The good news: Zillions of genealogy websites exist to help you trace your family tree. The bad news: Zillions of genealogy websites exist to help you trace your family tree. With so many resources available for your family history quest, how do you know which sites to click and which to skip? Leave it to our genealogy experts! We constantly scour the web for great resources, and once a year, whittle those down to our annual list of the 101 Best Genealogy Websites. Here, we've compiled our picks into a handy directory that makes it easy to find the top sites for your family history goals: Just choose the category that matches your interests to see the best sites to visit.
Summaries written by David A. Fryxell
Airtable
http://www.airtable.comPart spreadsheet, part database, this web- and app-based service lets you create and share a virtual family archive, syncing across all your devices (including iOS and Android). Archives up to 1,200 records and 2GB are free; subscriptions for bigger projects start at $10 a month.
Evernote
http://www.evernote.comClip or copy your research finds, family photos and log entries into this digital scrapbook. Then access your entries on phone, tablet or computer. Basic accounts are free, or you can upgrade to get more features for $7.99 per month.
With more than 13,000 pages related to genealogy and history (and that’s just the ones in English), the world’s leading social-networking site offers a lot more than just your high school best friend’s latest brags.
After you’ve “Googled” your ancestors in the simple but essential search box, explore Books, Maps and Earth. Or use Translate for foreign-language sites and then share your finds via Gmail.
Kindex
http://app.kindex.orgSpecifically designed for family archives, Kindex lets you catalog and transcribe your old photos and papers, then store them in the cloud. Store them in your own public archive that anyone can access for $5 per month, or create a private archive with Kindex Closet ($10 per month).
One-Step Webpages
http://www.stevemorse.orgSteve Morse’s plain-looking but powerful site contains tools for finding immigration records, census records and vital records with a single click, plus tools for dealing with calendars, maps, foreign alphabets and more.
Like a bulletin board for your finds, photos and favorites, this addictive sharing site can also be searched for others’ visual treasures.
This self-proclaimed “front page of the Internet,” hosts thousands of “subreddit” forums, including general genealogy forums (r/Genealogy) and those devoted to particular ancestries and historical facts (the naughtily named r/HistoryPorn).
Twile
http://www.twile.comWinner of a RootsTech innovation award, this site has been acquired by fellow Best Websites honoree Findmypast. The new partnership enables users to turn their trees into interactive timelines incorporating world events. Twile continues as a standout standalone site, however—worth a visit to put your family’s stories in context.
YouTube
http://www.youtube.comFrom FamilySearch and Ancestry to family-history TV shows and authors from your favorite magazine (ahem,