For additional resources in this subject area,
see Ancestry Library Edition, HeritageQuest
Online and more from the library's list of online
Genealogy Databases.
Family Search Internet Genealogy Service
A very useful resource from the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Be sure to search both the
FamilySearch database and the Family
History Library catalog.
Note: The Fairfax County Public
Library's Virginia Room staff teaches
a class in how to use this important
resource. Call the
Fairfax City Regional Library
for the next available date.
Genealogical Publishing Company Index Surname and subject indexes for many, but not
all, books from Genealogical Publishing Company.
Especially strong on Colonial era sources not
indexed on other major services. Many of their
books and CDs are available in the
Virginia Room and can be identified in the
library's catalog.
RootsWeb.com
One of the most comprehensive genealogy sites.
AfriGeneas
A major site for African American
genealogy and history, with
links to a large array of
resources including chat
rooms.
Blacksheep Ancestors
Selected prison, court and asylum
records for the United States,
Canada and the United Kingdom.
Ethnic Groups and People
Cyndi's List provides links to
genealogical information on ethnic
groups, nationalities, countries,
immigration and migration.
Gallaudet University Archives
Deaf students from across the nation
and around the world attended Gallaudet
University in Washington, DC. This
site strives to preserve the memory of
the nationwide Deaf Community. This
searchable collection includes lists of
alumni, vital records information from
insurance policies, images of The Silent
Worker newspaper, and personal and
organizational manuscripts.
Consolidated Jewish Surname Index
Avotaynu, a publisher of books and
magazines on Jewish genealogy,
presents an index to information on
nearly 700,000 surnames that appear
in forty-two different databases.
Names are indexed by sound rather
than spelling.
Holocaust Memorial Museum
The archives of the International Tracing Service
documents the fate of Holocaust victims.
International Tracing Service
Washington, DC's Holocaust Museum includes links to
archives and tracing services for Holocaust victims.
JewishGen
Databases, mailing lists, discussion groups and more.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey
A fully searchable online edition
of over 100,000 criminal trials
held at London's central criminal
court, which sentenced many
convicts to transportation to
colonial Virginia or Maryland.
The WorldGenWeb Project
A growing effort to provide
genealogy links for points
near and far, with helpful
links for region-specific
research.
Surname Forums and Message Boards
Ancestry.com
A free search of message boards
by surname, locality or topic.
GenForum
Search message boards by surname,
place or topic.
Maryland State Archives
Very well put together. Be
sure to search the Archives'
library by family name to
find published genealogies.
National Archives and Records Administration — Genealogy
The National Archives preserves and provides access
to many federal government records of value to genealogists.
Archival databases containing information on
Irish famine immigrants, military records and more
are among their available online resources.
Repositories of Primary Sources
The University of Idaho
provides this excellent
site for linking to special
collections of primary resources
around the world.
State Archives on the Web
The National Archives' Archives
Library Information Center provides
contact information and links to the
Web sites of state archives, many of
which feature valuable research
materials and databases.
UNESCO Archives Portal
The UNESCO Archives Portal provides
access to national, regional,
municipal and university archival
resources throughout the world.
Genealogy Libraries
Allen County Public Library
One of the largest genealogy
collections in the country.
Click on "Genealogy" to read
more about their collections
and browse their extensive
links. Click on "Catalog" to
search their collection.
Family History Library Catalog
The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints' Family History
Library in Salt Lake City holds
the world's largest collection
of genealogy materials, and
much of their collection can
be borrowed through their local
Family History Centers.
Library of Virginia This site includes the library's
catalog and many digitized records. Many of the
microfilmed records are available on interlibrary loan
through Fairfax County Public Library.
Mid-Continent Public Library
Investigate the "Genealogy
from the Heartland" collection,
which this library loans free-of-charge
across the country.
The Official Land Patents Record Site
The Bureau of Land Management
provides access to millions
of Federal land title records
for public lands both east
and west of the Mississippi
River. Includes images of
original documents.
Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records
Online death indexes by state
and county. Included are death
indexes, obituaries, probate
indexes as well as cemetery and
burial indexes.
Search Systems
This site provides access to
databases of public records
from across the country and
around the world. Many are
searchable for free, while
others incur a fee.
Social Security Death Index
Send for a copy of the deceased's
social security application,
which provides the names
of parents and birthplace.
U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board administers a
federal retirement benefit program for the
nation's railroad workers. The Board will
provide information from its records on deceased
persons for the purpose of genealogical research.
The records begin in 1937, but the site includes
links to other information sources about railroad
employees.
Africana Heritage Project
The Africana Heritage Project assists
African Americans who are researching
their family histories. The site’s
mission is to rediscover valuable records
that document the names and lives of
slaves, freedpersons and their descendants.
Includes an online archives with records
from many states, including Virginia.
Freedmen's Bureau Online
The Freedmen's Bureau, established in 1865,
supervised all relief and educational
activities relating to refugees and freedmen.
Among the records selected for this site, are
lists of residents at refugee camps, marriages,
orphans, employment and crimes against
residents. Records for Fairfax County and
Northern Virginia are listed under "Washington,
DC" rather than Virginia.
American Battle Monuments Commission
The commission maintains lists of
those interred in American
military cemeteries overseas
and those Missing in Action
from World War I, World War II,
Korea and Vietnam. In addition,
information describing
commission-administered cemeteries
and war memorials worldwide is available.
Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System
This National Park Service database contains
information from 6.3 million soldier records
from 44 U.S. states and territories. The data
was taken from the General Index Cards in the
National Archives and Records Administration's
Compiled Military Service Records. Navy
records will be included in the future,
although about 18,000 African American
sailors are already cataloged. The site also
has information such as regimental histories
and links to descriptions of nearly 400
significant battles.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
More than 7,000 ship histories, from the earliest
days to Vietnam and beyond. Includes some Coast
Guard vessels, revenue cutters and the Confederate
Navy.
National Personnel Records Center
The National Personnel Records
Center, Military Personnel
Records is the repository of
millions of military personnel,
health and medical records of
discharged and deceased veterans of all
services during the 20th century.
National Registry of Service
The Library of Congress Veterans'
History Project was created to
honor our nation's war veterans
for their service and to collect
their stories and experiences.
The project focuses on World War
I (1914-1920), World War II
(1939-1946) and the Korean
(1950-1955), Vietnam (1961-1975)
and Persian Gulf (1990-1995) wars,
and includes all participants in
those wars — men and women,
civilian and military.
Nationwide Gravesite Locator
Search for burial locations of more than 3
million veterans and family members in Virginia
national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries
and various other military and Department of
Interior cemeteries. Interments at Arlington
National Cemetery since 1999 are included. A
new feature adds 1.9 million veterans buried in
private cemeteries when the grave is marked with
a government grave marker, but includes only
burials from 1998 to the present.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
Formal reports, both Union and Confederate,
of military operations in the field, with
the correspondence, orders and returns
relating to the action. The full text is
completely searchable.
Old Naval Hospital, Washington DC
The Friends of the Old Naval Hospital
plan to transcribe the estimated 20,500
pages of records of patients admitted
and treated in the Naval Hospital from
1866 to 1906. The site currently
includes almost 500 images of these
handwritten records, for patients admitted
in 1866 and 1867, as well as photographs
and historical information.
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
The list of unrecovered service personnel from
WWII includes those from all military services,
including the Merchant Marine. Those buried at
sea are listed in a separate section.
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
The National Graves Registration Project of
the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
is a searchable database of both Union and
Confederate burials.
WWII Registry
The World War II Registry is part of
the National World War II Memorial.
It includes veterans, those killed or
missing in action and some civilians
on the home front. It is not a
complete listing of WWII soldiers.
Passenger Ship Lists
American Family Immigration History Center
Database of Ellis Island
arrival records that have
been transcribed by Latter
Day Saints volunteers.
Be sure to try various
spellings and permutations
of both the first and
last names (including
just using a first initial),
and bear in mind that
errors have been found
in the transcriptions.
Note: Free registration
is required.
Castle Garden
CastleGarden.org offers free access
to information on 10 million immigrants
who arrived in New York from 1830 through
1892, the year Ellis Island opened.
Alternative search strategies for this
database are available at
One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse.
Directory of Passenger Ship Arrivals
This database pulls together
the data from various
passenger ship lists published
on the Internet. Search
alphabetically, by vessel
name or by U.S. port of
arrival.
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
Though still a work in
progress, this database
of passenger lists transcribed
by the guild is a truly
invaluable resource. Search
passenger lists by date,
ship's name, port of departure
or arrival, or even passenger's
or captain's surname.
One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse
Steve Morse offers indexing and
search strategies for accessing
data in the passenger lists of
Castle Garden, Ellis Island,
Baltimore, Boston, Galveston,
Philadelphia and San Francisco.
The Ships List
A growing list of resources for
those seeking the details of
their ancestors' ships: passenger
records, contemporary immigration
reports, newspaper records, ship
wreck information, ship pictures,
etc. Seeks to present information
not included in other immigration
sources. Includes an excellent
Frequently Asked Questions
section that explains the basics
of immigration searching.
West Virginia Resources
RootsWeb's West Virginia
Links to information on West Virginia counties
and genealogical and historical societies.
West Virginia Vital Research Records
This database includes over a million
West Virginia birth, death and marriage
records. Search indexes and view scanned
images of the original birth, death and
marriage records from six counties, some
as early as 1853, as well as most statewide
death certificates from 1917-54.
Antiquus Morbus
Decipher causes of death found on old
death certificates and mortality lists.
Provides definitions of archaic medical
terms and their modern day equivalents.
Indexes to the Soundex and Census Schedules Microfilm
The National Archives
and Records Administration
has produced these online
indexes to the microfilm
copies of the federal
censuses. Use them to
identify the microfilm
publication and roll numbers
you will need in your
research.
The Soundex Indexing System
Describes the coding rules
for this system based
on the sound of a surname
as opposed to its spelling.
It is used to index the
post-1880 U.S. census records.
FuneralNet
Addresses and phone numbers
of funeral homes and cemeteries
in the United States and
Canada.
Nickname Index
Social Security's list of names and nicknames for
men and
women
can be a clue to finding relatives whose legal name
may be different from the name they commonly used.
