Background Information

FamilySearch wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page

Genealogy at About.com http://genealogy.about.com/

state-genealogy.com or .org example:

http://massachusetts-genealogy.com/

 

Organizing Your Research

Barry Ewell’s video “Color-Coded Genealogy Research Filing System” also available at YouTube.com

Barry Ewell’s handout for “Color-Coded Genealogy Research Filing System”

Family Search Guide “Organizing Your Paper Files Using File Folders”

Printable charts:

RootsWeb Family Group Sheet 

Misbach Data Entry Family Group sheet

BYU 4-generation pedigree chart

Bailey Family Timeline

BYU Research Question Log

 

Organizing Digital Files

Kay’s handout Hierarchy for Organizing Digital Genealogy Files

Kay’s handout Organizing Files with Windows Explorer

Tips for Mac users: 

What’s The Mac Equivalent Of File Properties?

How to Tag Files and Create Spotlight Comments on a Mac

10 Tips for a Better Finder Experience

Mac Tip: Add the Path button to Finder’s toolbar

Hands-on with OS X Mavericks: Finder tabs and tagging

Check out the rest of “Cult of Mac’s” tips for Mac users

Tips for Windows users:

Windows Explorer (Vista) Guide

Searching in Windows Vista, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Windows Explorer (7) Guide

Advanced tips for searching in Windows

File Explorer (8) Guide

File Explorer (8.1) Guide

How to work with files and folders in Windows 8.1

Search for files in File Explorer (Windows 8.1)

 

Research Logs and Forms

Research Spreadsheets based on Thomas Macentee

 

Gathering Evidence

Federal Census Data Table for a summary of useful family history information in each US census population schedule  from 1850-1940.

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/

 

Military:

Fold3.com

 

Historical Newspapers:

Identifying newspapers

Stanford Data Visualization: map of US with links to publications

Viewshare Historical Newspapers Online

 

•      Limited version free through Santa Rosa County Library
•      Full Subscription site

Passenger Lists (and SO much more!):

1-Step Webpages by  Stephen P. Morse, San Francisco at  SteveMorse.org