Best Continental European Genealogy Websites

Whether your ancestors lived in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands or Russia, these websites can help you learn more about your mainland European roots.

ArkivDigital $

Browse some 48 million Swedish historical documents, including all-important church records plus court records and estate inventories, in full color at this subscription site (about $116 for six months).

Explore Danish censuses from 1787 on, emigration records on nearly 400,000 Danes who departed from Copenhagen or via Hamburg (1869 to 1908) and probate records from selected countries – all without spending a krone.

Already bookmarked by Norwegian researchers for its online censuses, probate records and tax lists, this free website from the National Archives of Norway is adding parish records – the most important tool for tracing Scandinavian families.

The website for this organization (formerly the Federation of East European Family History Societies) is a great place to begin researching ancestors ranging from Russia in the east to Switzerland in the west. Start with the resources behind the clickable map of the region, then check out the map library, news feed and more.

This site, dedicated to researching Americans’ most common ancestry group, excels in how-tos but also serves as a portal to passenger lists, German directories vital records and more.

Institute of Migration $

Find your Finnish emigrant ancestors in this collection of 318,000 passenger-list records, 261,000 passport records and other resources – even 12,000 old photos. Searching here is free, but you’ll need to pay about $27 a year to see your full results.

With its getting-started guide, maps, helpful links and back issues of the Gen Dobry! e-zine, this website will jump-start your quest for relatives not only from present-day Poland but all of what was historically part of the Polish Commonwealth.

Now available in English, this successor to the Genlias collection of civil registration records is worth digging into for its 86.5 million records – your key to tracing ancestors in the Netherlands.

See more of the 101 best genealogy websites of 2014:

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