Genealogy Resources

General Genealogy Resources

Cindi’s List(s)

Cyndi’s List is the most comprehensive site for genealogy researchers available on the internet. It has over 137,950 categorized and cross-referenced links in more than 150 categories. Some pages are general in nature but the site is pretty comprehensive. These lists are a good place to start if you don’t have a specific group of people that you are searching for.

The Language of Computer Genealogy

GEDCOM is an acronym taken from “GEnealogical Data COMmunication”. It defines a structure for a file which can be used to transfer genealogical data from one computer/program to another. The file format is a standard ASCII text file so it can be read/written by virtually any computer and/or genealogy program.

The GEDCOM Standard was written by the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church). It was necessary to have such a standard in order to share genealogical information. The GEDCOM Standard has been through several versions, and the current version 5.5 standard has been around for over 3 years.

Genealogy Programs for your Computer

* Brother’s Keeper is the most commonly used program by Mennonite Genealogy researchers.  It is available as shareware and can be downloaded.

**PAF, Personal Ancestral File is a free program written by the Mormon Church.