Whether you are just starting your family history research or are an experienced genealogist, free online resources are always a plus. And “Finding Family for Free” is a key emphasis of this blog, Relative Musings.
In that spirit, here is a helpful article by TJD with one proposed list of the “Top Five Free Genealogy Websites.” Click here to read the details of each one. The 5 that TJD recommended are:
>> FreeBMD for ancestors in England,
>> RootsWeb with user-contributed family info,
>> Google News Archive,
>> Newspaper Archive, and
>> USGenWeb project.
While some of these are not totally free, all have some free resources are are worth using. For example, the Newspaper Archive offers free searches of the the front pages of newspapers in its database. But most of the others are totally free.
Of the five, new to me was the Google News Archive. I tried it out and immediately found a weath of information about my extended Bruce family in Milwaukee. It helps that William George Bruce, older brother of my great-grandfather, was a prominent figure in publishing and civic service in Milwaukee.
Given that success, I offer for your consideration a trio of Google resources for your genealogy research, each useful in its own way.
Google Books: Many older family genealogy books and histories of US towns, cities and counties have been scanned through the Google Books project. Some are there in full text, others in limited preview and others just indexed with brief snippets of text excerpted in the search results. But you have a good chance of finding ancestors in some of these books, especially earlier generations in New England.
Google Search: A basic Google search — if well crafted to be specific enough — can lead you to relevant family history Web sites created by other genealogists or other helpful information. Maybe your ancestor was an early settler in an American town and is mentioned in the town’s history online.
Google News Archive: The news archive is a way to find articles about ancestors, as well as obituaries that fill in a gap in your family history.
Make it a habit to use all three Google strategies as you work to break down genealogy brickwalls or fill out the story of an ancestor’s life. Your family history will benefit!
Other resources on using Google:
> Using Google for Genealogy, by Kathi Reid
> Easy Google Genealogy Searcher, a handy tool
> Using Google Books in Genealogy, a helpful video
There are entire handbooks in PDF format on using Google for genealogy. Just do a Google search on that phrase and you’ll find a treasure trove of helpful resources!
Best wishes in your family history research!
This is one in a series of genealogy and family history research articles to help you find your family and ancestors, often for modest or no cost.
Relative Musings 