101 genealogy websites worth checking out

040316 ROSWELL, GA: Names and dates line the voluminous records at the Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Center, where people come to research their family's genealogy. Family History Center at 500 Norcross Street in Roswell. For Helen Cauley feature on Geneaology - Family Trees. (Parker C. Smith/Special)

Credit: Special

Credit: Special

040316 ROSWELL, GA: Names and dates line the voluminous records at the Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Center, where people come to research their family's genealogy. Family History Center at 500 Norcross Street in Roswell. For Helen Cauley feature on Geneaology - Family Trees. (Parker C. Smith/Special)

Family Tree Magazine’s annual “101 Best Genealogy Websites” list is in the July/August issue, available now.

The list is made up of well-known sites, such as Ancestry.com, FamlySearch.org and Genealogical.com, as well as many that are new or more obscure. Included are those you have to pay to access or go through your local public library to use, but also many that are free. I like to scour the list for websites that many have never heard of. Here are some:

  • Tribalpages.com. It’s not about Native Americans. It’s a place to build a tree and share. For a basic tree, there’s no charge. If you add photos and notes, there is a fee.
  • AccessGenealogy.com. This site is said to be strong on Native American research, and it advertises having the largest amount of free materials for U.S. genealogy.
  • Castlegarden.org. Castle Garden is the immigration port that preceded Ellis Island.
  • Digitalcollections.nypl.org. The New York Public Library’s Digital Collection is highlighted.
  • Interment.net says it contains 25 million cemetery records.

Some of the 21 sites not included on previous lists are CoraWeb.com.au for Australian research; RootsChat.com, the U.K.’s busiest genealogy forum; and rootsIreland.ie, which isn’t free, but has a huge amount of Irish records. There are lots more, of course. If you are still homebound, this would be a great list to go through. See familytreemagazine.com, or check if your local library has a copy.

Allied Invasion of Sicily is lecture topic

Chris Lewis of the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning will speak at noon, July 9, at the Georgia Archives virtual Lunch and Learn. His topic will be “The Allied Invasion of Sicily in 1943.” It’s free. To join via MicrosoftTeams or watch via YouTube, check GeorgiaArchives.org or call 678-364-3710.

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries

County boundaries have shifted over the years and that affects where we will find the records for our ancestors who might not have moved at all. See the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries at the Newberry Library website publications.newberry.org/ahcbp. It’s been upgraded, so if you’ve checked it out before, check again.

Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P.O. Box 901, Decatur, Ga., 30031 or www.kenthomasongenealogy.com.