Online Research strategy for Russell Smith

I tried to get organized yesterday in my Russell Smith search, and started going down my Online Research form list, which needed revision. I thought others might be interested in my revised list.

My Online Research strategy is to search databases with the names of Russell, David, Lyman and George Smith in specific localities - Rhode Island (unknown County) and New York (Oneida and Jefferson Counties) - in the 1740-1840 time frame.

Here is my Online Research database list -

1) Search the LDS http://www.familysearch.org/ Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File (free) for member-contributed data.

2) Search the LDS http://www.familysearch.org/ International Genealogical Index (IGI) (free) for extracted or submitted data.

3) Search the Rootsweb WorldConnect http://wc.rootsweb.com/ user-contributed databases (free) for data on the given names in the specific counties in the 1750-1850 time frame.

4) Search the Ancestry http://www.ancestry.com/ user-contributed Family Tree databases ($$, free at some FHCs) - One World Tree and Public Member databases, but not Ancestry World Tree, since that is in the WorldConnect database.

5) Search the GenCircles http://www.gencircles.com user-contributed databases (free).

6) Search the We Relate http://WeRelate.org user-contributed databases (free).

7) Search the My Heritage http://www.MyHeritage.com user-contributed databases (free).

8) Search the Genealogy.com http://www.genealogy.com user contributed World Family Tree database ($$, many on CDs at libraries).

9) Search the Genealogy.com Family Finder at http://www.genealogy.com/ (free) (enter name in search box) for user-contributed reports.

10) Search the Rootsweb Freepages at http://freepages.rootsweb.com/directory/genealogy.html/ (free) for user-contributed reports.

11) Search the Rootsweb Web Sites at http://www.rootsweb.com/~websites/ (free) for user-contributed reports.

12) Search the Ancestry Historical Records at http://www.ancestry.com ($$, free at some FHCs and libraries), especially census, vital military, land and court records.

13) Search the Ancestry Stories and Publications collection at http://www.ancestry.com/ ($$, free at some FHCs and libraries).

14) Search using the MyHeritage Search engine at http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/myheritage-research.php (free, links to $$ sites).

15) Search the surname and locality book collection at HeritageQuestOnline (free at FHCs and some libraries, free at home with a participating library card).

16) Search Google Books at http://books.google.com (free).

17) Search all Rootsweb databases at http://searches.rootsweb.com/ (free).

18) Search the USGenWeb archives at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsearch.htm (free).

19) Search the USGenWeb State and county web sites at http://www.USGenWeb.org (free). Review the resources available there, especially the vital records, cemetery transcriptions, Bible records, etc.

20) Search the USGenNet user-contributed databases at http://www.usgennet.org/search/ (free).

21) Search the PERSI (PERiodical Source Index) on HeritageQuestOnline (free at FHCs and some libraries, free at home with participating library card).

22) Search the Rootsweb/Ancestry surname and locality message boards at http://boards.rootsweb.com/ (free). Post messages on these boards to try to draw responses from other researchers.

23) Search the GenForum surname and locality message boards at http://genforum.genealogy.com/ (free). Post messages on these boards to try to draw responses from other researchers.

24) Search the Rootsweb mailing list archives at http://lists.rootsweb.com/ (free). Subscribe to some of the mailing lists and post messages there.

25) Search the Google Web at www.google.com (free) - especially on genealogy researcher web pages.

26) Search the University of Michigan "Making of America" database at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/ (free).

27) Search the BYU "Family History Archive" book database at http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/ (free).

28) Search the New England Historic Genealogical Society databases ($$, free at some libraries) - especially the NEHGRegister archives, the Early American Newspapers, and the NY Will Abstracts 1787-1835.

29) Search the Footnote databases on www.Footnote.com ($$, free search, free at FHC and some libraries) especially the Revolutionary War Pension files and other military records.

30) Search the databases at www.WorldVitalRecords.com ($$, free at FHC and some libraries) especially the historical newspapers, surname and locality books and Everton databases.

31) Search the databases at www.GenealogyBank.com ($$, free at some libraries), especially the historical newspapers.

32) Submit a request to the DAR Patriot Index at http://www.dar.org/natsociety/pi_lookup.cfm and search the GRC National Index at http://grc.dar.org/dar/darnet/grc/grc.cfm?Action=New_Search (free).

33) Search the cemetery sites http://www.interment.net/ and http://www.findagrave.com/ (free)

34) Search the http://www.genealogytoday.com/ database indexes ($$, free search)

35) Search Olive Tree Genealogy at http://www.OliveTreeGenealogy.com (free, links to $$).

36) Search free online data portals, such as www.Linkpendium.com, www.AncestorHunt.com, www.AccessGenealogy.com, www.supersurnamesearch.com (free, links to $$ sites).

Note that this list does not cover the "traditional" resources found at repositories - libraries, genealogy societies, historical societies, museums, courthouses, and the like. That's another list!

I have updated this list in the past several months. If you have a suggestion for a user-contributed database or a useful web site with databases or information, especially for New York, please let me know in Comments or via email (rjseaver@cox.net).