Free Genealogy Records – A Guide To Frugal Genealogy Research
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Free genealogy records and websites to help you search for your ancestors and save money. It is possible to research genealogy frugally!
Is it possible to find our ancestors with using FREE genealogy records and websites?
As genealogy researchers, we are a frugal lot. We spend our genealogy dollars frugally and research for free whenever possible. After all, those DNA tests (and research trips and genealogy conferences……..) we plan to order can be expensive!
Let’s see what free genealogy resources we can find online. Most of these sites require no sign up and no credit card.
50 FREE Genealogy Records and Websites for Frugal Genealogists
Grab your research plans and start searching for those ancestors (and saving money).
1. FamilySearch.org – Long time favorite of genealogy researchers.
2. The USGenWeb Project – Volunteer based website providing online genealogy information. Another favorite of genealogy researchers.
3. Chronicling America – Search historic American newspapers.
4. Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) – Includes large digital collection of Family Bibles, photographs, Civil War records just to name a few.
5. New York Public Library – Over 750,000 items including maps, private family papers and photographs. These do not pertain just to New York residents. I’ve found records for my own North Carolina ancestors in these collections.
6. Digital Collections at State Archives – A growing number of archives are growing their digital collections. Explore the state archives where your ancestors lived. Two examples include:
- North Carolina Digital Collections
- Library of Virginia
- Missouri Digital Heritage
- Tennessee State Archives Online Resources – Check out their Family Bible Project!
Be sure and check periodically for updates and additions to archive digital collections.
7. Guild of One Name Studies – Resource website to find information on surname project studies. Check for your ancestor’s surname, connect with other researchers or start a study of your own.
8. Free BMD – Free access to transcriptions of Civil Registration index of birth, marriages and death for England and Wales. This is an ongoing project so check back for updates.
9. Google Maps and Google Earth – Great resources for visualizing where your ancestors lived. I love a good map!
10. David Rumsey’s Historical Maps – Fantastic (and large) historical map collection including maps from around the world.
11. RAOGK – Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness – A global volunteer organization that performs all types of tasks such as look-ups at local courthouses or taking a photograph of a tombstone. Volunteers may ask for reimbursement of their expenses (Ex. Postage), but never their time. Consider being a volunteer yourself!
12. Documenting the American South (DocSouth) – Collections of resources focused on the south and its people.
13. Google Books– Source of free books including county histories, family histories and topical books of genealogical interest. Books in the public domain available to read for free.
Google Books is one of my favorite free resources! I was even a featured Google Books users in Google’s video! Learn more about using free Google books in your genealogy research.
14. FindAGrave – Volunteer based source of gravestones and burial sites. [Unsourced genealogical information on individuals should be used as a guide and not as proven fact until confirmed by the researcher.]
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15. Interment.net – Browse cemetery records by state.
16. Cemetery Census.com – Free listing of cemetery surveys. Information provided by volunteers.
17. Billion Graves – Volunteer based website photographing and preserving cemeteries.
18. Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records – Federal land conveyance records for public land states from 1788 to the 1960’s.
19. Library of Congress – Millions of books, maps, photographs and newspapers. Example: Find the Sanborne Maps there!
20. Ellis Island – Passenger list searches of immigrants arriving through Ellis Island available as well as immigration information.
21. Castle Garden – Passenger list search of immigrants arriving through America’s first immigration center. Note: The Castle Garden site is no longer active, but the Castle Garden immigration records are available at FamilySearch.
22. Internet Archive – A non-profit digital library offering free books. [I have found a number of old family histories and other relevant genealogy and history books.]
23. Patriot and Grave Index – SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) – Database containing grave and biographical information on patriots of the American Revolution.
24. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) – Database of information of patriots on whom their members have joined.
25. Jewish GenWeb – Excellent free site with databases and resource tools for researching your Jewish ancestors.
26. American Battle Monuments Commission – Information on over 200,000 burials and memorializations of predominantly WWI and WWII forces.
27. The UCF Africana Heritage Project – This site is currently receiving a make-over, but check back! It will be worth your time.
28. AfriGeneas – A website devoted to African-American genealogy research. Be sure and check out their online community, too.
29. Low Country Africana – African American Genealogy in SC, GA and FL – Beautiful website dedicated to African-American genealogy research of SC, GA, and FL ancestors.
30. The Freedmen’s Bureau – Records of the relief assistance to African Americans and poor whites in the south post Civil War.
31. Digital Library of American Slavery – sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG).
32. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Comprehensive source of historical data on the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
33. DeadFred.com – Browse the website for thousands of identified and unidentified photographs.
34. Moravian Archives – Research your Moravian ancestors here.
35. The Presbyterian Historical Society – A good place to start research of your Presbyterian ancestors.
36. Google News Archive – Research historic newspapers from around the world.
37. Elephind  – Find free online historical newspapers.
38. Digital Library of Georgia – Find pertinent records such as historical newspapers, ledgers and more to finding Georgia ancestors. Tip: Explain university digital collections in the area or region where your ancestors lived.
39. The War of 1812 Pension Records at Fold3.com – At last check this project was ~74% completed. Check back regularly for updates.
40. Allen County Public Library – Genealogy Center – Large collection of genealogy related records to explore. Another favorite of genealogy researchers.
41. National Cemetery Administration – Nation-wide veteran grave site locator.
42. Soldiers and Sailors Database – Database of men serving in the Union and Confederate armies of the Civil War.
43. Olive Tree Genealogy – Free genealogy records for researchers.
44. RootsWeb.com – Large genealogy community! It’s where I started years ago.
45. United States Online Historical Directories – Explore online historical directories by state. New to researching directories? Learn more here.Â
46. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County – Search for your Ohio ancestors. Tip: Check large public libraries for free genealogy records specific to their location.
47. Free Ancestry.com databases – You’ll be surprised by the number of free databases available. Both U.S. and world wide.
48.Free FindMyPast Databases – Includes U. S. census records and Ireland Roman Catholic Parish Records,
49. GenDisasters.com – Newspaper articles on events that touched your ancestors’ lives.
50. YOUR Local Library! With your free library card you can access genealogy databases such as Ancestry.com for free. Check what genealogy related databases your local library has. For example, my local county library provides patrons with the library edition of Ancestry.com.
Free Genealogy Records Recommended By Readers
The Are You My Cousin? readers are active researchers, and I often learn from them. Below are their recommended additions to the list:
51. WikiTree – A totally free one-world tree website.
52. Old Fulton New York Postcards – Old newspapers and postcards from the Fulton, NY area. It’s a fabulous resource!
53. IrishGenealogy.ie – Free Irish parish and civil records
54. General Register Office Online Historical Birth and Death Indexes (England and Wales) – Search the index for birth, marriage and death records.
55. The British Columbia Provincial Archives – Researching Canadian ancestors? Check out the BC Archives.
56. The Norfolk Transcription Archive – Transcription of parish registers and Archdeacon’s records for the county of Norfolk, England.
57. Trove (digitized Australian newspapers) – Resource for Australian newspapers.
58. British Columbia Historical Newspapers – Digitized newspapers from The University of British Columbia’s Open Collections.
So, can you find your ancestors for free?
Yes…..and no. I’ve presented 50+ websites with free genealogy records and resources. You have a lot of options for performing frugal genealogy research.
But…. there will be times when you need to spend money to obtain search and/or obtain the records you need. You’ve heard it before, NOT everything is online. Despite the wonderful resources we find online and the active digitization projects, breaking through genealogy brick walls requires accessing records on subscription sites or on-site research. Records found vertical files and special collections are not usually found online. Tax records – important records for tracing an ancestor in non-census years – are usually not digitized.
Remember these
frugal genealogy POWER tips:- Always research with a plan.
- Search for your ancestors for free when you can.
- Watch for the major genealogy databases to offer free access to their records. (These usually occur around a holiday weekend.)
- Trade look-ups with other researchers when you can.
- Spend your genealogy dollars wisely.
Most of the websites and resources presented are U. S. based. I am trying to build free resource lists for other countries as well, but I need your help! Do you have a favorite(s) free website you use for your non-U.S. genealogy research? Let me know in the comments below!
MORE Frugal Genealogy Posts for You!
- 11 Free UK Genealogy Websites For Finding Ancestors
- Where To Find FREE Online Historical Maps For Your Genealogy Research
- Where To Find Free Genealogy Courses – It’s Easier Than You Think!
- Save Money Researching Genealogy – Many Options Are Free!
- A Baker’s Dozen of Free Genealogy Websites! Are You Missing These?
27 Comments
Eleanor
Newspapers, BMD links, Obituaries, Yearbooks for Canada and USA
Eleanor
over 44,000,000 Newspaper pages from Canada and USA
Sheila Oliveri
Irish geneology allows access to bmd civil records from 1864.
National Library of Ireland gives access to church registers, depending on parish time line varies.
Both are free.
Ann H Amadori
This is a great list, thank you!
My favorite free site for newspapers, especially in New York but expanding to other places too, is fultonhistory.com
LisaL
I’ve heard of that one, but have not explored it. I’ll have to do that. Thanks for sharing!
Emily D. Aulicino
http://www.Fultonhistory.com seems to be an insecure site according to Chrome and my virus protection. That’s sad.
Clorinda Madsen
Thank you. I’m familiar with many of these but not all. Combine it with a free tree program online (like Rootsfinder) or offline (like the free Roots Magic) and you can budget your funds for the archival access.
Teresa
First, as a librarian, thanks so much for pointing out that the local library is often a great resource for genealogy research 🙂
My favourite free sites are:
a) the General Register Office Online Historical Birth and Death Indexes (England and Wales)
b) the British Columbia Provincial Archives genealogy search
c) the Norfolk Transcription Archive
d) Trove (digitized Australian newspapers)
e) British Columbia Historical Newspapers
LisaL
Teresa, Thank you so much for these ideas of free sites, too. I have been trying to learn more about free research options outside the U.S. so I’m thrilled to learn about these.
Teresa
I forgot about this Irish one…free parish and civil records… https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
Sue Roe
I’ve been using the Fulton site for years. There has never been a problem.
Sue Roe
Here’s another free one. It’s kind of like US Genweb and run by volunteers.
eatfrysmith
I just started studying about Genealogy. Thanks for sharing useful information.
LisaL
You are more than welcome!
Roger Matthews
WikiTrees (https://www.wikitree.com/) is a totally free one-world tree website. It has a good reputation, and is trying to create a high quality one-world tree. I love it.
Carolyn Lancaster
Hi Lisa, Thanks so much for this update – at my age I need reminders every so often about where useful information can be found. I have two to add: familyhistorydaily.com and if you are researching in the British Isles, bespokegenealogy.com. Cheers!
Cristina Arnold
Is there a way to print out your 50 websites post or any other post that you do without the ads that pop up?
Pam Gille
There are a lot of free Newspapers at the Library of Congress’ project Chronicling America:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
LisaL
Yes, that’s a favorite site of many genealogy researchers.
Lorraine
no.35, Presbyterian Historical Society, also holds records for the German Reformed Church in colonial America.
LisaL
Thanks, Lorraine, for letting us know!
TracyLR
In addition to Fultonhistory.com, there is nyshistoricnewspapers.org. You can choose a specific county on the New York State map on the home page. When you see pages of results come up (just above the image results), you can SORT by: Relevance | Date | Title.
Another resource is NYS vital statistics on archive.gov, scanned from microfilm. However, some pages are not readable — like almost the entire year of 1943! URLs below:
New York State Vital Records Index (courtesy of Reclaim the Records at archive.org)
BIRTHS (1881-1942)
https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22New+York+State+Birth+Index%22&sort=titleSorter
MARRIAGESs (1882-1964)
https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22New+York+State+Marriage+Index%22&sort=titleSorter&page=3
DEATHS (1880-1956)
https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22New+York+State+Death+Index%22&mc_cid=8ce89a660a&mc_eid=993edc7eac&sort=titleSorter
DEATHS (Beginning 1957)
https://health.data.ny.gov/Health/Genealogical-Research-Death-Index-Beginning-1957/vafa-pf2s/data
JOCELYN Y FUENTES
thank you for this information. I have a roadblock with my grandfather; spent over 10 years and have gotten nowhere. He was born in Gurabo, Puerto Rico in the late 1800’s. Was 25 years older than my grandma, a widow, owner of plantation? Died when my mom was 8 years old. Jose Echevarria Gimenez (Jimenez). I have his death certificate, can’t find anything else on him. Tried online search, Ancestry, MyHeritage. etc. Thanks for listening.
jack gatewood
Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) has many Native American and Territorial Records.
Gale
Genealogy Bank is a 7 day free trial, not “free”.
Chris Tucker
Thank you for your list! Library and Archives Canada is a free national resource. More specifically, there is also the Archives of Ontario. Before borders where delineated, there was easy movement between what are now the two countries. I have found a number of ancestors in Michigan. To your question, I presume that virtually every country in the (free) world has a national library, hence archives.
Don
Very hard to read the list with all of the ads in between. I know you need ads for revenue, but you also need some control over where they are in your publication.