PastPerfectOnline is not a genealogy website — and that’s exactly why genealogists should know about it. Thousands of small and mid-sized museums use PastPerfect software to publish their collections online. These collections often include photographs, documents, manuscripts, ledgers, letters, and ephemera that never appear on major genealogy platforms. For genealogists, PastPerfectOnline is a hidden photo […]
WorldGenWeb is the international counterpart to USGenWeb. Instead of focusing on U.S. counties, it provides a framework for volunteers around the world to publish local genealogy transcriptions, research aids, and historical material tied to specific places. Like USGenWeb, WorldGenWeb is: And like USGenWeb, it contains name-bearing content that often exists nowhere else online. WorldGenWeb is […]
The FamilySearch Wiki is not a record database—but it is one of the most important orientation and discovery tools in genealogy. It explains what records exist, where they are held, and how they are used, often in far more detail than commercial genealogy sites. For genealogists, the Wiki is invaluable for: Download the Quicksheet PDF […]
JewishGen is a destination genealogy site that hosts databases, tools, and research resources focused on Jewish ancestry worldwide. It is far more than a research guide—JewishGen contains millions of searchable records, many of which are unavailable on general genealogy websites. For genealogists, JewishGen is especially valuable for: Download the Quicksheet PDF To obtain a two-page […]
Most genealogists rely heavily on census records, yet very few ever visit the U.S. Census Bureau website. That’s unfortunate, because the Census Bureau is the authoritative source for understanding how census records were created and what the data actually means. This site is not for finding your ancestors directly.It is for understanding: Think of the […]
USGenWeb Archives was created to solve a major problem: preserving volunteer-created genealogy content in a stable, centralized location. While USGenWeb county sites are independently maintained, USGenWeb Archives acts as a long-term home for transcriptions, organized by state and county. For genealogists, USGenWeb Archives is often: It is especially valuable when original USGenWeb county pages disappear. […]
USGenWeb is one of the oldest and largest genealogy projects on the internet. It does not function like a modern database, and it was never intended to. Instead, it is a massive, distributed network of county-level genealogy websites, each maintained by volunteers and focused on local records, transcriptions, and research aids. For genealogists, USGenWeb is […]
Lowcountry Africana is one of the most important free destination sites for researching African American ancestors in coastal South Carolina and surrounding areas. Unlike general genealogy databases, this site brings together multiple record types, databases, and contextual resources specifically designed to support lineage reconstruction where traditional records are sparse or missing. For genealogists, Lowcountry Africana […]
The FamilySearch Digital Library is one of the most underused genealogy resources available online. While many researchers associate FamilySearch primarily with indexed records, the Digital Library contains books, family histories, local histories, periodicals, and compiled genealogies that often include names, dates, and relationships unavailable elsewhere. For genealogists, the Digital Library is especially valuable for: This […]
The German Genealogy Group is one of the most practical and underused genealogy sites available to researchers. While it supports German-American research, many of its largest and most valuable databases are geographic rather than ethnic, making them useful even when German ancestry has not yet been confirmed. For genealogists, GGG is valuable because it provides […]