-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Genealogical websites
Resent-Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 11:05:30 -0800 (PST)
Resent-From: INDECATU-L(a)rootsweb.com
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 05:56:44 +1100
From: John Ballard <john.ballard(a)anu.edu.au>
To: INDECATU-L(a)rootsweb.com
This strikes me as a useful guide.
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 10:17:26 -0500 (EST)
From: merope <merope(a)Radix.Net>
Subject: USGW-CC-L: Top 10 Genealogical Sites
The following is an article written by Mr. Cole Goodwin. It is
forwarded
with his permission. The article is copyrighted by Mr. Goodwin and if
you
wish permission to reprint it, you should contact him directly at:
cole_goodwin(a)hotmail.com
USGenWeb is mentioned but, alas, only as a feature of RootsWeb, and he
also calls RootsWeb a non-profit. Both of these misperceptions have
been
pointed out to him, and in his letter to me Mr. Goodwin graciously noted
that he would revise the incorrect references to RootsWeb being a
non-profit company sponsored by RAND when next he publishes the article.
Anyways, hope you enjoy!
- -Teresa
==============
The Top Ten Genealogical Web Sites, (c) 1999 by R. Cole Goodwin
If you were looking for an ancestor, on which ten Internet sites would
you most likely find him or her? Which sites can help an individual, a
family, or a group research family history?
With over 1,500,000,000 names on over 60,000 genealogical web sites on
the
Internet, finding the best sites is no easy task.
Eighteen months ago, I started evaluating over 60,000 web sites which
provide information of genealogical interest in order to determine the
Top
Ten. Using Encyclopaedia Britannica's Alexa service, independent
reviews,
and personal [observations], I evaluated each site's freshness, speed,
links in, links out, subjective ratings by reviewers, site size, and
other
criteria. I have tested my findings along the way, having found over
16,000 ancestors during the past
twenty-two months, mostly with the help of the computer. Below are my
top
ten sites:
FamilySearch (
http://www.familysearch.org )
Owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
in
Salt Lake City, Utah,
FamilySearch.org has a little (or more) of genealogical interest for
everyone and it is growing quickly. In its third full month, it has
become
one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Using FamilySearch, you
can
do the following:
* Search for your ancestors using the International Genealogical Index
(I.G.I.) with over 360,000,000 names, at present, online; Ancestral
File
(A.F.) with about 36 million names in linked pedigree charts; and with
hyperlinks to other genealogical web sites. Over the next month, the
site
will grow to 600 million online names, then to 1,000,000 by next spring;
* Collaborate with others who are searching for the same ancestor,
surname, or place as you. At present, there are over 60,000
collaboration
lists and the number is growing by over 1000 per day;
* Access the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, which has over two million rolls of microfilm with
the
names of over two billion people. Once you have identified a microfilm
which interests you, you can order it online and it will be delivered to
an Latter-day Saint Family History Center of your choosing near you;
* Learn from online Research Guides. For almost any place or ethnic
group
for which you wish to do genealogical investigation, there are online
guides that will allow you to learn how to do the research you seek;
* Access over 60,000 genealogical web sites by categories, such as
those
which specialize in census, land, migration, military, royalty,
surnames,
and more;
* Preserve your family history by downloading one of the most popular
genealogical software programs in the world today, Personal Ancestral
File (P.A.F.) 4.0 for Windows, as well as upload your own genealogical
information to FamilySearch to be preserved and to be
shared with others in Pedigree Resource files.
* Coming Up: Australian, British and North American Vital Records
Indexes
will be incorporated into FamilySearch as will the complete 1851 and
1881
British Censuses, the complete 1880 U.S. Census, the Ellis Island Index
of
17,000,000 immigrants, and more source guides. Also coming up: Pedigree
Resource Files, containing the online submissions of FamilySearch users
(12,000,000 names already received);
Ancestry.com (
http://www.ancestry.com )
With over 274,000,000 U.S. names in over 1700 databases,
Ancestry.com
can
help you find and put flesh onto the bones of your ancestors. It offers
the following features:
* Census Indexes, 1790-1870, for the entire U.S., as well as the
complete
1790 U.S. Census and assorted later censuses for sundry states and
counties;
* Social Security Death Index (S.S.D.I.): updated through June 1999,
it
is the most current index on the Internet and can help you locate the
disposition of a relative or friend as well as their parentage;
* World Family Tree: like FamilySearch's Ancestral File, this contains
millions of names linked in pedigrees;
* Periodical Source Index, which references over 5,000 genealogical
periodicals for the past 200 years. For the most part, once you have the
index entry, you can view the articles at the Library of Congress;
* American Genealogical and Biographical Index (Ryder's Index): the
contents of 200 volumes of genealogical references to individuals in the
U.S. throughout the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries;
* The Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books (125 Volumes)
* Ancestry News-Daily and weekly newsletter providing news and features
of genealogical interest.
Although
Ancestry.com is a paid, subscription service, major portions
of
its holdings are made available freely to the general public. In
addition,
right now they are offering a free, 14-day subscription to those who
sign-up through the following link (sponsored by ThirdAge):
https://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/signup/SignupUser.asp?SignupType=TRIALF...
nupCode=g99af
Cyndislist (
http://www.cyndislist.com )
Cyndislist catalogues and indexes over 43,000 genealogy web sites and is
in the process of adding 10,000 more. If you are looking for
genealogical
web sites from different countries to different surnames, you will find
them listed and indexed here. Online since 1996, it is operated by Cyndi
Howells of Puyallup, Washington.
RootsWeb (
http://www.rootsweb.com )
RootsWeb has over 150,000,000 million U.S. names online and is operated
by
the non-profit RootsWeb Data Cooperative of Pine Mountain Club,
California
and is a project of the Rand Corporation. RootsWeb has the following
helpful features:
* Surname Resources on RootsWeb allow you to search submissions on
surnames by other researchers;
* County Resource tie you into genealogical discussion forums organized
by
state and by county.
* USGENWEB (
http://www.usgenweb.com ) covers the United States by state
and by county, organizing cemetery, census, obituary, historical, and
biographical resources by locality. Can be very helpful; for an
excellent
example of USGENWEB, go to the Bradford County, Pennsylvania web site (
http://www.rootsweb.com/~pabradfo/bradweb.htm );
* Mailing Lists for over 16,000 genealogical areas are sponsored by
RootsWeb.com
* The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, an online project to
transcribe
the passenger lists of all passenger ships which have entered America.
Currently, 400 ships are online;
* Social Security Death Index (SSDI), similar to Ancestry.com's
database;
The Library of Congress (
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/ )
Through The Library of Congress' Local History and Genealogy Reading
Room, you can access the holdings of the largest library in the world,
which has a collection of over 250,000 local history and genealogy books
available for researchers, as well as a large repository of microfilm
holdings from The Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ
of
Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. Through the site, you can search or
browse the catalogs, access special holdings of various ethnic and
historic reading rooms, and enjoy the American Memories Collection, an
extensive, visual database of American History. Also available through
the
Library of Congress
is the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collection (N.U.C.M.C.)
(
http://lcweb.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/nucmc.html ) which indexes millions of
unpublished documents and contains valuable genealogical information.
GenForum (
http://genforum.genealogy.com/ )
The largest online area for people to share surname and local history
information, with over three million messages posted. It allows
researchers to collaborate one with another in researching family and
local history.
ProFusion (
http://www.profusion.com/ )
Rather than a site for genealogical research, ProFusion is a
Microsoft-sponsored meta-search engine, which can use up to nine
Internet
search engines (such as AltaVista, Google, InfoSeek, etc.)
simultaneously
to find that ancestor, or relative of yours on that obscure web page.
Unlike typical search engines which, at most, index only 16% of the web
pages on the Internet, meta-search engines such as ProFusion, Dogpile (
http://www.dogpile.com/ ), Fast Corporation's AllTheWeb (
http://www.alltheweb.com ) and MAMMA, The Mother of All Web Sites (
http://www.mamma.com/ ) use individual search engines to collectively
scale the web.
The Ultimates (
http://www.theultimates.com/ )
Like ProFusion (above) rather than a single web site with genealogical
information, The Ultimates is a search engine for multiple online
telephone white pages and e- mail directories. It can help you find
people
with the same surname you are seeking. This is especially useful when
you
are seeking an unusual surname.
MyFamily.com (
http://www.MyFamily.com )
MyFamily.com is a place where you can post your family tree, family
news,
family photos, recipes, and chapter- by-chapter history for your family
to
show and to share with others. It can help a geographically dispersed
family collaborate on its history.
The U.S. National Archives
(
http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail.html ) Using the new U.S. National
Archives and Records Administration's Archival Information Locator, you
can locate information about the microfilm, archival holdings, and
digital
copies available. Also useful is The National Archives Research
Room (
http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/ )
Bonus Web Sites
In addition to the Top Ten, above, following are some excellent,
specialized genealogical web sites. Please bear in mind that much of
this
specialized information is available through the using the Top Ten
genealogical web sites above; indeed, some Top Ten sites have more
specialized data than their more limited counterparts, below, but the
following are always worth checking:
Biographies
From the Arts & Entertainment Network's "Biography" series, you can
search 22,000 online biographies at the following link: (
http://www.biography.com/ )
Cemeteries and Graveyards
Find A Grave (
http://www.findagrave.com/ )
Censuses on the Internet
Censuslinks (
http://www.censuslinks.com/directory/ )
Educational Resources for Online Genealogy
PBS' Ancestors Series (
http://www.pbs.org/kbyu/ancestors/ )
Ethnic Genealogy Resources
The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies Online
(
http://www.libertynet.org/balch/body_index.html)
Family History for Kids
Disney's Family Tree
(
http://disney.go.com/ads/sponsors/ancestry/index.html )
Family Reunions
Family-Reunion.com (
http://www.family-reunion.com )
Geography
The U.S. Geological Service's Geographic Names Information Service
(GNIS)
(
http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/ )
Heraldry
Heraldry on the Internet (
http://www.digiserve.com/heraldry/index.htm
)
Land Records
The Bureau of Land Management has placed all federal land patent
records
online, including millions of 19th Century Homestead Act records. (
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ )
Medical Genealogy
The Disease Chart (19th century medical terminology)
(
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/1030/diseasecharttable.htm )
Military Records
Military records databases at
Ancestry.com
(
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/1030/diseasecharttable.htm
)
Newsletters-Online Genealogy
Ancestry.com's Daily News (free sign-up from home page, with alerts to
new, limited-time access to databases, tips of the day, features, and
specials) (
http://www.ancestry.com/ )
Newspapers
The United States Newspaper Program links you to hundreds of online
newspapers, some of which have put back issues up to 200 years old
online;
excellent for births, marriages and deaths.
(
http://www.neh.gov/html/usnp.html#NEW%20YORK )
Photographs
With over 250,000,000 prints, Corbis Corporation has the largest
inventory of historic and newsworthy photographs in the world, and has
put many online-for free. (
http://www.corbis.com)
Vital Records
Vital Records Information for the United States (
http://vitalrec.com/index.html )
WebCasts on Genealogy
Generations is a live, interactive television show focusing on family
history research and is broadcast over the Internet. It is sponsored by
Sierra Software and carried by TalkSpot, an Internet broadcasting
company.
(
http://www.sierra.com/sierrahome/familytree/community/webcast/ )
World and International Genealogy Resources
WorldGenWeb (
http://www.worldgenweb.com ) will take you to resources
for almost any country in the world.