Editors of Family Tree Magazine - 101 Best Genealogy Websites for Family History Research: Top Online Tools to Find Your Ancestors

by The Editors of Family Tree Magazine

Cincinnati, Ohio

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As you know from the way an afternoon slips away when youre doing genealogy research, time really does fly when youre having fun. So too it is with Family Tree Magazines annual 101 Best Websites compilation: Its hard to believe this is the thirteenth such list the magazine has compiled. Fortunately, were not triskaidekaphobicwe embrace this compilation as a lucky thirteenth. In fact, to celebrate, weve come up with 13 categories for this years list.

Our lucky thirteen lineup includes both free and paid websites. Wweve indicated with a $ symbol those that require payment to access the core content or the features weve highlighted in our description of the site. In most cases, websites that are free except for paid premium services dont carry the $ sign. We think this listing of stellar sites will prove lucky for your genealogy research.

The 1940 US census is only one recent addition to this subscription site ($155.40 per year for a US Discovery membership, $299.40 per year for a World Explorer membership), which truly has something for everyone. Also new are the indexed 1911 UK census, more US vital records, additional church records and more occupation-related records. You can host your family tree for free here, too, and use the free iPad, iPhone and new Android apps to view it and research on the go. Ancestry.com has also essentially absorbed the venerable, free Roots-Web site , home to World-Connect pedigree files, volunteer-transcribed records, mailing lists, message boards and getting-started tips.

This booming subscription site numbering more than 2 billion records is poised to become part of the Ancestry.com family, if federal regulators approve the acquisition announced in April. Both companies CEOs say Archives.com will remain a distinct site and continue to be a key partner in the volunteer effort to index the 1940 US census.

Besides the rest of the US census images (a collection still in the works), resources include US vital records, newspapers and obituaries, and UK census and vital-records images. You can also build your family tree here, and its integrated with Facebook. All this for a bargain rate of $39.95 a year.

Completely overhauled and expanded, this early innovator in online genealogy is once again at the front of the pack. A wealth of digitized records, family history books, new ways to search the Family History Library catalog, a Research Wiki and improved records searching make this free siteand its more than 2.5 billion recordsyour first stop in almost any genealogy undertaking.

The site formerly known as Footnote.com now focuses on military records, which include Revolutionary War papers and pension applications, and Civil War service records (especially from the Confederacy). But its more than 90 million records, all searchable with images, also include newspapers, city directories, naturalizations, the 1860 and 1930 US censuses, and more. An all-access annual subscription costs $79.95.

Although this subscription site ($69.95 a year if paid annually) also offers historical books and documents, the main attraction is its ever-growing historical newspaper collection, which added 22 million articles in March alone. You can search the database of more than 5,850 newspaperstotaling over 600 million articles by names and keyword all at once, by place or by individual titles.

Individuals cant subscribe to this institutional site, so youll need to convince your local library. Try telling them it offers images of US censuses through 1930, 28,000 family and local histories, the Periodical Source Index to 2.3 million genealogy articles, Revolutionary War pension and bounty applications, Freedmens Bank records and the US Serial Set.

Wonder about your tax dollars at work? Search this online catalog of pretty much every book there is, along with the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (you may have heard it called nuk-muk). Or picture the past with the American Memory digital collection of maps, photos, documents, audio and video on topics from landscape architecture to war. Then check out the Chronicling America newspaper collection , which has grown to more than 4.8 million digitized pages, plus a directory of historical US newspapers and archives where you can find copies today.