May P. ChanEmail: maychan@reginalibrary.ca

Prairie History Room, Regina Public Library©September 2012

Outline

“The Usual Suspects”

Brief Introduction

“By Record Type” – e.g. BMDs

“Crossing the Pond” – eg. English

“Handy Research Tools”

Why do you need such a list?

Not all genealogy websites are the sameSome 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

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/article/101-best-websites-2012

Magazines such as Internet Genealogy & Family Chronicle

Various genealogy blogs Tips from other genealogists Personal experience helping patrons

“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 to access at all RPL branches)

FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) – FREE Cyndi’s List (http://www.cyndislist.com/) – FREE World Vital Records (www.worldvitalrecords.com) - $ Canadian Genealogy Centre (Library& Archives

Canada; http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/) – FREE

Tips #1 & 2 – FamilySearch.org

Sign-up for a free account!Take advantage of its free research guides!

Tip #3 – “Browse by Location” feature

Click on “Canada” and scroll down SK Provincial

Records, 1879 - 1987 - this link takes you to the Homestead Files!

SK Judicial District Court Records, 1891-1954

SK Probate Estate Records, 1887-1931

Tip #4 – CGC’s Guides

• Really helpful guides on how to locate and use specific records

Tip # 5 – CGC’s New Records

Microfilm Digitization Page http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/index-e.html Browse by topic or by

record type

“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/gbsearch/Births,Marriages,Deaths) - 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

“By Record Type” – continued

Census Records Automated Genealogy (Canada; http://

www.automatedgenealogy.com) - FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) 1940 website - (http://1940census.archives.gov/) - FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Cemetery Records SGS Burial Index (http://

www.saskgenealogy.com/databases/indexes.aspx) - $

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

“By Record Type” - continued

Find A Grave (Global; http://www.findagrave.com) - FREE

“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_numerique/index.html?categorie=1) - FREE

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_archives/street_directories.htm) - FREE

“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://www.passengerlists.de/) – 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/) -

$

Tip #6 – Really Interesting Database…

Swiss Refugee Database 1942-1945 (Switzerland; http://etat.geneve.ch/dt/archives/a_votre_service-liste_refugies-1700.html) – FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Local/Family/General Histories Heritage Quest - $ (FREE access through

RPL) 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://archive.org/index.php) - FREE

“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

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection (global; http://lib.utexas.edu/maps) – FREE

David Rumsey (global; http://www.davidrumsey.com/) – FREE

Tip # 7 – Really Cool Map!!!

Atlas of the German Empire by Ludwig Ravenstein (Europe; http://library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein) – FREE

“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 National Archives & Records Administration:

Military Resources (US; http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/military/) – FREE

War of 1812 Resources Olive Tree Genealogy: War of 1812

(http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/mil/1812/) - FREE

War of 1812 resources – continued

Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com/) - $ except for War of 1812 pension files which are free!!!

War of 1812 resources - continued

The War of 1812 at Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/war-1812-library-archives-canada.aspx) – FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Newspapers Google News Archives (US & Canada;

http://news.google.com/newspapers) - FREE Chronicling America (US;

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) - FREE British Newspapers, 1800-1900 (

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs) - $ Trove – National Library of Australia

(http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper) - FREE International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON)

(global; http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm) - FREE

Tip#8 – Handy Leader Post indexes

Saskatchewan Newspapers Index (http://library.usask.ca/sni/) – FREE

SaskObits (http://www.saskobits.com) - FREE

Regina Leader Post Index (1992-2007) – FREE but in-house use only at Regina Public Library!

“Crossing the Pond”

English Genealogy FindMyPast (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/) - $

(available through SGS) Origins Network (http://www.origins.net) – $ UK National Archives (

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) - FREE The Genealogist (http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk)

- $ The National Library of Wales (

http://cat.llgc.org.uk/probate) - FREE Genuki (http://genuki.org.uk) – FREE London Lives 1690-1900 (

http://www.londonlives.org) - FREE

“Crossing the Pond – continued”

Scottish Genealogy Scotland’s People (

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) - $

“Crossing the Pond – continued”

Irish Genealogy The National Archives of Ireland (

http://nationalarchives.ie) – FREE Find My Past (Irish version;

http://www.findmypast.ie) - $ Ireland Gen Web (http://irelandgenweb.com) –

FREE Irish Family History Foundation

(http://www.rootsireland.ie/) – $

“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

Genline (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

“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

“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

“Handy Research Tools”

Search Engines Mocavo (http://www.mocavo.com/) - FREE One-Step Web Pages

(http://stevemorse.org/) – FREESoftware & Hardware Reviews

GenSoftReviews (genealogy software; http://www.gensoftreviews.com) – FREE

CNET (software and hardware; http://www.cnet.com/) - FREE

“Handy Research Tools”

Message Boards Roots Web (http://www.rootsweb.com) - FREE

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

“Handy Research Tools”

Staying Up-to Date Dick’s Eastman’s Newsletter (

http://blog.eogn.com/) – FREE Dear Myrtle (http://blog.dearmyrtle.com) -

FREE Ancestry Insider (

http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/) - FREE Genealogy Blog Finder (

http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/) – FREE Genealogy Guys

(http://www.genealogyguys.com) - FREE

Tip #9 - Canadian-based Newsletter!!! GenealogyinTime

Magazine (http://www.genealogyintime.com/index.html) – FREE

• Offers Genealogy Search Engine and a Family Tree Search Engine

• Updates on new genealogical resources

• Archives of handy research articles