Presentation given in September, 2012. Updated 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
©September 2012

2. Outline
Brief Introduction
“The Usual Suspects”
“By Record Type” – e.g. BMDs
“Crossing the Pond” – eg. English
“Handy 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/article/101-
best-websites-2012
 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 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

6. Tips #1 & 2 – FamilySearch.org
 Sign-up for a free account!
 Take advantage of its free research guides!

7. 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

8. Tip #4 – CGC’s Guides
• Really helpful guides
on how to locate and
use specific records

9. Tip # 5 – CGC’s New Records
 Microfilm
Digitization Page
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-di
 Browse by topic or by
record type

10. “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

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

12. “By Record Type” – continued
National Archives and Records
Administration’s (NARA) 1940 website - (
http://1940census.archives.gov/) - FREE

13. “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

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

15. “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

16. 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
) - FREE

17. “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/) -
$

18. Tip #6 – Really Interesting Database…
 Swiss Refugee
Database 1942-
1945 (Switzerland;
http://etat.geneve.ch/dt/archives/a_votre_service-liste_
) – FREE

19. “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

20. “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

21. Tip # 7 – Really Cool Map!!!
 Atlas of the German Empire by Ludwig
Ravenstein (Europe; http://
library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein) – FREE

22. “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/militar
) – FREE
 War of 1812 Resources
 Olive Tree Genealogy: War of 1812
(http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/mil/1812/) -
FREE

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

24. 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
) – FREE

25. “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

26. 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!

27. “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

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

29. “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/) – $

30. “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

31. “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

32. “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

33. “Handy 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

34. “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

35. “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

36. Tip #9 - Canadian-based Newsletter!!!
 GenealogyinTime
Magazine
(http://www.genealogyinti
me.com/index.html) –
FREE
• Offers Genealogy
Search Engine and a
Family Tree Search
Engine
• Updates on new
genealogical
resources
• Archives of handy
research articles