WEB SEARCH ENGINES

Web "Search Engines" are special Web sites that search and index other Web sites.  To use a search engine, you usually go to the site and type in a word or two into a text box and then press the ENTER key on your keyboard.  The search engine will then search for Web pages featuring those keywords. 

Remember, even the best Search Engine will never be able to find all results for a given topic.   

Search Engines with categorized results
Yahoo
DMOZ      DMOZ search for "genealogy"
AltaVista
Dogpile

Search Engines with keyword based results
GOOGLE    Google search for "genealogy"
AlltheWeb

GENEALOGY PORTALS
The US Gen Web Project
http://www.usgenweb.org
Comprehensive genealogy portal site focusing on US based genealogy searches.  Non-Profit. 

A very useful part of this Web site is the explanation of PRIMARY and SECONDARY genealogy data sources found on the Help for Researchers page.  Something to think about is that very few primary sources are actually online.  The goal of your online search is to help you find those offline primary data sources. 

The Worldwide Gen Web Project
http://www.worldgenweb.org
Comprehensive genealogy portal site focusing on world wide based genealogy searches.  Non-Profit. 

GENUKI
http://www.genuki.org.uk 
Genealogy portal site for searches in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Federation of East European Family History Societies
http://www.feefhs
Portal Site for Central and East European Genealogy.

The Church of Latter Day Saints, Family History Library
Family History Library site:  http://www.familysearch.org
Official Church site:  http://www.lds.org
Non-church related overview of LDS services:  http://www.genhomepage.com/LDS.html
Washington Post article about the United States 1880 Census results found at familysearch.org: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6197-2002Oct23.html

Cyndi’s List
http://www.cyndislist.com
Genealogy portal with thousands of categorized links to Internet genealogy resources.  Not inundated with advertising.

RootsWeb.com
http://www.rootsweb.com
Genealogy portal, offers an online community of fellow genealogists.  Also hosts Web sites for small genealogical projects.  Affiliated with Ancestry.com, it appears that RootsWeb was independent at one time and then was bought out by Ancestry.com. 

Ancestry.com
http://www.ancestry.com
Genealogy portal, has some free searchable databases, but most of the site resources are accessed via a paid subscription.  This site offers the Ancestry Family Tree software.

Genealogylinks.net
http://www.genealogylinks.net
Site that has genealogy links for the UK & Ireland, the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and for other helpful databases.

Family Tree Magazine
http://www.familytreemagazine.com
Online and print magazine dedicated to genealogy.

About.com Genealogy Guide
http://genealogy.about.com
Genealogy portal with links to Internet genealogy resources. 

Genealogy Today
http://www.genealogytoday.com
Easy to use genealogy portal.

Genealogy.com
http://www.genealogy.com
Website affiliated with A&E cable network.  Also promotes Family Tree Maker genealogy software.

Helm’s Genealogy toolbox
http://www.genealogytoolbox.com
Genealogy portal to Internet genealogy resources, also offers software.

The Genealogy Home Page
http://www.genhomepage.com

Listing of genealogy links on the Web.  Has new resources listed in the What's New and What's Really New sections.

http://www.genhomepage.com/whats_new.html  "What's New" section

http://www.genhomepage.com/really_new.html   "What's Really New" section

AccessGenealogy
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/vermont/index.htm
Another genealogy portal site, has some interesting links.

Cook Public Library, Warren County, Ohio
http://www.mlcook.lib.oh.us/General%20Genealogy%20Sites.htm
Interesting Web links for different genealogy topics.


ONLINE SEARCHABLE DATABASES FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFORMATION
GeneaNet
http://www.geneanet.org
A free subscription-based website offering access to many online genealogical databases. 

NedGen.com
http://www.nedgen.com/
Ancestry genealogy search engine and database.

Ellis Island Wall of Honor
http://www.wallofhonor.com
The web site of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.  A searchable database of immigrants is available, although the database is composed of immigrants whose relatives have paid to place them on there.

Directory of Royal Genealogical Data
http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/public/genealogy/royal/
Site maintained by a professor in England who is interested in genealogy.  Lots of good links.

RootsWeb Database Index
http://searches.rootsweb.com
Index of searchable genealogical databases.

Familyhistory.com
http://www.familyhistory.com/ 
The non-subscription Ancestry.com databases are located here.

WorldConnect
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com
Index of personal family tree GEDCOM files uploaded to the rootsweb Web site.  These GEDCOM files are publicly searchable.

Gendex
http://www.gendex.com
An index of personal family tree GEDCOM files that have been placed on different genealogy web sites.  User interface is not friendly.  Advanced genealogists will find this useful.

US GOVERNMENT RESOURCES

National Archives and Records Administration

http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/index.html
Web page for genealogy research using resources at the National Archives and Records Administration.

http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/about_genealogy_research.html

A genealogy research how-to guide written by NARA.  Has some great recommendations for genealogy research books.

Library of Congress Local History and Genealogy Reading Room

http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/

Information on how to use the genealogy resources at the Library of Congress. 

US Census Bureau

http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/

What the Census Bureau can and cannot help with during a genealogy search.

OTHER US RESOURCES

State and Local Government on the Net

http://www.statelocalgov.net/index.cfm

State and local government resources online.

National Association of Counties

http://www.naco.org/counties/counties/index.cfm

Listing of counties in the United States.

Historical US County Lines

http://jrshelby.com/genmap/maps.htm

A listing of available old maps concerning counties.

NEW ENGLAND RESOURCES

New England Historic Genealogical Society

http://www.newenglandancestors.org/Default.asp

A genealogical society based in Massachusetts.

National Archives and Records Administration-Boston

http://www.archives.gov/facilities/ma/boston/public_services.html#genealogy

Resources available at the NARA office in Waltham, Massachusetts.

VERMONT RESOURCE LINKS
Vermont USGENWeb Project
http://home.att.net/~Local_History/VT_History.htm
Portal site for Vermont genealogy resources.  Affiliated with the US Gen Web Project.  This organization also has a Genealogy Research Library at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester, VT.

Genealogical Society of Vermont
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vtgsv/
Homepage of the Vermont Genealogical Society.

Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society.
http://www.vt-fcgs.org
Home page of the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society.

Vermont Historical Society
http://www.vermonthistory.org
Homepage of the Vermont Historical Society.

Vermont State Archives
http://www.vermont-archives.org
Vermont State Archives website, created by the Vermont Secretary of State’s office. 

Middlebury College Genealogy Resources and Links
http://www.middlebury.edu/~lib/genealogy.html
Genealogy resources found at Middlebury College.

Vermont Vital Records Index Site
http://vitalrec.com/vt.html
Site that appears to be indexing Vermont based data from the free ancestry.com databases.

Vermont State Home Page
http://www.vermont.gov
Home Page for the state of Vermont


ONLINE RESEARCH TOOLS AND OTHER RESOURCES
iTools

http://www.itools.com

Reference site with numerous online research tools.

Babelfish
http://bablefish.altavista.com
Babelfish online translator

Cyndi’s List of Supplies (and tools)
http://www.cyndislist.com/supplies.htm
Listing of many tools you need for genealogy research.

Rootsweb Genealogy Tools
http://www.rootsweb.com/~isrwgw/tools/gentools.html
A listing of tools for genealogy research.


INFORMATION ABOUT GEDCOM FILES
About.com GEDCOM links
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/gedcom/
Listing of helpful websites concerning GEDCOM files.

Easy to read GEDCOM information
http://www.tedpack.org/gedcom.html
Personal site with an easy to read primer about GEDCOM files.

Genealogy-Genealogy.net GEDCOM page
http://www.genealogy-geneology.net/geneology-gedcom.html
Information about using GEDCOM files

Cook Public Library, Warren County, Ohio
http://www.mlcook.lib.oh.us/Gedcom%20Genealogical%20Data%20Communications.htm
Easy to read primer on GEDCOM files with some resource links.

The GEDCOM File Information site
http://www.gedx.com/gedx/default.html
Site with technical information about GEDCOM files.  (Navigation on site is difficult.)


WRITING GENEALOGY QUERIES
Genealogy and Tennessee
http://members.aol.com/genny1/how2.html
A Genealogy Instructor’s tutorial on writing queries.

Birmingham Genealogical Society
http://www.birminghamgenealogy.org/research/tutoials/6stepqry.htm
A tutorial on how to write effective an effective genealogical query.

Old Buncome County Genealogical Society
http://www.obcgs.com/writequery.html
Another tutorial on how to write an effective genealogical query.


MESSAGE BOARDS
Genealogy.com
http://genforum.genealogy.com/
The main genealogy.com message board page.

USGenealogy.net
http://www.usgenealogy.net/discuss/upb/index.php
Genealogy message board hosted on usgenealogy.net. 

RootsWeb Message Board
http://boards.rootsweb.com
RootsWeb.com main Message Board Page

RootsWeb Chittenden County Vermont Message Board
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.vermont.counties.chittenden
Here is where you could post a genealogical query looking for ancestors from Chittenden County.


INTERNET NEWSGROUP SEARCH WITH GOOGLE
Google Newsgroups
http://groups.google.com
This part of the Google site allows you to search for specific keywords found in Internet newsgroup postings.


POPULAR GENEALOGY MAILING LISTS
RootsWeb Mailing List Index
http://lists.rootsweb.com  
Index of hundreds of mailing lists for genealogy subjects including surname or country of origin, etc.

RootsWeb Mailing List Index for Vermont
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/MailingLists.html  
Statewide and county specific mailing lists for Vermont genealogical searches.

GENUKI Mailing List Index
http://www.genuki.org.uk/indexes/MailingLists.html 
Mailing lists for UK and Irish specific subjects, including social status, occupation. and geographical location


GENEALOGY SOFTWARE LINKS
Cook Public Library, Warren County, Ohio
http://www.mlcook.lib.oh.us/General%20Genealogy%20Sites.htm#GENEALOGY%20SOFTWARE
Links to genealogy software.

Cyndi’s List Software Index
http://www.cyndislist.com/software.htm
Index of genealogy software and other resources found online.

Ancestry.com’s Ancestry Chart
http://www.ancestry.com/save/charts/ancchart.htm
You can download this preformatted Ancestry chart and fill it out by hand.  You need to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer to view and print out the chart.


POPULAR AND FREE (at least for a trial) GENEALOGY SOFTWARE TITLES
Ancestry Family Tree
http://aft.ancestry.com
“Free” trial genealogy software, offered at Ancestry.com.  However, to download the software, you have to sign up for an Ancestry.com site subscription trial using your credit card.

LDS Personal Ancestral File (PAF)
http://www.familysearch.org    
[On the main familysearch.org page, click on the link that says Order/Download Products.]
Free, but personal survey required before download.

Legacy 4.0 Family Tree
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com
Free Standard Version, but a valid email address is required for a product activation key to be sent to you.  The product activation key will activate the software. 

Brother’s Keeper
http://www.bkwin.org
Shareware with a free trial, but you need to pay and register the software.

GenoPro
http://www.genopro.com
Free software, however under certain conditions you will get a “nag window” to upgrade to GenoProGold.  

***If you want a registration key for GenoPro Gold, please go to the GenoProGold Web site.

Ancestral Quest   
http://www.ancquest.com
Free demo version of this software available, however, some features are disabled.