the best search site.

note: use quotation marks for a specific name (e.g. "john smith") or you'll get every website that has both a "john" and a "smith"! keep in mind that some websites might have "smith, john".

the most comprehensive website dealing with genealogy. this is the single best place to start your search.

contains thousands of famous and not-so-famous graves and cemeteries.

it's also a nice place to list your own family and submit photos and information for others to research.

every state is represented in this extensive site. a good place to dive in when you know a location.

general search site sponsored by the lds church. generally only has names specifically submitted for ordinance work, so is not comprehensive.

ancestry.com

illinois state archives

social security death index

pence family

nw mo genealogical society

a premium site, but worth it for the us census information and actual scanned pages alone!

just added -- the entire 1930 census. can't wait for 1940!

illinois state archives marriage index (1763-1900) from a state who really "gets it"

sponsored by rootsweb

82,168,649 records & counting!

everything you could possibly want to know about the

pentz/pence/benz family

a homey and helpful genealogy organization in st. joseph, buchanan county, missouri.

patterson family genealogy forum

illinois civil war veterans database

tombstone birthday calculator

the olive tree genealogy

slpatterson design

a forum run by genealogy.com.

they have similar forums for almost any surname...maybe even yours!

illinois state archives

if you have or think you have an ancestor from illinois who fought in the us civil war, this is the exhaustive list.

to use this, you must know the exact death date and age at time of death.

this is a quick way to figure out the birth date when all you know from a tombstone is: "89 years, 3 months and 27 days old".

free site that brings together many genealogical sources such as ships' lists, military records, huguenot and mennonite databases, etc. there are also many good links to pay sites, if you need more information.

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