Genealogy is a fascinating and addictive hobby. It can also be expensive for the average hobbyist. I have scoured the web in search of the best free genealogy websites the web has to offer. Being a professional genealogist, I am very familiar with what it takes to make this list! These are sites that I consistently use in my research process, and that are beneficial for hobbyists as well.
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. However, you do not need to be a member of the church to use it. It is a free service for anyone to use. FamilySearch has the world's largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources. They have 6 billion searchable records to help trace your family’s history. Millions more records are added every year. They also have the largest world family tree, a collaborative tree with billions of unique profiles. In addition, FamilySearch offers personal assistance at more than 5,100 family history centers in 140 countries, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Limitations:
Native American or African American records are difficult to find.
The global family tree is a shared tree, so anything you change or add or delete will be seen by others. Likewise, I do not recommend using this as your main family tree where you attach your sources and memories, because any user can change or delete your work at any time. If you want to build your own family tree that people cannot change, I recommend a paid site like Ancestry, or genealogy software (which is what I use).
Because of copyright issues, not all of the listed records on FamilySearch are available online. Some records can only be found in FamilySearch centers or affiliate libraries.
Synopsis: This is not a site where you enter your search terms and it searches all the records for you. This is a reference site, which sounds boring, but can save you many hours of time and effort. I use this site first when I start a research project and continue to use it multiple times throughout the research session. It is invaluable! The FamilySearch Wiki can provide background information about a particular area, including boundary changes, and specific record collections. This wiki provides information on a wide variety of topics such as “Sweden Feast Day Calendars,” “Mexico Guided Research,” “Birth and Death Calculators,” and “English Parish Pages.” One of my favorite categories are the town and county pages that usually have a wealth of information about specific areas. It currently has 90,000 articles on genealogy and more are being added weekly. The articles are mostly written by staff and volunteers at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake.
Limitations: The FamilySearch Wiki is not complete, and although more articles and topics are being added weekly, sometimes there isn’t a page for the specific town or county I’m looking for. Another limitation is that this is a wiki, and therefore anyone can contribute to it. However, it is monitored and routinely checked for quality.
The National Archives are the nation’s record keeper. In addition to all of the nation’s federal records, like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the National Archives also holds records of genealogical interest like census records and Native American records including the Dawes Rolls. The main categories held by the Archives are military, immigration, naturalization and census records. Another extremely helpful tool from the Archives are the helpful tutorials. They have tutorials on how to start your genealogical research, specific steps to research Native American tribal membership, genealogy classes and many more.
Limitations: Although the National Archives holdings are impressive, they’re not exactly easy to search. You won’t be able to type in your ancestor’s name and look through records like you might do on other genealogy websites. Instead you’ll need to know some basic information first, like what type of record you want to search first.
4. Find a Grave
This is the world’s largest gravestone collection. Started in 1995, and now owned by Ancestry.com, this site has over 190 million gravestone memorials. You can find information about cemeteries, and search for your ancestor’s tombstones. Tombstones can often contain birth, death and burial information, family relationships and military service. You can even sign up to be a volunteer to fulfill user requests by photographing headstones in cemeteries in your area. I often use this site to find clues about individuals I’m researching. For example, “Green Mt Boys Rev War” inscription on a headstone tells me I need to look for Revolutionary war records.
Limitations: It’s a great spot to find clues, however, it relies on user contributions and therefore is subject to error. The headstone photos are good sources, but the memorials written about the person may or may not be accurate.
5. Free BMD
FreeBMD provides an index and records of Civil Registrations in England and Wales from 1837-1992. There’s a whole family of UK Genealogy websites, which includes FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers). It contains over 365,803,921 total records. The search options are customizable and you can also search by district. Many of the databases contain original records. You can go to Coverage Charts to see if the type of record and time period you’re looking for has been transcribed yet.
Limitations: This free website is a registered charity and relies on volunteers to transcribe records. Thus, not all records have been transcribed yet. Users also need to download the images found, instead of viewing on the website like Ancestry or FamilySearch. Some images may be quite large.
There are many more free genealogy sites out there, too many for this list! What are your favorite genealogy resources?
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