Lesson 4

Additional Online Resources

There are many online resources you can use to find records of your ancestors. When these records are found, they can prove that the information you already have is correct or incorrect, or they can give you brand new information about your ancestor. 

Searching wiki.familysearch.org, US GenWeb, or World GenWeb for a specific place can lead you to many online resources for that place.

  • FamilySearch Wiki- https://wiki.familysearch.org
    • This site is just like Wikipedia but for family history. The Wiki is used to look up how to find records in a certain place, not to search the names of your ancestors. The Wiki will tell you about the history of the place and lead you to websites, microfilms, and other records you can use to search for your ancestors.
  • The U.S. GenWeb Project - http://usgenweb.org
    • U.S. Gen Web is a volunteer-based project. Volunteers add information to the site about each state and the counties in each state. They want researchers to have free access to genealogy websites. So, it is a good idea to check to see what U.S. GenWeb has for your state because useful documents that may cost money somewhere else will be free on this website.
    • Also, World GenWeb project - http://www.worldgenweb.org

You also always want to check if the state you are researching in has a digital archive. You can usually find a link to the digital archive for your state on the FamilySearch Wiki or you can do a Google search for a digital archive for your state.

Large Databases

  • Ancestry – http://www.ancestry.com
    • Ancestry.com is a paid subscription service that provides indexes and images of various historical records. Some of the record types that the database includes are census, immigration, military, and vital. The contents of this website can be accessed for free on any computer connected to the campus internet.
    • Fee: Free on campus internet, paid subscription otherwise.
    • Record Type: Census, Vital Records, Military, Migration and Naturalization, Maps and Gazetteers, Land and Probate, and User Submitted Trees.
  • Fold3 (Formally Footnote) – http://www.fold3.com
    • Fold3 is another paid subscription website that specializes in military records. It includes various other collections but has the richest content when dealing with military related events. It is also free on BYU campus.
    • Fee: Free on campus internet, paid subscription otherwise.
    • Record Type: Census, Vital Records, Military, Migration and Naturalization, Newspapers and Periodicals.
  • World Vital Records – http://www.worldvitalrecords.com
    • A paid subscription site that focuses on birth, marriage, and death records. The database is accessible for free on BYU campus.
    • Fee: Free on campus internet, paid subscription otherwise.
    • Record Type: Census, Vital Records, Migration and Naturalization.
  • Heritage Quest Online - http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index
    • The main database you will find on this site is the Periodical Source Index (PERSI). You can search genealogy and local history articles for people and places.

Immigration

  • Immigrant Ancestors Project - http://immigrants.byu.edu/
    • The Immigrant Ancestors Project uses emigration registers and other documents to locate information about the birthplaces of immigrants to the United States and other countries. People can volunteer to assist in the transcription of the records.
  • Ellis Island – http://www.ellisisland.org/
    • A free website that contains a searchable index of persons who immigrated through Ellis Island (1892 to 1954).
    • A free registration is required to use this site.
  • Castle Garden - http://www.castlegarden.org/
    • A free website that contains a searchable database of persons immigrating through Castle Garden (1820 to 1913).

Cemetery

 

Newspapers

 

Maps

  • http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/
    • This is an atlas of historical county boundaries. It is interactive and allows you to see how county lines have changed. This can be useful if you cannot find in ancestor in a place you think they should have been. You may not be able to find them because the county or state boundaries changed. The person could have stayed in the same place but the jurisdictions changed.
  • David Rumsey - http://www.davidrumsey.com/
    • David Rumsey has one of the largest historical maps collections on the web.

 

Tips for searching online

Sometimes it can be helpful to search for different spellings of a name because the record of your ancestor could have been transcribed incorrectly or spelled differently on the document.

  • Use an asterisk (*) after the first few letters of a name to search for all names with that beginning and any other ending.
    • Example: Name = Heimbigner, Search = Heim*
  • Replace one letter of a name with a question mark (?) to search for all names that have any letter in the place where the question mark is.
    • Example: Name = Smith, Search = Sm?th (Will bring up results like Smyth, Smuth, etc.)