The Best Genealogy Site on the Internet:

The hands-down winner of the most comprehensive genealogy website is, of course (fanfare) :

Cyndi Howells' List

Maintained by Cyndi Howells, this is really quite a resource. As of 13 September 1998 she claimed "Over 30,650 links, categorized & cross-referenced, in over 90 categories," a figure that seems to grow by about a hundred a day! Anyway, you might as well start here because no other site comes close. It is marvelously organized and includes links related to archives, census records, ethnic groups, heraldry, humor, libraries, magazines & newsletters, museums, geographic areas, military records, newspapers, railroads, societies, travel, and on and on.

General Genealogy Links:

• "The Best Links on the Web" (MSNBC)--well-organized, concise set of links under the headings of General, How-To, Resources, Ethnicity, Special (adoptions, Holocaust victims, maiden names, etc.), and Unusual ("really strange--and fun--sites").
• Family History, Genealogy (Brigham Young University)--with links to databases, websites
• Genealogy: Finding Roots on the Web (Assn. of College & Research Libraries)-- Comprehensive annotated compilation of weblinks by a librarian.
• Genealogy Internet Sites (UW-Green Bay Area Research Center; many great links)
• Genealogy Home Page (Internet resources, guides, newsgroups, maps, libraries, worldwide resources, genealogical societies, software, online information, events)
• Librarians Serving Genealogists (of interest mainly to librarians)
• USGenWeb Project (with links to all USGenWeb sites)
• Wisconsin USGenWeb page

Genealogical Organizations, Listservs, & User Groups:

• National Genealogical Society (charts, forms, aids, tips, Internet guides; many links to online resources)
• Wisconsin State Genealogical Society
• Family History Resources (Official website for genealogical resources of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons; includes locations of Family History Centers)
• RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative (Home of the Roots-L listserv discussion group about software, documentation, electronic research, etc.)
• Genealogy Online (Based in Santa Cruz, CA and apparently affiliated with the Silicon Valley Personal Ancestral File Users Group, one of best resources for PAF users. This site seems to have expanded beyond PAF.)
• Wisconsin Lineage Links (Links to Wisconsin's heritage & lineage Societies)

Genealogy Software Vendors:

• Family Tree Maker (Broderbund)
• Generations (Sierra Software; Windows version of Reunion, which is Mac only)
• The Master Genealogist (Wholly Genes Software)
• Personal Ancestral File (PAF) (Ancestry On-line Store)
• Reunion (LeisterPro; Mac only--see Generations for the Windows version)
• Ultimate Family Tree (Palladium Interactive)

Genealogy Databases:

• Ancestry databases (663 searchable databases)
• Civil War: Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion (alphabetical list scanned by State Historical Society of Wisconsin and partially searchable)
• FamilyFinder Index (Searches Broderbund CD index; claims to index 20% of people who ever lived in U.S.)
• Family Tree Searcher Enter your ancestor data just once to search for family trees at multiple websites: Ancestry.com, Computerized Ancestor, Everton's, Family Search (LDS), Family Tree Maker, GENDEX, Kindred Konnections, Social Security Death Index, and WorldConnect. There is also genealogy news, FAQs, and genealogy links. Maintained by Doug Barry.
• Family Search online This link to the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) databases provides access not only to the 35 million names in the Ancestral file (family records submitted by genealogists) and 285 million names in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) (names extracted from public records), but also websites relating to genealogy (the "Browse Categories" button). You may enter a single name, or the name of an ancestor and their parents for very targeted searching. For more information, here is an MSNBC article on the new website with additional genealogical web links plus a virtual "surround video" tour of the entrace to the vast vault in Salt Lake City housing the microfilm documenting an estimated 6 billion people. Click LDS databases for brief descriptions of Ancestral File, International Genealogical Index (IGI), and Family History Library Catalog at the official LDS site.
  
• Gendex (searchable index linking data from participating genealogists in the Gendex Project)
• Internet FamilyFinder (searches the Internet and Broderbund's World Family Tree for family names)
• Land Patent Records searchable database (Bureau of Land Management/Directory).
• Social Security Death Index (Ancestry)
• World Family Tree Project (submitting information to Broderbund CDs)

Genealogical Publications:

• American Genealogy Magazine and Newsletter
• Ancestry Publications (claims to be "the world's #1 online genealogy library")
• Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (free online)
• Everton's Genealogical Helper 
• Family History Newsline (Everton)
• Genealogical Computing (ordering information)

Special Collections McIntyre Library (715) 836-2739 library.archives@uwec.edu
Updated: May 31, 2002