Presentation given on March 17, 2012. Presentation rounds up and examines the best genealogy websites of 2012 available for researchers to use. List includes paid and free websites.

1. May P. Chan
Email: maychan@reginalibrary.ca
Prairie History Room, Regina Public Library
©2012

2. Outline
Brief Introduction
“The Usual Suspects”
“By Record Type” – e.g. BMDs
“Crossing the Pond” – eg. English
“Other Noteworthy Research
Tools”

3. Why do you need such a list?
Not all genealogy websites are the same
Some require a paid subscription (per view or
monthly) or are free; some provide only
images, an index (points you to the original
source), etc.; some are created by
libraries/archives/genealogical societies while
others are done by volunteers
List of online resources is not meant to
replace “traditional” formats like books &
microfilm. Rather the list is meant to be used
“in addition to”
List features both paid $ and free web
resources

4. Criteria
 Offers the most authoritative and trustworthy
websites to use for genealogy
 How did I select the best genealogy websites
for you to use?
 Annual “Best of” featured on the Family
Tree website: http://
www.familytreemagazine.com/
 Magazines such as Internet Genealogy &
Family Chronicle
 Various genealogy blogs
 Tips from other genealogists
 Personal experience helping patrons

5. “The Usual Suspects”
These websites consistently top the “Best
of the Best” online resources to use:
 Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com or
http://www.ancestry.ca) - $ (ALE is free
through RPL – Central Library only!)
 Canadian Genealogy Centre (Library&
Archives Canada; http://www.genealogy.gc.ca
/) – FREE
 FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) –
FREE
 Cyndi’s List (http://www.cyndislist.com/) –
FREE

6. Tip # 1 – Canadian Genealogy Centre
 Microfilm Digitization Page
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-di

7. Tip #2 – FamilySearch.org
 Browse by Location Feature

8. “By Record Type”
 Births, Marriages & Deaths Indexes (BMDs)
 Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics (https://
novascotiagenealogy.com/) – FREE
 British Columbia Vital Events Indexes (
http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-5B37DD3/gbsea
) - FREE
 Manitoba Vital Records (
http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php) – FREE
 Free BMD (UK; http://www.freebmd.org.uk/) –
FREE
 DeathIndexes (US; http://www.deathindexes.com/)
– FREE

9. “By Record Type” – continued
 Census Records
 Automated Genealogy (Canada; http://
www.automatedgenealogy.com) - FREE

10. Tip # 3 - “One to Keep An Eye Out For…”
 National Archives and Records Administration’s
(NARA) 1940 website - will be launching April 2,
2012 (http://1940census.archives.gov/) - FREE

11. “By Record Type” – continued
Cemetery Records
 SGS Burial Index (http://
www.saskgenealogy.com/databases/indexes.a
)-$
 Canada’s GenWeb Cemetery Project (
http://cemetery.canadagenweb.org/search.html
) - FREE
 Deceased Online (UK; http://
www.deceasedonline.com) – $
 Interment.Net (Global;
http://www.interment.net/) - FREE

12. “By Record Type” - continued
 Find A Grave (Global; http://www.findagrave.com
) - FREE

13. “By Record Type” – continued
City Directories
 Peel’s Prairie Provinces (AB, MB & Saskatoon;
http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/henderson.html)
- FREE
 British Columbia’s City Directories, 1860-1940
(http://www.vpl.ca/bccd/index.php) - FREE
 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du
Québec (BAnQ) (Quebec;
http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/collection_nume
) - FREE

14. City Directories - continued
 Toronto City Directories 1833-1899 (
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/digital-archive/
) - FREE
 Distant Cousins (US; http://distantcousin.com
/Directories) - FREE
 Historical Directories of UK (http://
historicaldirectories.org/hd/) – FREE
 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
(PRONI) (
http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archive
) - FREE

15. “By Record Type” – continued
 Immigration & Passenger Lists
 Ellis Island (New York, US; http://
www.ellisisland.org/) - FREE
 Castle Garden (New York, US; http://
www.castlegarden.org) - FREE
 Bremen Passenger Lists, 1920-1939 (Germany;
http://
db.genealogy.net/maus/gate/index_en.html) –
FREE
 Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG)
(Global; http://www.immigrantships.net/) - FREE
 The Ships List (Global; http://
www.theshipslist.com/) – FREE
 Ship Index (Global; http://www.shipindex.org/) -
$

16. Tip #4 – Really Interesting Database…
 Swiss Refugee
Database
1942-1945
(Switzerland;
http://etat.geneve.ch/dt/archives/a_votre_service-liste_
) – FREE

17. “By Record Type” – continued
 Local/Family/General Histories
 Heritage Quest - $ (FREE through RPL –
Central Library only!)
 Our Roots (Western Canada; http://
ourroots.ca) - FREE
 Canadiana (http://www.canadiana.ca/en/home
) - FREE
 Google Books (http://books.google.com/) -
FREE
 Internet Archives (http://archives.org) - FREE
 Family Histories Archives (
http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc) – FREE

18. “By Record Type” – continued
 Maps
 Canadian County Atlases (Ontario; http://
digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas) - FREE
 Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Online (global;
http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn)
- FREE
 Cassini Maps (UK; http://www.cassinimaps.co.uk)
- FREE
 Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection (global;
http://lib.utexas.edu/maps) – FREE
 David Rumsey (global; http://
www.davidrumsey.com/) – FREE

19. Tip # 5 – Really Cool Map!!!
 Atlas of the German Empire by Ludwig
Ravenstein (Europe; http://
library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein) – FREE

20. “By Record Type” – continued
Military Records
 Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial (
http://www.svwm.ca) – FREE
 Commonwealth War Graves Commission
(British Commonwealth; http://www.cwgc.org/)
- FREE
 Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System (US;
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/) - FREE
 National Archives & Records Administration:
Military Resources (US;
http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/m
) - FREE

21. Tip # 6 – War of 1812 Ancestors
 Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com/) - $ except for
War of 1812 Pension Files!!!

22. “By Record Type” – continued
 Newspapers
 Google News (US & Canada;
http://news.google.com) - FREE
 Chronicling America (US;
http://www.loc.gov/chronicling america/) - FREE
 British Newspapers, 1800-1900 (
http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs) - $
 International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON)
(global; http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm) - FREE
 Newspaper Abstracts (http://
www.newspaperabstracts.com/) - FREE

23. “Crossing the Pond”
English Genealogy
 FindMyPast (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/) - $
(available through SGS)
 British Origins (http://www.britishorigins.com)
–$
 Genuki (http://genuki.org.uk) – FREE
 London Lives 1690-1900 (
http://www.londonlives.org) - FREE

24. “Crossing the Pond – continued”
 Scottish Genealogy
 Scotland’s People (
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) - $

25. “Crossing the Pond – continued”
Irish Genealogy
 The National Archives of Ireland (
http://nationalarchives.ie) – FREE
 Ireland Gen Web (http://irelandgenweb.com) –
FREE
 Irish Family History Foundation (
http://www.irish-roots.ie/) – $

26. “Crossing the Pond – continued”
 Scandinavian Genealogy
 Digital Archives of Norway (http://arkivverket.no
/eng/Digital-Archives) – FREE
 Swedish National Archives (http://www.svar.ra.se
) – FREE
 Arkivdigital (Sweden; http://www.arkivdigital.net)
–$
 Finnish Family History Association (FFHA) (http://
www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/index_eng.htm) – FREE
 Danish Demographic Database (
http://www.ddd.dda.dk) - FREE

27. “Crossing the Pond – continued”
Eastern European Genealogy
 HalGal (Western Ukraine & Galicia;
http://www.halgal.com) – FREE
 EastEuropeGenWeb (
http://www.rootsweb.com/~easeurgw) – FREE
 Federation of East European Family History
Societies (http://feefhs.org) – FREE
 PolishRoots (http://www.polishroots.org/) -
FREE

28. “Crossing the Pond – continued”
 Western European Genealogy
 German Roots (Germany; http://
www.germanroots.com/) – FREE
 The German Genealogy Network (http://
www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html) -
FREE
 GeneaNet (France; http://www.geneanet.org/)
– FREE
 Genelias (Holland;
http://www.genlias.nl/en/page0.jsp) – $
 Italian Heritage and Home Page (Italy; http://
www.daddezio.com/) - FREE

29. “Other Noteworthy Research Tools”
Search Engines
 Mocavo (http://www.mocavo.com/) - FREE
 One-Step Web Pages (http://
stevemorse.org/) – FREE
Software & Hardware Reviews
 GenSoftReviews (genealogy software;
http://www.gensoftreviews.com) – FREE
 CNET (software and hardware; http://
www.cnet.com/) - FREE

30. “Other Noteworthy Research Tools”
Tech Tools
 Google Translate (http://
translate.google.com/) – FREE
 Google Earth (http://
www.google.com/earth/index.html) -
FREE
 Evernote (online notes ; http://
www.evernote.com) – FREE
 XnView (screen capturing & basic photo
editing; http://www.xnview.com/) - FREE

31. “Other Noteworthy Research Tools”
Staying Up-to Date
 Prairie History Blog (
http://www.reginalibrary.ca/prairiehistoryblog/) -
FREE
 Dick’s Eastman’s Newsletter (
http://blog.eogn.com/) – FREE
 Ancestry Insider (
http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/) - FREE
 Genealogy Blog Finder (
http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/) - FREE

32. Tip #9 – online genealogy articles
 Hobbies and Craft Reference Center (
http://www.reginalibrary.ca/databases/db_hobbies.ht
) – FREE w/ Regina Public Library Card
 Full text of Family Chronicle (2009-2012) and
Internet Genealogy (2009-2012)