Top 50 websites?

"Government sites, general reference sites, newspapers and sites like Wikipedia and Google were excluded."

This line from the listing of "50 helpful genealogical websites," selected by Kory Meyerink of ProGenealogists.com and published in the Mormon Times, explains why this seems like an odd mixture. They are certainly far from the top sites that I use, several I've never heard of, likely owing to their US orientation..

Here are the top 20.


Rank — Website — Coverage/content (past rankings)
1. Ancestry.com $ - Ancestry.com is the leading genealogical data site and includes articles, instruction and reference help. (1>1>1)
2. MyHeritage.com - Focuses on genealogy community building and networking. (3>3>3)
3. FindAGrave.com - This database of 57 million cemetery inscriptions adds about a million per month and often includes tombstone photos. (7>7>7)
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)
Note: $ - website requires a fee for services.

Read the rest here.