Top genealogy sites on the Internet

Susan Doak

SW Nebraska Genealogy Society

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Less than 10 percent of the information you will be seeking to complete your family tree will be found on the Internet. At the end of February, I will be traveling to Kansas and Oklahoma to help a girlfriend research her tree which has come to a dead end as far as information available on the Web. Hopefully on-site research of local courthouses, libraries and history or genealogy societies will help fill in the blanks!

Google has a large database and unless you take advantage of some of the search tips and tricks, your results will be hundreds of pages long.

When you want to limit your results to a certain name or place, put quotation marks around the word(s) in your search box: "James Davison." If you want to expand your search to include results that might have James's middle name: "James*Davison," Next, should you already have all the information that you want about James in Nebraska, so you want to eliminate Nebraska results: "James*Davison" --Nebraska. Do not place a space between the minus sign and the word you want to eliminate.

Did your ancestor have a nickname? Use the OR search tool to include that nickname: Jim OR James Davison. It can also be used to include known spellings for surnames such as: James Davison OR Davisson OR Davidson. I also like the plus sign when I have a specific item I want included: James Davison + Civil War + Indiana.

I am no computer expert but there are two things I manage to remember when I am searching the internet. No. 1, I make sure that my virus protection is turned on. No. 2, I make sure the little padlock shown to the right of my search bar shows locked, not unlocked. People who are very computer literate may scoff at these suggestions, but this is for us simple folk who muddle our way through the Internet.

The following sites are among the hundreds that are free use: MyHeritage.com; Newfamilysearch.org; Findagrave.com; Geni.com (Basic account is free); Ellisisland.org; GenealogyTrails.com; National Archives and Records Administration, or the General Land Office Records (BLM).

One free site,www.stevemorse.org, has a HUGE one-step reference database for immigration and ship passengers plus so much other information I don't have space to list them all. Go to this site, ignore the boxes that encourage you to enter names, and click on the "About this website and how to use it." This is a one-step solution that may eliminate a lot of time consuming research for certain areas of your family tree.

Even most paid sites give you a chance to have a free trial! Those free trials usually involve giving the site your information and a credit card so you really have to be disciplined about getting all the information possible during the "free trial" and following the steps to make sure that you are not charged a membership at the end of the trial.

I have memberships to Ancestry.com and Fold3.com plus some much less expensive sites such as the SW Nebraska and Iowa Genealogical Societies. Every site has provided me with information, but it is the small local sites that often hold the keys to your family research.