Back in the old days before there was an internet, how did we do genealogy research? You'd have to go to a brick and mortar library! Researching people in another city, much less another state, was hard and expensive! We used to have to hire a genealogist to research records across the country.
Lucky for us, the 21st century has made the research a lot easier, and it's a lot more fun to scan a census while in your comfy clothes, drinking cocoa, jamming out to Holiday tunes, and you can do it for free! You don't have to rely solely on the "Big Four" genealogy companies for your data.
We have covered free resources before in earlier blogs, The Portal to Texas History (which is not just about Texas), and Family Search. Following are some more free sites for digging for clues.
The National Genealogy Society recommends 18 FREE sites at this link here:
You can find links to the US Census Bureau, The National Archives, The Library of Congress, the NY Public Library, The Freedmen's Bureau, Billion Graves, and many more free sites.
Other sources I have learned about this year include AccessGenealogy, Linkpendium (2,804,127 free genealogy sources!), and The Hathi Trust Library with over 17 million digitized items, and Google Books where you can search by topic, name, or region to find books you can read online, or to learn about where you could find the hard copy book near you.
For researching in the British Isles & Ireland, (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) you will want to check out GENUKI. GENUKI is England's Largest FREE database. They include a gazetteer (for researching place names which may no longer exist), church records, links to family history societies, and surname groups.
Your local library and genealogical societies would be delighted to help you navigate through the myriad of choices available to you online now, as well as the old fashioned microfilms, microfiche, and wonderfully musty books.
There are still many holiday deals to be had at the Big Four sites for membership and DNA test gifting. Documenting your family's history makes a great gift for the current and then an heirloom for the future generations!
I wish you ongoing success in your family tree research and with your holiday shopping! If you would like to explore your own family history options, I would love to help you.
Cheers!
Leslie Ryan
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