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AncestorSuperSearch.com
www.ancestorsupersearch.com
Among the many excellent online offerings for researching English branches of
your family tree, AncestorSuperSearch.com covers 1.46 million birth and census
events from 1755 to 1891.
 Arkion's
Swedish Census Database
www.arkion.se
Those efficient Scandinavians have wonderful records, and they must spend
their long winter nights putting that data online. This searchable
subscription database, for example, concentrates on the Swedish censuses of
1870, 1880, 1890 and 1900—more than 9 million individuals in all. Recent
additions include a database of prisoners released between 1877 and 1925,
which links to photos of your Swedish black sheep. Access costs $6 for three
hours, $35 for 10 three-hour sessions or $110 for a year.
Avotaynu
www.avotaynu.com
This leading Jewish genealogical publisher makes available online, for free,
the Consolidated Jewish Surname Index of more than 370,000 Jewish surnames
that appear in 31 different databases.
Danish
Demographic Database
ddd.sa.dk/ddd_en.htm
Search for your Danish roots in free databases of censuses, probate records
and, most notably for researchers on the US side of the Atlantic, emigration
records covering 1868 to 1908.
Data
Banks on Italian Emigrants
213.212.128.168/radici/ie/defaultie_e.htm
Don't let the decidedly user-unfriendly Web address—or the requirement that
you register to use the site—scare you off. These databases cover 200,000
Italians who crossed to New York between 1880 and 1891 (before Ellis Island
opened), along with a million-plus emigrants to South America.
Ellis
Island
www.ellisisland.org
This is the only genealogy Web site whose launch was featured on the
"Today" show—and no wonder: Ellis Island, the gateway to America
for millions of immigrants between 1892 and 1924, is synonymous with the
nation's "melting pot" heritage. Find your immigrant ancestors in
the free online database, then view their actual passenger manifests and
images of the ships they traveled on.
Federation
of East European Family History Societies
feefhs.org
Start exploring your Eastern European roots with these links to member
societies, maps and research guides. Don't miss the expanding array of
databases, covering foreign-born voters in 1872 California, World War I
Polish soldiers in France, and an ambitious reconstruction of vital records
destroyed in San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, when the city was home to many
European emigrants.
Find
Your Swedish Roots
www.genealogi.se/roots
The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies maintains this exhaustive
guide, written in both English and Swedish. Recent database additions include
old photos and emigrant information. Click on the Anbytarforum link
for Sweden's version of GenForum, where you'll be surprised at how many
participants understand English (at least better than you read Swedish).
FreeBMD
freebmd.rootsweb.com
Another amazing volunteer endeavor, the FreeBMD project aims to create an
online index of English and Welsh births, marriages and deaths. To date,
nearly 78 million records, covering 1837 to 1903, have been posted.
Geneactes
www.geneactes.org/index-en.html
Voila! Your French ancestors are waiting to be found in these databases
of civil records, including marriage documents searchable by keyword, name or
place.
Genealogy.net
www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html
In addition to how-to help (in English) and links, this gateway to German
genealogy offers regional resources; record-request form letters; and
databases of place names, GEDCOMs, genealogy groups, marriages and
obituaries.
GENUKI
www.genuki.org.uk
This virtual reference library can help answer your questions about
researching roots in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Hamburg
Link to Your Roots
fhh1.hamburg.de/fhh/behoerden/staatsarchiv/link_to_your_roots/english
Even if your ancestors came from elsewhere in Europe, the growing database of
emigrants who sailed from this German city is worth a look: Your family might
have left from Hamburg, a common departure port between 1850 and 1934. So
far, the database covers 1890 to 1905. Searching is free, but you'll pay for
full results according to a sliding scale, which starts at $22 for one to
three names.
Immigrant
Ships Transcribers Guild
www.immigrantships.net
What if your ancestors didn't come through Ellis Island? Try this
database of passenger lists from more than 5,000 ships, all transcribed by
volunteer "guild" members (and read our article on page 42).
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ItalianAncestry.com
www.italianancestry.com
You can explore all things Italian at this in-depth gateway site, including
genealogy societies, Italian names, occupational terms and emigration
information.
JewishGen
www.jewishgen.org
Besides being a popular starting point for researching Jewish ancestors,
especially European Jews, this site offers an array of databases, such as the
Family Finder of 300,000 surnames and ancestral towns; the Family Tree of the
Jewish People, with data on more than 2 million individuals; the Holocaust
Database of 500,000 victims and survivors; and the new Online Worldwide
Burial Registry with 300,000 entries. JewishGen's ShtetlSeeker will help you
locate ancestral towns in Eastern and Central Europe. The site also hosts
Stephen Morse's one-step
Ellis Island search tool.
Norway's
Digital Archives
digitalarkivet.uib.no
This national archives site is packed with goodies: 1801, 1865, 1875 and 1900
censuses; tax lists; military rolls; and church, emigrant and probate
registers. Plus, the new Digital Inn holds user-submitted data.
Origins.net
www.origins.net
This British Isles umbrella includes subscription access to Griffith's
Valuation for Irish research as well as Boyd's Marriage Index and Bank of
England wills and apprentice records for English research ($9.75 a week).
Scottish researchers will find a free parish-level search of the
International Genealogical Index (a FamilySearch database), plus free
place-name searching. Origins.net also offers Origin Search, a proprietary
Webwide genealogy search covering more than 450 million names ($5 a day).
Otherdays.com
www.otherdays.com
With subscriptions ranging from $8 for three days to $44 a year, this
ever-expanding treasure trove of Irish data is a bargain if your kin came
from the Emerald Isle. Databases and features include Griffith's Valuation
from 1847 to 1864, Ordnance Survey maps from 1824 to 1846, Dublin wills and
marriages for 1270 to 1857, gravestone inscriptions, directories, and free
map and photo searches. (You can save a few bucks by paying $35 to join the Godfrey Memorial Library, whose Web site
provides access to Otherdays.com, plus databases of digitized census records,
family histories, newspapers and biographies from subscription services sold
only to libraries.)
Palatines
to America
palam.org
This organization for descendants of German emigrants—not just those from the
Palatine region—continues to beef up its online presence. You can search the
online catalog of its 5,000-volume library or find clues and like-minded
researchers among seven years' worth of queries organized by surname.
PolishRoots
www.polishroots.com
Popular attractions at this gateway for Polish genealogy include a surname
registry, databases such as Polish National Alliance Lodges and Galician
Vital Records, and translated entries from the Slownik Geograficzny, a
19th-century gazetteer.
ScotlandsPeople
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
A virtual Highland fling for researchers, this official online source of
Scottish parish registers, civil registrations and census records contains
nearly 40 million records. The data- bases—collectively among the Web's
largest—include a searchable index of births from 1553 to 1903, marriages
from 1553 to 1928 and deaths from 1855 to 1953, plus census data from 1881 to
1901. You can view, save and print images of many of the original documents
you find. But you won't get off Scot-free here: The cost is about $11 for 30
page credits over 48 hours.
Scottish
Archive Network
www.scan.org.uk
Thank Scottish lottery players for funding this national archives project,
which digitizes a wealth of Scottish history plus 1852 to 1857 Highlands and
Islands Emigration Society passenger lists and wills and testaments from 1500
to 1901 (you'll find these at www.scottishdocuments.com).
Spanish
Genealogy
www.ldelpino.com/geneal.html
This bilingual site for digging into your Spanish roots is packed with links,
tips and guides to Spanish towns and archives. You also can plumb a
27,000-entry database of Hispanic last names.
TheShipsList
www.theshipslist.com
A handy adjunct to other immigration sites, this collection of more than
1,000 pages (mostly passenger lists) is particularly strong on ships that
arrived at Canadian ports.
WorldGenWeb
www.worldgenweb.org
This globe-spanning counterpart to USGenWeb (see page 31) is more of a mixed
bag than its domestic cousin, and some sites require more foreign-language
ability than many Americans can muster. But it's still a good jumping-off
point, and you can reach several European-country sites from here. Among the
best are PolandGenWeb
and DutchGenWeb.
Source: David A.
Frywell, "The Strongest Links." Family Tree Magazine, (August
2004).
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