Best Genealogy Websites

Does the rising number of websites dedicated to genealogy confuse you? Do you sometimes wonder what resources are best for your research?

Now, you can find out which on-line locations are the finest in Genealogy from Family Tree Magazine’s “101 Best Websites for 2011” (Fryxell, 2011). This year, they include free websites and several different categories.

If you want to go one step farther and look up one, two or three state archives, you’re in luck. Among the “Free Web Content” is a list titled “2010 Best State Websites for Genealogists” (Fryxell, 2010 Best State Websites, 2010).

Now for all the local Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky people, this writer has done the research for you. Please read below for the best sites in these three states:

“ILLINOIS
Illinois State Archives" <www.statearchives.us/illinois.htm> "This data-packed site now includes databases of public-domain land tract sales and Illinois servitude and emancipation records. They complement the 11 military-records databases, statewide marriage index (1763 to 1900) and two-part statewide death index (pre-1916 and 1916 to 1950). Still stumped? The guide to the Illinois Regional Archives Depositories will tell you where to look next.

Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court <cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/nr/>
Don’t let the Chicago locus of this site fool you: Many Illinois ancestors who wound up living elsewhere in the state can be found in this searchable archive of more than 260,000—and growing—naturalization records from 1906 to 1929."

"INDIANA
Indiana State Digital Archives <indianadigitalarchives.org/>
The fruit of 15 years of work by Friends of the Indiana State Archives volunteers, this site now boasts nearly 2.5 million searchable records, with more being added. The latest addition is a database of more than 213,000 Hoosier Civil War records.

Allen County Public Library <www.genealogycenter.org/>
Although renowned for its general genealogy collection, this library in Fort Wayne is also a treasure trove for hometown and home-state researchers. Statewide databases include county courthouses, WWI deaths, African-American settlements, orphans and pre-1882 deaths."

"KENTUCKY
Kentucky Historical Society <history.ky.gov>
Search the Kentucky cemetery records database—hundreds of thousands of names transcribed from gravestones across Kentucky—or explore oral histories and “Kentuckiana” on this well-designed site.” (Fryxell, 2010 Best State Websites, 2010)

Sources:
Fryxell, D. A. (2010, December 29). 2010 Best State Websites. Retrieved May 31, 2012, from Family Tree Magazine: http://familytreemagazine.com/article/2010-best-state-websites
Fryxell, D. A. (2011, October 14). 101 Best Websites for 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012, from Family Tree Magazine: http://familytreemagazine.com/article/101-Best-Websites-2011