Who Do You Think You Are? !!!!

Hi Again,

We're back and we're talking about Genealogy research and websites today. It is definitely a blast from the past and I'm hoping that you learn something about your family history by using these online databases!

The first online database I'll discuss is called HeritageQuest and can be accessed by clicking this link. Alternatively you can go to the library homepage and click on Reference and then click on Online Resources. Boilerplate info first: the database is accessible to all Farmingdale PL patrons with a library card. Database is accessible from home and is FREE. I can't emphasize this enough - so I will doubly emphasize it. Use of the database is FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE. Okay, you get the idea now.

So, what does HeritageQuest do for the genealogist in all of us? Users can check actual census records from 1790-1930. This is a complete set of the US Federal census images during these years - and thereis name index for other years. There is also a search function so users can find people and places that are discussed in over 28,000 family histories. There is also a section in the database for users who need to search selected US Revolutionary War Era files...neat stuff.

I'm betting that users will use the census images - that is valuable info because it gives the names, address and age of the person at the time the census was taken.

Okay, if you are a genealogist you might have heard of CyndisList.com. Click here for the site. So what exactly is CyndisList? It is a huge, mega genealogy site that purports to link to over 282,000 family history links in over 180 categories.

Starting from the homepage users can access genealogy topics like Adoption, Names, Newspapers, Obituaries, Beginners, Occupations, Biographies, Organizing Your Research (a good place for beginners to start), Photographs & Memories, City Directories, Religion & Churches and much, much more. Note that if you want to go directly to any of these categories you can click the link - I've connected the phrases and words directly to the site.

Just to use an example, I clicked on the term 'Biographies' and found links to sites as varied as 'Beyond the Index-Michael John Neill-Your Ancestor's Biography', Bio-Bingers Mailing List, Center for Autobiographic Studies, Infinite Humanity and Life Profiles. These links go directly to the site that you are interested in.

Finally, if you try a Google search for 'Long Island Genealogy' you will come to a site called 'Long Island Genealogy and History' which can be found by clicking on this link. The site almost acts like a mini-Cyndi's List in the sense that it links to many Long Island Resources, Surname Databases, and has Long Island Family and Local History Reference Books.

The site is comprehensive and has good links to other local genealogy sites...it is a good place for exploring the highways and byways of internet genealogy.

Finally, other places to start genealogy research include, town/county records and marriage records.

Hope this post starts you out on the world of genealogy research.

Stu