State hospitals and county asylums were central institutions in many communities during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Families often turned to these facilities during times of medical crisis, financial hardship, or legal intervention. For genealogists, records created by these institutions can provide important clues about an ancestor’s health, family relationships, residence, and social circumstances. […]
Category: QuickSheets
Naturalization in the United States was typically a multi-step legal process rather than a single document. Researchers often search for “naturalization papers” without realizing that several distinct records may have been created over time — and that some immigrants completed only part of the process. Understanding how these documents relate to one another is essential […]
Advantage Archives is often thought of as a newspaper digitization company — but that description is incomplete. In reality, Advantage Archives digitizes and hosts a wide range of genealogically valuable materials, including: Unlike some platforms, Advantage Archives typically manages and hosts the sites it creates, rather than handing control off to the customer. Download the […]
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 […]