Links

Review the FamilySearch wiki article “United States Record Selection Table” for suggestions on which record types would be most useful in answering particular research questions.

Record Directories

LDSgenealogy.com: “Our records directory contains 603,054 record sources from 930 websites and archives [as of January 2017]. All sources have been organized by state, county, city, and record type. Only actual genealogy records are listed. Both online and archive sources are included.”

State and County resources:

US GenWeb (links to websites set up by state and county genealogical societies, many with unique datasets contributed by volunteers): http://usgenweb.org/
Genealogy Inc. (county maps, overview of state and county history and available records, links to online datasets): http://www.genealogyinc.com/
For a quick run-down of records collections available for each state, visit

[state name]-genealogy.org

Example:
Virginia-genealogy.org

State Archives

example: Pennsylvania State Archives http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/state_archives/

County Archives

example: Cuyahoga (Ohio) County Archives http://publicworks.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/Archives.aspx

County Government Websites

example: Escambia County (Florida) Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller http://www.escambiaclerk.com/clerk/coc_online_public_records.aspx

example: Shelby County (Tennessee) Register of Deeds http://register.shelby.tn.us/

TOPICAL RESOURCES

Books:

Google Books: Search for surnames and/or localities to find published genealogies and local histories.

Internet Archive : Search for surnames and/or localities to find published genealogies and local histories.

Census:

For tips on how to make the most use of the information in each census see Follow Your Family Using Census Records

Blank printable US census forms (from Midwest Genealogy Center):

1790 1800 1810 1820 1830

1840 1850 1860 1870 1880

1890 1900 1910 1920 1930

1940

Census Crib Sheet courtesy of Jerry Merritt provides a quick chart to estimate ages of individuals in pre-1850 Censuses

For a handy chart that allows you to compare households across the federal censuses 1790 through 1840, see:
CensusMate – Census worksheet for genealogy and family history

Census Age Comparisons Chart

Citations:

Elizabeth Shown Mills Evidence Explained: A great resource for writing citations, this is Elizabeth Shown Mills’ companion website to her reference book Evidence Explained. “Sample QuickCheck Models” and the Forums are terrific!

Common Citations

Family History Citation Templates

City Directories

City Directories of the United States of America http://www.uscitydirectories.com/

see also “Books” above

FamilySearch:

Family Tree Training: Resources to Get You Started includes How-To videos, Guides and Manuals. You will need to register for a free account with the Family Search website in order to access this link.

Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canada

Ten Powerful “Search” Features on FamilySearch

Land:

General Land Office Records at Bureau of Land Management

Earth Point http://www.earthpoint.us/

“Public Land Survey System” explained at http://geology.isu.edu/geostac/Field_Exercise/topomaps/plss.htm

Google Maps https://maps.google.com/

Google Earth http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

Gravestones

FindaGrave http://www.findagrave.com

Billiongraves http://billiongraves.com/

Migration Routes Across the US: