Our Favorite Links

 

Web hyperlinks to non-DAR sites are not the responsibility of the NSDAR, the state organizations, or individual DAR chapters.

 

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 www.familyseach.org  This popular free Web site from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) features    several major databases:  Census Records, International Genealogical Index, US Social Security Index, Vital Records Index.  Also available at this site are free downloads of PAF (Personal Ancestral File).

 www.rootsweb.com  When searching RootsWeb’s abundant free mailing lists, cemetery records and military records, don’t overlook these key databases:

• Death Records—Search millions of death records from California (1940 to 1997), Kentucky (1911 to 2000), Maine (1960 to 1997) and Texas (1964 to 1998) at searches.rootsweb.com.

• Obituary Daily Times—Visit obits.rootsweb.com to check an index to more than 8 million obituaries across the United States, most from 1996 to the present.

 www.usgenweb.com  Through the efforts of volunteers nationwide, this extensive network has quickly become a key destination for genealogists. Don’t over­look any of the project’s main parts.  For similar record collections from Canada and other countries, check out World GenWeb at worldgenweb.org.

• Archives—Here you can view transcribed records from every state. Use the search engines to find a name in a specific state’s files or any­where in the entire collection.

• Census Project—The goal of these ambi­tious volunteer efforts is to transcribe all US census records from 1790 to 1930. Some transcriptions include links to page images.

• State Pages—These are the jumping-off points to county pages, where you’ll find gravestone transcriptions, church records, indexes to wills and much more.

• Tombstone Project—Here you’ll find gravestone transcriptions from cemeteries across the country.

 http://www.archives.gov/research_room/arc  Archival Research Catalog.  The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has posted only a handful of its vast holdings online, but that includes some major Native American records—Indian censuses from 1885 through 1940 and the Dawes Rolls, applications for enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole) taken between 1896 and 1914. A few alien registrations, court case files and military records are online, too. NARA’s new Archival Research Catalog (ARC) lets you access document descriptions and, when available, digital copies. You’ll need to use specific search syntax to locate details in ARC, so be sure to read the search hints (and see our guide on page 64).

 www.ellisisland.org  Ellis Island Immigration Records.  This hugely popular Web site provides details on more than 22 million immigrants, passen­gers and crew members who came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York between 1892 and 1924. Keep in mind that the data­base also lists US citizens returning home from travel abroad. Once you find your ancestors on a transcribed passenger list, you can pur­chase an image of the actual manifest, plus ship pictures and an electronic family history scrapbook. (Look for tips to search this site in the December 2002 Family Tree Magazine; you’ll also find tools for combing the database at www.jewishgen.org/databases/EIDB.)

 www.glorecords.blm.gov   Official Federal Land Patent Records Site.  Were your ancestors pioneers? Check out this database on the initial transfer of land titles (patents) from the federal government to individuals. You can view images of more than 2 million land patents issued between 1820 and 1908 in eastern public land states (most states outside the 13 original Colonies are public- land states).