There’s no reason anyone should struggle with genealogy issues anymore. I recently decided to put one of my New Year’s Resolutions into practice and take a genealogy course. I jumped on Google, and as frugal as I am typed “free genealogy courses” into the search window. You wouldn’t believe how many courses I found, many of them taught by college professors and professional genealogists! I couldn’t believe that such quality instruction was for free, so I started investigating! Lo and behold, they deliver what they advertise. I found so many that I thought I had to share the ones I thought best with you. It would really be a shame not to take advantage of these excellent free genealogy resources.

It is no surprise that the LDS-run Brigham Young University offers a variety of genealogy courses. The courses are courtesy of their Independent Study department, a non-profit branch of the school. The study department’s courses range from beginning genealogy to courses specializing in individual record types (military, vital, and family records), and also regional and ethnic focused courses such as French and German research. The University has its own Center for Family History and Genealogy which hosts links to a number of online tutorials and helpful websites.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology doesn’t offer genealogy-specific courses, but some such as American History to 1865, The Places of Migration in United States History, and the Economic History of Work and Family can be very useful to family historians.

Similarly, Yale University offers genealogy-relevant courses covering topics such as; The American Revolution,  African American History: From Emancipation to Present, and European Civilization, 1648-1945 can all be of immense value to genealogical researchers. The courses are offered through the Yale Open Courses program, which provides materials and lectures from variousYaleCollege courses to anyone with a computer and internet access for free.

There is a group known as Coursera which is a conglomerate of 62 Universities which offers a huge amount of course that are of interest to genealogists. Many of the courses are led by qualified instructors that are scheduled to begin and end at specific times, so you’ll have to sign it on time to “attend” them. There is plenty of pre-recorded material however, and many of the courses are graded and offer certification. Some of the genealogy related courses on offer are Immigration and US Citizenship, Useful Genetics, Women and The Civil Rights Movement, and The Camera Never Lies.

Another site that also offers excellent, high-calibre learning resources is Evidence Explained, developed by Elizabeth Shown Mills to assist researchers and historians of every kind. In the Quick Lessons section of the website you can find tutorials on a number of relevant topics such as; Census Instructions, Who Needs Instructions?, Chasing an Online Record into its Rabbit Hole, and What Constitutes Proof? All of the subjects are presented in tutorial form, so can be taken at your leisure.

At the Canvas Network website you will find a catalogue of free online courses that cover a number of topics. Many of them are of little use to the genealogist, but there are courses such as U.S. History: First Peoples to the Civil War and Reconstruction, and US History which may be of benefit to historical researchers.

There are definitely many additional free online learning opportunities out there, but I thought these were some of the highest quality. You can even tell your friends and family you’re taking a college course! Have a look for yourself at each of them, browse through the courses, and if you decide to take one, come back and tell us your thoughts and how you made out in our comments section!

For those with Polish ancestors, there is no better place to begin your research than the Polish Genealogical Society of America (PGSA). The society was founded in 1978 and is based in Chicago. They are completely dedicated to the preservation and sharing of Polish and Polish-American ancestral history, and in helping its members to apply that information in their research. If you are researching ancestors from the old Commonwealth of Poland, the society has a plethora of books, bulletins, newsletters, workshops, and a variety of printed information that can help. This is a genuine genealogical society that perpetuates a genealogical attitude of sharing resources, leads, and communication among members.

Although the society provides information to help with research, they hold no repositories of records other than the ones published in their own books and periodicals, and in the databases of their members. The staff are all volunteers who are not able to research for you, but are only too happy to assist with pointing you in the right direction or pairing you with someone who can. Keep in mind that the society has no permanent address; they use the main offices of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America as their mailing address and telephone contact point. There are PGSA volunteers available one day per week to answer phone calls and enquiries. The best way to contact them is via post or email.

The Rodziny

The Rodziny is the quarterly publication produced by the PGSA. It provides a wealth of information designed to help those researching their Polish ancestors. There is an extensive amount of material covered in the publication, but its emphasis is on items not usually available to researchers and well written and researched articles. Some of those items include:

• Translations of rare materials by European experts
• An information Exchange where members can post inquiries and have them answered for free by other members or volunteers
• Book reviews on important polish genealogical publications and tips on how to get the most out of them
• Articles on specific Polish research related subjects written by professional and expert amateur genealogists

Additionally the society hosts translated historical documents on their website. One section I found most interesting and could have spent hours reading was the one regarding Polish life in the late 1800’s. There is also a searchable database of Polish troops who served in France during WWI and many links to other databases and important resources for Polish genealogical research.

The PGSA also has an online store which is used to support the efforts of the volunteers. Some of what you can purchase online from them is:

• Books and CD’s
• Research Services
• Obituary Indexes
• Military Record Indexes
• Insurance Records Index
• Instructions on Requesting Polish Records From Specific Towns

The web page of the PGSA is well maintained and updated on a regular basis. You can find information on events, workshops, research advice and instruction, Polish history, heraldry, Polish culture, and there are even some Polish songs if you’re feeling especially celebratory! The PSGA is closely affiliated with The Polish Museum of America Library, also in Chicago, which houses over 60,000 books of Polish interest, including genealogical research and reference materials. If you’d like to join the PSGA, you can fill out their online membership application.

One of the most important free genealogy resources – the Irish National Archives – has recently updated and improved their website. The improvements have made the site a genealogists dream. I was really excited to visit it and noticed that it is especially designed to make genealogy research faster, easier, and more comprehensive. The new layout is exceptionally clear and concise, navigation is painless, and there are especially written guides to help researchers with their expanded records collections and genealogy research in general. If you have Irish ancestors, your research can be now taken to another level.

Some of the new features are the document of the Month, and an entire section on Women’s History and Transportation resources. The women’s history section consists of two major databases – the Directory of Sources for Women’s History inIreland, and Women in Twentieth centuryIreland. They are accompanied by the Ireland-Australia database, all of which are searchable online. In addition they have provided a link to the Chief Secretary’s Office Registered Papers website which contains records for the years 1818-1822. The records contain a variety of information on people and places inIrelandfor the years listed with plans to extend the collection up until 1852.

Irish Archives Online Catalogue 

The real heart of the new website is their updated online catalogue. An online catalogue is the nucleus of any archival website, as even if entries are limited to scraps of information such as descriptions and titles of records, users can search more widely and accurately. The search criteria for the catalogue have been expanded so that full text searches can be executed, and adjusted to just about any theme or category.

Most of the records are of the twentieth century, and though the website stipulates that many may be unsuitable for genealogy research, they have underestimated in my opinion the tenacity of genealogists! We don’t discard any type of records, and as an experiment I did a search of my surname. Lo and behold, I found several will papers and a dispute with the early Irish Department of Finance with one of my ancestors over land annuities. My advice would be to ignore the warning and continue to search everything as a good ancestor detective does!

Record Holdings of the Irish Archives 

The Irish National Archives actually hold a wealth of records that may prove valuable to your ancestors search. If you are looking to find Irish ancestors, the archives are a great place to start. The departmental records they manage are a supreme source on their own.

They include; Agricultural records, Records of the Attorney General’s Office, Department of education records, Finance records, Social welfare records, Judicial records and more. The other governmental records amount to archives of early governmental agencies that existed in the nineteenth centuries and twentieth, but some go back as far as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There are also court and probate records maintained by the archives, some dating back to the fourteenth century.

Besides government records you will also find:

• ChurchofIrelandrecords
• Trade Union records
• Business records
• School records
• Hospital records
• Estate Records

Irish Census Records

Some of the most popular records held by the Irish National Archives and used by genealogists are the Census records from 1901 and 1911. These records are a valuable part of the Irish heritage, and are currently being digitized in conjunction with Library and Archives Canada.

The1901 and 1911 returns are organized by townland in rural areas or by street in cities. Every member of a household is listed according to their name, sex, sex, religion, marital status, occupation, and their relationship to the head of the household at the time. Also recorded are whether or not an individual could read and/or write, and if they spoke the Irish language. The 1911 census contains the same information with the important addition that married women needed to state how long they had been married, how many of their children were born alive, and how many were still living at the time of the census.

In addition to households, asylums, prisons, military barracks, hospitals, colleges, workhouses, and trade schools were all enumerated, so the chances of finding your Irish ancestor are accordingly increased. As a bonus, descriptions of houses are given in both census returns. The descriptions include the overall condition of the dwelling, the number of rooms it had, how many windows, and even the type of roof they had, all making for additional interesting genealogical data. These census reports are an excellent source for those seeking their Irish family, and serve as a principal source for understanding the Irish economic and social structure in the early twentieth century.

The Irish National Archives obviously appreciate the importance and the popularity of genealogy today. The valuable records they are making available online show their dedication to the promotion and preservation of Irish heritage and history. If you find information on your Irish ancestors in any of their valuable genealogical sources, make sure you record it in one of our Free Downloadable Genealogy Forms. Doing so will ensure your family history is preserved in an accurate and organized way that will benefit your relatives and other genealogists for years to come.

One of the ‘forgotten’ aspects of recent world history involves the Ethnic Cleansing of Eastern Europe by the Allies after World War 2.  Reports and numbers vary with regards to the numbers of people impacted by this horrific, involuntary expulsion.  Generally, it is believed that more than 10 million people were involved and as many as 4 million people were lost, killed, or died through the process of ethnic expulsion.

If your family is of East or West Prussian, Silesian, Pommeranian, Russian ethnic German or Polish ethnic German descent, and if they were living in what eventually became the Soviet Bloc, then they likely experienced some aspect of this Expulsion.

In an effort to share information regarding the Expulsions, the European Community has established a group intended to serve as a platform to enhance communication and interaction between European refugees, expellees and people who support their rightful aims.

You may learn more about this subject here:

• Ethnic Cleansing Discussion Groups
• Histories of the German Expulsions from the East
• Photo Galleries of the German Expulsions
• Blog Entries and Posting on Die Vertreibung (the Expulsion)

copyright 2010 Mark F. Rabideau – ManyRoads

This has been a long time coming, but finally, the first pages of Free Ancestry Records and Resources are online with more to come in the next few days!

We all know what it’s like, you buy a subscription to an ancestry website with the hope that you will find every document you need to prove your genealogy.  But a few hours or days into it, all you have is a pile of printouts that may or may not be proof positive of your ancestry.

I suspected there was a better way when I first started my own genealogy research.  I mean, really think about it for a minute and ask yourself, how did the subscription site get all those records?  Someone had to have found it, transcribed it, or scanned it and uploaded it to their digital database or website, therefore all of those ancestry records have to be free somewhere.

So I did a lot of digging into the depths of the Internet and spoke to professional genealogists.

Turns out, I was right…there are free ancestry records online!

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A while ago, I told you about Google News Timeline to help you with your genealogy research.  You can research specific events in history and all the related information in a timeline.  While the Google News Timeline is an excellent tool, sometimes you just have to go to the source itself.  Newspapers are valuable tools for filling in your family tree. Here’s how they help:

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Are you ready to meet your ancestors? My new free family tree research guide is about how to find your ancestors, where to look, who to ask, what records are available, and how to fill in your family tree template. Download Family Tree Help! The Basics of Tracing Family Genealogy to get step-by-step instructions on how to research your genealogy.

Once I finished with all those family tree templates, I got a ton of email asking me for advice on how to find ancestors, and where to research genealogy.

As I was answering those emails, I realized that there are lots of people out there who don’t know where to start and haven’t got the resources to find their ancestors. So I put it all together in this step-by-step guide for beginner genealogists.

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Often when genealogists are researching their family history they become interested in their family’s Coat of Arms. We’ve all seen the gorgeously varnished plaques emblazoned with colourful crests featuring lions, weapons and other medieval type decorations, and one can’t help but be drawn by their romantic allure. Coats of Arms are a means of identification used to verify official documents and ascertain ownership of property. The unique design painted on a family’s Coat of Arms identifies a particular family or individual, and can be very useful to genealogists researching their family history. Finding your family Coat of Arms on a document can lead you to as yet unidentified ancestors.

What are Coats of Arms?

Coats of arms were initially used to identify individuals who had a right to bear arms. Eventually these rights were transferred from generation to generation and finally became a means of identifying a family or clan, depending on the geographical location. Original designs were sometimes altered slightly to distinguish particular branches of a family, consequently increasing its genealogical worth.

What is Heraldry?

The study and identification of Coats of Arms is known as Heraldry. Family historians are often mesmerized by its splendour and charm, and possibly a bit by the promise of being part of an aristocratic blood line. The particular design of each heraldic symbol tells a story in itself, and can lead you to a deeper understanding and knowledge of your genealogical roots.

FREE Coats of Arms and Heraldry Resources

Following is a list of FREE Heraldry resources for the genealogist who wants to dig a little deeper into their family history. As with our list of the Top 40+ FREE Online Genealogy Websites, the same care has been taken to ensure these resources are absolutely free. If you want to order a plaque or other item decorated with your family crest, you will have to purchase it and pay a shipping fee, but the research oriented info and searches on these sites are absolutely FREE. Some even offer free downloads so that you can print off your family tree at home. Whether you’re interested in your Coat of Arms for genealogical or aesthetic reasons, here are our selected sites containing FREE Heraldry and Coats of Arms resources.

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