Find The Right Resource For Your Next Clue.
Use this toolbox to search smarter, stay organized, and choose the best place to look next based on the clue you are following.
Start With One Research Question
Pick the kind of clue you need, choose one resource from that section, search, save your notes, and let the result point you to the next step.
- Find Records And Sources
- Search Newspapers And Cemeteries
- Use Maps And Location Tools
- Keep Research Notes Organized
You Do Not Need Every Genealogy Website At Once.
The best research tool is the one that helps answer the question in front of you. Start with one person, one place, one record type, or one family mystery.
Quick Tip
Before you search, write down exactly what you are trying to find. “John Smith’s parents” is better than “everything about the Smith family,” because the internet will happily bury you alive.
Choose The Kind Of Resource You Need.
Pick a section based on what you are trying to find: records, people, places, newspapers, books, military clues, or better ways to organize your research.
Big Starting Points
Major genealogy websites and directories that are useful starting places for many kinds of family history research.
View Resources →Libraries And Genealogy Centers
Helpful libraries, genealogy centers, digital libraries, local history collections, and research guides.
View Resources →Census And Record Search
Tools for searching census records, federal records, historical record collections, and basic family history sources.
View Resources →Newspapers And Obituaries
Resources for finding obituaries, marriage notices, local news, family visits, and community stories.
View Resources →Cemetery And Grave Tools
Helpful sites for burial records, memorials, cemetery photos, grave locations, and headstone clues.
View Resources →Maps And Location Tools
Tools for understanding old counties, towns, migration paths, neighborhoods, cemeteries, and family locations.
View Resources →Military Research
Resources for military service records, pensions, burial records, war memorials, and service clues.
View Resources →Immigration And Passenger Lists
Helpful places to search passenger lists, immigration records, ports, and arrival clues.
View Resources →Research Organization
Tools for saving notes, organizing files, tracking sources, and keeping family history clues from escaping.
View Resources →Big Genealogy Starting Points.
These are useful first stops when you are not sure where to search next.
FamilySearch
A major free genealogy website with historical records, family trees, research help, and record collections from many places.
Visit Website →Cyndi’s List
A huge categorized directory of genealogy links organized by topic, location, record type, and research need.
Visit Website →USGenWeb
A volunteer-run collection of state and county genealogy pages with local records, cemetery lists, histories, and helpful links.
Visit Website →WorldGenWeb
A volunteer genealogy project organized by world regions and countries for international family history research.
Visit Website →Internet Archive
Search digitized books, local histories, family histories, city directories, yearbooks, and other historical materials.
Visit Website →Library Of Congress
Useful for maps, newspapers, photos, books, local histories, manuscripts, and American history collections.
Visit Website →Libraries And Genealogy Centers.
Libraries can be gold mines for family history books, local records, databases, periodicals, and research guides.
Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
One of the best-known genealogy research libraries, with a large family history collection, online resources, and research materials.
Visit Website →PERSI
The Periodical Source Index helps you find genealogy and local history articles in periodicals and journals.
Visit Website →FamilySearch Digital Library
Search digitized genealogy books, family histories, local histories, and other helpful research materials.
Visit Website →HathiTrust Digital Library
Search digitized books, local histories, county histories, family histories, and older publications.
Visit Website →Google Books
Search old books, local histories, biographies, county histories, and family history references.
Visit Website →Local Libraries
Check town, county, and state libraries for obituary indexes, local history rooms, newspaper access, city directories, and genealogy collections.
Census And Record Search Tools.
Use these when you are searching for census records, federal records, historical records, and basic ancestor clues.
Best First Move
When searching records, try different spellings, nearby years, and nearby counties. Old records love making simple things weird.
FamilySearch Historical Records
Search indexed and browsable historical record collections from many countries and record types.
Visit Website →Steve Morse One-Step Tools
Helpful search forms for census, immigration, passenger lists, and other genealogy searches.
Visit Website →National Archives Genealogy
Research guides for census records, military records, immigration records, land records, and federal records.
Visit Website →National Archives Census Records
Learn about U.S. census records, schedules, availability, and how census records can help genealogy research.
Visit Website →Census.gov Historical Data
Useful for understanding population schedules, historical census context, and census-related data.
Visit Website →Ancestry Card Catalog
Useful for finding specific record collections by title, location, date, and record type if you use Ancestry.
Visit Website →Newspapers And Obituary Resources.
Newspapers can reveal obituaries, marriages, visits, accidents, community news, and little family details that never appear in official records.
Chronicling America
A free historic American newspaper archive from the Library of Congress.
Visit Website →Google News Archive
An older newspaper archive with scanned newspapers that can still be useful for family history searches.
Visit Website →Fulton History
A large newspaper archive especially useful for New York research and other newspaper collections.
Visit Website →Legacy
Search modern obituaries and death notices that may include family members, locations, and life details.
Visit Website →Newspapers.com
A paid newspaper site that can be useful for obituaries, marriage notices, family stories, and local news.
Visit Website →Local Library Newspaper Databases
Many libraries offer free access to newspaper databases with a library card.
Cemetery And Grave Resources.
Grave records can help with dates, family relationships, burial places, spouses, children, and missing relatives.
Find A Grave
Search memorials, cemetery photos, burial locations, family links, and headstone clues.
Visit Website →BillionGraves
Search cemetery records and grave photos that may include GPS-linked burial locations.
Visit Website →Interment.net
Search cemetery transcriptions, burial lists, and cemetery records.
Visit Website →Maps And Location Tools.
Understanding where your ancestors lived can help you find the right records and avoid chasing the wrong person.
David Rumsey Map Collection
A large collection of historic maps that can help you understand old places, borders, and communities.
Visit Website →Library Of Congress Maps
Search historic maps, atlases, land ownership maps, military maps, and place-based collections.
Visit Website →Atlas Of Historical County Boundaries
Helpful for seeing how U.S. county boundaries changed over time.
Visit Website →Historic Map Works
Search historic maps, atlases, property maps, and place-based materials.
Visit Website →Google Maps
Useful for locating modern towns, cemeteries, churches, distances, neighborhoods, and nearby communities.
Visit Website →GNIS
The Geographic Names Information System can help identify place names, cemeteries, streams, churches, and other locations.
Visit Website →Military Research Resources.
Military records may include service details, pensions, residence clues, family members, burial places, and unit histories.
National Archives Military Records
Guides for researching U.S. military service records, pension records, and related federal records.
Visit Website →Civil War Soldiers And Sailors System
Search Civil War soldiers, sailors, regiments, battles, prisoners, cemeteries, and related information.
Visit Website →American Battle Monuments Commission
Search for U.S. service members buried or memorialized in overseas American military cemeteries.
Visit Website →DAR Genealogical Research System
Useful for researching Revolutionary War patriots, descendants, and related lineage clues.
Visit Website →Fold3
A paid site focused on military records, pension files, service records, and military history collections.
Visit Website →Local And State Archives
State archives may hold militia records, service abstracts, pension indexes, bonus files, and veteran burial records.
Good research is not about searching everywhere. It is about searching the right place, saving your notes, and following the next clue.
Immigration And Passenger List Resources.
Passenger lists, naturalization records, and port records can help you follow an ancestor’s journey.
Ellis Island
Search passenger records connected to Ellis Island and New York arrivals.
Visit Website →Castle Garden
Search passenger arrival records connected to earlier New York immigration.
Visit Website →Steve Morse Passenger Search
One-Step search tools for passenger lists, Ellis Island, Castle Garden, and other immigration searches.
Visit Website →National Archives Immigration Records
Guides for passenger arrival records, naturalization records, border crossings, and immigration research.
Visit Website →FamilySearch Immigration Collections
Search or browse immigration, passenger list, and naturalization record collections.
Visit Website →Check Naturalization Records
Naturalization papers may include birthplaces, dates, ports, witnesses, residences, spouses, and children.
Research Organization Helpers.
Good organization keeps your research useful after the excitement of finding a new record wears off.
Google Drive
Useful for saving genealogy files, screenshots, documents, photos, notes, and family history folders.
Visit Website →Google Keep
Helpful for quick research notes, family story ideas, website links, and clue lists.
Visit Website →Trello
Use boards and cards to organize ancestors, research questions, record searches, and next steps.
Visit Website →Notion
Useful for building genealogy dashboards, ancestor pages, research logs, and family story notes.
Visit Website →Zotero
A free tool for saving citations, sources, notes, web pages, and research references.
Visit Website →Clue Sheet Library
Use printable sheets to track records, sources, ancestor profiles, family stories, and research questions.
Visit The Library →Learning And Reference Tools.
You do not have to know everything before you begin. Learn what you need as each new clue appears.
FamilySearch Wiki
Helpful research articles about places, record types, genealogy basics, and how to search different collections.
Visit Website →The Relative Detective Guides
Beginner-friendly articles about starting your tree, avoiding mistakes, reading records, and following clues.
Browse Guides →The Clue Sheet Library
Printable worksheets and trackers for organizing clues, records, sources, questions, and ancestor notes.
Visit The Library →Ready To Follow The Next Clue?
Pick one resource, search one record, save your notes, and let that clue point you toward the next step.