The official Danish Archives website gives detailed information about what is contained in the archives and what records are available. This website contains Census, Probate and Emigration records that you may search free of charge. Some information is available in German, Danish or English. Click on the appropriate flag if you find yourself looking at a language you don’t understand. Other pages are only in Danish.
q Federation of East European Family History Societies
Although the home page is a bit confusing, one may search Databases or Maps by clicking these at the very top of the page. This will take you to a list of fabulous maps or useful projects containing thousands of names and vital information. Although the site is awkward to navigate, it is worth visiting for East European sources.
q Finnish Institute of Migration
http://www.utu.fi/erill/instmigr/index_e.htm
The home page contains several possible avenues to follow, but stick with the Emigrant Register. It will take you to hundreds of thousands of passenger records. These include [in English] the occupation, birthdate, religion and destination to name a few. A Finnish dictionary might be helpful if you want to read the additional remarks.
q Genealogical Society of Finland
http://www.genealogia.fi/historia/indexe.htm
Begin your search by clicking on the “Search Program for History Books” link. These useful records contain marriage, moving, christening, and burial records. One setback to this database is that one must know the parish in order to find an ancestor. A map is provided to click on a specific region to narrow the search.
q Catholic Diocese in Germany
This is a German language only site containing e-mail and contact information for German Catholic Diocese. Once a Diocese is located, click on the “Pfarreien” file tab near the top of the page for the e-mail and contact information for each Parish within the Diocese. Additional religious information and “tourist” information is also available.
q German Genealogy
http://www.genealogienetz.de or http://www.genealogy.net
Take your time exploring this rich site. Includes information around the world with Regional maps and gazetteers covering various time periods, online databases, old terminology, sample letters, and emigration records and passenger lists. German is required to search some of the pages.
q Family Search
www.familysearch.org or www.lds.org
Amazing non-profit site with great resources for starting research, searching for ancestors and sharing information. Click on Family History Library Catalog to search vast collection of records or “Web Sites” link will help you locate sites and records in almost any region. Most comprehensive, and easy-to-use site available.
q Guild of One-Name Studies
Each member of this unique group is engaged in locating every existing occurrence of a single surname. There are 7000 registered names that are being researched and visitors may search the registry to find if someone is searching for that name. Visitors may then contact the member for more information.
q Cyndi’s List
This enormous database of websites is difficult to navigate for beginners, however, contains a great deal of information and links to useful sites. A search will bring up several topics and then several “Cyndi” categories, and ultimately a visitor can locate the search objective.
Paid Membership Sites:
q Civil War Data
This “Ancestry” database requires a membership fee of $25.00 to access the records which include over two million soldier's records, a few thousand Civil War regimental rosters and Regimental chronicles. Also included are officer profiles, Civil War Soldier Photographs, and Civil War battle synopses.
q Ancestry
http://www.ancestry.com, www.geneology.com
Ancestry is a large database containing Census and other vital records available for a fee. The homepage appears free for any search, and will allow individuals to see an index if they sign up for a free membership. You type in a name and it lists where in the locked database the records appear. The actual record is available to view for a fee, however a two-week trial version is usually available. To avoid being charged the annual fee, write down the 1-800- number provided while signing up, and call by the end of the trial period to cancel. Ancestry is available free of charge at most U.S. Family History Centers.
While many genealogical websites require paid memberships, there are many useful search databases available free of charge. This page is intended to help researchers locate free internet resources. This list is far from comprehensive. If you are aware of a free search database that you would like to see added to our self-help section, please inform us by e-mail.
