By providing the links I have used or sites I have found and intend to use, I hope to help others discover their heritage. Sometimes it seems there are brick walls everywhere. You might be able to knock down those walls by thinking outside the box. With one of these links you might be able to climb over one of your walls. If you find something here that helps you, please, sign our guestbook and let me know. Thanks.
The links are not in any particular order, so make sure to scroll through them to see what is here. I will add more links as I have time. I try to provide as many free sites as possible. It has been my goal, for many years, to provide free family history for all. That is one reason I scan and upload all the records I have to this site.
Each link will take you to sites away from mine. Make sure to bookmark me and come back.
See my disclaimer for external links
The first link I offer is for Freepages, because they made this site possible.
Freepages on Rootsweb.
50 States This is one of the first sites I utilized when searching for my family history. It offers you to all 50 states and provides newspapers, courts, history information, research possibilities and much more.
FamilySearch The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Free research online and at their Family History Centers. They are making their site better every day by developing search engines with ideas that some of us have dreamed of for years.
LDS Family Search's Research WikiThis site has free advice on how to start your family research and where to go from there. You will love the wiki whether you are new to genealogy or have been researching for many years.
NEW Mormon Cemetery The genealogists from Iowa, where I got my information years ago have finally uploaded the information online. They have the same thing on their site that was sent to me, when I called them and spoke to the woman who helped me years ago. I know there are many others researching their families that are buried there. They have been uploading photos of the graves and I have found some for the ones I am researching. For all of us who are unable to go there ourselves, this is a fantastic find.
They are part of the Iowa Gen Web Project. Anyone doing research in Iowa will find this to be a valuable research site.
Summer of Sleuthing LDS Family Search has a great idea for summer for the kids. It's really a good idea to get the next generation interested now so there will someone to take over our research someday.
To Find a LDS Family History Center near you.
My Heritage In my constant search for free genealogy sites to list here, this site is one that should not be overlooked. It has software for making family trees and also a place to build your family tree. Your information can be kept private or you can let everyone view what you have found. It has a great search engine for finding others with the same interests.
Ellis Island Free Port of New York Passenger Records.
USGenWeb ProjectAs stated on their site; "a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States." This site is a must for the serious researcher. I hope to volunteer as soon as I get some free time.
Alabama Genealogy. If you find yourself doing genealogy in Alabama, this site is an excellent starting point. On the right hand side is listings for all of the counties. Most have started putting together some great records all for free. Others are now looking for volunteers. If you are researching the surname, League, Winston County has bible records that you will probably want to see. It is the very last county on the list. Doing a search of the surname, League, will net you plenty of information.
Pre-1905 CA Death Index Project
This is being put together totally by volunteers. They are doing a wonderful job of getting all death records transcribed. If you want to volunteer there is a link on the page to contact them. All volunteers transcribing information online are working together to keep records free for research.
Arizona Birth and Death Certificates Free Site. Actual certificates online.
Minnesota Genealogy
Free site for Birth and Death certificates plus a variety of resources for researching for your family history.
Civil War Site
Bits of Blue and Gray: An American Civil War Notebook This is a wonderful site for researching the Civil War. A wonderful job on preserving history. I moved this link further up the page because a couple of people were saying they had a hard time finding it. It is one of the better Civil War sites that I have found. It has such a wealth of information in one location.
California death index search
New York Death Index Search
Italian Genealogical Group. Free records for research.
Kentucky Vital Records Project
Free Death Records online for research.
Ohio Deaths 1908-1953
Free Death certificates online for research. This site is part of the Family Search site. It is a pilot site, but seems to be growing all the time. They are including census records, birth and death certificates and much more.
Texas Deaths 1890-1976
Free death certificates online for research. This site is part of the Family Search site. It is a pilot site, but seems to be growing all the time. They are including census records, birth and death certificates and much more.
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915
Free death certificates online for research.
Shelby County, Tennessee Register of Deeds
Free actual deeds online for genealogy research.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Gen Web Project
If you are researching this area you will find a wealth of free links to research.
Oklahoma Gen Web
I was able to locate links here that led me to the information I was looking for. As usual the Gen Web Project gives us plenty of free sites to search.
Free Marriage Records to search.
These are marriage records contributed by Roots Web Users.
Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960
Free death certificates online for genealogy.
Links for research in Texas.
I found this page while doing searches. It is the family page of Wanda Qualls, who is the county Co-ordinator for many Texas Counties. If you are researching in Texas this page has some very good links.
Kentucky Historical Society-Cemetery Search
If you have family in Kentucky that you are looking for this is a good place to start.
Missouri Death Certificates 1910-1956. Free site. Actual death certificates online.
The Collections in Missouri Digital Heritage. Besides the death certificates above, Missouri, has started scanning and uploaded all of their state information. If you have been using the death certificates, on their site, you will love what else they are doing. I have been able to find information through there collections that I had been searching for a long time. A few of the other states have also started scanning and uploading their files online. Their hard work is making is a huge benefit to family history. Many of us believe that genealogy should be free for all. With states like Missouri that goal will one day be a reality. We may still need some of the pay sites, to help organize and provide software, helping us to organize our finds.
Georgia Death Archives Free site. Actual death certificates online.
Utah Death Register Database 1904-1956. Free site. Actual death certificates online. This site also has other vital statistics on their site.
USGenWeb Census Project On-Line Inventory of Transcribed Censuses of all states. Volunteers transcribing and scanning the census records, keeping them free for all to use. They always have room for more volunteers.
FreeBMD Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales. Volunteers keeping it free.
UK Census Online 1841-1891 Scroll down page to do searches. Volunteers working worldwide to transcribe records.
1850 Green County, Tennessee. Transcribed by Mark E. Reed 1996-1997. 19 year old who transcribed this entire census year.
Kansas GenWeb Project
They have so much here that it would be impossible to list.
If you are doing any research in Kansas you will want to spend a few days looking through there site.
They even had the Kansas State Guard during World War I, which I found very useful.
Encyclopedia Titanica
Everythign about the Titanic, including names of passengers, survivors, victims, etc.
Iowa Gravestones project
The people that are taking their time to inscribe all of the gravestones
are doing some wonderful work for the history of genealogy. We can learn so much
about our families from looking through the cemeteries. This site and all of the
the other tombstone projects below need help from everyone willing to help.
Danbury Connecticut Gravestones
Arizona Gravestones
I don't have these sites in order, but I will be putting my search engine on soon.
As soon as the search engine is up you will be able to search all at once.
Arkansas Gravestones
Illinois Gravestones
Fort Bragg, North Carolina Gravestones
North Dakota Gravestones
South Dakota Gravestones
California Tombstone Transcription Project
Nova Scotia. Canadian Headstones
Maryland Gravestones
New Mexico Gravestones project
Utah Gravestones Project
Oregon Gravestones Project
New York Gravestones Project
Nebraska Gravestones
I have found a few family here, however there are many not on here, yet.
Each of these sites can use all the volunteers they can get.
Virginia Gravestone Project
Most all of us have family from Virginia so this site is probably one you will want
to check out.
Louisiana Gravestone Project
I know these sites are not in order on this page. I put them in as I find them
and try to put some of the like ones together.
Ohio Gravestone Project
If you live in any of the states with the Gravestone Projects take some photos
and help them out. If everyone just took a few photos a week they would all be done
in no time.
Oklahoma Gravestone Project
This is one I would love to go help out with. I have so many family members from
Oklahoma and I know I would find a lot of names for my research. But, it is just
to far away for me. I take pictures in my state as I have time.
colorado Gravestone Project
Gravestone Photographic resource.
The genealogical information is for those born before 1900, for English and Welsh countries.
There isn't a lot on here, yet. Once this site is finished it will be a wealth
of information for those of use looking for information in these countries.
New Mexico Gravestone Project
Michigan Tombstone Transcription Project
We all need to work together to get all of the older tombstones transcribed
before they are no longer there. There are projects going on that
are trying to preserve the stones by repairing them.
Footnote. On this site you can find original documents on your ancestors, plus, upload your own to preserve for history. Yearly or monthly subscriptions. Well worth it. They also have the 1860 US Census.
Genealogy Today. This site offers both free and fee based information. There are unique searches here that I have not found in other places, such as World War II ration books and railroad employees records.
Social Security Death Records. Free at Rootsweb.
Passenger Ship list. Free and fee based areas.
Rootsweb Main Site
Ancestry site. The one and only original site where you can find entire branches of your family.
Illinois Archives. Search for birth and death certificates in Illinois, plus, many other archives in Illinois.
Black Sheep Ancestors Just like the name implies.
Civil War Service Records. Click links to go to the searches for soldiers and other civil war related issues.
Graves in the UK Mostly Oxfordshire and Berkshire Family History Societies transcribing crumbling graves before they are gone.
Find a Grave This site is one you will want to join. Besides having 27 million grave records, you can also upload information here and photos. My cousin Frank Duke, has upload a lot of good information for Duke researchers to find. You will find many of our Duke relatives in the Dogwood Cemetery, in Mississippi County, Missouri. You can also become a volunteer to look up graves in your area or ask others to look up information for you, in their area.
Missouri Site of GenWeb This is a very useful site if you researching Missouri.
St. Francois County, Missouri We have more family from this county than any other.
Online Books Many of the books here can be read entirely free online. There are quite a few genealogy books available. Search with the word genealogy to see a whole list of available books. If your research includes the surname Briggs, you will want to read "The Archives of the Briggs Family" by Samuel Briggs.
Connecticut State Library-The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records
Genealogical Databases of Old Prison Records & Jail Records
Chronicles of Oklahoma.
GenealogyBank Historical Newspapers and other indexes. I was told about this site by Nat League, a fellow genealogist. Looks promising.
California Marriage Records. Some free links from this site and some paid.
Creek Indian Researcher.
457 FREE History and Genealogy Books to down or read online.
Duke Family Duke University and Duke Tabacco history.
Census Finder Lists all the census records. Some are free through select sites.
Creek Nation of Oklahoma. Citizenship Criteria.
The Knapp Database. A must see site for Knapp researchers.
West Virginia Vital records search. Birth, Deaths and Marraiges. Original scanned records.
Distant Cousin Archive of genealogy records. They state that they have 1,500 sources
and more than 6 million genealogy records online.
Kindred Konnections My Trees.com
Nebraska Historical Society
Vermont Historical Society.
Old Directory Search. Find Ancestors in Old City Diectories.
This site has a Free collection of city directories that have been scanned.
Free Ancestry.com Databases This comes from GenealogyBuff.com's website.
It lists 57 Free Databases on Ancestry.com.
Mortality Schedules Mortality schedules were done for people that died within the 12 months
before the schedules census.
Wikipedia This Free Encyclopedia can be a big help while researching.
New York Genealogy Directory of research resources for New York genealogy.
Free Charts at ancestry.com If you are researching your family you will need plenty of charts
for keeping records. At ancestry.com they offer all the charts you
will need for free.
CensusDiggins.com Lots of Free searches.
FamilySearch.org has a great new site for original documents. It isn't always available when they are updating the records. When it is available it helps makes family research easier.
Genealogy.com explains cousins This is a good site to explain what removed means when someone says they are your cousin twice removed and so on. When doing genealogy research it is always good to understand this terminology because you will inevitably meet some cousins.