Getting the Most Out of USGenWeb.com

by Gerhard Ruf, gruf@byu.edu

© copyright 2003 - 2009

updated 28 June 2009


    The USGenWeb Project is manned by volunteers to provide genealogical data for every state and county in the United States. It also has a number of ongoing projects that cross geographical boundaries. These include extraction projects like census images, tombstone inscription, marriage bonds, wills, other public records and special projects. They contain a wealth of information which is constantly expanding. Each area must be searched independently. Knowing where to go is the key to getting the most out of the data that is currently available. There are great genealogical treasures hidden in these pages.


An Overview

            It all started with KentuckyGenWeb

            Each County and State has their own web site.


The State and County pages

            50 States + 2, More than 3,000 counties

            State pages

                        Include Special Projects, unknown county queries, state histories, maps, etc.

            Minimum Content for County Sites

                        Links to state pages

                        Queries

                        Links to USGenWeb Project archives

            Additional Content at many County Sites

                        Free Lookups

                        Private Extraction Databases

                        Information for visitors and travelers


USGenWeb Project Archives

            Census Images, Church , Marriages, Maps, Newsletter, Obits, Pensions, Wills, Special Collections

            Use the National or the State search engine


Census Projects (2)

            www.us-census.org/ (1st check inventory, then search)

            usgwarchives.net/census/ (1st check completed transcriptions, then search individual pages)

                        (or go to census index, then state and year to see if images are available)


USGenWeb Tombstone Project

            Go to the Registry to see which cemeteries are there by state and county.

             Some have images of headstones.


Miscellaneous

            Volunteers are needed

            www.WorldGenWeb.org is a spin off

            www.USGenWeb-Search.us is a new independent state-level search engine