Skip to Main Content

Genealogy- Old: Featured Resources & Tips

Caring for Your Records / Archival Information

Calendars

Digital Book Collections

Contacts for "Lookups"

Free:

There are volunteers who will find obituaries or other articles for you. The more information you have, the better. Without a death date, it is unlikely that anyone can locate an obituary for you.

 

Fee:

Genealogical societies in the area you are searching. They may have lists of local volunteers or professional researchers.

Professional Genealogists / Certified Genealogists

Listing here does not imply endorsement.

Forms to Record Your Genealogical Information

Whether you choose to use a computer program or to use paper for your research, there are paper recording forms that will help you. Recording forms will help you take notes and interpret sources. There are many free sources of forms in books and on the internet.

Example: Research Log. Free from Family History Expos  (https://www.familyhistoryexpos.com/freedocs)

Photographs

Google search:

  • genealogy clues photographs
  • genealogy photo software
  • photograph restoration

Family Tree Magazine has a regular column and a blog called Photo Detective

Pictures: Can You Identify These Pictures?

Guides to Places

These resources help identify changes in county / state boundaries.

Petitions and Claims Introduction

Individuals can petition Congress to give relief, such as redress grievances or make payments. Many of these claims involved veteran's pensions.

Terms include Private claims, private laws, petitions, and memorials.

Claims are published as Congressional documents.
Petition

A petition is a written request to either house of Congress asking that something be done. The petition contains a prayer that the requested action be taken.

Memorial

A memorial contains no prayer and is generally a document in the form of a petition that opposes a contemplated or proposed action. Some petitions, especially those of state legislatures, take the form of resolutions.

Private laws

Private laws affect a specific person or organization, not the public at large. Private laws are published in the U.S. Statutes at Large.

Genealogy Resources at the University of Delaware Library

Family tree

Although not aimed at genealogy and family history, the collections of the University of Delaware Library (Morris Library) include materials useful to genealogists and family historians.

This Genealogy Research Guide is provided as a service for genealogists. It presents topics and resources to assist researchers.

The UD Library does not specialize in genealogy and does not have staff responsible for genealogy. Library staff cannot conduct research.

For questions about library resources and holdings, use the Ask the Library service.

For questions about getting research assistance, see the suggestions on the home page of this guide or on the topic/resources pages.

Social Security Death Index

Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a database of people whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration beginning about 1962.

Note: federal restrictions enacted in March 2014 required that newly reported deaths not be made available in the public version of the Social Security Death Index for three years after the individual's death.

Videos

Writing and Publishing Your Family History

Internet search: "writing your family history"

Search the Yellow pages for Books, Publishing.

Search the Internet for subject terms like these:

family history book printing

publish your genealogy

publish your own book