Starting Points on the Internet

Software

Genealogy software can help keep us motivated, with the ability to print nice charts and look up information quickly. Most importantly, our capability to share information is increased. However, most people would probably not like to spend money on something when they're not sure about a committment. So a good way to get started at saving genealogy data on a computer is to use a freeware or shareware product. Most important is that the program be able to export your data as a GEDCOM file. That way you're never stuck with a program because you can't move your data to a new program.

• LifeLines can produce great charts. Free. Opensource. It runs on Unix systems and recently under MS Windows. The entry of data is mostly freeform and requires you to learn a bit about the GEDCOM format. Access to a PostScript printer is a plus.
• Brother's Keeper has a simple, sometimes too simple, user interface. Limits on the lengths of some text information can be frustrating. It can produce charts, but the text reports don't wrap long lines which can make them unsightly when printed.
• more to be added...

Here are some sites serving up software:

• Genealogy software via FTP from PSU

Some more advanced options:

• Peer to Peer sharing of genealogy data

Making Connections...

Here are some major genealogy sites

• National Genealogy Society
• PSU Genealogy home page
• USGenWeb Links to States, coordinating genealogical efforts around the country
• RSL with over 898,000 unique surnames, RAND institution's ROOTS-L Surname List. This is a contribution based surname list that points you to e-mail addresses, U.S. mail addresses, and for some, web addresses of genealogists who say they're working on particular surnames. I maintain a record of my names of interest with them. Now there's a form at the web site for submitting your surnames of interest. Don't hesitate because you think you don't have enough info. Put up what you know, and you may get contacted by people working on the same names.
• RootsWeb, making data available online
• GED2html makes it easy to generate web pages that make your family tree available on-line. However, it is up to you to set up links or spread the word so that others might set up links pointing to your data. Once search engines latch on to your site, you may start getting a few e-mails.

  The special index of such pages, formerly known as Gendex, has been discontinued.

• Genealogy research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
• Internet Genealogy Directory has worldwide info, including ship information.
• The Family History Show has a list of quality (that's what I was told in a mail message) sites indexed by surname. Mine is there under Toadvine, and possibly a few other names.
• USGenWeb Census Project

Surname sites

• The Sims Site
• Sims, Simms, etc. GEDCOM collection
• Al Simms' site: Al Simms has the equivalent of a book about Simms ancestry on-line.
• Chenoweth
• Ingersoll, by Rick Ingersoll
• LeCompte
• Larimer Researchers
• Lorimor and other spellings
• McConnaughy and other McCon* spellings
• McConaughey Society
• Snyder
• Snyder by Bob

Commercial Sites

There is some original source material made available on the web by companies that are behind genealogy software. The most common original data seems to be the Social Security Death Index.

Social Security Death Index at:
• Ancestry.com, and
• FamilyTreeMaker.com

Book Stores

• Family Line Genealogy Publications
• Westland Publications
• Iberian Publishing
• Family Papers
• S-K Publications has a GEDCOM exchange program

Mail bouncing when replying?

• Yahoo People Search
• WhoWhere