Digging Your Roots

Interested in finding out about family ancestors? You can shake your family tree via the web or, by more traditional means.

www.rootsweb.com

This site's surname list is a collection of 700,000-plus family names submitted by more than 75,000 genealogists. Pop a last name into the search engine (choose the Soundex option, the "sounds like" section because surnames were often altered to fit the whim of record keepers) and review the lists of possible matches. This site's most useful feature is simply the volume of users who add to its store of information

www.CyndisList.com

This site claims to have over 40,000 links, categorized and cross-referenced in more than 90 categories. Alphabetized list of genealogy-related sites in easily understood categories, as well as helpful links to other resources such as the correct way to cite Internet sites for research purposes

www.usgenweb.org

Local genealogical resources throughout the U.S. Categories range fom States to counties Site offers useful tips such as English naming patterns (a fourth daughter would often be named after the mother's eldest sister) and explanations of historic job categories

www.glorecords.blm.gov

The Bureau of Land Management's site containing U.S. land records. Myra Vanderpool Gormley, a genealogist who writes a column called Untangling The Web for Heritage Quest magazine, surmised that one of her male ancestors had purchased land from the U.S. government during the great westward expansion of the 19th century. In half an hour, she searched the Bureau's site and found the elusive relative. She estimates it would have taken years of poring over physical land records to accomplish what took her 30 minutes on the Web.

homepages.rootsweb.com/'blksheep

This is a site devoted to family members who have been held "in disgrace for acts of a significantly anti-social nature". More of a general interest site than a rich genealogical resource, Black-Sheep members communicate their villainous lineage through a mailing list.

Traditional Search Method

Windsor Municipal Archives, Windsor Public Library located in lower level of Central Resource Library, 850 Ouellette Ave., 255-6770, ext. 4414, fax 255-7207. Open Tues. & Wed. 10-5, Sat. 9-5 (closed 1-2). Appointments can be made for Mon., Thurs., & Fri. by phone. Historic records of the City of Windsor from 1854, the year Windsor incorporated as a village, and include documentation on communities that became part of Windsor: Ford City/East Windsor, Ojibway, Riverside, Sandwich, Walkerville and Townships of Sandwich East, West and South. Material cannot be loaned but photocopying available for most documents. Come prepared with paper and pencil.

Ontario Archives 1-800-668-9933

Canadian Archives Genealogical Inquiries: 613-996-7458

Have as much information as possible in front of you before calling these numbers, i.e., names, dates, locations.

Happy Hunting!