Genealogy research will require you to invest a lot of time. This doesn’t always mean that you have to invest a lot of money in order to work on your family tree! There are several genealogy websites that you can use for free. Here are five free genealogy websites that a frugal genealogist will want to check out.
FamilySearch is one of the most popular genealogy websites. This is a non-profit website that is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All genealogists are welcome to use the resources on FamilySearch no matter what their personal religious beliefs happen to be. The website has an easy to use search engine, tons of records, and plenty of videos that can help you to learn more about different aspects of genealogy.
MyHeritage is another great choice for frugal genealogists. This website was founded in 2005 in Bnei Atarot, which is near Tel Aviv, Israel. You can sign up for a membership for free. The website has an excellent search engine which is fast and easy to use (and accessible even if you don’t become a member). MyHeritage has some fun features, too. One of them is called “Celebrity Collage”, which will show you several celebrities that you physically resemble.
The National Archives website is where to go if you want to search through the data from the United States 1940 Census. It is an official website of the United States government, and you can access it for free. It is being offered as a partnership between the National Archives and Records Administration and Archives.com (a private company that is hosting the website). If you are new to this type of genealogy research, you might want to start with their “Getting Started” page. It has a lot of good advice!
Mocavo is a start up company that raised $4 million dollars in May of 2012. The website was created by Cliff Shaw, and has a great team behind it. You can use this website for free, (but you will get access to more things if you purchase a membership). The free stuff includes: a search index of more than 6 billion names, advanced Social Security Death Index search, Geni Family Tree import, and Public Document Upload Capability.
Find A Grave has millions of cemetery records that you can search through for free. This is the website to come to if you are looking for a photograph of the gravestone of your ancestor or relative. Perhaps another genealogist added an image of it for you! Are you a genealogist who enjoys visiting cemeteries? Find A Grave does take submissions of photos of gravestones. Check out their website for full details.
Image by 401(K)2012 on Flickr