Family Tree Magazine: Best state websites for 2010

Location, location, location! A new best-of list hits the newsstand and cyberspace, covering every US state from Alabama to Wyoming.

Family Tree Magazine has published its 2010 list of best US state sites for genealogy, with 75 sites and at least one from every state.

There are vital records, archives, museums, state encyclopedias, databases, historic newspapers, state libraries, memory projects, digital libraries, special collections, county clerk databases, historical societies, obituary indexes, genealogical societies, military sites, public health sites and more.

State-level government resources offer vital records, wills and probate records, court records, military records; early land records, legislative and other government records; records of orphanages, asylums, prisons and other state institutions; state censuses, and naturalization records, while non-governmental resources may include old newspapers, city directories, biographies, historical maps and photos and oral histories. 

Click the link above to access each of the sites and see what you can find.

Click to your roots from Alabama to Wyoming on these 75 stellar state-focused websites. In genealogy, as in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. Finding where your ancestors lived is the first step in identifying records about them. Fortunately, the internet-ization of America also has swept over the nation’s state archives, historical and genealogical societies, libraries, vital-records offices and other keepers of genealogical gold. Many of the resources that once gathered dust in various statewide repositories now can be accessed without changing your own location—in front of your computer, that is.

Montreal: Quebec property records, Oct. 20

Many special interest groups, genealogy societies and historical societies have already realized that property and land records are valuable documents. Some of these groups are involved in major projects, such as using such records to reconstruct Eastern European villages.

Closer to home for many Tracing the Tribe readers, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal, in association with the Jewish Public Library, will present "Uncovering Mysteries with Property Records - Hidden Landscapes of Quebec," at the next meeting on Tuesday, October 20.

The presenters will be Gary Shroder and Sharon Callaghan of the Quebec Family History Society (QFHS).

Callaghan has written various articles for genealogical and historical societies across Canada, while Schroder, who has served as president of the QFHS since 1995, is also a member of the Special Advisory Board of Library and Archives Canada.

The meeting begins at 7.30pm in the Gelber Conference Centre, 5151 Cote Ste-Catherine/1 Carré Cummings.

The JGS of Montreal also holds Sunday morning Family Tree Workshops.