There are millions of digital #freerecords, published books, journals, all online at HathiTrust, Archive.org, Open Library, Library of Congress, New York Public Library and similar websites. Occasionally the copy is not as high quality as the $ copy on a subscription site, but the record is free, for everyone. PDF, full text and sometimes even Kindle versions are offered to read, download, copy/paste text.
Most useful
- American Ancestors -free guest account, not like Ancestry, it’s free with no emails, no credit card and no auto renewals-. Free resources include templates, charts, access to some records, The Weekly Genealogist newsletter. Their mission is shown in their work: family history and genealogy. The yearly membership is the best money I’ve ever spent on family history
- NEHGR, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Volumes 1-76 at Archive.org and Google Books. FamilySearch.org provides this page with links to volumes and a link to a consolidated index.
- Savage. A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England showing three generations of those who came before May, 1692, on the basis of Farmer’s Register By James Savage Volumes 1-4 at HathiTrust.
- Farmer. A genealogical register of the first settlers of New England To which are added various genealogical and biographical notes, collected from ancient records, manuscripts, and printed works. By John Farmer. At HathiTrust
- The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island : comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690. By John Austin. At Archive.org
- American Ancestry: Giving the Name And Descent of Americans in the United States Previous to 1776. Munsell, Frank and Thomas Hughes. 12 volumes at HathiTrust
- The Great Migration series is not free, it’s offered at American Ancestors and Ancestry. The index and abbreviation key were free, now lost. American Ancestors Great Migration Project Home Page
Colonial as a group (individual colony sources below, alpha by colony/state name)
- Bradford’s History of Plymouth plantation, 1606-1646 at Project Gutenberg. “It is regarded as the most authoritative account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the colony which they founded.” Read all about it at Wikipedia page
- Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by George Francis Dow at HathiTrust. Same at Project Gutenberg with Kindle, Drive, PDF downloads
- List of Freemen, Massachusetts Bay Colony From 1630 to 1691 at Archive.org
- Mourt’s Relation‘ which is really ‘Mourt’s relation or journal of the plantation at Plymouth‘ or ‘A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England‘ was written from November 1620 to November 1621. At HathiTrust an ebook with footnotes and maps. At The Plymouth Colony Archive Project, text transcribed by Caleb Johnson of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
- Peirce’s colonial lists. Civil, military and professional lists of Plymouth and Rhode Island colonies by Ebenezer Peirce at HathiTrust
- Records of the colony of New Plymouth in New England by Shurtleff 12 volumes at HathiTrust
- The Plymouth Colony Archive Project: Patricia Scott Deetz, James Deetz and Christopher Fennell, “designed to make available historical constructions on various topics of the Colony’s social history … and to provide primary sources”.
- Winthrop, John. Winthrop’s Journal, History of New England, 1630-1649. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc, 1953. This is awesome, 2 volumes, with a Table of Contents in chronological order.
Migration and Emigration, Immigration. Emigrate is to leave one place and settle in another. Immigrate is to move to a non native place- so basically the same thing, each with 1,000 kilograms/pounds of subtle meaning attached now in the 21st century. Migration is a better term.
- A collection of upwards of thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727-1776 by Daniel Rupp at HathiTrust
- Hotten The original lists of persons of quality, emigrants at HathiTrust
- The Mayflower Descendant. Boston, published 1899 to 1940 at HathiTrust volume 1, 6-24, other volumes in other records.
- Some colonial dames of royal descent by Charles Browning, an odd book, is it true, verified? I think so, there’s a society by invitation only. Book is at HathiTrust.
- Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England, 1620-1650. by Charles Banks at HathiTrust. Reference and/or source is provided in the book when available.
Indexes
- Index of obituaries in Massachusetts centennial [newspaper] American Antiquarian Society 5 volumes at HathiTrust
- New England marriages prior to 1700, handwritten images at FamilySearch.org, explanation of record. The handwritten images are probably not as useful as the paid printed versions, but are interesting to view.
- American marriages before 1699 by William Clemens
- The American genealogical-biographical index – AGBI to American genealogical, biographical, and local history materials. Fremont Rider, editor. At HathiTrust, many volumes are limited search, lists volumes 1 thru 206, 1 thru 48 appear as full view copies. There is an alpha index also on HathiTrust. And FamilySearch.org offers the same and at FamilySearch a helpful how to guide .
Connecticut
- The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut by Stiles which includes an appendix of the Matthew Grant Record ‘usually called the old church record’ and copy of this same record at Archive.org by an additional title Some early records and documents of and relating to the town of Windsor, Connecticut
- A digest of the early Connecticut probate records at HathiTrust
- Hinman. A catalogue of the names of the early Puritan settlers of the colony of Connecticut , Early Puritan, no idea why but two separate items
- and Hinman. A catalogue of the names of the first Puritan settlers of the Colony of Connecticut, First Puritan, no idea why, but two separate items.
- The public records of the Colony of Connecticut 15 volumes
England
- Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of Charles I Volumes 1-18, 20, 21. Snapshot my 10th great-grandfather, No. 9 John Jones is suspended and removed from his post when he refuses to ‘adhere to rites and ceremonies in the book of public prayers’ in volume 4 page 275.
Iowa
- Iowa Counties Historic Atlases at University of Iowa Digital Libraries. Atlases and plat books, many contain farmer and merchant lists, photos and stories of Iowa towns. Search and view are a little challenging. The images are wonderful.
- Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices of Iowa, by David C. Mott, Annals of Iowa, 1930-1932. State Library of Iowa.
- Iowa Historical Newspapers: Digitized: A-Z Cities/Counties library guide at Rod Library UNI. The historical newspapers are not at the library, but these are links to the newspapers.
- Iowa Non-Population Census Schedules catalog page at FamilySearch.org. Agricultural and industry censuses
Maine
- The Maine Historical And Genealogical Recorder. Portland, Me.: S.M. Watson. 9 volumes
Maryland
- Maryland Records, Colonial, Revolutionary, County And Church: From Original Sources. Baltimore, Md.: Williams & Wilkins, 1915 by Brumbaugh, Gaius. 2 volumes at HathiTrust
Massachusetts
- A report of the Record Commissioners of the city of Boston. 38 volumes.
- Note-book kept by Thomas Lechford, esq., lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts bay, from June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641
- Records And Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. Salem, MA, Essex institute, 1911-1975 at HathiTrust volumes 1-8 full view, 9 limited search.
- Vital Records of Framingham, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 at HathiTrust
- Vital record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896
New Hampshire
- Stearns, Ezra S. Genealogical And Family History of the State of New Hampshire: a Record of the Achievements of Her People In the Making of a Commonwealth And the Founding of a Nation. New York, Chicago: The Lewis Pub. Co., 1908.
Oregon
- Linn (Oregon) Genealogical Society death certificates. ” The society has digitized images of all death certificates for Linn and Benton Counties up to 1965. The images were taken from records at the Oregon Archives”.
- Linn (Oregon) Genealogical Society WPA interviews. Pioneers of Linn County, Oregon, 136 transcribed Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviews
Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania archives, series, this is a massive series of Pennsylvania records. Series 6 contains church and military records. FamilySearch.org has most series, most volume in each series, it’s huge. A link to the full set: Pennsylvania archives (series) at HathiTrust and at FamilySearch.org, viewable at Family History Centers, some volumes are online, some are not online.
- Names of Foreigners Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to Pennsylvania 1727-1775 at HathiTrust
- Pennsylvania German pioneers; a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808 at HathiTrust
Rhode Island
- Rhode Island History published by Rhode Island Historical Society. “This searches through the archives of Rhode Island History, the journal of the Rhode Island Historical Society, published since 1942.” A list of all the articles from volume 1 to volume 65 with a link to search all issues.
- Index to The early records of the town of Providence volumes I- XXI, LeBaron 1949, at Archive.org
- The Early Records of the Town of Providence, volumes 1-21 at HathiTrust, a goldmine of records, facts, stories of the early town.
- Vital record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 : a family register for the people at FamilySearch.org by James Arnold Volumes 1-22. On Ancestry.com this source is listed as Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899. At Archive Volume 2 Volume 4.
- Representative Men And Old Families of Rhode Island: Genealogical Records And Historical Sketches of Prominent And Representative Citizens And of Many of the Old Families, 1908 at HathiTrust
- The early history of Narragansett; with an appendix of original documents, many of which are now for the first time published by Elisha Potter, 1835 at HathiTrust. I think the Princeton copy has the best organization, most have a table of contents and all have a name, place and subject index
Family genealogies
- A Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Olney at HathiTrust
- A partial record of the descendants of John Tefft at HathiTrust
- Gardiner-Gardner Genealogy: Including the English Ancestry of George Gardiner, Immigrant Ancestor of Newport, R.I., & Many of His Descendants at HathiTrust
- Genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Angell at Archive.org
- Harter history at FamilySearch.org
- Notes on the Bowman, Harter and Sauer families at FamilySearch.org
- Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony at HathiTrust
- The ancestry of Annis Spear, 1775-1858, of Litchfield, Maine at HathiTrust
- The Arnold memorial by Elisha Arnold at HathiTrust
Local histories and vital record specific locations
- Seversmith. Colonial families of Long Island, New York and Connecticut, being the ancestry & kindred of Herbert Furman Seversmith Volumes 1-5 at HathiTrust.
Census
- At Oak Grove Genealogy Occupation Abbreviations in Census Records
- Heads of families at the first census of the United States taken in the year 1790, Pennsylvania at Archive.org. This is Pennsylvania. Other states are in other volumes: 1 Maine, 2 New Hampshire, 3 Vermont, 4 Massachusetts, 5 Rhode Island, 6 Connecticut, 7 New York, 8 Pennsylvania, 9 Maryland, 10 Virginia, 11 North Carolina, 12 South Carolina. These other volumes are shown on this same page towards bottom. And, directly from Census.gov, all the Heads of Families at the first census in one spot, PDFs
- National Archives Charts and Forms list, federal census, agricultural census, a full list
General
- Ancestry magazine 1990-2010 at Google Books “focuses on genealogy for today’s family historian, with tips for using Ancestry.com, advice from family history experts, and success stories from genealogists across the globe”.
Each life has its place 
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