WVC Library Home Page > Research by Subject Menu > Genealogy > Outstanding U.S. Resources

the following are some of the best FREE resources on the web

ALL TYPES OF RECORDS

• FamilySearch (LDS) Includes the Ancestral File, the IGI, Pedigree Resource File, Social Security Death Index, Index to the U.S. 1880 Census, 1880 Census of Great Britain, and 1881 Census of Canada,  as well as the catalog to the Family History Library at Salt Lake (whose film can be borrowed at the local Family History Center) .  The newly added Family Search Research Wiki's are now available for countries and states and give detailed help for any locale you are researching.
  
  Family search has begun indexing and scanning original documents at FamilySearch Labs!
  
• HeritageQuest is available to patrons of the North Central Regional Library System (Washington State). They have all U.S. census (though all is not indexed), Rev. War Pensions, many family histories and county histories etc. If you don't have the password call the public library or the family history library in East Wenatchee for help.  If you are reading this outside of the NCRW service area call your local library and see if they (or anyone in your area) provides access to HQ.
  
  HeritageQuest has access to thousands of books but the search engines is very clunky.  If you pull up a book that looks interesting go to the table of contents and see if it has an index or further help to get around within that book.
  
  
• U.S. GenWeb Project - Portal to the State & County Pages.  The project is also in the process of building a new GenWeb Search portal where you may search an entire state's GenWeb pages in one place.
  
• U.S. GenWeb Archives - Choose state and county. Material is donated by volunteers and some counties are very rich in resources; others are lean.
  
  
  CENSUS
• HeritageQuest has ALL U.S. Census though some are not indexed [see above for how to use HQ at home].  If you need census that is not indexed go to the search screen and click BROWSE.  It will put you through a series of questions - what year? what state? what county? what township? and you will eventually have the township you are after to look page by page.
  For census that is indexed make sure you click the advanced search tab for the best search options.
   
• FamilySearch Labs will eventually have all census for free.  Check their directory to see what is currently finished and available.
   
• Census Online is a directory to census that has been transcribed or had images uploaded on various websites throughout the web
  
  
  
  GEDCOM DATABASES - RESEARCH SUBMITTED BY OTHERS
• WorldConnect (Rootsweb)
  there are many more on the Gedcom Research page and our Finding Other Researchers page
  
  
  GEOGRAPHIC HELP
   
• David Rumsey Map Collection has beautiful historical maps. You probably do not want to use them on a dial-up connection (too long to load) and the site is a bit difficult to navigate but worth the effort.
• GNIS Geographic Names Database - put in those creeks and it will tell you where they were!
   
• RootsWeb Town Search - put in the town and state and it will tell you what (current county) its in
• U.S. County Formation Maps 1643-Present
  Much more help on the Finding Places page
  
  
  IMMIGRATION RESOURCES
  Ancestry has become the best place to look for passenger lists as they have growing indexes AND the images themselves to many of the records for the ports of Baltimore, Boston, NY, New Orleans and Philadelphia.  
  outside of Ancestry:
• Bremen Passenger Lists 1920-1939
• Ellis Island Search
• Immigrant Ships Transcriber's Guild
• Finding Passenger Lists & Immigration Records 1820s-1840s - has great information to help as does this guide to the Hamburg Passenger Lists.  This guide to interpreting Passenger Lists is also handy
• U.S. Ports of Arrival & Their Available Immigration Records is a directory that should not be missed
• Canadian Immigration Records gives a good overview for those with families who bought fare to Canadian ports
  
  LAND RECORDS
• Bureau of Land Management Federal Land Patent Search which now also has an original survey search
  
  
  LIBRARY FINDER
• Switchboard Library Search - put in your town, state and click the link in the right hand corner that says BY DISTANCE. A box will appear where you can choose a radius of 10 miles, 3 miles etc. When you search it will pull up every library within that distance with name, address, phone number.
  Much more help on the Libraries & Archives Page
  
  
  MESSAGE BOARDS
• GenForum
• RootsWeb.com  The largest volunteer driven genealogy network on the web. Among other options you may
  search mailing lists
  search message boards
  
  
  MILITARY RECORDS
• 1840 census of pensioners
• Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System
• HeritageQuest has ALL scanned images of Revolutionary War Pension packets
• Military Record Databases from the National Archives
  for a more complete listing of military resources see the military records page
  
  NEWPAPER RECORDS
• Nettizen's Online Newspaper Directory is a directory to all currently published newspapers everywhere
   
• Newspaper Abstracts - articles sent in by volunteers; small but growing fast
  
   
• For Historical Newspapers try the state library for the state you are researching or go to Google and do a search using terms like   Illinois  Newspapers Microfilm. 
  
  Most collections will appear with directories to what newspaper was published when and whether or not it can be interlibrary loaned.  You can help out your local librarian if you print this information out.  You might also email the local library in the town where grandpa lived and simply ask "if I borrow this film for this time period am I likely to find obits?"  They will usually know if the early papers were good about having the kind of information you are after and help save everyone time and effort.
  
  
  
  VITAL & CEMETERY RECORDS
   
• Help finding marriages online
   
• Death Records Online is a directory to death records both at state level and also smaller databases (i.e. county databases)
• Find-A-Grave is fast becoming the first place to look for a cemetery record. You may search by cemetery or person and if you register you can contribute your own records as well as biographies, obituaries, pictures etc.
• FuneralNet will help you find funeral homes throughout the U.S.
• ObitsArchives indexes newspaper obits in recent years (1987 to present). It costs $2.95 to get the actual obit from them however it tells you what newspaper it is in and when. Google that newspaper and check to see if it is already available free of charge.
• Vital Records.com for the United States tells you where to send for birth, marriage & death records state by state. Make sure you check the county links for the state you choose because some counties can provide uncertified copies cheaper and be sure to check the outstanding state resources pages to make sure what you are after is not already online
  Much more help on the Vital Records Page