Best State Genealogy Websites of 2015

 Find ancestors across the country with these US state genealogy resources.

CyberDrive Illinois

The guide to the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) system will tell you where to look for elusive records. But first check the databases here for vital records, military records and land sales.

Digital Library of Georgia

Y’all need to try the one-click search of a million digital objects in more than 200 collections from 60 institutions and 100 government agencies. A growing digital newspaper archive adds to offerings including colonial wills, Confederate records and the online New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Florida Memory Project

Photos, audio and even video complement the more than 300,000 digitized records online here. Highlights include Spanish land grants, Confederate pension applications, World War I service cards and Work Projects Administration (WPA) records.

Check the in-progress database of arrivals through the port of Boston (1848-1891), and databases of Massachusetts birth, marriage and death records (1841-1910). Still searching? Helpful how-tos will lead you through your next steps.

Simply type an ancestor’s name into the PeopleFinder to get started searching the online resources here, which include state censuses, vital records and veterans’ burials.

Missouri Digital Heritage

Access more than 9 million records with a search at this Show Me State website. Military records, naturalization documents, land patents, birth and death records, photographs and old newspapers, all contributed by institutions across the state, are among the attractions here.

Portal to Texas History

Another site offering global searching of a state’s worth of sources, this University of North Texas gateway includes maps, yearbooks and a growing collection of Lone Star State newspapers.

Seeking Michigan

Click the Advanced Search button to unlock searches of state censuses, death certificates, Civil War records, land records and even lighthouse histories.

Virginia Memory

WPA drawings of historic houses are among the latest additions to this collection that includes family Bibles, “cohabitation registers” of former slaves, Revolutionary War land bounties and Civil War pension rolls and disability applications.

Washington State Digital Archives

Search nearly 53 million records at this standout state site, ranging from cemeteries to censuses, naturalization records to newspapers.

Wisconsin Historical Society

Now sporting a new look, this site still features more than 3 million records including birth, death and marriage record indexes, newspaper clippings, property records and photos.

 

See more of the 101 best genealogy websites of 2015:

• Best Virtual Library Websites
• Best Big Genealogy Websites
• Best Historical Newspaper Websites
• Best Large-Database Genealogy Websites
• Best Websites for Finding African-American Ancestry
• Best Military Genealogy Websites
• Best Family Tree Websites
  
• Best Geographical Genealogy Websites
• Best Genealogy Tech Tools
• Best Websites for Vital Records
• Best Immigrant Genealogy Websites
• Best Canadian Genealogy Websites
• Best Continental European Genealogy Websites
• Best Social Media Websites for Genealogy
• Best Genealogy Blogs

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