In its September issue, Family Tree Magazine has published its list of 101 Best Free Family History Websites of 2017.
Although the title does not suggest it, the majority of websites seem to be American or, understandably, cater to its primarily American readership.
Still, even our friends to the south have ancestors who lived in Canada and elsewhere in the world, so the list is worth reviewing.
Lists like this one can be controversial because they never include all the favourites. What they do offer, however, is new resources and a reminder about those we may have forgotten.
The websites are organized into 12 categories:
Big Genealogy Websites
Online Vital and Grave Records
Military Genealogy Websites
Genealogy Immigration Websites
Genealogy Map Websites
Old Newspaper Genealogy Websites
Genealogy Library Websites
US Genealogy Websites
Websites for Sharing Your Genealogy
Online Genealogy Technology Tools
UK & Irish Genealogy Websites
International Genealogy Websites
Genealogy Social History Websites
Online Genealogy Tips and Help
Canadian websites
Kudos to Canadian genealogist, blogger, and author Lorine McGinnis Schulze whose website, Olive Tree Genealogy, appears in the Big Genealogy Websites category. “Since its launch in 1996, this modest website has grown into a useful collection of how-to help and databases. It’s strongest on passenger records, heritage groups such as Palatines and American Indians, and less-familiar records, such as those for residents of orphans and almshouses.”
The volunteers who work hard traipsing through cemeteries in Canada to photograph grave markers will be pleased to see CanadianHeadstones listed in Online Vital and Grave Records, along with the usual suspects, such as Billion Graves and Find A Grave, and a couple of American-only sites.
Click on UK & Genealogy Websites to discover that the actual category is Canada, UK & Genealogy Websites. (That’s a first.) The only Canadian website in this category is Library and Archives Canada.
Canadiana appears in Genealogy Social History Websites: “If you have neighbors to the north in your family tree, you can learn about their history in 40 million pages from some of Canada’s most popular archival collections, ranging from the 1500s to the mid-1900s.”
International websites
On the world stage, International Genealogy Websites includes Dutch, German, Eastern European, French, and Jewish resources.
Maps
The list of Maps offers ten websites, including AfricaMap, which sounds interesting, the excellent David Rumsey Map Collection, and Meyers Gazetteer that aims to list every place name in the German Empire (1871-1918). “It gives the location of the civil registry office and parishes if any, along with other information about each place.”
One site I intend to examine is the Osher Map Library in the hope of learning more about life for my ancestors who lived in the US. “The University of Southern Maine is employing the latest imaging technology—a 60-megapixel camera to photograph large maps, a 3-D imager to render globes—to digitize its gigantic cartographic collection. Need a map of postal routes in the Dakota Territory? They’ve got one, and thousands more treasures.”
Technology has no borders
The Online Genealogy Technology Tools category has no borders, and all genealogists can benefit from at least one of these free tools.
Favourite name — Or biggest disappointment?
In the Technology Tools category, I came across a website, MooseRoots, that I felt just had to be Canadian. I was wrong. It’s primarily an American resource with some Canadian military info. I have difficulty grasping what the site offers even after trying it and reading the description: “Moving beyond its ‘Google for genealogy’ origins, this site uses sponsor Graphiq’s ‘semantic technology to deliver deep insights via data-driven articles, visualizations and research tools.'” It seems to be a one-stop shopping resource that sends you to other websites, similar in concept to Steve Morse’s One-Step Webpages that also appears in this tech category.
