FamilySearch Wiki

Helpful International Websites

Revision as of 12:26, 19 July 2011 by JohnsonBX (talk | contribs)

Introduction

Many informative websites for international family history research are found on the Internet. Depending on the country, they may include research instructions, reference material, indexes to church-, civil-, and other records, document images, and transcriptions. This article provides a small selection of useful websites. Interested visitors may be able to obtain more information on the FamilySearch Wiki or at the respective reference counter in the Family History Library. For European and Hispanic visitors the new FamilySearch site may be helpful. For many countries new names have been added that have never been online before. Go to FamilySearch.org  and click on “Advanced search“to access better search functions for names. Record Collections for different countries are found under the tab “all collections”. Online family history courses for various countries are available on FamilySearch.org. To access, go to FamilySearch.org , click on “learn” [top left], the on “research courses”.

General information

  • Website addresses change frequently. If an address no longer works, use a search engine to locate the site at a different address, if possible.
  • Foreign-language sites can be navigated more easily with Google translate. Type “translate.google.com” in your Internet browser, then choose the “translate from/ to languages. If you paste the foreign site’s Web address in the “translate” field and click “enter”, the site will come up translated. You can also copy text from the site and paste it in the “translate” window. Google Chrome detects non-English language Web sites and asks if you would like a translation.

NOTE: It is not a good idea to use electronic translators for correspondence, such as a request for    information. In those cases it’s best to find someone who can help you write a letter, or to write the request in simple English.

  • A good starting point for any country or family history topic is Cyndi's List

WESTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE

Austria

Belgium

France

 www.geneafrance.org – provides information about different record types, research information, how to order certificates.

Germany

Italy

Luxembourg

The Netherlands

Many other provincial or city archives have put indexes and records online. Check the Archiefnet.nl website for archive addresses of interest.

Spain

  • https://www.familysearch.org - Access images of Roman Catholic church records and municipal records (civil births, marriages, deaths) for several provinces

Switzerland

EASTERN EUROPE

Czech Republic

All church records are housed in the state archives. Check the gazetteer available on www.genteam.at (see “Austria”) to learn which archive has the records for your town of interest. Several archives have been putting their church records on the Internet. The easiest way to access these collections is to go to the FamilySearch Wiki (just type in “wiki.familysearch.org” and it comes up); enter “Czech” in the search box and the click on the link to the Czech portal page. Links to online databases are listed under “research tools”.
Other helpful links include:

Hungary

Poland

Latvia

Lithuania

Estonia

Belarus, Russia, Ukraine

Romania

Serbia

Germans from Russia and Volhynia

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