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Digging deep for the roots
Discovering the family tree is steadily becoming a major internet-based hobby. Until some time ago, genealogy research was reserved for scholars who needed to have access to academic libraries and all sort of obscure archives. For lay people, those resources were mostly unavailable, so the whole idea of building a genealogical tree became discouraging after completing a few generations.
Nowadays, looking for ancestors and constructing a family tree is not only possible. It is easy and plenty of fun. once you get started, you'll find out that building your family tree is just as fun and addictive as a good strategy game. It is actually better as you are dealing with your own history!
These are exciting times for genealogy. Scientific research is making great contributions through allowing you to decode your genetic profile and in the future who knows, sequence your DNA.
Here you will find useful and affordable (even free!) tools, information and resources to quickly become an expert in genealogy research. Make sure you bookmark this lens as more and more links and ideas will be added.
Have fun!
JewishGen - A wonderful resource
Since part of my family come from Jewish ancestry I had come across JewishGen some years ago. I remember it looked like a nice website, with interesting information the amount of data seemed insufficient for the average family search.
Some time ago I felt like resuming my genealogical research and paid a visit to JewishGen and found out that they accumulated huge amounts of data during this time. I was able to find quite a few clues about possible links to remote parts of my family, even in remote villages from Hungary and other regions from central and eastern Europe.
If you have a Jewish branch in your family tree or are just interested in knowing more about historical facts concerning the Jewish People I strongly suggest you go to JewishGen. It's loaded with heaps of super interesting data and best of all, it's completely free.
Some time ago I felt like resuming my genealogical research and paid a visit to JewishGen and found out that they accumulated huge amounts of data during this time. I was able to find quite a few clues about possible links to remote parts of my family, even in remote villages from Hungary and other regions from central and eastern Europe.
If you have a Jewish branch in your family tree or are just interested in knowing more about historical facts concerning the Jewish People I strongly suggest you go to JewishGen. It's loaded with heaps of super interesting data and best of all, it's completely free.
NEW! Special Genealogical Resources for Aussies
Doing it right down there
Living in an island has benefits (even if it is a island!). Seriously. For people living in big, multi-country continents tracing their history can be very complicated. For diverse circumstances people have been moving around a lot during the last two or three hundred years, and many times they left little trace about where they were or where they came from.
The situation is often simpler in places like Australia. Most immigrants arrived by boat (now by plane) so in most cases they did leave traces, one way or another, making genealogical research a more easy task.
Australian genealogists (either professional or recreational) have now an extremely valuable resource at their disposal. The renowned company Ancestry.com has created Ancestry.com.au, a resource centre specifically designed to suit the needs of Australians.
These are some of the databases and tools you can use through Ancestry.com.au
More than 5 billion names from Australia, New Zealand, UK, US and around the world.
Most complete UK Census Collection available online, inlcuding Scotland (1841-1901)
The only online index of the NSW Sands Directories (1861-1933)
The Convict Transportation Registers (1787-1867)
FREE Birth, Marriage & Death indexes from 1837 to the present day
Millions of records currently online
Parish and probate records dating back to the 1500's
Visit Ancestry.com.au now and expand your family tree the way you never dreamed about!
The situation is often simpler in places like Australia. Most immigrants arrived by boat (now by plane) so in most cases they did leave traces, one way or another, making genealogical research a more easy task.
Australian genealogists (either professional or recreational) have now an extremely valuable resource at their disposal. The renowned company Ancestry.com has created Ancestry.com.au, a resource centre specifically designed to suit the needs of Australians.
These are some of the databases and tools you can use through Ancestry.com.au
More than 5 billion names from Australia, New Zealand, UK, US and around the world.
Most complete UK Census Collection available online, inlcuding Scotland (1841-1901)
The only online index of the NSW Sands Directories (1861-1933)
The Convict Transportation Registers (1787-1867)
FREE Birth, Marriage & Death indexes from 1837 to the present day
Millions of records currently online
Parish and probate records dating back to the 1500's
Visit Ancestry.com.au now and expand your family tree the way you never dreamed about!
Genealogy research: the printed stuff
Great stuff to read while your computer is off...
Great Stuff on eBay
Expand your genealogy research arsenal
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Nov 26, 2007 @ 9:42 pm
- Nice lens! What families are you researching? Please check out Garner Rix and the Royalton Raid.
Found a lost relative in Transilvania? Find cheap tickets!
Is your Family in the Top 100?
List of the 100 most common surnames in USA
These are the most common surnames in America, sorted by abundance. Are you one of them?
Surname Approximate Number
SMITH 2,501,922
JOHNSON 2,014,470
WILLIAMS 1,738,413
JONES 1,544,427
BROWN 1,544,427
DAVIS 1,193,760
MILLER 1,054,488
WILSON 843,093
MOORE 775,944
TAYLOR 773,457
ANDERSON 773,457
THOMAS 773,457
JACKSON 770,970
WHITE 693,873
HARRIS 683,925
MARTIN 678,951
THOMPSON 669,003
GARCIA 631,698
MARTINEZ 581,958
ROBINSON 579,471
CLARK 574,497
RODRIGUEZ 569,523
LEWIS 562,062
LEE 547,140
WALKER 544,653
HALL 497,400
ALLEN 494,913
YOUNG 479,991
HERNANDEZ 477,504
KING 472,530
WRIGHT 470,043
LOPEZ 465,069
HILL 465,069
SCOTT 460,095
GREEN 455,121
ADAMS 432,738
BAKER 425,277
GONZALEZ 412,842
NELSON 402,894
CARTER 402,894
MITCHELL 397,920
PEREZ 385,485
ROBERTS 380,511
TURNER 378,024
PHILLIPS 370,563
CAMPBELL 370,563
PARKER 363,102
EVANS 350,667
EDWARDS 340,719
COLLINS 333,258
STEWART 330,771
SANCHEZ 323,310
MORRIS 310,875
ROGERS 305,901
REED 303,414
COOK 298,440
MORGAN 293,466
BELL 290,979
MURPHY 290,979
BAILEY 286,005
RIVERA 281,031
COOPER 281,031
RICHARDSON 278,544
COX 273,570
HOWARD 273,570
WARD 268,596
TORRES 268,596
PETERSON 266,109
GRAY 263,622
RAMIREZ 261,135
JAMES 261,135
WATSON 256,161
BROOKS 256,161
KELLY 253,674
SANDERS 248,700
PRICE 246,213
BENNETT 246,213
WOOD 243,726
BARNES 241,239
ROSS 238,752
HENDERSON 236,265
COLEMAN 236,265
JENKINS 236,265
PERRY 233,778
POWELL 231,291
LONG 228,804
PATTERSON 228,804
HUGHES 228,804
FLORES 228,804
WASHINGTON 228,804
BUTLER 226,317
SIMMONS 226,317
FOSTER 226,317
GONZALES 216,369
BRYANT 216,369
ALEXANDER 211,395
RUSSELL 211,395
GRIFFIN 208,908
DIAZ 208,908
HAYES 206,421
Surname Approximate Number
SMITH 2,501,922
JOHNSON 2,014,470
WILLIAMS 1,738,413
JONES 1,544,427
BROWN 1,544,427
DAVIS 1,193,760
MILLER 1,054,488
WILSON 843,093
MOORE 775,944
TAYLOR 773,457
ANDERSON 773,457
THOMAS 773,457
JACKSON 770,970
WHITE 693,873
HARRIS 683,925
MARTIN 678,951
THOMPSON 669,003
GARCIA 631,698
MARTINEZ 581,958
ROBINSON 579,471
CLARK 574,497
RODRIGUEZ 569,523
LEWIS 562,062
LEE 547,140
WALKER 544,653
HALL 497,400
ALLEN 494,913
YOUNG 479,991
HERNANDEZ 477,504
KING 472,530
WRIGHT 470,043
LOPEZ 465,069
HILL 465,069
SCOTT 460,095
GREEN 455,121
ADAMS 432,738
BAKER 425,277
GONZALEZ 412,842
NELSON 402,894
CARTER 402,894
MITCHELL 397,920
PEREZ 385,485
ROBERTS 380,511
TURNER 378,024
PHILLIPS 370,563
CAMPBELL 370,563
PARKER 363,102
EVANS 350,667
EDWARDS 340,719
COLLINS 333,258
STEWART 330,771
SANCHEZ 323,310
MORRIS 310,875
ROGERS 305,901
REED 303,414
COOK 298,440
MORGAN 293,466
BELL 290,979
MURPHY 290,979
BAILEY 286,005
RIVERA 281,031
COOPER 281,031
RICHARDSON 278,544
COX 273,570
HOWARD 273,570
WARD 268,596
TORRES 268,596
PETERSON 266,109
GRAY 263,622
RAMIREZ 261,135
JAMES 261,135
WATSON 256,161
BROOKS 256,161
KELLY 253,674
SANDERS 248,700
PRICE 246,213
BENNETT 246,213
WOOD 243,726
BARNES 241,239
ROSS 238,752
HENDERSON 236,265
COLEMAN 236,265
JENKINS 236,265
PERRY 233,778
POWELL 231,291
LONG 228,804
PATTERSON 228,804
HUGHES 228,804
FLORES 228,804
WASHINGTON 228,804
BUTLER 226,317
SIMMONS 226,317
FOSTER 226,317
GONZALES 216,369
BRYANT 216,369
ALEXANDER 211,395
RUSSELL 211,395
GRIFFIN 208,908
DIAZ 208,908
HAYES 206,421
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