Morbid? Not really.  The site is Find A Grave where everybody who was anybody is buried.  There are hundreds of listings in Europe, USA and elsewhere, many with photos and some with potted biographies. You can also search 25 million grave records, and even search the Social Security death index. (David Henry)

The little-known Stolen Valor Act of 2005 addresses “the unauthorized wear, manufacture, sale or claim (either written or verbal) of any military decorations and medals. It is a federal misdemeanor offense, which carries a punishment of imprisonment for not more than 1 year and/or a fine.” If you know of somebody who wears the Medal of Honor (or other decoration), you can check at False Medal of Honor and call the FBI if the name is not on this list. (St. Petersburg Times)

I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when my family history research has so many different website resources to visit and keep track of. I’ll share with you a secret site where most of the links you are ever likely to need can be found on one single page. It’s called 1 Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse and it can take you directly to all the Ellis Island, Castle Garden and other ports for immigration records. There are multiple US, Canadian and British Census links, as well as links to Births, Deaths, DNA and many other information sources. (Smart Computing)

Researchers should keep their eyes open for the cooperative project between Microsoft and the British Library that aims to digitize 18^th century books and 18^th and 19^th century newspapers. Access will initially be via Microsoft’s Live Search site and later via the British Library website and will include a keyword search facility. Another digitizing effort combines the resources of Google and some of the world's other renowned libraries--Stanford, Harvard, and Michigan university libraries, the New York public library and the Bodleian library in Oxford. (Seann Alderking)

Keen researchers can learn a lot from Roots Television, a site dedicated to live videos of all kinds.  Choose a Channel or view the Program Guide to view the rich array of material available here. (Trev Wunderlin)

“Welcome to the internet home of the Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain. . . . . The “Royal Bastards” is a fifty-six year old hereditary society founded by some of the English-speaking world's foremost genealogical scholars.  Its purpose is to foster the highest standards of genealogy. Membership is open to individuals who can prove descent from a king of England, Scotland, Wales, Great Britain or the United Kingdom through an illegitimate child, grandchild or great-grandchild of the monarch.” (John Hallgren)

I’m very impressed with 1901 Census Online for England and Wales. You can quickly locate by name, then pay (by credit card) to get  “Road, street, town or village, number or name of house, Whether the house is inhabited or not, Name and surname of each person, Relation to Head of Family, Condition as to marriage, Age last birthday, Profession or occupation, Whether employed or not, Where born, Whether deaf and dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile or feeble-minded. Also crews of Vessels and residents of Institutions.” The fee covers multiple searches for seven days. You can also search 1841 through 1891 censuses, but not 1881. (David Henry)

The Making of America is a collaborative effort by Cornell University and the University of Michigan to digitize thousands of books and journals of the antebellum period and make them available on the Web. These scanned images might be of interest to genealogists, especially now that a search function has been added; it will get you to the actual page, but then you’ll have to read it to locate your key word. (Netsurfer Digest)

Grave locations of more than three million veterans and dependents buried in all national cemeteries and some state veterans cemeteries can now be found more easily since the VA has added maps of burial sections online that can be printed from home computers and at national cemetery kiosks. Visit the gravesite locator, enter a veteran's name, click on the "View Map" link and a map of the national cemetery is displayed, showing the section where the grave is located. (John Hallgren)

A Vision of Britain Through Time covers the period 1801 through 2001 and includes maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions. Start by entering a place name in the search box and you can drill down to detailed information, including census data, at the individual parish level. Then there are the intriguing buttons called Expert Search and Travellers Tales, “. . .the largest collection of historical British travel writing on the web.” (David Henry)

If your ancestors arrived here after 1892, chances are they arrived through Ellis Island, whose immigrant lists are easily accessible. Before that they were processed through Castle Garden, and you can now access – for free – a massive database of some ten million immigrants from 1830 through 1892. (John Hallgren)

There’s a very rich portal site called the Irish Abroad—check the Site Directory. If you’ve a touch of the Irish in you, hover over the Roots tab and you’ll find the next level listing such promising prospects as Irish Family Names, Irish Family Register (track them down!), and Passenger Lists. Click the Irish Pubs and Bars tab to enjoy a section on Pub Culture and a Global Directory of Irish Pubs (six listed in Tampa!). (Netsurfer Digest)

George Morgan & Drew Smith call themselves The Genealogy Guys. They do a weekly 30-minute podcast on current genealogy topics. Started in Sept. 2005, there are now several shows one can listen to and even add your comments to. (Trev Wunderlin)
 
    A brand-new tool (Jan 2006) for those with British ancestry offers some intriguing visual insights into the changing distribution of names between 1880 and 1998, plus a mass of related statistical information whose significance escapes me pending further study. The Surname Profiler Project also seems to provide similar summarized information for other English-speaking countries, including the United States. (Guardian Weekly)

Do you think you may have ancestors in England in medieval times?  If so, you need to see the latest Genealogy Gems from the Allen County Public Library!  Thus:
1. On our web site, www.rootsweb.com/~ilbgsrim  
2. Click the button for ACPL Genealogy Gems
3. Then click the word "HERE" in red under Genealogical Gems
4. Then click the word "GO" next to "SPECIAL - New Medieval Sources"  (John Hallgren)

(Also check two years of Genealogical Gems at this site – Ed.)

"Wills from 1384 to 1858 (free search, pay for downloads) -- Go."  Doesn't it get your blood racing, that is, provided you are researching your English ancestry? Yes, it's one of the powerful features now available from the British National Archives. Even if you don't have any English ancestry, you still might be curious to browse for free a bunch of wills of royalty and other famous personages, like Pepys, Byron and Nelson. There's also lots of useful background in the section on Migration Histories, with subheads of Caribbean, Jewish, Irish and South Asian. And you can search through the complete 1901 British census, too. (Netsurfer Digest)

www.genealogyinc.com/ is a comprehensive resource that has maps showing county formations in the United States, also links to old diseases, and other information. (Trevetta Wunderlin)

Do you have a family crest or coat of arms? To get started on this esoteric topic, visit Family Crests, where they will research your name and then offer you authentic, stunning looking prints, plaques, and downloads. You can order them on embroidery, stationery, jewelry and sadly also on mugs, steins, baseball caps, T-shirts, mouse pads and the like. The Library is a mine of historical information about heraldry, mottos, language, and over 100,000 surnames -- German, Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh -- and for me, a fascinating discussion of the Domesday Book. (Smart Computing)

Here is another neat tool for you - a gallery of ancestral photos submitted by researchers and indexed by name at Ancient Faces.  For example, under H, I found 65 names with photos. (By 4/03, this has grown to 336).  Special collections include Military, School Days, Family Homes, Mystery Photos, Transportation and Weddings and Anniversaries.  Plus you can find old Recipes and Stories that have been handed down. (Recycled)

The 1901 Census database for England and Wales is now online, with 32,000,000 people records and 6,000,000 property records. You can search the indexes for free then pay to access detailed information and images. Searches can be by name, address, place, institution or vessel and you can discover a person's address, age, occupation, where born, relationships and who they lived with. It's probably a good idea to take the two explanatory Tours first. (Union Jack)

"RANDOM ACTS OF GENEALOGICAL KINDNESS: Over four thousand RAOGK volunteers have agreed to do a genealogical research task at least once per month in their local area.  It's people helping people, by going to local courthouses, photographing
tombstones, etc." (Tourbus)

      A remarkable twenty-year individual effort by Rob Salzman has led to e-family tree. It contains over 700,000 names, more or less linked to European royalty. The site name is a misnomer since it doesn't show family trees, only the names and the minimum of data for each; the author warns the entries have not been checked. Still, genealogy researchers can't afford to ignore even the most unlikely sounding resource, you never can tell what might turn up. (Netsurfer Digest)

It's perhaps a long shot, but those whose family name might have ancient origins in England might do well to take a look at The Domesday Book Online. "Landowners" contains brief notes on about 200 of the most well-known landholders at the time. Compiled in 1086 for William the Conqueror for tax purposes, the Book is a record of every property in the kingdom together with its valuation; apparently the entire kingdom was worth £73,000 a year!  Don't miss the Timeline of world events in the eleventh century. (Union Jack)

Anyone interested in the history of Florida should pay a visit to the Florida Memory Project, part of the Florida State Archives.  It has a Florida Photographic Collection of over 90,000 images and a nice Timeline, very helpful as a historical overview from 1586, when Drake attacked St. Augustine, to today. It's also helpful to genealogists because of its many collections of interesting original documents.  (Tampa PC Users Group)

The latest blockbuster government effort that helps genealogists is at Access to Archival Databases. "It gives you (1) Online access to a selection of nearly 50 million historic electronic records created by more than 20 federal agencies on a wide range of topics; (2) the ability to search for records with the specific information that you seek; (3) important contextual information to help you understand the records better, including code lists, explanatory notes from NARA archivists, and for some series or files in AAD related documents."  (St Petersburg Times)

Florida Cemetery Records  is a site containing records of the inscriptions on gravestones throughout the state, as recorded by many genealogy volunteers.  It sure beats wandering around and getting down on your hands and knees to peer at them yourself.  Go up one level to find records for cemeteries in other states and at the National Cemetery as well as learn How to Find a Lost Grave and How to Submit a Transcription. (GTBPCUG)

David Rumsey is a collector of old maps and has placed nearly 6500 of them online.  They are high resolution maps and the site allows you to magnify them without loss of clarity.  They are mainly old American maps, covering individual states and counties, but there are also globes and atlases, guide book covers and newspaper pages.  Now Rumsey is working with the Library of Congress in hopes of putting even more of his 150,000 maps online.  (Netsurfer Digest)

"Locating historical maps of the UK to facilitate your research does not mean always having to make a trip to a library or archive. Old maps at http://www.old-maps.co.uk provide an excellent searchable online database of maps. You can enter a place name, address, or grid coordinates to be searched. The resultant map display will include the name, county, date of the map and its grid coordinates. You can move your frame of reference north, south, east or west, zoom in or out on the map, view an enlarged version of it, print it, or click on 'View Modern Map' to connect to the Ordnance Survey's site (http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap) to locate a contemporary map for comparison."  (Jenny Lind Olin)

It's hardly a serious genealogical research tool, yet US Surname Distribution  could be useful in following the migration of names from East to West as the population grew.  It uses 1850, 1880 and 1920 Census data and 1990 phone books to map the distribution of surnames by state and displays the results in a series of colorful and intriguing maps.  The database includes 50,000 names.   (Neat Net Tricks)

You can read mini bios and see photos of the graves of famous people at Find A Grave.  Search by name, location, dates or claim to fame.  There is also a powerful search engine allowing you to retrieve information about 2.5 million "non famous" graves.

According to Access magazine, the next frontier in genealogy research is posting official records online.  Actual "source documents" such as marriage certificates, cemetery records, ship manifests, and census data are being digitized and posted on the web.  The National Archives is currently publishing a wealth of source documents.  Other great sites to check for genealogy source materials include Genealogy.com, Cyndis List, and Roots Web. (Joe Barnes)

Are you looking into your family history?  To get started in your genealogy research, go to How Do I Begin?, part of the Family Search site of the Latter Day Saints church.  Next, go to Family Tree Maker's rich site, click on Family Finder Index, click Search Expert, then enter your family name.  You're off and running, searching a huge database of 153 million family names!

Unless you are a rank beginner, try the GenHomePage for all your research needs in genealogy.  And did you know that other genealogists volunteer to help your research by consulting specific resources in their county or town for you?  To find out about this cooperative arrangement go to the US GenWeb site. or go direct to the site for your state by entering http://www.usgenweb.com/xx (where xx is a state code, e.g. FL).

Your government can help you with census, immigration and military records at the National Archives and Records Administration and with the second largest collection of vital records in the country at the  Allen County Public Library.  Next, turn to the Social Security Death Index located at the Ancestry site, a comprehensive resource for genealogists.