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AFRICAN-AMERICAN
http://ccharity.com/ – Link-filled site includes related articles and databases.
http://freedmensbureau.com/ – Excellent resource for researching slave ancestors. Includes records on marriages, crimes and labor, as well as land abandoned by Confederate owners after the war.
BIBLE RECORDS
http://www.biblerecords.com/ – Family bibles that have been rescued and put online. Over 700 bibles representing more than 2,000 surnames. Search the collection or browse by Bible or surname.
CEMETERIES & FUNERAL HOMES
http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/ – Photos and transcriptions of coffin plates, funeral cards, obituaries, wills and other death records. Click on the Articles link for information about gravestone symbols and causes of death in the olden days.
http://www.findagrave.com/ – One of the best and biggest cemetery sites. Lets you search 6.3 records by name, location or “claim to fame”. You can add burial records and upload photos.
http://www.interment.net/ – Puts you online with more than 3.2 million records from nearly 7,000 cemeteries worldwide. Browse transcriptions by region and check out special collections of veterans cemeteries.
http://www.obitcentral.com/ – Thousands of links to online obituaries; cemetery inscriptions; birth, marriage and death notices; and divorce records arranged by state and county. Also a collection of search engines that cover only obituaries.
CENSUS
http://www.census-online.com/ – Most complete and easy-to-use guide to online census pages containing more than 36,000 links. Before buying a census subscription, check here for free transcriptions.
CITY DIRECTORIES
http://www.olddirectorysearch.com/ – Growing collection of digitized city directory pages. Based on the fact that much of the 1890 U.S. Census was destroyed by fire, this site could mean a breakthrough if your ancestor was in the right place at the right time!
IMMIGRATION
http://www.castlegarden.org/ – Castle Garden was America’s first official immigration center between 1830-1892. Records dating back to 1820 await transcribing.
http://www.ellisisland.org/ – Immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and the Port of New York between 1892-1924. Once you’ve identified the right record in this vast database, you can view the digitized actual manifests and an image of the ship your ancestor traveled on.
http://welcome.hamburg.de/ – Covers emigrants via Hamburg, an important port of departure for many European nationalities. Digitized manifests cover only 1890 and 1891 so far, but eventually the site plans to cover 1850-1934. Basic searches are free, but there is a charge for detailed results.
http://www.theshiplist.com/ – Most comprehensive site for locating immiration-related materials. Volunteers decipher and transcribe ships’ passenger lists. Excellent search tutorial. Resources include ship images, maritime routes, maps and links to other immigration sites. Besides links to passenger lists, this site offers a virtual education in 19th century shipping from photos of ports and vessels to period narratives.
LAND RECORDS
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ – More than 2 million federal land-title records for Eastern public-land states (generally Eastern States including the original 13 colonies) issued between 1820-1908. Land titles issued between 1908 and the mid-1960s, including those in Western states now being added. You may also be able to view a digitized image of your ancestor’s land patent.
http://www.land-records.com/ – You won’t find actual records here, but each state gets an introduction and complete courthouse listing.
MILITARY & VETERANS
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/ – Noted for its photo archive, this institute puts pictures of the military past, including a Civil War Photo Database, at your fingertips.
http://www.civilwardata.com/ – $$$ Database created to centralize information on every Civil War soldier. Includes regimental histories, Rolls of Honor and the 1890 census of Civil War veterans and widows.
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1 – Burial locations of veterans and their dependents in Department of Veterans Affairs national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries and other Department of Interior and military burial places. Entries from national cemeteries go back as far as the Civil War.
www.itd.nps.gov/cwss – Civil War soldiers and sailors system. Database has information on 5.4 million soldiers who served on both sides in the Civil War. Includes regimental histories, descriptions of 384 significant battles, prison-of-war records and cemetery records.
http://www.royalprovincial.com/ – Visit this site if you have ancestors who remained loyal to the British Crown during the Revolutionary War. Includes an index to Loyalist muster rolls, regimental documents, land petitions and post-war settlement documents.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
http://www.dar.org/ – Home of the long-standing national organization. Offers a free lookup service in the DAR’s Patriot Index of Revolutionary War soldiers and others who served the cause of liberty. Fill out a simple online request form and you’ll get a quick email answer.
www.dar.org/dar/darnet/grc/grc.cfm – Nearly 16 million names of records submitted to the DAR’s Genealogical Records Committee. If you find your ancestor, you can request copies using the DAR’s Search Service.
NATIVE AMERICAN
www.hanksville.org/NAresources – Index of Native American Resources
www.distantcousin.com/Links/Ethnic/Native – Includes links to personal home pages and tribal & cultural sites.
www.archives.gov/research/arc/index.html Some major Native American records including the Indian censuses from 1885 through 1940 and the Dawes Rolls, applications for enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chicasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole) taken between 1896-1914.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/ – Its Native American databases, the largest such collection online, include everything from the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes and Native American land patents to the 1871 Shawnee census and the 1880 Cherokee census.
NATURALIZATION
http://www.naturalizationrecords.com/ – Learn about naturalization and citizenship records and then follow the links to online searches.
NEWSPAPER ABSTRACTS
http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/ – Organized by state and county and focused on US newspapers prior to 1923. Some articles from other countries prior to 1900.
http://www.theoldentimes.com/ – Unlike Newspaper Abstracts, here you’ll find obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, ads and cartoons. All scanned from the Webmaster’s collection of 18th, 19th and early 20th century newspapers from the United States, British Isles and Australia.
OCCUPATIONAL RECORDS
www.hunterinformation.com/corporat.htm – Find your kin’s occupational records with this guide to company archives, arranged by corporation, archivist and geographic area.
OUTLAWS & SCOUNDRELS
http://www.blacksheepancestors.com/ – State-by-state listings of prisons and inmates, plus biographies of worldwide pirates and buccaneers.
PULLMEN
www.rootsweb.com/~ssghs/pullman.htm – Dig into the records of some 200,000 Pullman Car Works employees. By filling out a form on this site, SSGHS will do a search of records from 1900 to 1949 for free.
