Check Out These Internet Sites

Genealogists want to know: “How can I begin using the Internet to help me do genealogy?” “Where can I find genealogy information on the Internet?”

These questions are repeated daily as more and more genealogists launch into this new method of family history searching.

Today it’s almost a rule that anybody who is anybody in genealogy has a Web site, an address on the Internet highway, a virtual place to visit. (“Virtual place” is an Internet term and not a real place, where you can go and visit in cyberspace - another computer term.)

Web sites or home pages are found for most every genealogy magazine, companies dealing with genealogy products, genealogy organizations and societies, and hundreds of professional and private genealogists. They’re all eager for you to visit to learn more about what they offer.

Here are a few basic sites (it would take pages to list them all):

Everton Publishers - http://www.everton.com

Ancestry company - http://www.ancestry.com

American Genealogical Lending Library - http://www.agll.com

Ancestors TV series - http://www.kbyu.edu/ancestors.html

U.S. National Archives - http://www.nara.gov

National Genealogical Society - http://www.genealogy.org/ngs/

USGENWEB is a national project in progress that will help all genealogists. When completed, a researcher will type in the county and state of interest and be taken to that site to learn what local resources are online. To simplify that explanation, imagine needing help or information on Albany County, N.Y.

With a few keystrokes, you can visit its Web site or home page and find a list of resources and researchers. These resources may consist of actual vital records or U.S. federal censuses. All of this information can be accessed from your desk via your computer while you are comfy in your pajamas.

Here are a few specialized genealogy sites I have discovered:

Works Projects Administration (WPA) Life Histories Project. Its address is: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/

Learn about deciphering old handwriting: http://www.firstct.com/fv/oldhand/ hmtl

How about subscribing to a weekly genealogy journal: Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter: http://www.rootscomputing.com

To reach Spokane resident Bette Topp’s home page type: http://cet.com/ toppline/welcome.html

To reach the home page of Carolyn Weidner of Spokane and find out about your New York ancestors type: http://www.cet.com/weidnerc/

Family Chronicle, a new magazine: http://www.familychronicle.com/magazine/

The National Genealogical Society offers home study courses, a journal and a newsletter for members, and sponsors an annual conference.

Using the Internet to learn more about these companies, products and services can save time and money and allows you instant information. Sure, you could learn about them via telephone, regular mail or by asking somebody, but in this age of wanting and needing to know now, using the Internet for genealogy can be a very positive thing.

, DataTimes MEMO: Donna Potter Phillips welcomes letters from readers. Write to her at The Spokesman-Review, Features Department, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. For a response, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Donna Potter Phillips The Spokesman-Review