There are a plethora of genealogy related websites out there, and you cannot possibly test out all of them yourself. Sometimes, it’s nice to get an expert opinion about which sites are good, which are only okay, and which are so bad that they should be avoided completely. Family Tree Magazine came up with a list of their picks for the top 101 genealogy websites.
Family Tree Magazine was founded in 1999. It is America’s #1 family history magazine. It covers a variety of topics that would be of interest to genealogists, from tips for genealogy research, to ideas for family reunions. You can find articles about historical travel, memoirs, ethnic heritage, and even scrapbooking from this magazine. They also have a Facebook page where you can go to find more information, and to interact with other genealogists who also use the magazine as a resource.
I would consider Family Tree Magazine to be an expert on genealogy resources. This year, they have selected a “theme” of sorts that guided their selection process when deciding on the 101 Best Websites for 2010. They noted the “lint in our wallets”, and decided to point out the best free genealogy websites.
Of course, this required them to define what they meant by “free”. Some websites will give people a temporary free trial, but will eventually require a person to use their credit card to pay for access. Other websites might have some of their information for free, but will then ask for money if you want them to send you a paper copy of a record or document. Eventually, they decided that “free” would mean that a website’s primary function or content was free.
Instead of listing all 101 websites in one gigantic list, they broke them down into several different categories. Some categories are focused on a specific region or ethnicity, such as “Best for Great Britain and Ireland”, “Best Canadian Resources”, or “Best Sites for African – American Roots”. There is a grouping of the “Best Big Genealogy Sites” that includes well recognized names like BYU Family History Archives, and FamilySearch. You can also check out the “Best Social Networking Sites”, the “Best High-Tech Tools” and much more.
Each website that has been selected as part of the Best has a brief, but detailed, description about it. This is very helpful if you have not heard of a particular website before. The nice people at Family Tree Magazine have also linked directly to each of the websites on the list, so genealogists will have an easy time finding the ones that interest them.
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