How Libraries Are Revolutionizing Family Tree Research
Libraries are informational hubs for the communities they serve. Whether they are situated in a low-population town, within a college campus, or in the middle of a bustling cityscape, libraries strive to provide resources to citizens of all walks of life.
One of the most popular services offered through libraries is assistance with genealogical research. Public libraries, academic libraries, and special collection libraries often have a local or community history collection – sometimes even an entire department or wing – dedicated to preserving and sharing historical documents, photographs, videos, slides, newspapers, and more for the public to search on their quests to complete family tree research.
https://librarysciencedegreesonline.org/libraries-revolutionizing-family-tree-research/
Ancestry
Ancestry.com™ is a family of brands with deep roots in roots. We are putting family history in the hands of everyone by providing the most comprehensive resource for discovering who and what led to you.
Archives
Quickly and simply search more than 4.3 billion photos, newspapers, and vital records to get information about your ancestors.
Daily Ancestor
Daily Ancestor, a free site (no sign-up) that helps people read old records. It has a guide to every U.S. census from 1790 to 1950 (what each column asked, what was new that year, the common traps) and a dictionary of over 2,000 old record words, each with sources
GeneoHub WorldWide Resources
The GeneoHub Records Atlas is a free, no-signup directory of archives, vital-records offices, and genealogy databases, organized by country and region, with a short note on what each one holds and how to access it. It points researchers to the authorities that issue original records, not just to indexes.
https://geneohub.com/genealogy-resources
African American Research At the Library of Virginia To 1870
https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/AA_Genealogical_Research.pdf
AfriGeneas
You can search a variety of different records such as marriage records; slaves mentioned in the wills of their owners, in church registers, in probate inventories, and in a few letters; lists of slaves brought into New Orleans in some of the years between 1818 and 1839; etc. You can search for a slave by a surname or by a state as well. Under the Library Tab there are links to research guides, articles and papers, and newspaper articles, as well as a host of miscellaneous documents broken out by state, as well as family histories, chat transcripts, etc. Many other resources/links are mentioned on this site as well.
Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Greater Richmond, VA Chapter
They have a downloadable list of surnames their members are working on and the person’s email address is included. They have links to other Virginia African American Genealogy Groups on their Web Links page, as well as links to other helpful organizations.
https://www.aahgsrichmondva.com
Journey into your Past: African American Genealogy - Library of Congress
This page has links to a variety of useful resources. Don’t forget to look in other Library of Congress collections as well.
https://guides.loc.gov/african-american-genealogical-research
Cohabitation Records
Loudoun County Black History
This website provides information on enslaved Negroes and free Blacks during the period of 1757-1866, It has a Record of Free Negroes for the period of 1844-1861. The site is maintained by the Loudoun County Clerk's Office - Historic Records Division.
https://www.loudoun.gov/3423/Black-History
Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) is a lineage society dedicated to the memory of our freed and enslaved ancestors and to the education and historic preservation of the artifacts and landmarks of slavery in the United States of America and its economic, psychological, and cultural impact on today’s society. Lest we forget.
Through the Lens of Time: Images of African Americans - Virginia Commonwealth University
From the George and Huestis Cook Collection at the Valentine Richmond History Center. A digital collection of over 250 images of African Americans dating from the 19th and early 20th century. The digitally scanned images on this site are of prints from glass plate negatives or film negatives taken primarily in the Richmond and Central Virginia area. While most of the people in the photos are not identified by name, some are. When you click on an item’s name, it will again take you to a page with more detailed info on the picture.
https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Acook
Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative - The Library of Virginia
Within this overall collection are links to Gabriel’s Rebellion documents, Nat Turn’s Insurrection documents, links to Virginia counties which contain all sorts of images of every type of document you can imagine which refer to either slaves or free Blacks, such as tax lists, coroner reports, court cases, manumissions, deeds, petitions, apprenticeships, census lists of slaves and free Blacks by name, etc. There are thousands of online items in these individual databases. While the emphasis was on pre-1865 Virginia, there are many references to free Blacks as well.
https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/virginia-untold
American Indian Records in the National Archive
Among the billions of historical records housed at the National Archives throughout the country, researchers can find information relating to American Indians from as early as 1774 through the mid 1990s. The National Archives preserves and makes available the documents created by Federal agencies in the course of their daily business.
https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans
Native American Online Genealogy Records
FamilySearch.org's online collections of Native American records for family history or finding ancestry, including vital records and genealogy.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Native_American_Online_Genealogy_Records
Tracing Native American Family Roots
Guide from the National Indian Law Library
https://narf.org/nill/resources/roots.html
American-French Genealogical Society
Cyndi's List
A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
Are you just starting out on your journey to discover your family roots…or are you one document away from solving a mystery of one of your ancestors? Wherever you are in your genealogical process, DAR is here to help. The DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS) includes free online databases containing information on Revolutionary patriot ancestors, descendants of those patriots, as well as the vast array of genealogical resources from the DAR Library.
Fairfax Genealogical Society
The Fairfax Genealogical Society aims are to collect, preserve, and disseminate genealogical information and to promote proper genealogical methodology by highlighting education and adherence to standards of accuracy and thoroughness.
Family Search
FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services each year to learn more about their family history.
Fold3 by Ancestry – Military Records
Fold3 features premier collections of original military records. These records include the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served in the military. Many of records come the U.S. National archives, The National Archives of U.K. and many others.
Hungarian and Central European Genealogy and Local History Databases
You can search for a surname, but it also has links to many other websites for Hungarian genealogy.
French Revolutionary/Republican Calendar
If you’re researching in France, Alsace-Lorraine, or any other area that Napoleon controlled you will need to know this info since the records were kept using these months and years.
https://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-french.html#anchor-count-years
GeneaNet - French Genealogy
Find your French families with this site's guides to archives, uploaded trees and many links.
https://en.geneanet.org/explore/french-ancestors/
American Historical Society of Germans from Russia
Focuses on the ancestry of Germans who settled in Russia, especially those who answered a call from Catherine the Great in 1767 and settled along the Volga River. They were promised freedom from taxes for a certain number of years and perpetual exemption from military service. In the late 1800's when military conscription was imposed, many emigrated to North and South America.
Bremen Passenger Lists
A searchable online database of lists required by an 1832 law. BEWARE- many of the lists were destroyed, but there are still a good number available on this site.
https://www.passengerlists.de/
Geogen Surname Mapping – Germany
Geogen is the short form for "geographical genealogy" which means location based ancester research. On this website you can create maps which show the distribution of surnames in Germany. Significant concentrations can point to a local root of the family or of the family name.
German Church Archives in Archion
This website has information on archives that put church registers online in Archion or whose owners are involved in the Kirchenbuchportal GmbH. It’s broken out by regional areas which you can choose from.
German Church Registers
German Community Church Registers. Database has many German towns listed as well as a few US towns. The page is easily translated into English if you "right click" on the first page.
German Farm Histories
A collection of farm histories in the Bersenbruck district of Osnabruck. If you click on the “Browse” button, it brings up a listing of all the individual booklets about each farm. They are in GERMAN, so bring your dictionary. This collection is part of the Palatines to America Society (German) Genealogy collection at Columbus Metropolitan Library.
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/p16802coll9
Germanic Genealogy Society
GGS offers information, educational opportunities, publications, and association with others researching German roots. This includes areas that are outside of the current borders of Germany. However, GGS does not have records for your specific German ancestors. Our extensive library does include various indexes with individual's names, as well as how-to books and background information on places where your German ancestors may have lived.
Palatines to America - German Genealogy Society
Researching German Speaking Ancestors: Germany, Austria, Alsace, Belgium, Brazil, Italy(South Tyrol), Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Romania, Ukraine.
Poznan Marriage Indexing Project
Lets you search marriages primarily in the German Partition area.
https://www.poznan-project.psnc.pl
Society of the Descendants of the Schwenkfeldian Exiles
The Society of the Descendants of the Schwenkfeldian Exiles is not officially affiliated with the Schwenkfelder denomination, a religious body with four churches in Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, East Norriton, Worcester, and Palm, although some Society members are also active members of the Schwenkfelder denomination. The Society does, however, work with the denomination and the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA 18073, in its efforts to preserve the Schwenkfelder beliefs and history.
https://schwenkfelderexilesociety.org/
Exploring Greek Heritage
https://www.greekcitizenship.net/exploring-greece-and-your-greek-heritage/
Irish Resources
A list of websites providing genealogical records and cultural information about Ireland and the Irish people.
https://www.irishdualcitizenship.org/exploring-ireland-and-your-irish-heritage/
Isle of Man
A resource for for historical and genealogical records from the Isle of Man.
https://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/
Italy GenWeb
https://www.worldgenweb.net/italy/
Italy Heritage
Lists of the Italian Communes, with link to the webpages if available, or to the province and region where the commune presently belongs. The commune is the ultimate repository of all civil records since 1809 for the former Kingdom of Naples, and since the unity of Italy (1861) for all places, and the authority that releases citizenship documents.<br>Lists of the over 35,000 Italian frazioni and smaller localities, with link to the commune, province and region where the frazione currently belongs.
https://www.italyheritage.com/genealogy/
The New York Public Library’s Guide to Italian Research
Has lots of good info, how-to’s, and links.
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/07/24/research-italian-heritage
JewishGen
Explore millions of records from around the world, including more than 3.69 million records related to the Holocaust, and more than 4.1 million burial records. Records are continually updated/added.
National Archives Genealogy
Learn how you can use the resources at the National Archives to explore your family's ancestry.
https://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/index.html
National Genealogical Society
To serve and grow the genealogical community by providing education and training, fostering increased quality and standards, and promoting access to and preservation of genealogical records.
Soldiers and Sailors Database – Civil War
The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time. The CWSS is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and several public and private partners whose goal is to increase Americans' understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm
Library of Congress
Search millions of items in many formats and languages. Explore a growing treasury of digitized materials. Consult with staff online or in one of the research centers to find what you're looking for.
Polish Genealogical Society of America
This is definitely the place you want to start. Their home page has a HUGE list of additional sites you can go to - most are general sites for the whole country, but a few others are more focused based on the website creator’s interests.
https://www.facebook.com/PolishGenealogicalSocietyofAmerica/
Digital Archives of Poland
In the Search section you can select what archive you want from a drop down menu or you can also enter whatever term or type of thing you’re looking for. They have a lot of online censuses, even back to the 1600’s and further [use the word “census”].
Metryki.Genealodzy – Poland
It translates as Metrics, but is a database that lets you search within Polish administrative divisions, towns, etc. by surname and/or date to show which parishes that name shows up in, and from there, if you click on the church icon, it gives you info about the people in that parish register.
https://metryki.genealodzy.pl/?lang=eng
Polish Ancestry & Family History Collection
https://www.polishcitizenshipbydescent.org/exploring-poland-and-your-polish-heritage/National
Gesher Galicia - All Galicia Database
Gesher Galicia is a non-profit organization carrying out Jewish genealogical and historical research on Galicia, formerly a province of Austria-Hungary and today divided between southeastern Poland and western Ukraine. The research work includes the indexing of archival vital records and census books, Holocaust-period records, Josephine and Franciscan cadastral surveys, lists of Jewish taxpayers, and records of Galician medical students and doctors - all added to our searchable online database. In addition, we reproduce regional and cadastral maps for our online Map Room. We conduct educational research and publish a quarterly research journal, the Galitzianer. Gesher Galicia is also organized for the purpose of maintaining networking and online discussion groups and to promote and support Jewish heritage preservation work in the areas of the former Galicia.
https://www.geshergalicia.org/
Portuguese Genealogy - A Beginners Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CDbRmhYfog
Portuguese History, Genealogy and Immigration
Portuguese genealogy involves uncovering the family stories and records of past generations, some of which may have remained hidden for many years. By exploring genealogical records, archives, and oral histories, descendants can uncover stories about their ancestors’ lives, occupations, and roles in Portugal’s past.
https://www.portugalcitizenship.org/all-about-portuguese-history-genealogy-and-immigration/
Matricula – European Church Registers
Here you can find church registers (mostly books of birth, marriage and death) from various European countries (currently Austria, Germany, Poland and Serbia).
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/
National Archives' Civil War Military Research Website
Learn about resources at the National Archives for researching individuals who served in the Civil War.
https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war
Robertson Hospital Register
Robertson Hospital was a small, private Civil War hospital located in a house in Richmond. The hospital was in operation from late July 1861 until June 1865. The Register is an 84-page handwritten logbook of Civil War patients admitted between August 3, 1861 and April 2, 1865. There are 1,329 entries in the register, each assigned a case number.
This is one of a few databases online that are part of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Special Collections and Archives.
https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Arhr
One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse
This site contains tools for finding immigration records, census records, vital records, and for dealing with calendars, maps, foreign alphabets, and numerous other applications. Some of these tools fetch data from other websites but do so in more versatile ways than the search tools provided on those websites.
Refdesk
Genealogy Resources and other facts of interest.
https://www.refdesk.com/factgene.html
Rootsweb
A free genealogy community that uses online forums, mailing lists, and other resources to help people research their family history.
https://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
Sons of American Revolution (SAR)
The SAR Genealogical Research Library, in Louisville, Kentucky, contains over 55,000 items including family histories; local, county, and state records; and on-line genealogical databases. The Special Collections Room features museum-quality pieces relating to the early history of the United States and the American Revolution.
US Gen Web
Welcome to The USGenWeb Project! We are a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.
Researching Your Ancestry
Information, tips and contacts from the Association on American Indian Affairs.
https://www.indian-affairs.org/researchingyourancestry.html
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories that participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative.
WPA Life Histories Collection
Library of Virginia - Research Guides and Indexes
Resources created by Library of Virginia librarians and archivists.
https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/#collapse199639
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
A great source for highway markers [often have genealogy info on them]; links to the Division of State Archaeology; and to their Archives Library.
Virginia Family History Research
Ancestry.com's record collections, history, and genealogy resources to help you trace your Virginia ancestors.
https://www.ancestry.com/search/places/usa/virginia/
Virginia Genealogy Web
https://usgenwebsites.org/vagenweb/index2.html
Researching People in Virginia
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) is pleased to have you use our family history materials such as published abstracts of official records, compiled genealogies, Bible records, research notes, etc.
https://virginiahistory.org/research/research-resources/searching-people
Virginia Online Genealogy Records • FamilySearch
Virginia Statewide Online Genealogy Records from FamilySearch.org.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Virginia_Online_Genealogy_Records
Virginia Resources
Virginia Genealogy - A guide to Genealogical Resources at the University of Virginia Library. Compiled by Jean L. Cooper.
https://genealogy.library.virginia.edu/
Virginia Transportation Research Council
If you haven’t used road orders, then now’s the time. They are a record of how our ancestors built and maintained local roads, bridges, etc. They include names, dates, locations, and other wonderful material about when work was done.
In the search bar, enter the county you’re interested in to see if they have Road Order books, or enter the term “road orders” and a list of all the ones they have show up. Thanks to the VTRC, these are typed transcripts of the old handwritten books.
They have them for Albemarle, Amelia, Augusta, Botetourt, Brunswick, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Fincastle, Frederick, Goochland, Hanover, Loudoun, Louisa, Lunenburg, Montgomery, New Kent, Orange, and Spotsylvania Counties.
Virtual Jamestown
This site is a digital research, teaching and learning project that explores the legacies of the Jamestown settlement and "the Virginia experiment."
Support comes from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Research Project, and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy. Virtual Jamestown is a product of collaboration between Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, and the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia. The project received a large grant in 1999 from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
https://www.virtualjamestown.org/page2.html
Virginia Chancery Records Index (CRI)
The Chancery Records Index (CRI) is a result of archival processing and indexing projects overseen by the Library of Virginia (LVA) and funded, in part, by the Virginia Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP). Each of Virginia's circuit courts created chancery records that contain considerable historical and genealogical information. Because the records rely so heavily on testimony from witnesses, they offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Virginians from the early 18th century through the First World War.
https://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/chancery/
Henrico County Historical Society
They have a Cemeteries Committee that has cataloged 164 cemeteries in Henrico Co with about 3500 names computerized. It’s not clear if these cemeteries are in Find-a-Grave. Their website also has a few oral histories and a few maps of Henrico/Virginia. Under the Preservation tab there are descriptions of historic houses and buildings in Henrico Co that have been saved by them or need to be saved, and a few have some biographical info in them. There is also the Notable Henricoans database at http://events.henricolibrary.org/nhdb/Search2.asp.
Results show short biographies of the person AND the sources for the information. Info goes back practically to the beginning of the county in 1611.
https://www.henricohistoricalsociety.org
Immigrant Records at the National Archives
Among the billions of historical records housed at the National Archives throughout the country, researchers can find information relating to immigrants and their naturalization from the late 1700s through the early 2000s. The National Archives preserves and makes available documents created by Federal agencies in the course of their daily business.