Genealogy websites: These can be used for your family research or to learn more about any individual. Use these sites to research individuals who lived in other parts of the country or world.
- Ancestry.com is the world's largest genealogy website, and is a for-profit company. A limited number of records are available for free, however there are many ways to access the full site outside of purchasing a full membership:
- Through the Library of Virginia, all Virginians have free access to select Virginia resources in Ancestry.com, available from anywhere in the state
- Most public libraries offer on-site access to Ancestry Library Edition, which offers full access to genealogical content but not full site features
- Access to Ancestry.com is available via UVA Library; from anywhere for UVA affiliates and on-site for community patrons
- FamilySearch.com is another popular genealogy website, and is a not-for-profit organization which is part of the LDS Church. FamilySearch is free to use.
- Ancestry vs FamilySearch: outside of the paid versus free accounts, there are major differences in each site:
- Each site offers access to different records
- In Ancestry, your family tree is private; in FamilySearch your family tree can be edited by any other user
- Most researchers use both
- You can use Ancestry and FamilySearch together
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Cyndi's List (http://www.cyndislist.com) is a free database created by Cyndi Howells, Cyndi's List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet is the original and most comprehensive index to websites pertaining to genealogy. It is updated daily.
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HeritageQuest: a subset of research materials from Ancestry.com available by subscription for tracing family history and American culture that contains over 25,000 family records and local histories. This collection assembles every extant U.S. federal census, banking and military records (including the Freedman's Bank and Revolutionary War Pensions), genealogies, primary source materials, and genealogical and local history serials. UVA does not subscribe to this database, but local residents and students can access it through the Jefferson Madison Regional Library. More information about database access and signing up for a library card can be found on their website: jmrl.org.