Genealogy
Civil registration, parish records, census, immigration, and family history platforms. Arranged by record type and country.
Rating: start here first · strong source · specific cases
Start Here
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FamilySearch | Free genealogy search platform with records, images, catalogues, and research tools. Civil registration, parish records, census records. Free account required; some images restricted. | International | Account required | Multiple | |
| Ancestry | Major commercial genealogy platform. Records, trees, and DNA tools. U.S. and international family history. Subscription required for most records. | International | Paid / mixed | Multiple |
Civil Registration
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGATHA (Belgium) | Belgian State Archives search system for civil status, parish registers, and archival descriptions. | Belgium | Free / account | NL/FR/DE/EN | |
| WieWasWie (Netherlands) | Dutch genealogical search for civil registration and person records. Births, marriages, deaths, population registers. Premium features exist. | Netherlands | Mixed | NL/EN | |
| FreeBMD (England & Wales) | Volunteer index of civil registration births, marriages, and deaths. Index only; certificates are separate. | England & Wales | Free | EN | |
| Scotland's People | Official Scottish genealogy site for civil registration, census, wills, maps, and images. Images generally require credits. | Scotland | Mixed | EN | |
| Portale Antenati (Italy) | Italian national portal for civil registration records (birth, marriage, death). Digitised registers from Italian state archives; run by Ministero della Cultura. Free. | Italy | Free | IT/EN | |
| IrishGenealogy.ie | Official Irish genealogy portal with General Register Office civil birth, marriage, and death records, subject to privacy cutoffs. | Ireland | Free | EN | |
| Archives nationales de Luxembourg | Luxembourg national archive search portal with civil-register and older church/civil material among wider archival holdings. | Luxembourg | Mixed | FR/DE/EN | |
| Landesarchiv NRW Family Research | North Rhine-Westphalia family-history portal with civil registers, duplicate church registers, Jewish registers, and related material. | Germany | Mixed | DE/EN |
Parish and Church Records
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FamilySearch | Extensive collection of indexed and imaged parish records worldwide. Free account required. | International | Account required | Multiple | |
| FreeREG | Volunteer database of UK parish baptisms, marriages, and burials. Transcriptions require checking against originals. | United Kingdom | Free | EN | |
| Matricula Online | Catholic church registers (baptisms, marriages, burials) for Austria, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Serbia, and Slovenia. ICARUS4ALL project; free access to digitised originals. | Central Europe | Free | Multiple | |
| Rahvusarhiiv Family Research | Estonian National Archives family-research guide and Saaga access for church books, vital entries, and related records. | Estonia | Free / account | ET/EN |
Census and Population Registers
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NARA Genealogy Portal | U.S. federal census and population records via National Archives. Many digitised records hosted by partner platforms. | United States | Free / mixed | EN | |
| Scotland's People | Scottish census records alongside civil registration, wills, and maps. | Scotland | Mixed | EN | |
| National Archives Genealogy (Ireland) | Free Irish genealogy portal with census returns, land records, wills, workhouse records, transportation records, and related sources. | Ireland | Free | EN | |
| Danish National Archives Online Records | Danish National Archives guide to online parish registers, census lists, military levies, and Danish West Indies records. | Denmark | Free | DA/EN | |
| Digitalarkivet / Arkivverket | Norwegian National Archives portal for censuses, parish registers, scanned records, probate, court, property, and other personal records. | Norway | Free | NO/EN | |
| National Archives of Iceland Search | Official search for National Archives of Iceland data, including census material, parish registers, and other genealogical sources. | Iceland | Free / mixed | IS/EN | |
| Library and Archives Canada Genealogy | Canadian national genealogy portal for census, immigration, naturalization, military, land, and family-history guidance. | Canada | Free / mixed | EN/FR |
Immigration and Naturalisation
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NARA Genealogy Portal | U.S. immigration, naturalisation, and passenger records via National Archives and partner platforms. | United States | Free / mixed | EN | |
| FamilySearch | Passenger lists and immigration records for multiple countries. Free account required. | International | Account required | Multiple |
Family Tree Platforms
Note on user trees
Trees on genealogy platforms are user-submitted and frequently contain errors. Treat tree entries as leads to verify against original sources, not as reliable facts.
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geneanet | Genealogy community with trees, indexes, graves, photos, and record collections. Strong for French and European genealogy. | France / Europe | Mixed | Multiple | |
| Findmypast | Commercial genealogy site with records and trees. Particularly strong for British and Irish records. Subscription required for many records. | UK / Ireland | Paid / mixed | EN |
Aggregators and Cross-archive Search
| Priority | Source | Description | Region | Access | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Archives | Aggregates genealogical records from Dutch, Belgian, and European open archives. Verify against original scans. | NL / BE / Europe | Free / mixed | NL/EN | |
| Archives Portal Europe | European archival discovery portal aggregating descriptions across EU member archives. | Europe-wide | Free | Multiple | |
| genealogy.net Metasuche | Meta-search across multiple German genealogical databases simultaneously; run by Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. Good first stop for German research. | Germany | Free | DE | |
| Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives) | Swedish National Archives online search for parish registers, census records, and emigration data. English interface available. Some collections require free registration. | Sweden / Scandinavia | Free / account | SV/EN | |
| Archivportal-D | National German archive discovery portal. Searches holdings across many archives; civil and church records still depend on the local holding archive. | Germany | Mixed | DE/EN | |
| Szukaj w Archiwach | Polish State Archives portal with registry-office records, scans, maps, photos, and genealogical material. | Poland | Free | PL/EN | |
| Digitarq | Portuguese archival network search, including Torre do Tombo and district archives where parish and civil records are often held. | Portugal | Free / mixed | PT | |
| PARES | Spanish State Archives portal for historical state records. Civil registration is not complete here, but it is a useful official archive search. | Spain | Free / mixed | ES | |
| Astia (National Archives of Finland) | Finnish National Archives service for searching, viewing digital material, ordering analog records, and making information requests. | Finland | Mixed | FI/SV/EN | |
| Nova Scotia Archives Vital Statistics | Searchable Nova Scotia birth, marriage, and death database with digitised original records. | Canada | Free | EN |