Introduction

Step 1
What You Know

Step 2
Interview and Gather

Step 3
Examine Documents

Step 4
Create an Organizational Plan

Step 5
Arm Yourself

Step 6
Ready to Reach Out

Step 7
The Journey Begins

Step 8
Genealogy Sources

Step 10
Your Ancestors Await You

Step 9 - A Word of Caution

The internet has proven to be a valuable asset for genealogists. No longer is it required to spend hours pouring over microfilm or necessary to travel to an ancestor's hometown to access genealogical documents. The internet has exploded with documents and indexes and webpages and photos.

Is all this information too good to be true? Some of it is. Being wary of information gleaned from the internet is being wise. How do you know if the information you found on great-grandpa Jones is accurate? As researchers, we must evaluate each website used on our research trail. It is important to keep in mind that all (or nearly all) of the information found on the internet is considered a secondary source. Now that doesn't necessarily mean secondary is any less accurate, but it does need to be verified against primary sources.

Using the internet can save many steps and many dollars for the savvy genealogist. Information on the internet can lead us to primary sources we might not have discovered otherwise. Implementing a strategy of evaluating websites will help to ensure validity in our research.

Read the Evaluating Web Sites document before embarking on your online quest for ancestors.

An assortment of websites to get you started

These links will open a new browser window.

Family Search
Search user-submitted files containing nearly 1 billion names.

The Olive Tree Genealogy
Free genealogical data online: passenger lists, church records, land records and more.

Cyndi's List
Over 190,000 links to genealogy sites on the internet.

Rootsweb
Interactive guides, numerous research tools, mailing lists and message boards.

Ancestry.com
The leading online resource for family history.

The US GenWeb Project
A volunteer project providing Internet web sites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States

Genealogy.com
Search for your ancestors in user-submitted family trees

 

Continue with Step 10 - Your Ancestors Await You