Notes on Genealogy

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The practice of genealogy has changed quite a bit in the face of the online revolution and the publication of digital collections. To quote a phrase that I came across somewhere, it is "not your grandmother's genealogy hobby" any more. For example, instead of visiting a lot of cemeteries to try and find ancestral graves (and it is no easy matter finding a specific grave in a cemetery), now, in many cases, you can check an online database like Find A Grave, which is always adding more records to its database. The online access to records has made genealogy much easier. Genealogy has become a great example of a large-scale, user-participation project (although not carried out on a single website).

Remember that when its comes to genealogical information, the digital tools for that information are not foolproof. Sometimes contributors make mistakes; sometimes the resource itself (for example the 1920 US census) has errors; sometimes you've got to visit a site, a courthouse, a graveyard, a local museum; but the online resources help prepare for your site visits. And always cite your sources for your information.

Here are some online genealogy sites. Let me know of others.

Here are some more genealogy resources.

Here are some genealogy resources available on Facebook.