#Genealogy #Website #Rankings – 2011

Stanczyk just read EOGN (Eastman Online Genealogy Network) and could not believe what he read. So I followed the source and read that and still did not believe. So I checked further – because I could NOT locate the benchmark/methodology of the survey which is NOT credible. I  then Googled and found this source here:  http://www.progenealogists.com/top50genealogy2011.htm .  I certainly would agree with these rankings as these are what I use most often throughout the year.

Perhaps I am not Canadian as the source EOGN quoted was and perhaps the methodology was geographic based (in Canada, with UK add-in). Dick Eastman should do some extra checking rather than just re-broadcasting bogus news. That is my expectation for EOGN. Read the EOGN blog post that  I am railing against here: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/09/genealogy-site-rankings.html

Certainly if I surveyed Polish Genealogy websites, my list would look differently too.

Here is the only credible 2011 Rankings:

Rank    Website                     Coverage/Content

1. Ancestry.com $ – Ancestry.com is the leading genealogical data site, and includes articles, instruction, and reference help.
2. MyHeritage.com – Focuses on genealogy community building and networking.
3. FindAGrave.com – This database of 57 million cemetery inscriptions adds about a million per month and often includes tombstone photos.
4. FamilySearch.org – This major data website sponsored by the LDS Church includes the IGI, census records, the library’s catalog and a growing collection of historical records from throughout the world, along with instruction and reference help. (4>5>5)
5. Genealogy.com $ – A major data site, includes family trees, instruction and reference help. (5>2>4)
6. Geni.com – Free, with the world’s largest collaborative family. (31>8>18)
7. MyFamily.com – Hosts family websites for sharing photos, genealogy, and more. (33>5>5)
8. FamilyLink.com $ – One of the most popular FaceBook applications helps people identify and network with their family and search billions of records. (2>80>72)
9. RootsWeb.com – One of the largest, free, user-contributed data sites, includes 575 million names in family trees, also instruction and reference help. (6>4>2)
10. AncestorHunt.com – Free genealogy search engine linking to free data. (11>11>12)
11. AccessGenealogy.com – Millions of names in 250,000 pages, along with links to free data; especially useful for Native American information, and some data. (13>14>13)
12. SearchForAncestors.com – Interactive directory of free genealogy websites and data. (12>19>21)
13. GenealogyBank.com $ – 1 billion exclusive records from 4500 newspapers and historical books. (19>31>41)
14. USGWArchives.net – A large collection of free data, arranged by state and searchable across the entire collection. (8>not ranked)
15. CyndisList.com – The best subject catalog of genealogy webpage links. (14>17>15)
16. Interment.net – Transcribed and indexed cemetery inscriptions. (16>16>16)
17. OneGreatFamily.com$ – A family tree sharing and collaboration website. (9>11>9)
18. GenealogyToday.com – Includes instruction, reference articles, and some unique data collections. (10>12>11)
19. SurnameWeb.org – A collection of surname website links; online since 1996. (48>62>26)
20. FindMyPast.co.uk$ – (Back in) 650 million British records of many types [formerly FindMyPast.com]. (57>46>50)
21. Geneanet.org – (Back in) A European collection of 400 million names in family trees, community, and submitted records. (58>42>36)
22. DeathIndexes.com – Lists of links to United States death records, by state. (23>25>31)
23. Linkpendium.com – Nine million genealogy links organized by state/county and surname. (24>24>35)
24. EllisIsland.org – Database of 24 million New York passenger arrivals that is free to search. Actual passenger list images can be printed or purchased. (15>20>14)
25. GeneBase.com – A DNA ancestry cataloguing project with 675,000 users. (21>24>24)
26. GenealogyTrails.com – Five year old site with free U.S. data contributed by volunteers. (25>35>NR)
27. GenealogyBuff.com – A free genealogy search site with hundreds of data sources. (27>134>NR)
28. FamilyTreeMaker.com – Homepage for Ancestry.com’s genealogical software. (28>21>20)
29. USGennet.org – Historical and genealogical web hosting service. (18>15>17)
30. WorldVitalRecords.com $ – The data collection provided by Family Link, with over a billion records, as well as instruction and reference help. (17>13>10)
31. FamilyTreeDNA.com – DNA testing service focused upon family history test types. (20>26>27)
32. Footnote.com $ – In conjunction with the U.S. National Archives, Footnote offers data, original records images, and more. (37>9>8)
33. KindredKonnections.com $ – Grassroots created data site with compiled family trees, and some extracted records. (29>22>19)
34. CensusFinder.com – Links to free census records. (22>29>40)
35. Archives.com $ – A major new subscription data site, launched in July 2009 and already with more than a billion names. (41>New)
36. DistantCousin.com – An online archive of genealogy records and images of historical documents. (34>23>22)
37. FamilyHistory101.com – Less than four years old and full of instruction and guidance for genealogists. (38>47>107)
38. ThePeerage.com – A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe. (44>53>58)
39. TribalPages.com – Family trees hosting with 300,000 members and 80 million names. (35>28>25)
40. RootsChat.com – (New) Free family history messaging forum with almost 3 million mostly UK messages. (57>54>NR)
41. HeritageQuestOnline.com $ – Census, PERSI (the periodical index), books, all free to you at many libraries. (32>39>39)
42. NewspaperObituaries.net – (New) A directory of obituary databases and archives on the web. (91>84>126)
43. AncientFaces.com – Share genealogy research, community pages, family photos & records more for free. (46>48>38)
44. JewishGen.org – Jewish, reference, instruction, coordination, and databases. (26>32>28)
45. PoliticalGraveyard.com – Comprehensive source of U.S. political biography that tells where many dead politicians are buried. (36>33>34)
46. CousinConnect.com – A large free queries website. (39>27>23)
47. DAR.org – Site of the largest lineage society; includes their library catalog and 32 million name index. (43>49>67)
48. FamilyTreeMagazine.com – (New) Website for popular magazine that includes shopping, links, and research tools. (55>67>47)
49. AmericanAncestors.org $ – (New) The new name for the NEHGS website and their 3,000 databases.  (73>89>87)
50. GenealogyLinks.net – 50,000 links to free sites, arranged by state and county. (53>50>43)

Dropping out of the top 50:

• GenWed.com– Online marriage records, where to order, some indexes, and more. (42>43>42)
• ObitLinksPage.com– State-by-state directory of obituaries and obituary resources. (47>not ranked)
• Genuki.org.uk– Large collection of genealogical information pages for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. (50>34>32)
• GenoPro.com– Genealogy software that produces genograms (40>37>53)
• US-Census.org– Census abstracts (U.S. GenWeb Census Project) (49>45>37)
• Genealogy.org– (New) A listing of 400+ registered websites, ranked weekly by hits. (45>69>56)
• FamilyTiez.com– (New) A site where families can establish their own pages to share news, photos, events and genealogy with each other. (30>not ranked)

Send Me your  top 10 Polish Genealogy Websites. This will be a non-scientific survey and I will only publish my findings if I can get 36 emails and I will add in my own top 10 Polish Genealogy sites too. Do not include from the above “generic” genealogy sites. I will allow only Polish (or German, Russian, Austrian, Slavic, Czech, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Jewish, or Hungarian genealogy websites that have ties to Poland).

Email your top 10 to: Stanczyk Email

Tags: 2011, EOGN, Genealogy, Rankings, website