Free Genealogy Websites

Google your ancestors::  www.google.com Many people have set up their own websites and have placed valuable family data online. By searching for your family name you might hit on some of these sites as well as books that are on Google Books , or records that appear on various public websites.

Rootsweb:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/

Rootsweb hosts several other free websites and is the place to find genealogy mailing lists and the Social Security Death Index:  http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/  The World Trees on Rootsweb are shared with Ancestry.com a paid service.

US GenWeb:  http://www.usgenweb.org/

Volunteers from all over the country host county websites, transcribe data (like cemetery lists) and scan and upload documents (maps, etc.).  The site is organized by state and county.

Family Search:  http://www.familysearch.org/

This is the Mormon Church website.  The Mormons collect genealogical data from around the world. You do not need to be a church member.  This information is available to anyone.  If you have used their site before, you may notice some changes. There are more images online and you need to sign in with a username and password to some areas, but it is all still free. 

Cyndi�s List Free Stuff :  http://www.CyndisList.com/freestuff.htm  Large site, lots of links, by category.  The link above is to her list of Free Stuff.

National Archives:  http://www.archives.gov/index.html There is a lot to look at here. You can order some records directly from the site or request a mail order form. Go to: SHOP ONLINE>BUY REPRODUCTIONS & MICROFILM>REQUEST AND ORDER REPRODUCTIONS>ORDER REPRODUCTIONS>MILITARY SERVICE & PENSION FILES. You can also check out the ARC(online catalog) and the AAD(digital images added by other agencies).

*Ancestry.com:  http://search.ancestry.com  Close to 300 databases are free on Ancestry.com.  They request registration but there is no fee. 

*Footnote.com http://www.footnote.com/ Find millions of images of original source documents from the National Archives, many of which have never been available online before.  Many indexes and some images are free.

Cemetery and Death Records

Find a Grave:  www.findagrave.com  Over 55 million tombstone records.

Online Searchable Death Indexes:  http://www.deathindexes.com/

Many states have online indexes. A few states have scanned the actual death certificates and put them online. 

Arizona:   http://genealogy.az.gov/

Missouri:  http://www.deathindexes.com/missouri/

Oklahoma does not have an online state death index but there is an index to historical newspapers created by the WPA in the 1930s.

Tulsa World and Tribune death notice index: http://www.tulsalibrary.org/deathnotice/

From the library�s homepage http://www.tulsalibrary.org/,with a Tulsa library card, you can access Tulsa World and other U.S. newspapers from about 1980s to present.  Go to: RESEARCH>DATABASES>A-Z LIST>AMERICA'S NEWSPAPERS.

Tulsa Genealogical Society has an online index to names found in the Tulsa Funeral Home books http://www.tulsagenealogy.org/library/FuneralHomeIndx.asp

The books can be found at The Genealogy Center and at the TGS library.

Castle Garden http://castlegarden.org/  10 million names of people that arrived in New York  between 1830 and 1892, the year Ellis Island opened.

Ellis Island http://www.ellisisland.org/  Immigration information for people who entered America through the Port of New York and Ellis Island between 1892-1924.

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild http://www.immigrantships.net/  They claim to have 11,000 transcribed passenger lists.

National Archives http://www.archives.gov/research/naturalization/naturalization.html  Includes article on how to find Naturalization Records and links to state resources.

Land Records and Maps

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records: Access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States. Also provides image access to more than two million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908.  They have recently added Survey Plat maps.   http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/beta/

David Rumsey Map Collection /http://www.davidrumsey.com/This historical map collection has over 24,000 maps and images online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North America and South America maps an other cartographic materials.

Marriage Records

Check the state links on the death index site:  http://www.deathindexes.com/

Oklahoma Marriage indexes on Rootsweb: http://www.okgenweb.org/~marriage  No state-wide Oklahoma marriage index exists.   This is a list of indexes transcribed by volunteers.

For information on Oklahoma marriages pre-statehood: http://www.okhistory.org/research/library/marriage.html

Military Records

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors:  http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html

Computerized database containing very basic facts about servicemen who served on both sides during the Civil War. The initial focus of the CWSS is the Names Index Project, a project to enter names and other basic information from 6.3 million soldier records in the National Archives.

Daughters of the American Revolution:  http://www.dar.org Genealogical Research System. If you think you have an ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War you can look up his name here. This free search used to only be available to DAR members.

Oklahoma Sources

Cherokee Strip Land RunCherokee Strip Land Run of 1893. http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/winrr/CherokeeStrip.htm

Oklahoma Historical Society http://www.okhistory.org/

Click on RESEARCH  http://www.okhistory.org/research/index.html for a link to all the OHS resources including a list of all the Oklahoma newspapers . You can request some information online.

The Chronicles of Oklahoma is also linked from the OHS website.  It was first published in 1921 as the official journal of the Oklahoma Historical Society, published four times a year. Topics range from Indians and earliest settlement to railroads and the twentieth century. Volumes 1-20 are searchable online. 21 -40 are available as pdfs. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/bookshelf.html

1890 Oklahoma Territory census index:  The 1890 Oklahoma Territory census is one of the few existing 1890 census records in the United States.  Nearly all of the records were destroyed by fire in 1921.  At that time, the counties of Oklahoma Territory were; Logan, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Canadian, Kingfisher, Payne, and Beaver (the panhandle region). This does not include Indian Territory (the Eastern portion of present day Oklahoma).  http://www.okhistory.org/research/index.html

   State Archives  http://www.cyndislist.com/lib-state.htm#States

Oklahoma Department of Libraries http://www.odl.state.ok.us/index.html ODL houses the state archives. The staff also assists with public library development in the state. ODL's Archives Division includes an online index to the Confederate pension records held by ODL and the Oklahoma Historical Society. http://www.odl.state.ok.us/oar/docs/pension.pdf.

Where to find additional free sites

Internet Genealogy bimonthly publication subscribe online www.internet-genealogy.com or by mail PO Box 194, Niagara Falls, NY 14304.

Family Chronicle bimonthly publication, subscribe online www.familychronicle.com or order from same address as above. 

Eastman�s Online Genealogy Newsletter http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy

Rootsweb Review Weekly E-Zine http://newsletters.rootsweb.com