Genealogy and Biography Websites

Metasites

Cyndi’s List
More than 200,000 links related to genealogy, local history, biography, women’s history, famous people, religions; including primary sources such as diaries, family bibles etc. Scroll down to find the alphabetical categories.

FamilySearch
Large collection of family tree and genealogy databases, such as International Genealogical Index, and Ancestral File, provided by the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Church. Genealogy is part of their religion.

GenForum -- A good way to find other people working on your family names

Rootsweb -- Family Trees, message boards, surname lists

U.S. Genweb
Volunteer maintained websites with links to data about each U.S. state and county. Note: some counties are rich with data, while others have very little

World Genweb --Same as U.S. Genweb, but worldwide

Ethnic (many also covered in Cyndi’s List)

• African American
• German Genealogy --GermanRoots
• German Genealogy --German Resources
• Italian Genealogy --ItalianGenealogy.com
• Italian Genealogy --Italian Ancestry
• Jewish Genealogy
• United Kingdom & Ireland

Other

Social Security Death Index
Individuals whose deaths have been reported to Social Security since 1935. Free.

Ellis Island --Ellis Island Foundation

Ellis Island --Steve Morse, has a better search engine for Ellis Island

Free Census Data

Passenger Lists
Click on Passenger Lists, then Volume 1. Then you can search by date, by port or by
surname

Olive Tree Genealogy
Lots of free data, though some links only take you to Ancestry.com, which is a subscription service. Includes passenger lists, cemeteries, church records (esp. New York State), military, land etc. Can be a bit tricky to navigate.

Professional Associations and Societies

National Genealogical Society
Historical & Genealogical Societies
New England Historic Genealogical Society
New York Genealogical & Biographical Society --See especially the Research Aids link

Biography

Metasites

Biography.com
Biography Web Sites --Fifteen biography websites, including Presidents, Women, Inventors
AllLearn
Time Magazine’s 100 Important People of the Century
InfoPlease Biographies --Biographies on many subjects

Specific Subjects

• African American
• Biologists
• Black History
• Canadian Biography
• Distinguished Women  
• Famous People--From Cyndi’s List genealogy
• Female Ancestors--Also from Cyndi’s List
• First Ladies
• Heads of state, international
• Hispanic
• Historical Events & People
  See especially the biographical section under e-history.com (short historical bio’s and timelines), and hyperhistory online (short bio’s, events index, maps etc.)
• Historical Persons--American
• Italian Women Writers
• Mathematicians
• Philosophers
• Presidents
• Poets
• U.S. Congress
• Women Artists & Writers of Color

History