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We are discussing Tracing family history
With Antoinette Buchanan, Stephanie Ryan and Jennifer Higgins

Question:
What is the best website which could be used to trace my family's history?

Answer:
Stephanie - There is no "One Best" website.

Family history websites vary enormously in type, content and quality. You may find 'gateway' sites with links to a multitude of other websites, mostly with an emphasis on a particular region. Other sites are collections of material put together by individuals and groups, either specific family histories, one name studies, soldiers, immigrants, convicts, etc - the scope is unlimited. These vary quite considerably in what they cover and in the quality of the research. Another type of site specialises in message boards and forums or 'online communities' for name, locally and/or research discussions. Other sites, growing rapidly in number, either index records and/or have digitised copies of material available. This type of site is quite often part of a government library or archive or an organisation with family or local history interest. Commercial family history sites require researchers to pay a charge to use the material on their site but often have free indexes.

Different websites may be useful at different stages of your research. Always check the scope and source of the material on a website - an index may only cover a limited number of entries or still be under construction, a family tree may not have been verified but only family 'heresay'.

You shouldn't expect to do all your family history on the web though. Most of the information is still in books and microform. You should always consult the primary source of the information if at all possible to eliminate transcription errors and to interpret the data yourself. Besides, I think one of the 'thrills' of family history is actually looking at the original records from the time of your ancestor.

A good gateway site for Australia is Web Sites for Genealogists at www.coraweb.com.au, Cyndi's List at www.cyndislist.com has a world wide scope.

The Family Search website at www.familysearch.org is a good site for indexes to parish records in a variety of countries especially Great Britain and for guides to research.

Both Rootsweb at www.rootsweb.com and Genforum at www.genforum.genealogy.com have good mailing lists and message boards.

For Australia, the State Libraries and the National Libraries have lists of recommended sites that are useful for Australian family history research. See Australian Family History and Genealogy: Selected Websites at www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html for links to the State Libraries and a list of recommended websites.

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