If you want to track down a county history, there's no better starting place than USGenWeb <www.usgenweb.org>. Click on The Project's State Pages, and follow the links to your state of interest, then your ancestral county. Many county sites include digitized county histories and biographies, or they provide links to those posted on other sites. If you can't find these publications, join the county mailing list, and see if one of the members owns a history and can do a lookup for you.

While you're on the site, be sure to explore the other resources, which may include court records, newspapers, obituaries, letters, diaries and photos — all of which can contain valuable clues. You also can post queries and add your name and e-mail address to the surname index (a list of surnames being researched in that county).