www.familysearch.com    This free site is maintained by the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and contains numerous surnames and lineage with dates and locations. It also lists the Social Security Death Index which gives dates, names and locations pertaining to birth and death information.

The pedigree charts and International Genealogical Index (IGI) files are extremely helpful in following the lineage of any given surname.

www.rootsweb.com    A free and very well presented site for finding much information re: birth, death and marriage dates as well as names of extended family members, siblings and sometimes personal notes. The sources are not always documented but it can provide many clues.

www.gencircles.com     A free site which is not as extensive as the two noted above but does have some additional information not found elsewhere.

www.findagrave.com    A listing of many cemeteries throughout the USA with some or all of the burials listed.  Sometimes there are notes with the entry and sometimes nice photos of either the headstone or the person buried there.

There are a number of sites which require membership and to gain access you must join and pay the fees. These include the following:

www.kindredkonnections.com

www.myfamily.com

www.ancestry.com    This site also gives you all census records online and may be the best of all to join.

www.footnote.com     Has images of many documents including military service and pension records. You can pay for only one document if you wish or a yearly membership.

www.ancestry.com    CENSUS RECORDS are available in many larger libraries on film but you may access them online with a membership.

http://www.newenglandancestors.org    This is the New England Historical Genealogical Society based in Boston, MA but available online for a membership fee. This is a good research tool for very early families in New England.

Histories of the towns where ancestors lived are also helpful and may be found in libraries that have genealogy sections. Local historical societies have volunteers who will do research…many for free or the cost of photo copying and postage to mail it to you. You can look in www.usgenweb.com for where these persons are located and what research materials they may have at hand to do lookups for you.

There are several query sites where you may leave messages for information you are seeking. Here are two such locations:

www.rootwsweb.com  They maintain a large query site on both surnames and locations. It is suggested when you have a query to place it both under the surname and under the location you are researching –for ex: if you are researching the surname STRAW who lived in Winimac, Pulaski County, Indiana you would place query #1 on the STRAW query site and # 2 query on Pulaski County, Indiana site. You can also ask if there is someone who could either check out a cemetery for you in that area or do some lookups in the local vital records. Often these are services provided by volunteers who will not charge in exchange for a sharing of your research.

www.genforum.com    You can use the same format as described above.

www.google.com    Another good source for information. Try typing in the name you are researching or  try adding  “obituary”…there’s a wealth of information on the Internet…you just have to know how to search it out.