Online Ethnic Resources

Ancestors from Norway
homepages.rootsweb.com/~norway
Don’t let terms such as ndskyld, matrikkel and jorddrotte throw you for a loop—learn how to trace your Norwegian roots at this great site. You’ll find articles on how to use census, probate and church records, as well as information on the patronymic naming system. Be sure to read the article on how to use online databases to locate your ancestor’s Norwegian farm.

Canadian Genealogy and History
www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/cghl/cghl.html
An ideal starting point for Canadian researchers, this site indexes links for each province and territory. Visit the Searchable page for a directory of some excellent databases, covering Canadians who died in World Wars I and II, Dominion land grants, immigration records and the National Archives of Canada.

The Carpathian Connection
www.tccweb.org
Search this site for genealogical and historical information if you have Carpatho-Rusyn heritage—it provides information on Rusyn villages in Slovakia and Poland, as well as settlements in the northeastern United States. Check out the links to photos, discussion forums and mailing lists, too.

Chineseroots.com
www.chineseroots.com
From the home page, jump to resources for tracing Chinese heritage or connecting present-day family. The roots site offers a surname dictionary, a searchable surname database, a how-to guide and links to databases. Follow the link to Chinesekin.com to set up your own free family Web site.

Christine’s Genealogy Web Site
www.ccharity.com
This solid jumping-off place for African-American research includes links to resources, African-American Web sites, free articles, post-Civil War Freedman’s Bureau records and other databases.

Federation of East European Family History Societies
www.feefhs.org
This no-frills site contains a searchable index of close to 1 million Eastern European names and locations. Search results vary from North Dakota history books to a Latvian research archive to a list of foreign-born voters in California. FEEFHS is made up of individuals and organizations, with a goal of helping all ethnic groups, religious groups and genealogists with Eastern European ancestors. Don’t miss the Ethnic, Religious and National Index, which serves up links to the best genealogy sites, categorized by country.

GENUKI
www.genuki.org.uk
If your ancestors originated in the United Kingdom or Ireland, surf right on over to GENUKI. It’s packed with tips on getting started and links to databases for Wales, Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as Ireland and England. Be sure to read the great FAQ on researching British and Irish ancestry from abroad.

German Roots
home.att.net/~wee-monster
Start with the Basic Research Outline, and then follow the links to the Best German Resources. The site has great resource material on Germans from Poland and Russia. For an interesting addition to your family history, the Webmaster explains how to get aerial photos of German villages taken in 1945.

Hispanic Genealogy
home.att.net/~Alsosa
Explore your heritage with a tutorial on Hispanic surnames, a guide for getting started tracing Hispanic roots and links to organizations worldwide, including the Hispanic Genealogy Forum. Webmaster Al Sosa rates other Hispanic genealogy sites on a system of one to five “gems.”

JewishGen
www.jewishgen.org
There’s no better starting place on the Web for tracing Jewish ancestry. JewishGen gives you detailed research guides, the Family Finder (more than 250,000 entries) and the Shtetl Seeker for surnames and town names. The online calendar displays all Jewish holidays for any Gregorian or Jewish year. Search 100,000-plus postings on JewishGen discussion lists. New to the site is the searchable Holocaust Database of 140,000 entries.

Jewish Genealogy
www.genhomepage.com/jewish.html
This index of online Jewish family history resources points you to discussion groups, surname lists, mailing lists and genealogical societies. If you’re just getting started tracing your Jewish roots, follow the link to the JewishGen FAQ.

The National Archives of Ireland
www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy.html
Virtually visit Ireland’s main records repository for a comprehensive guide to beginning Irish research. The archives’ site walks you through the types of records you’ll use to trace your Irish family tree: marriage, birth and death records; census records from 1822 to 1911; tax lists; wills; and administration records. The links page leads to searchable online databases on and off the site.

Native American Links
www.accessgenealogy.com/native
American Indian roots researchers can point and click their way to a treasure trove of resources here: searchable databases and indexes, a transcription of the 1880 Cherokee census, a listing by state of Native American land patents, mailing lists, lookups, online books about the Cherokee and Choctaw and a guide to searching Native American rolls.

Native American Resources
www.rootsweb.com/~usgwnar
USGenWeb hosts a portal to general resources, how-to guides, maps and microfilm publications for American Indian genealogy. The page also gives tribe-specific links for Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cherokee sites.

WorldGenWeb
www.worldgenweb.org
This site is to worldwide research what the USGenWeb is to US genealogy. Its goal is to provide a Web site and links for every country in the world. Its newly restructured Web site makes navigating to your country of interest a breeze. Special projects include the Shamrock Tombstone Transcription Project and the Scotland BDM (Birth, Death, Marriage) Exchange.