Genealogy Online
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• U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer (http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html) This is where you can search by entering either the name and state abbreviation (optional) or the five-digit ZIP code.
• A Vision of Britain (http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk) This project started in 1994 with the goal of creating a major database of Britain’s localities as they have changed over time. This website was created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project (GIS stands for Geographical Information System), based in the Department of Geography of the University of Portsmouth.
• Historical Maps of the United States (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states.html) This site, hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, has dozens of maps under the headings Early Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Territorial Growth, Military History, Later Historical Maps, and Other Historical Map Sites.
• Old Maps UK (http://www.old-maps.co.uk/) This site lets you search online for maps and order hard copies.
Regional
If you need a regional resource, first go to Google, Yahoo!, Lycos, or another web catalog and search for “archives.” The following links are good examples of what you can expect to find:
• Alabama Department of Archives and History Genealogy Page (http://www.archives.alabama.gov/research.html) This is a collection of tutorials for how to search the Alabama archives for family history, as well as links to various online records. Most state and province archives have something similar.
• Canadian Heritage Information Network (http://www.rcip-chin.gc.ca/index-eng.jsp) This is a bilingual French/English guide to museums, galleries, and other heritage-oriented resources in Canada.
• European Archival Network (http://www.euan.org/) This page lists national archive sites by alphabet and region.
• Filson Historical Society (http://www.filsonhistorical.org) This is a library, manuscript collection, and museum concentrating on Kentucky history and genealogy. It has a searchable online card catalog of library materials.
• GENUKI (http://www.genuki.org.uk) This site is all about genealogy in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
• Irish Genealogy (http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/) This is a portal with message boards, transcribed records, surname origins, and a newsletter.
• National Archives of Singapore (http://www.nas.gov.sg) This site offers relatively recent records.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org/home.html) This site is designed to be a center for family and local history research in New England. The society owns 200,000 genealogy books and documents. If you’re a New England genealogist, you should check it out.
• Surnames.com (http://www.surnames.com) This site discusses general genealogy, with some focus on the Arizona area. It includes a surname search and a map of genealogical organizations in the United States. The site also has a useful beginner’s section.
• Utah State Archives (http://www.archives.utah.gov) Here you can access the research center for the archives’ public services. This site includes research, places where questions can be answered, and places where records can be ordered. Not everything here is free, but it’s very convenient!
Starting Places
Here are some good places to begin your search for people, places, and pages:
• WikiTree (http://www.wikitree.com) This is a free, cooperative genealogy site. You put in or upload your data, with sources, photos, scans of documents, family stories, and more. Other members searching the site for their ancestors may find your data and suggest a merger between your entry on a person and another entry that seems to be the same person. If you agree, then the sources, data, and connections are merged into one entry, eliminating duplication and sometimes eliminating mistakes or typos. Then, it can calculate the relationship between you and the owner of the other record. It has a wonderful, active message area, too. It is easy and intuitive to use. If you have not been thrilled with the usual suspects of online genealogy sites, give WikiTree a try.
• Archives.com (http://www.archives.com/) This is a competitor to Ancestry.com with many of the same features and services.
• Genealogy Links.Net (http://www.genealogylinks.net) This site includes over 9,000 links, most of them to online searchable databases, such as ships’ passenger lists, church records, cemetery transcriptions, and censuses for England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Genealogy Pages (http://www.genealogypages.com) This site provides a collection of links to free genealogical services, as well as to over 29,000 online resources.
• Genealogy Spot (http://www.genealogyspot.com) This is a free portal with links to online genealogy resources for beginners and experts alike. Sites featured here are hand selected by an editorial team for quality, content, and utility.
• GeneaNet (http://www.geneanet.org) Based in France, this is a genealogy database site you can search by name or geographic location. It is not based on GEDCOM, but rather has its own database format. Other resources are available, such as a list of genealogy books, genealogy news briefs, and more. Much of the emphasis is on French history, genealogy, and research, but there are other resources, too.
• DMOZ Genealogy page (http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Genealogy/Directories/) This is part of an edited catalog of the Web, so real people have gathered, verified, and edited the links here.
• Linkpendium (http://www.linkpendium.com) This site has a goal to index every genealogy, “geneology,” family history, family tree, surname, vital records, biography, or otherwise genealogically related site on the Internet. Built and maintained mainly by RootsWeb founders Brian Wolf Leverich and Karen Isaacson, it is updated often and definitely worth a bookmark.
• Marston Manor (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dickmarston/) This personal genealogy site offers numerous useful items for online genealogists, including a chart for calculating family relationships and a detailed discussion of the terms “proof” and “evidence” as they relate to genealogy.
• The USGenWeb Project (http://www.usgenweb.com) This is a noncommercial project with the goal of providing websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States.
Supplies, Books, Forms, and More
• Global: Everything for the Family Historian (http://www.globalgenealogy.com) This is the Global Genealogy Supply website. Shop online for genealogy supplies—maps, forms, software, and so forth—and subscribe to the Global Gazette, a free e-mail newsletter covering Canadian genealogy and heritage.
• Family Chronicle (http://www.familychronicle.com) This is the website for the Family Chronicle magazine, which is dedicated to families researching their roots. Check out their offerings and request a free sample of the magazine.
• Genealogical.com (http://www.genealogical.com) This site has genealogy supplies, articles about research, and books and CD-ROMs.
Wrapping Up
• Thousands of websites exist to help with genealogy.
• Some of the most useful websites are collections of links to other sites, such as Cyndi’s List and RootsWeb.
• A number of websites are more specific with genealogies submitted by users.
• Several websites have data such as land records, family bible entries, and transcribed census data (for example, AfriGeneas, The Library of Virginia, and the Bureau of Land Management).
• Other pages have good information on how to proceed with your research (for example, DearMYRTLE and the Adoptee Search Resource page).
Part IV
Appendixes
Appendix A
Genealogical Standards from the National Genealogical Society
Genealogical Standards
Standards For Sound Genealogical Research
Recommended by the National Genealogical Society
Remembering always that they are engaged in a quest for truth, family history researchers consistently—
> * record the source for each item of information they collect.
* test every hypothesis or theory against credible evidence, and reject those that are not supported by the evidence.
* seek original records, or reproduced images of them when there is reasonable assurance they have not been altered, as the basis for their research conclusions.
* use compilations, communications and published works, whether paper or electronic, primarily for their value as guides to locating the original records, or as contributions to the critical analysis of the evidence discussed in them.
* state something as a fact only when it is supported by convincing evidence, and identify the evidence when communicating the fact to others.
* limit with words like “probable” or “possible” any statement that is based on less than convincing evidence, and state the reasons for concluding that it is probable or possible.
* avoid misleading other researchers by either intentionally or carelessly distributing or publishing inaccurate information.
* state carefully and honestly the results of their own research, and acknowledge all use of other researchers’ work.
* recognize the collegial nature of genealogical research by making their work available to others through publication, or by placing copies in appropriate libraries or repositories, and by welcoming critical comment.
* consider with open minds new evidence or the comments of others on their work and the conclusions they have reached.
© 1997, 2002 by National Genealogical Society. Permission is granted to copy or publish this material provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.
Genealogical Standards
Guidelines For Using Records Repositories And Libraries
Recommended by the National Genealogical Society
Recognizing that how they use unique original records and fragile publications will affect other users, both current and future, family history researchers habitually—
* are courteous to research facility personnel and other researchers, and respect the staff’s other daily tasks, not expecting the records custodian to listen to their family histories nor provide constant or immediate attention.
* dress appropriately, converse with others in a low voice, and supervise children appropriately.
* do their homework in advance, know what is available and what they need, and avoid ever asking for “everything” on their ancestors.
* use only designed work space areas and equipment, like readers and computers, intended for patron use, respect off-limits areas, and ask for assistance if needed.
* treat original records at all times with great respect and work with only a few records at a time, recognizing that they are irreplaceable and that each user must help preserve them for future use.
* treat books with care, never forcing their spines, and handle photographs properly, preferably wearing archival gloves.
* never mark, mutilate, rearrange, relocate, or remove from the repository any original, printed, microform, or electronic document or artifact.
* use only procedures prescribed by the repository for noting corrections to any errors or omissions found in published works, never marking the work itself.
* keep note-taking paper or other objects from covering records or books, and avoid placing any pressure upon them, particularly with a pencil or pen.
* use only the method specifically designated for identifying records for duplication, avoiding use of paper clips, adhesive notes, or other means not approved by the facility.
* return volumes and files only to locations designated for that purpose.
* before departure, thank the records custodians for their courtesy in making the materials available.
* follow the rules of the records repository without protest, even if they have changed since a previous visit or differ from those of another facility.
©1997, 2001 by National Genealogical Society; includes material ©1995 by Joy Reisinger, CG. Both copyright owners grant permission to copy or publish these standards, provided they are reproduced in their entirety, including this notice.
Genealogical Standards
Standards For Use Of Technology In Genealogical Research
Recommended by the National Genealogical Society
Mindful that computers are tools, genealogists take full responsibility for their work, and therefore they—
* learn the capabilities and limits of their equipment and software, and use them only when they are the most appropriate tools for a purpose.
* do not accept uncritically the ability of software to format, number, import, modify, check, chart or report their data, and therefore carefully evaluate any resulting product.
* treat compiled information from on-line sources or digital databases in the same way as other published sources—useful primarily as a guide to locating original records, but not as evidence for a conclusion or assertion.
* accept digital images or enhancements of an original record as a satisfactory substitute for the original only when there is reasonable assurance that the image accurately reproduces the unaltered original.
* cite sources for data obtained on-line or from digital media with the same care that is appropriate for sources on paper and other traditional media, and enter data into a digital database only when its source can remain associated with it.
* always cite the sources for information or data posted on-line or sent to others, naming the author of a digital file as its immediate source, while crediting original sources cited within the file.
* preserve the integrity of their own databases by evaluating the reliability of downloaded data before incorporating it into their own files.
* provide, whenever they alter data received in digital form, a description of the change that will accompany the altered data whenever it is shared with others.
* actively oppose the proliferation of error, rumor and fraud by personally verifying or correcting information, or noting it as unverified, before passing it on to others.
* treat people on-line as courteously and civilly as they would treat them face-to-face, not separated by networks and anonymity.
* accept that technology has not changed the principles of genealogical research, only some of the procedures.
©2000, 2001, 2002 by National Genealogical Society. Permission is granted to copy or publish this material provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.
Genealogical Standards
Standards For Sharing Information With Others
Recommended by the National Genealogical Society
Conscious of the fact that sharing information or data with others, whether through speech, documents or electronic media, is essential to family history research and that it needs continuing support and encouragement, responsible family historians consistently—
* respect the restrictions on sharing information that arise from the rights of another as an author, originator or compiler; as a living private person; or as a party to a mutual agreement.
* observe meticulously the legal rights of copyright owners, copying or distributing any part of their works only with their permission, or to the limited extent specifically allowed under the law’s “fair use” exceptions.
* identify the sources for all ideas, information and data from others, and the form in which they were received, recognizing that the unattributed use of another’s intellectual work is plagiarism.
* respect the authorship rights of senders of letters, electronic mail and data files, forwarding or disseminating them further only with the sender’s permission.
* inform people who provide information about their families as to the ways it may be used, observing any conditions they impose and respecting any reservations they may express regarding the use of particular items.
* require some evidence of consent before assuming that living people are agreeable to further sharing of information about themselve
s.
* convey personal identifying information about living people—like age, home address, occupation or activities—only in ways that those concerned have expressly agreed to.
* recognize that legal rights of privacy may limit the extent to which information from publicly available sources may be further used, disseminated or published.
* communicate no information to others that is known to be false, or without making reasonable efforts to determine its truth, particularly information that may be derogatory.
* are sensitive to the hurt that revelations of criminal, immoral, bizarre or irresponsible behavior may bring to family members.
© 2000 by National Genealogical Society. Permission is granted to copy or publish this material provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.
Genealogical Standards
Guidelines For Publishing Web Pages On The Internet
Recommended by the National Genealogical Society
Appreciating that publishing information through Internet web sites and web pages shares many similarities with print publishing, considerate family historians—
* apply a title identifying both the entire web site and the particular group of related pages, similar to a book-and-chapter designation, placing it both at the top of each web browser window using the