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Getting started with United States research

Numerous articles are available on FamilySearch Wiki to help you get started in family history. This portal will provide links to articles about general research topics.

Principles of Family History Research

States

Click on a state to go to that state's page:

Research Strategies

Research Tools

United States Record Selection Table
Listing of all records collections for the U.S. available on FamilySearch.org.
Printable Maps from the National Atlas of the United States -- The Reference and Outline Maps of the United States and of the individual states are of most value to a genealogist. Other types of maps are also available from this site.
Tracing Immigrant Origins
United States Census Bureau State and County Map. This map will allow you to zoom in on any State or County in the United States and read the names of all of the neighboring Counties. This makes it easy to see close by locations where other relatives might have lived. This map shows current Counties, consult the individual State Maps section to find out about historical maps. You can even type in a county name in the search box to locate the county on the map.
A complete descriptive and statistical gazetteer of the United States of America ...: with an abstract of the census and statistics for 1840 (Compiled by Daniel Haskel, John Calvin Smith pub 1843)
BYU United States Research Outline largely duplicates these Wiki pages. Includes some bibliographic lists from BYU Library, 2001.
Online State Archives are an often-overlooked resource that can include very useful family history information such as state census and voter rolls, military pensions, slave records, court cases, and much more.

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:

Territories and Federal District

Former Territories

Help Wanted

Interested in editing or adding to the Wiki? The United States page, the state pages, and the county pages need you! Here are some simple ways you can add information other researchers need!

Add links to the David Rumsey Map Collection for the state or county in question. For an example, see the Pennsylvania.
Volunteer to be a moderator for the United States portal, or one of the unclaimed states. Contact us to express your interest in this role.
Add each state or county's creation date and parent states/counties. This information can be found using the Place Search in the Family History Library Catalog.
Add links to digitized state and county histories. A large collection of such histories is Brigham Young University's Family History Archives. A shortcut to searching it for local histories is on the BYU-FHL Digital Books Collection page.
The Research Wiki is also available in ten other languages. You can help by translating pages into one of the other languages.

To add your knowledge and help expand the wiki click here:

News

Fold3.com has a new African American history collection online.
FamilySearch U.S. Research classes now online!
The 1870 US Federal Census indexing project was posted on FamilySearch.org
New free databases for Russian, Italian, and German immigrants were added to NARA
You never know which ancestors you'll find in the newly posted U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918 at Ancestry.com.

more...

Topics

Did You Know?

A 2000 map of the top country of origin of ancestors of citizens in each U.S. county is at wikimedia.org.
More people died in the 1918 Influenza epidemic than in World War I.
The Genealogy Photo Archive contains more than 14,000 photos of families.

The Research Forums have been closed. For a limited time the United States Research forum will be available in read-only mode.

Genealogy courses: Learn how to research from an expert in Getting Started with United States Research.

Retrieved from "https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States"

Category: United States

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@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 *[http://ftp2.census.gov/geo/maps/general_ref/us_base/stco2003/stco2003.pdf United States Census Bureau State and County Map]. &nbsp;This map will allow you to zoom in on any State or County in the United States and read the names of all of the neighboring Counties. This makes it easy to see close by locations where other relatives might have lived. This map shows current Counties, consult the individual State Maps section to find out about historical maps. You can even type in a county name in the search box to locate the county on the map.
 *[http://www.google.com/books?id=1ooBAAAAMAAJ&pg A complete descriptive and statistical gazetteer of the United States of America ...: with an abstract of the census and statistics for 1840] (Compiled by Daniel Haskel, John Calvin Smith pub 1843)
 *[http://net.lib.byu.edu/fslab/researchoutlines/US/US.pdf BYU United States Research Outline] largely duplicates these Wiki pages. Includes some bibliographic lists from BYU Library, 2001.<br>
+*[http://www.digitalstatearchives.com/ Online State Archives] are an often-overlooked resource that can include very useful family history information such as state census and voter rolls, military pensions, slave records, court cases, and much more.&nbsp;
 '''Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:'''<br>
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-*[[Image:Micronesia, Federated States of, flag.png|border|22x12px|Micronesia, Federated States of, flag.png]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[Micronesia|Micronesia]]
+*[[Image:Micronesia, Federated States of, flag.png|border|22x12px|Micronesia, Federated States of, flag.png]] [[Micronesia|Micronesia]]
-*[[Image:Palau flag.png|border|22x14px|Palau flag.png]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[Portal:Palau|Palau]]
+*[[Image:Palau flag.png|border|22x14px|Palau flag.png]] [[Palau|Palau]]
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-== Help Wanted &nbsp;  ==
+== Help Wanted  ==
 Interested in [[Help:Contributor Help|editing or adding to the Wiki]]? The United States page, the state pages, and the county pages need you! Here are some simple ways you can add information other researchers need!&nbsp;
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 *Volunteer to be a [[FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator|moderator]] for the United States portal, or one of the [[FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator#Who_are_the_Moderators.3F|unclaimed states]]. Contact [https://help.familysearch.org/help/?wicket:bookmarkablePage=:org.familysearch.help.helpcenter.page.OpenCase us]&nbsp;&nbsp; to express your interest in this role.&nbsp;
 *Add each state or county's creation date and parent states/counties. This information can be found using the [https://familysearch.org/#form=catalog Place Search&nbsp;] in the Family History Library Catalog. <br>
 *Add links to digitized state and county histories. A large collection of such histories is Brigham Young University's [http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/index.html Family History Archives]. A shortcut to searching it for local histories is on the BYU-FHL Digital Books Collection page.
 *The Research Wiki is also available in ten other [[FamilySearch Wiki:Non-English versions of the wiki|languages]]. You can help by [[FamilySearch Wiki:Translation|translating&nbsp;pages]] into one of the other languages.
-</div>
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+{{Click|Image:Volunteers wanted sm.png|https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Help_wanted_on_the_Help_wanted_on_the_Wiki#Help_Wanted_-_United_States|Wiki Volunteers Wanted}}
-{| border="0" class="FCK__ShowTableBorders" style="background: rgb(255,255,240)"
+To add your knowledge and help expand the wiki [https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Help_wanted_on_the_Help_wanted_on_the_Wiki#Help_Wanted_-_United_States '''click here''']:
+</div><div style="width: 22%; float: left">
+{| border="0" style="background: rgb(255,255,240)" class="FCK__ShowTableBorders"
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 | align="center" style="font-family: verdana; background: rgb(238,238,238); color: rgb(51,51,51)" | '''News'''
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 *[[United States Bible Records|Bible Records]]
 *[[United States Biography|Biography]]
+*[[United States Business Records|Business Records]]
 *[[United States Cemeteries|Cemeteries]]
 *[[United States Census|Census]]
@@ Line 128: / Line 132: @@
 *[[United States Court Records|Court Records]]
 *[[Major Databases for Beginning United States Research|Database Websites]]
-*[[United States Digital Collections|Digital Collections]]
 *[[United States Directories|Directories]]
 *[[United States Emigration and Immigration|Emigration and Immigration]]
@@ Line 138: / Line 141: @@
 *[[United States History|History]]
 *[[United States Land and Property|Land and Property]]
+*[[United States Livestock Brands|Livestock Brands]]
 *[[United States Maps|Maps]]
 *[[United States Migration Internal|Migration]]
@@ Line 146: / Line 150: @@
 *[[United States Obituaries|Obituaries]]
 *[[United States Occupations|Occupations]]
+*[[United States Online Genealogy Records|Online Records]]
 *[[United States Periodicals|Periodicals]]
 *[[United States Probate Records|Probate Records]]
@@ Line 154: / Line 159: @@
 *[[United States Vital Records|Vital Records]]
 *[[United States Voting Records|Voter Records]]
+*[[United States Water Records|Water Records]]
 *[[United States Other Records|Other Records]]
 *[[United States For Further Reading|For Further Reading]]
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+| forum link = https://www.familysearch.org/learn/forums/en/forumdisplay.php?f=29
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 }} {{Online course badge