compiled?

Wrap-up

Best of 2014 List – 81 Resources

Online Search Advice

Bonus #1: Best Hidden Genealogical Gems

Bonus #2: Best Online Genealogy Training

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This list is intended to help you cut through the “information overload” by helping you to focus your research (saving

you time and money) and providing you with a toolkit of the most authoritative and trustworthy genealogy websites

and research aids.

Why do I need this type of list?

Because as powerful as Ancestry and Google are, they do not always provide you with the answers or clues you need for your family history research!!!

How did I select the best genealogy websites for you to use?Annual “Best of” featured on the Family Tree website Magazines such as Internet Genealogy & Family

ChronicleVarious genealogy blogsTips from other genealogistsPersonal experience helping patrons

Websites offers both paid ($) and FREE resources

How Was The List Compiled?

Learn how to utilize advanced search techniques to help you refine your basic keyword search terms:

Learn how to utilize advanced search techniques to help you refine your basic keyword search terms:

Always check with your local library, archives and genealogical society to see what online resources they offer with “membership”

Treat genealogical resources, both print and online, with some scrutiny. Always try to validate your sources!

Always read the “scope and content” information about the database to learn how the data was gathered, what the database covers and what it does not cover.

Always record your sources even if it is online!

Online Search Advice

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For example:

Soundex search is used to search all surnames with variant spellings CHAN, CHEN, CHIN and CHINN

Wildcard and Truncation search is used to replace letter(s) with symbols (*, ?, $) Sm*th for SMITH and SMYTH Roosevelt, Franklin* for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Best Big Genealogy Websites

(Usual Suspects)

Ancestry.com (census, vital records, passenger lists, etc.; www.ancestry.com) – $

FamilySearch (census, vital records, etc.; www.familysearch.org) – FREE

MyHeritage (vital records, census, family trees & Scandinavian records; www.myheritage.com) – $

World’s Vital Records (vital records, US census and family trees; www.worldvitalrecords.com/) - $

“Usual Suspects”

Cyndi's List - FREEwww.cyndislist.com

Best Canadian Genealogy Websites

Canadian Genealogy Centre (census, military, immigration & directories; tinyurl.com/cangencentre) - FREE

Automated Genealogy (census; www.automatedgenealogy.com/) – FREE

Canadian GenWeb Project (portal; www.canadagenweb.org/) – FREE

Canadiana (historical materials; www.canadiana.ca/en/home) - $

Canadian Genealogy

British Columbia City Directories 1860-1955 - FREEwww.vpl.ca/bccd/index.php

Peel’s Prairie Provinces (newspapers & directories; http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/index.html) - FREE

The British Colonist 1852-1920 (newspaper; www.britishcolonist.ca) - FREE

OurRoots (local history books; http://ourroots.ca) - FREE

Glenbow Museum (CPR land sales index, school districts index & historical materials; www.glenbow.org/collections/search/) - FREE

Canadian Genealogy continued

The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project (ON county maps; http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php) – FREE

The Globe (Globe & Mail newspaper from 1844-2011; www.proquest.com/products-services/canada_heritage.html) - $

Daniel F. Johnson’s New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics (index of BMDS; http://tinyurl.com/nb-danjohnson) – FREE

Canadian Genealogy continued

OurOntario - FREEhttp://ourontario.ca/

OurOntario Newspapers Portalhttp://news.ourontario.ca/result

s?q=+

Bibliothèque et Archives and Nationales du Quebec (notaries & civil registers; http://tinyurl.com/banq-genealogy) – FREE

The Olive Tree Genealogy’s Canada Ships Passengers Lists (portal, definitely check out its links for passenger and immigration records!; http://tinyurl.com/59cgo) – FREE

Canadian Genealogy continued

Best American Genealogy Websites

Library of Congress - FREEwww.loc.gov/

National Archives and Records Administration (1940 US census, military & immigration records; www.archives.gov/) – FREE

USGenWeb Project (portal; http://usgenweb.org/) – FREE

HeritageQuest Online (census, local histories & PERSI index; www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index) - $

Find a Grave (cemetery records; www.findagrave.com/index.html) - FREE

American Genealogy

Death or Obit Indexes

Death Indexes - FREEwww.deathindexes.com

Obituaries Help -FREEwww.obituarieshelp.org

GenealogyBank (newspapers; www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/) - $

Afrigeneas (slave records, BMDs and census schedules; http://afrigeneas.com/) – FREE

Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office Records (federal land records; www.glorecords.blm.gov/) - FREE

Fold3 (military records, newspapers & city directories; www.fold3.com/) - $

American Genealogy continued

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries - FREEhttp://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/

Distant Cousins (city directories & school yearbooks; http://distantcousin.com/) – FREE

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR lineage records; www.dar.org/) – FREE

Ellis Island (immigration records for NY from 1925 to 1957; http://ellisisland.org/) – FREE

Castle Garden (immigration records for NY from 1820 to 1892; www.castlegarden.org/) - FREE

American Genealogy continued

Best UK & Irish Genealogy Websites

The National Archives - FREEwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Check out their very handy research guide on how to locate people: www.nationalarchives.gov/uk/records/looking-for-person/

FindMyPast (census, BMDs & newspapers; www.findmypast.com) - $

Free BMD (UK civil registration; www.freebmd.org.uk/) – FREE Genuki (portal; www.genuki.org.uk/) – FREE Deceased Online (cemetery records; www.deceasedonline.com)

- $ Historical Directories of England & Scotland (directories

covering years 1760 to 1910; http://tinyurl.com/ukhistdirectories) – FREE

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 (criminal court records; www.oldbaileyonline.org/) - FREE

UK & Irish Genealogy

The National Library of Wales - FREEwww.llgc.org.uk/

Welsh Wills prior to 1858http://tinyurl.com/ksw83tz

Welsh Newspapers 1804-1919http://tinyurl.com/abk3h64

ScotlandsPeople (census & BMDS; www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/) - $

Scottish Post Office Directories (directories from 1773 to 1911; http://digital.nls.uk/directories/) – FREE

British Newspaper Archives, 1700s-1900s (newspapers; www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) - $

Times of London Digital Archive 1785-2008 (newspaper; http://gale.cengage.co.uk/times.aspx/) - $

RootsIreland (BMDs, census & passenger lists; http://rootsireland.ie) - $

Origins Network (Griffith’s Valuation, wills & probate records; www.origins.net/) - $

UK & Irish Genealogy continued

National Archives of Ireland – FREEwww.genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/

Best Continental European

Genealogy Websites

Danish Demographic Database (Danish census & church records; http://ddd.ddda.dk/ddd_en.htm) – FREE

Digitalarkivet (Norwegian census, probate & parish records; http://arkivverket.no/Digitalarkivet) – FREE

Wie Was Wie (Dutch census & civil registers; www.wiewaswie.nl/) – FREE

Arkivdigital (Swedish church records, court records & estate lists; www.arkivdigital.net/) - $

Continental European Genealogy

FranceGenWeb (portal; www.francegenweb.org/) – FREE

Genealogie.com (civil status records & BMDS for France; www.genealogie.com) - $

GeneaNet (family trees, forum & BMD indexes for Western European countries; www.geneanet.org/) – FREE

Europeana (digital library of books, photos & newspapers; www.europeana.eu/portal) - FREE

Continental European Genealogy continued

Volksbund – FREEwww.volksbund.de

Cemeteries

German Roots German Genealogy (portal; www.germanroots.com/) - FREE

Foundation for East European Family History Studies (portal; http://feefhs.org/) - FREE

Polish Roots (portal; www.polishroots.org/) – FREE Name Adoption and Other Lists (Jewish adoption lists;

www.a-h-b.de/AHB/links_e.htm) – FREE

Continental European Genealogy continued

Genealogy Indexer (historical directories) – FREE

http://genealogyindexer.org/

Best South East Asian, Australian and New Zealand Genealogy

Websites

Families in British India Society (census, civil service, etc.) – FREE

www.fibis.org

Trove, National Library of Australia (newspapers, books & maps; http://trove.nla.gov.au/) - FREE

British Convict Transportation Registers Database 1787-1867 (convict passenger lists; www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/convicts) - FREE

Papers Past (New Zealand newspapers; http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast) - FREE

New Zealand GenWeb (portal; www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlwgw/resources.html) - FREE

Australian & New Zealand Genealogy

Best GenealogyNews

Websites

The Ancestry Insider (blog; www.ancestryinsider.org/) – FREE Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (newsletter;

http://blog.eogn.com/) – FREE but $ for premium edition Genealogy Guys (podcasts; http://genealogyguys.com/) –

FREE GenealogyInsider (blog;

http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/) – FREE Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections (blog; http://anglo-celtic-

connections.blogspot.ca) - FREE CanadaGenealgogy, or, ‘Jane’s Your Aunt’ (blog;

http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/) – FREE

Genealogy News

Best Tech/Social Media Tools

Evernote (online note taking; www.evernote.com) – FREE

Dropbox (cloud storage; www.dropbox.com) – FREE

Trello (project management; https://trello.com) – FREE

LiBib (home library management system; www.libbi.com/) FREE

Best Tech/Social Media Tools

GenSoftReviews (genealogy software; www.gensoftreviews.com) – FREE

Google Translate (language translator; http://translate.google.com/) - FREE

Greenshot (screen capture tool; http://getgreenshot.org/) – FREE

Calibre (ebook management tool; http://calibre-ebook.com/) – FREE

Best Tech/Social Media Tools continued

Facebook (social media; www.facebook.com) – FREE

Pinterest (bulletin board; www.pinterest.com) – FREE

Flickr (online photo sharing; http://flickr.com) – FREE HistoryPin (online exhibits; www.historypin.com) –

FREE Twitter (micro-blogging; www.twitter.com) - FREE

Best Tech/Social Media Tools continued

Best "Hidden Genealogical Gems"

Bonus # 1

Internet Archives – FREEhttps://archive.org/index.php

WorldCat – FREEhttps://worldcat.org

WolframAlpha – FREEwww.wolframalpha.com/

Google Newspaper Archives - FREEhttp://news.google.com/newspapers

YouTube – FREEwww.youtube.com

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center - $www.ebscohost.com/public/hobbies-crafts-

reference-center

Legacy Family Tree Webinars (online courses; www.familytreewebinars.com/index.php) – FREE for live webinars but then $ for archived webinars

Dear Myrtle’s Genealogy Blog (blog and online webinars; http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/) – FREE

RootsTech Conference (annual genealogical conference offering live streaming of some of its sessions; https://rootstech.org/?lang=eng) - FREE

Best Online Genealogy Training

THANK YOU!

Contact: May P. Chanmaychan@reginalibrary.ca

www.slideshare.net/maychan(for a copy of this presentation)