I've written before about my own favorite FREE genealogy websites, but I often wonder what other FREE genealogy websites that I'm missing out on.
I have a presentation scheduled in July on this subject, and I need to start working on it. I'm aware that my knowledge is US-centric, but I weant both USA and non-USA websites.
Would you, my dear readers, help me out on this?
Crowdsourcing is wonderful, and I'm eager to hear from you. There are no limits - they don't have to be just for the USA. They can be record databases, indexes, images, family trees, educational sites, etc. Any number of them. Just FREE to access and use. What are your favorites?
I would appreciate knowing WHY you think a website is one of your top genealogy sites.
Please tell me in Comments (or in email - rjseaver@cox.net) what your favorite FREE genealogy websites are.
Thank you!!
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/05/what-are-your-top-favorite-free.html
Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver
Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2024.
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Australian Newspapers: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
Tasmania's Heritage at http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/tasmaniasheritage It contains the digitised images of convict records.
The Australian Archives for Military (all WWI records are digital - it will cost to have a WWII record digitised): http://www.naa.gov.au
Danish National Archives for both free images of census records and parish registers. There are also links to emigration records. http://www.ddd.dda.dk/
The archives somewhat frequently updates sites and links. Info first appears in Danish, but English is available for some portions of the site.
Our blog highlights research tips posted by the professional genealogists on Legacy Tree Genealogists' team. I'm not sure if it counts since our research work is not free, but the free information is fantastic (if I do say so). https://legacytree.com/blog.
Australian Cemeteries http://www.australiancemeteries.com/ A comprehensive list of cemeteries around Australia, with links to cemeteries with online databases (all the cemetery databases I've used are also free)
Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
http://www.cwgc.org/
World War 2 Nominal Roll
http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/
Public Record Office Victoria -
Wills & Probate, Immigration indexes
http://prov.vic.gov.au/
FreeReg http://www.freereg.org.uk/
FreeBMD http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
FreeCen http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
FamilySearch
https://familysearch.org/
As you can see, I have a lot of favorites - it depends on what country and what records you are looking for
GENEANET for mostly French genealogy research. I also found much information about my Belgian and Luxembourger ancestors there. Even if you do not have a paying subscription you can still do much fruitful research in the posted trees. I used GENEANET for at least 3 years before buying my present subscription.
Annick H.
I've actually used a lot of different free genealogy websites in my research - too many for comments or even a post. But I have set up a section on my website "Resources" which list the various resources I have used to research my family history which cover United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Although these include paid websites and off line records, you may find these lists helpful.
http://loiswillis.com/?page_id=2370
http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
Indexes to the Historic Civil Records now on-line Free
The Indexes to Birth Records over 100 years, the Indexes to Marriage Records over 75 years and the Indexes to Death Records over 50 years
Ed
hi Randy , I'm Alessandra, from Italy ! my favorite free genealogical site is " www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/ " . the site is managed by the Directorate General of State Archives and contains a gold mine of information... including vital records of the early nineteenth century , created during the Napoleonic domination. I love your blog, bye!
My site/blog is all free resources... By topic. Take a look!
http://genealogybeyondthebmd.blogspot.ca/
http://www.freebmd.org.uk
Links to national GRO index
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk
Links to local RO index specie county lists as in http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk
http://www.freereg.org.uk
Online parish registers
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/online_parish_clerk
General information to UK counties & records held
http://www.genuki.org.uk
One I very much appreciate is the Digital Archives section on The National Archives of Norway website ~ http://www.arkivverket.no/eng/Digitalarkivet
Old Fulton NY Post Cards. Their newspapers are invaluable if you are researching ancestors in New York.
http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) at http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/FEDS/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA
Free searches of 35 New Brunswick databases.
Two favorites:
Todmorden and Walsden
"A glimpse into bygone times of a township on the Lancashire and Yorkshire border through a miscellaneous collection of articles, data and anecdotes."
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~todmordenandwalsden/home.htm
The County of Tyrone Ireland Genealogical Research Website
Linked to the Co.Tyrone Mailing List
http://www.cotyroneireland.com/
Both of these are treasure troves of information you will not find on the major sites. All volunteer work - all free.
As a librarian, I use or recommend Joe Beine's Online Searchable Death Indexes, Records and Obituries at www.deathindexes.com nearly every day.
Some good Oklahoma resources at:
www.okhistory.org/research, including
gateway.okhistory.org (pre 1923 newspapers)
Dawes Final Rolls index at www.okhistory.research/index/dawes
For a broader geographical area, it's hard to beat the records found at FamilySearch.
Randy, Here are several more: Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) at https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/IRAD/home.html, Demographic Database for Southern Sweden at http://ddss.nu/%28S%280wrgqtvlhyjfrzq5jocxvv55%29%29/english/default.aspx, Missouri Digital Heritage at http://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/deathcertificates/ and CA Digital Newspaper Collection at http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc. All of my favorite free sites that I've mentioned have deep holdings and most are still being updated with new materials.
Apart from Trove and GENUKI, which have already been mentioned...
1. Ryerson Index to death notices, many funeral notices and some probate notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers (especially good for recent years, though some index entries are as early as 1803): www.ryersonindex.org.
2. FreeBMD (England and Wales): www.freebmd.org.uk (and note the site's useful Postems feature)
3. Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites: www.CyndisList.com
JewishGen.org - it serves as a hub for so much Jewish genealogy: translations, how-to (infofiles) and online classes, discussion forums, special interest groups and indexed databases. It also includes links to independent sites such as Jewish Records Indexing Poland and Gesher Galicia which also have record indices from Eastern European Jewish records.
Someone has already mentioned Fulton History - so I won't. ;-)
I also like many public library sites that have digitized local newspapers. In particular, I have been working a great deal on the Sturgis Public Library website with their digitized Barnstable (MA) Patriot newspapers. Wonderful! http://www.sturgislibrary.org/
Missouri Digital Heritage (State Archives) has digitized many vital records from MO. Great resource.
Arizona Dept of Health Services have done the same for birth and death records. http://genealogy.az.gov/
The West Virginia Archives have posted indices and images for their vital records on their web site: http://www.WVculture.org/vrr/. The state was formed from western counties of Virginia in 1863, and the vital records stayed with the counties in that transition. Some of them go back to the 1700s.
Another favorite is the searchable newspaper site offered by the Library of Congress, in conjunction with state and local historical societies: ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov.
I never took YouTube seriously until I needed to see a sewing technique performed. Or transplant a hosta. Or repair a leaky faucet. It has excellent videos for genealogy, too.
I visit the Texas General Land Office regularly for info on my Texas ancestors: http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/our-collections/index.html. I even found the contracts that brought my German ancestors to America.
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