While family-history aficionados have been able to hunt down records for years, new services are putting such sources right at consumers’ fingertips … and in one place. Old family history records — from census information to grandpa’s draft card — are now flooding the Internet thanks to new technology that makes it easier for companies [...]
Ancestry (www.Ancestry.com) – Considered the Internet’s most popular genealogical Web site. Includes US census, birth, marriage, death, immigration and military records, and more than five billion names and 23,000 searchable databases. Registration fee and monthly subscription, but there is some free content, including a family tree maker. Approximately 800,000 subscribers and 14 million registered users.
AncestryUK (www.Ancestry.co.uk) – Ancestry.com’s companion site to help American users trace their English roots.
Ellis Island (www.EllisIsland.org) – For Ellis Island descendants, this is an important and easy-to-use research tool. Users can search through 25 million immigrant ship manifests. Free with registration; photos of immigrant ships is available for purchase.
Family Chronicle (www.familychronicle.com) – A magazine for families researching their roots. $30 subscription for six issues.
FamilySearch (www.FamilySearch.org) – Select US and British and Canadian censuses. Also US Social Security death index and some birth, marriage and death records. Sponsored by the Mormon Church, this free genealogical site has billions of records of birth, marriage, death, census and more. As of 2006, efforts have begun to digitize billions of reels of [...]
Federation of Genealogical Societies (www.fgs.org) – Maintains a complete list of geneaological societies, and can help users find a professional genealogist.
Geni (www.Geni.com) – Family members work together to build family trees and create profiles.
Jewishgen (www.Jewishgen.org) – Access to research already done by professional genealogists, as well as information dating back to the 1800s.
Legacy (www.Legacy.com) – Nearly five million recent and archived obituaries from daily newspapers from the past few years. Obits less than a month old are free; others range up to $4 each.
MyFamily (www.Myfamily.com) – Users create Web sites to keep in touch with family and friends. Owns Ancestry.com.
MyHeritage (www.MyHeritage.com) – Based in Israel, this free site offers technology to search across hundreds of genealogy databases at once. These records include everything from lists of passengers of immigrant ships to war casualty records and photo archives. Offers face-recognition technology to further identify people and track lineage.
MyHeritageResearch (www.MyHeritageResearch.com) – Searches across more than 400 sources, ranging from World Cemetery Records to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Free. User must download a software application.
Onegreatfamily (www.OneGreatFamily.com) – A genealogy site that lets users create family trees and aims to share work with other geneaologists. Monthly subscription.
Zooof (www.Zooof.com) – Lets users build an interactive family tree in 35 languages.