Genealogy Resources

After identifying your research question, the next step is to identify what genealogy resources are available for the time and place that will potentially answer your question.

Many of these sources are now available online. Or at least many finding aids are online.

I use these resources on a frequent basis.

All Things Genealogy

There is no sense in reinventing the wheel! Cyndi’s List is a fantastic resource. It is also one of the best ways to learn what is available online. There is a link for pretty much every category you can think of.

FamilySearch Research Wikis This is my go-to to find out what sources are available on – or -offline. What year did a particular county begin recording births? Where are the tax records currently stored? Just search for the county and state. It is not perfect, but it is a heck of a start.

Census

Census records are available online at multiple sites. Steve Morse’s One-Step pages can help find the enumeration district and the NARA publication rolls, as well as many other sources.

Irish American Resources

Thank you to Amelia, a student researcher, and the Fuller’s Library in London, who shared this website with me and suggested it might be a valuable resource to add to this list. They were right! I learned a lot about Irish American Immigration History and Irish Dual Citizenship from this site.

Scots-Irish Resources

Check out my very own Scots-Irish Research Toolkit.

Pennsylvania Resources

Pennsylvania GenWeb consolidates many resources on one site. Here you can find state-wide genealogy and historical societies, county formation dates, maps, newspapers, and more.

Published Works Online

If you are looking for a book, WorldCat will let you know if a digital copy is available. If not, you can find it in the closest library.

HathiTrust Offers digital content as allowed by copyright for scholarly works.

Google Books Many books that are out of copyright are available online through Google Books.

Internet Archive  provides “millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.” Plus it is the home of the “Wayback Machine.” Install the Chrome browser extension to help access broken or old URLs.

Pennsylvania Archives (the published Pennsylvania Archives, not the physical repository). A nearly complete digitized copy of the published Pennsylvania Archives is available for free at Fold3. They are indexed and are a great source for early Pennsylvania records.

Pennsylvania Land Records

Check out my blog post about how and where to find Pennsylvania land records.

The Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

As shown in the land records, the Pennsylvania State Archives has a wide variety of collections. They may be digitized and available on their website or other places, like Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org. And although many items have been microfilmed or digitized, more are available in the original format in Harrisburg.

They provide a very high-level overview of their collections in their Research Guides.

And if you’re visiting the State Archives, don’t miss a trip to the State Library. You can view their genealogically significant collections here.

County Genealogy Societies, Historical Societies, and Libraries

If you are visiting a location to research, don’t forget to check the genealogy and historical societies and libraries (in addition to the courthouse, church, and cemetery!). It is always best to call ahead or email, however, to let them know who/what you’re researching. This will help you to determine if the stop is worthwhile. Many societies and libraries carry published works that are available in several locations. They may have records that have been digitized or are accessible elsewhere. I always ask what resources or records do they have that nowhere else has. You may find family files, scrapbook collections, microfilmed newspapers, etc.

On My Bookshelf

Also, if you’re not using Zotero, we should talk! In fact, it is one of my favorite genealogy resources (although it is really a tool).

This is just a small sampling! If you’d like to know more about how I use these genealogy resources, be sure to check out the Services page.