Many if not most of the requests for information that come my way have to do with genealogy. When I began serving as town historian, I did not have much experience in this field. However, over the past few years I have discovered and used a number of resources to help answer the sometimes difficult questions that genealogy research throws at you. In this article, I will be sharing some of these resources to help you, the reader, in your genealogical research of links to the past. One thing to keep in mind when beginning your research is: What information do I already have and what am I looking for? This will loosely dictate an order for your search. However, there are a couple of websites that almost everyone will want to begin with.
By now, most of you have heard of www.ancestry.com. This is an excellent starting point for anyone beginning to research their family tree and for numerous other types of historical research questions. It is available to use for free at most if not all public libraries. While at the library, also take a look at old city directories. These were a yearly publication of who lived where before the telephone directory took over this function.
If you know where the person you are researching lived at a point in time prior to 1940, census information is available free at: http://www.census.gov/history Currently, records up to 1940 are searchable online. The actual 1940 census can be found here: http://1940census.archives.gov/
If you are searching for where someone is buried, http://www.findagrave.com/ is sometimes useful. If you don’t have any luck there, but you know the approximate year of a person’s death, the Erie County Library has death certificate notices on microfiche for most of Western New York. Once you have a death certificate number, you can contact the village or town that issued the certificate. With that information, the place of burial should be easy to find. Although, it may be necessary to be a relative of the deceased in order to get a copy
The library and The Buffalo History Museum also has many old newspapers on microfiche. Here, you can look through the obituaries which may be helpful. In the same vein, birth notices can also be researched. The best advice is to not get frustrated. Be prepared for dead ends, false leads etc. However, even when you don’t find what you’re looking for on a particular search you will most likely come across some interesting tidbit of information that will possibly come in handy at a later date. The following list is by no means complete but it is packed with information for researchers. Most of the sites below are various organizations home pages with additional links to other genealogical search sites and databases. Lastly, if at some point you are having a difficult time or feel that you have exhausted all of your leads, or perhaps you just don’t have the time there are researchers for hire who may be able to assist with the particularly obscure scenarios.
www.wnygs.org: Western New York Genealogical Association
http://www.buffaloresearch.com/ Buffalo and Erie County
Wilson, NY History 