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The essential genealogy toolbox for all genealogists.
Discover in this article a list of essential websites, resources to carefully save in your bookmarks, as you will certainly need them throughout your genealogical research.
The go-to site for staying up-to-date with genealogical news, French and global innovations, events, and training for genealogists. This site also keeps you informed about new records and archives posted on departmental archive sites.
The genealogy encyclopedia: methodology, useful resources, records, history, practical sheets, dictionaries, or even address books… You will certainly find the resource that will be useful to you!
Available on our blog or in the Resources tab of your workspace, these cheat sheets help you in searching for your ancestors by department and country. Designed as real resource sheets, you will find direct links to departmental archives and online records, information about migrations, many videos, images and old maps, as well as links to genealogy sites.
The genealogy blogosphere is very important. Indeed, many genealogists, amateurs and professionals, share their research, their genealogical challenges, and their family findings. Reading these blog articles is interesting to get inspiration from best practices, exchange with enthusiasts, and maybe even find relatives!
+ the Sophie Boudarel's Flipboard to find all articles of the ChallengeAZ – Blog Your Genealogy from A to Z
Many sites offer digitized archives: departmental, municipal, national archives, former departments and colonies, military or maritime archives... The list is long!
Know that you can access departmental archive sites with one click from your Geneafinder workspace, by clicking on the Public Archives menu.
Switching between different calendars is common in genealogy, especially for research in France, between the Republican and Gregorian calendars.
Paleography, or the study of ancient writings, is not always easy. The more you advance in your genealogical research, the more reading handwritten records can become complex. In addition to paleography courses offered by many genealogy circles and associations, online resources are available such as on the France Archives site for example.
The use of old maps is precious in genealogy to visualize the life of your ancestors and their movements. Historians and geographers also use them to understand the evolution of the landscape and villages.
Many records mention the profession(s) of an ancestor. Some have disappeared, others are unusual or still current. This site offers a simple definition of professions, classified in alphabetical order, to help you better understand the daily life of your ancestors.
Millions of digitized documents (and real treasures) are available for free! These two BNF resource sites offer a real journey into the past thanks to a considerable number of archives: old press, old maps, manuscripts, images, books… It is even possible to do a name search to find an ancestor mentioned in the press.