Many of these sites you may know of already, but if not you should try them.
To use, bookmark or save links as favorites, "right-click" on the links and open into another window or tab. This way you'll show the new URL in your web browser bar. Whenever using the internet, it is important to "bookmark" from the actual page you want to save by using your "right-click" on the body-text area of your screen. Any problems or broken links? Send me an email or IM me via AOL, cmrhere@aol.com.
Anyone doing research must visit CyndisList.com and SteveMorse.org -
http://www.cyndislist.com/ Cyndi does an excellent job of providing an enormous reference site to endless resources, and I know from some brief experience working with her on a few broken links that she works diligently to keep the information fresh and free.
For those with Jewish heritage or whose family originated in Eastern Europe, http://stevemorse.org provides some unique language translation keyboard tools and a variety of what he calls "One-Step" tools that he's created using existing web data. These tools make doing research much easier and less time-consuming. The efficiency is amazing, and for someone like me who has been involved with computers since the 1960s and enjoys data management as a hobby, his tools are inspiring. I see the information within a context that I would never have thought of on my own. He is truly a genius. See his speaking schedule on his website and make the time to meet him.
NEW - Dec 2011: 1940 CENSUS Tools On SteveMorse Website A new 1940 Census tool was added to the Census section of the One-Step website (http://stevemorse.org). It's called the Unified 1940 Census ED Finder (http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html). Here's some background so that you can appreciate why this tool is necessary and what it does.
As you know, the 1940 census when released on April 2 will not have a name index, and probably won't have a complete one for at least six months. In the interim, the only way to access the census is by ED. That means that researchers will have to determine the EDs for their locations. And the largest collection of tools for doing such is on the One-Step website.
The One-Step 1940 ED tools consists of the Large City ED Finder, the ED Street Finder, the ED Definitions tool, the 1930/1940 ED converter, the ED Map tool, and the Census Tracts tool. That's a daunting number of tools so, to make life simpler, a Tutorial Quiz was recently introduced (yes, another tool) that guides the user through a series of questions and recommends the appropriate tool based on his answers.
But the Tutorial Quiz takes time and understanding, and most researchers would like to just jump in and find their ED. That's what the Unified ED Finder allows them to do. They simply enter on the form as much of their location as they know. The tool then makes the decision as to which of the other One-Step tools is most appropriate, and takes the user directly to that tool with the desired ED (or perhaps a small number of possible EDs) displayed. And each ED so displayed contains a link to the census images for that ED, although the links will not be operational until April 2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.jewishgen.org, http://www.avotaynu.com, http://www.americanjewisharchives.org, and other Jewish history websites are very useful and give you more perspective on where our ancestors came from and why. If your Jewish relatives lived in or near the Milwaukee, WI area, you should visit the historical society's award winning site,
http://www.jewishmuseummilwaukee.org/. I have volunteered there doing image scanning, to help make more images available digitally for online research. Anyone with some time available should consider volunteering at museums, libraries or other historical societies. Besides helping to increase available information, it's very satisfying work and if done by detail-conscious people with care and an eye for genealogical significance, it is a great contribution on many levels.
For local Jewish Genealogical Societies, go to http://www.iajgs.org. On the home page, left side is a button called "member societies." The JGSs are arranged by state.
I use my LINKS page as a HOME PAGE... It gives me a starting point for research when I sign on and have no idea where to begin my research that day. Yes, I know - I should use a To-Do Task List and my Genealogy Plan - but sometimes I like to freestyle and just visit one of these links, put in a word or name or location that has been on my mind, and see what pops up. I think we are often guided by the "Genealogy Force" which guides us in a direction we may not have gone on our own. If that works for you too, make this your home page and use it often to see which link best inspires you.
http://www.rootsweb.com Sadly, their email newsletter is gone and Rootsweb has been absorbed into the ever-growing Ancestry.com site. Try their surname-related email and message lists at: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ to hook up with others. I have reconnected with not-too-distant cousins I hadn't seen since childhood and with several others doing research on our common family lines. www.familytreemaker.com now is Ancestry.com based also, but I use their software and the auto-searching leaf system has saved me hundreds of research clicks and countless hours of time. Everyone has their own preference for programs. I now have approximately 13,000+ people in my database and thousands of media files to manage. I miss a favorite feature that went away, of the book that writes itself, offline, but the other features make up for it. It can be confusing to use for some, but the tutorials help a lot.
Along with many formerly free or modestly priced genealogy sites, www.ancestry.com absorbed www.myfamily.com and www.genealogy.com whose tutorials were great. Rootsweb and these sites can also be searched from the Family Treemaker program. If you need to choose between memberships, Ancestry.com has become the holder of the most material now and you bump into it everywhere now. The time it saves and the access it provides versus offline resources is priceless, but the membership can be beyond the means for some.
http://www.genealogylinks.net is composed of over 50,000? links to online censuses, cemeteries, ships passenger lists, military records and other useful genealogy sites. (it was 30k when I added the link several years ago, so it has grown!) There is emphasis on several countries that many North American RUTHERFORD families came from, such as Ireland and the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
http://all-genealogysites.com/ is another multi-subject links page to bookmark. It calls itself the "All-Genealogy Sites, Genealogy Directory." I doubt anyone can truthfully claim that title, but it's helpful to have another list of lists to broaden my knowledge base of websites.
This links to the LDS Family History Library Catalog on FamilySearch.com which will lead you to many Rutherford resources that are available to study. The help pages there will explain how to use the information. When I first listed it, the count was 123 Rutherford related collections available on microfilm or other media at the LDS library. Don't pass over those with titles not including "Rutherford". They are often quite interesting and could provide a family link you'd never have considered researching before.
Obituaries: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries.asp This site is one not yet owned by Ancestry.com, (ignoring the banner ads), and is very interesting. It not only has obituaries, but deals with grieving in general. Sometimes doing genealogical research brings up those nagging emotions we thought were in the past. This site may help you deal with them in a positive way.
Here's a link to the WikiPedia page of Rutherford Facts. It's another great jumping-off point for learning more about some Rutherford people and places. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford Don't lose track of important U.S. Federal or State Government, Association &/or Historical Resources:
www.altavista.com <--- My favorite search engine. Try it... http://www.bing.com/maps <--- My favorite Map site. The following may help you locate and obtain UK (England & Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland) Birth, Marriage or Death Certificates, for a fee: http://www.bmd-certificates.co.uk Note: I do not sponsor nor receive sponsorship from any companies or people whose links are mentioned on my website.
One of several interesting "grave sites" to study is www.gravestonestudies.org - which anyone who thinks they know the best or safest methods of cleaning up a cemetery and especially very old grave markers must study. They also hold annual conferences and a lending library for about 1,000 books related to this research.
www.google.com/options/ is part of the popular Google search engine that has some interesting specialty search options. One I especially enjoy is the IMAGE SEARCH. Use your SURNAME as a search word and see pictures of towns, homes, important people from the past, posted photos of the present and some unusual pictures you may want to add to your family history file. This particular links gets you to the many "Options" available in the easiest possible way.
In general, I prefer to use www.altavista.com as my search engine of choice. It is now owned by Yahoo but still seems better than the Google's algorithyms, which don't seem to produce the results that I expect for the search terms I use. AltaVista does.
http://worldcat.org Ever wonder whether a particular book is in a library near you so you can go and do hands-on research or if possible take it home to read? This is a great site to do many things... such as
1.) Get all citation information for old research you may have transcribed without properly noting all of it 2.) Search for a specific publication or edition and what libraries currently list it in their card catalog. Then you can contact the library for availability or to reserve the book for research. 3.) They also have some links to search for commerce sites to buy the book.
