ROOTS - Sites - Genealogy Information Sources
Major records sites; portals to major collections in genealogy and family history; fees may be required for access to detailed information or reports; check with your
library for access to fee-based sites; some public libraries provide access to
HeritageQuest, a subscription-based genealogy site; fee-based sites, edited and maintained by information professionals, are well worth the money for the increased coherence, organization, usability, comprehensiveness, and reliability of the information
- Ancestry.com: access genealogy records; search for family tree information in records; very comprehensive, well organized, professionally-run; Census Records, Birth, Marriage & Death, Family Trees, Immigration Records, Military Records, Directories & Member Lists, Family & Local Histories, Newspapers & Periodicals, Court, Land & Probate, Reference & Finding Aids, and African American Records; free search available for quite a large amount of information; subscription required for detailed information; check your local public library to see if they offer in-library use of this site; many other Web sites link to Ancestry.com search services
- RootsWeb: genealogy community and records; guidance and communication among researchers; provides search engines and databases such as social security death index interface; family tree connection (WorldConnect), mailing lists, message boards; funded and supported by Ancestry.com which offers access to its fee-based records search
- FamilySearch: genealogy records; provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; birth, marriage, and death records online; information also submitted by individuals; research guidance and help; Family History Centers throughout the world which are branch facilities of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City
- NARA: US National Archives and Records Administration Genealogy; collection of documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government; includes military service information, family history; locations throughout the US
- LoC: US Library of Congress Local History and Genealogy Reading Room; US and foreign genealogical and local historical publications
- Libraries: worldwide libraries; many libraries have genealogical materials that are not available online in addition to online collections; find Academic Libraries, Public Libraries, National Libraries and Library Organizations, State Libraries, Regional Consortia, and Special and School Libraries; for example, noted genealogy collections are at The Newberry Library in Chicago, the New York Public Library, and the Allen County (Indiana) Public Library
- US Counties List: List of US counties; with links to official Web sites
- US Counties NACO: vital records; this directory from the National Association of Counties links you to the official Web sites of counties in the USA; counties are usually the repository for vital records such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, property, and other government documents (some are held at the state level); many of these records are not available online; once you get to the Web site of the county of interest, look for a section on clerk, records, or genealogy; some counties have special hours for genealogy requests and visits; some units of government offer records for sale online (some use VitalChek to sell these)
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