Resources

Free

Accessing primary sources from family members you have access to.

  • Birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates
  • Marriage, baby, and graduation announcements
  • Memorial cards
  • Saved newspaper clippings, written histories, letters, recipes, and family bibles

Contact local!

  • Historical societies and museums for a treasure trove of potential information, not just genealogical, but also about the area your family lived in and what would have been happening in their lives.
  • Local libraries often have access to paid databases, such as ancestry.com. If you live near or visit the local library of the town or city your family lived in, you can access local records from microfiche, local research publications, newspapers, year books, and more.
  • Local churches may have record naming family members, or information on what was happening in the church at that time.

National Archive

  • The National Archives has a variety of resources, as well as a list of each state’s archive so you can get more specific to the state you want to access.
  • Resources include census records, military service records, immigration records, naturalization records, community specific records, and more.
  • Some records may requirement payment, although many are free.

Family Tree Magazine

  • Ongoing resources and tips for genealogical research by ethnic group, nationality, and more.

Family Search

  • A family tree service hosted through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can build a tree through here without cost, and pull information from other trees as well. They collaborate with over 10,000 archives in over 100 countries.

The USGenWeb Project

  • Helpful resources to a variety of additional research locations as well as tips and guidance for ongoing research.

Find A Grave

  • People upload images of gravestones. Great for finding birth and death dates, sometimes marriage dates.

Ellis Island Family History Center

  • If your family arrived through Ellis Island, you should find records through this center. You can access the database online, which allows for independent research. You can also visit in person and pay a fee to have a professional assist you with your research at the center.

Paid

  • Ancestry
    • Brings together a host of records, including vital records, census, military, books, immigration, naturalization, and wills. Allows you to create your family tree and see other family trees.
  • Newspapers
    • You can purchase a subscription on its own, or through Ancestry. You can search names and use filters to narrow down years and/or location. Then you can save the information
  • My Heritage
    • Brings together a host of records, including vital records, census, military, books, immigration, naturalization, and wills. Allows you to create your family tree and see other family trees.
  • Fold3
    • Access military records by war. Can narrow down by state.
  • Who to Contact for Vital Records
    • Click the state to discover who to contact and the potential cost of each record. Keep in mind, oftentimes once I follow the link the state connects you to VitalChek to purchase the records, so you may find yourself at VitalChek.
  • VitalChek
    • Purchase birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates.