Zip through the online genealogy maze and head straight to the Web sites most worth surfing: our annual picks of the Net's best roots resources.
Online ancestor hunting can leave you feeling like you're lost in a vast Internet maze. You've found countless dead ends among the millions of genealogy sites out there, but the proverbial pieces of cheese—those digital clues to your family history—keep eluding you. Your path may produce the prize, but it's often fraught with frustration.
That's why the editors and experts at Family Tree Magazine are endlessly navigating that labyrinth of online roots resources. We weed out the junk and point you to the best sites for your search—in each issue of the magazine and the Sites of the Day featured on our home page.
And once a year, we whittle down all those worthy Web sites to the ones that really rise above the rest. We honor those elites here: 2002's 101 best family history Web sites.
We've narrowed our choices to the 101 destinations that will make your online searches easier, faster and more productive. Some are "classics" you'll recognize from past years' picks (see the 2000 and 2001 archives); others have arrived on the genealogy scene only recently. All appeal to a wide audience, are easy to use and have a clean design. You'll find free databases, tools and references, maps, original documents and millions upon millions of searchable records. If your ancestors aren't on one of these sites, we're not sure they really existed!