My Favorite Free Genealogy Websites

Free is the word of the day.  And free genealogy is the name of the game.  It seems nowadays when anyone talks genealogy the talk turns to Ancestry.com.  The problem is Ancestry.com cost money.  And it is not the only genealogy search website out there.  As a matter of fact there are some really great genealogy search sites out there and they are absolutely free!

This is my list of the free genealogy sites that I use frequently but is by no mean an exhaustive list.

1. FamilySearch.org  This site is run my the Church of Later-day Saints and thou you have to create a Log-in with user password it is completely free.  They have the worlds largest collection of free records, resources and services design to help people learn more about there family history.  In addition they have free on line classes and training.  The topics rage from basic research to training on specific record types and are designed for both beginner and experienced researchers.

2. USGenWeb.org  The US GenWeb Project is a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every County and every state in the United States. This website is noncommercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.

The US GenWeb project website is organized by county and state. Click on a state link and it will take you to the states website which in turn leads you to the County websites. On the County pages you can find the County history maps, marriage records, military history, Cemetery records and Bible records. These records are not complete and some counties have more than others but don’t pass up this little gem because it might just have the record you’re looking for.

3. FindAGrave.com The website project started out as a place to record famous people's graves but has expanded to allow non-famous graves. It is a treasure free genealogy where thousands of volunteer contributors submit new listings, updates, corrections, photographs and virtual flowers of their loved ones graves.

4. Archives.gov  The National Archives and Records Administration has some hidden treasures as well.  At first it seems complicated to find exactly what you're looking for but the site has a wonderful video tutorial just for genealogist.  On the home page go to Research Our Records then Resources For Genealogists and then Start Your Genealogy Research

5. Google.com  Google has been the number one search engine for genealogist from the beginning due to its ability to return relevant search results for genealogy and surname queries and its huge index.  The trick is knowing how to use all the search tricks to get what you are looking for.  Many people have written articles on how best to do genealogy searches on Google and I give daily tips on my Facebook Fan Page.

Here are a couple of articles I have found very helpful

About.com Genealogy Style
The Google Genealogist

Genealogy is fun and very rewarding and it is even better when it's FREE!