Take a look at these great, free, research sites for Missouri, the United States, and Worldwide—our favorites among the many that are now available online!
Overall
Census Online — Choose your state and county. Most counties have at least one census transcription online.
Family Search — This is the site for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and they have made many records available to everyone at no cost, including some images of the original documents.
Missouri Secretary of State — This link on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website features imaged death certificates, as well as a Soldier’s database and Missouri’s Judicial Records.
History at Home: A Guide to Genealogy — A helpful article for beginners. Scroll to the end for a list of online resources.
Miscellaneous
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–1940 — You can search by state, or keywords—an essential source for anyone researching the WPA and what it was like to live during the late 1930s.
1895 U.S. Atlas — Maps like this really help you with your research—be sure to read the introduction regarding copying them to another site or for publication. (Note: The original site is no longer online. The link has been edited to point to the internet archive page.)
The Official Federal Land Records Site — If your ancestors fought in some of the wars in the U.S., they may have been awarded a land patent. This easy-to-use site also contains survey plats/notes, and land status records.
Dead Fred — Any pictures of your ancestors on this site?
Missouri Digital Heritage — A wide range of topics throughout Missouri are on this site, including Civil War and Native American information, photographs, postcards, letters, newspapers and more!
Researching Your Family’s History from Ships Passenger Lists — A very helpful guide to searching passenger ship records including links to available online records.
Genealogy for Kids: Building a Family Tree — A great resource for kids who are interested in tracing their family tree.
Civil War
Civil War Buff — This is a wonderful site to research Arkansas Civil War history. Multiple links to click and study.
National Parks Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database — Search by soldiers, sailors, regiments, cemeteries, battles, prisoners, medals of honor, and monuments.
Native American
Cherokee Genealogy Site — many links and some really interesting historical information.
Native American Nations — This site features Native American tribal histories, rolls, census, cemeteries, etc for over 35 tribes.
Native American—Indian Genealogy — Searchable rolls and other records for many, many tribes.