Chapter 20. GENEALOGY RESEARCH ONLINE

When I first got on the Internet back in nineteen-coughity-cough, the idea that the Internet could be used for genealogy was a new one on me. I knew there were interest groups for genealogy, and I knew there was a small body of information out there. But the largest holders of genealogy data—birth and death certificates, census, and so on—are usually government institutions, and they hadn't quite gotten that far in their discovery of the Internet.

Fast-forward to 2004. If you're a genealogy researcher, now is a wonderful time to be alive. Not only is more and more source information becoming available, but even secondary sources of genealogy data—like obituary collections—are being archived.

An overview of all genealogy data online would—literally—require a book. (A big book.) So instead we're going to take a bird's eye view, looking at source material: birth and death records, and census records; and secondary materials: service records, obituary collections, and old newspapers. This is not material you can usually find using Google, but searching Google can be an important part of genealogy research, so we'll cover that as well. Finally, we'll take a look at a pay service that has large aggregates of genealogy-related data, if you have some money. Throughout this chapter I'll be scattering some tips of other places you might want to look for genealogy information. And may all your searches be fruitful, and all your ancestors brilliant and wise.