United States Resources

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: United States
Surnames/tags: united_states resources societies

The United States Resource Project aims to provide individuals with access to a wide range of historical documents, records, and databases that can be used to research their family history and genealogy.

This page contains resources that can be searched across the entire United States, with links to state pages for specific resources in that state.

Contents 1 Genealogy Sites 2 Federal Census Records 3 Birth and Death Records 4 Biographies and Memoirs 5 Cemetery Resources 6 Obituary Resources 7 Ethnic Resources 7.1 African-American Hertiage 7.2 Jewish Genealogy 7.3 Native American Genealogy 7.3.1 Bureau of Indian Affairs Records Rolls 8 Historical Events 8.1 Wars 8.2 Political Events 8.3 Social Movements 8.4 Economic Events 8.5 Disasters 8.6 Scientific and Techological Events 9 Property and Land Records 9.1 Land Deeds 9.2 Property Tax 9.3 Plat Maps 9.4 Homestead Records 9.5 Military Land Grants 10 Map and Photograph Resources 11 Military Resources 11.1 Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) 11.2 Carded Medical Records 11.2.1 Regular Army 11.2.2 Volunteer Soldiers 11.3 Court-Martial 11.4 Pension Records 11.4.1 Revolutionary War 11.4.2 War of 1812 11.4.3 Mexican War 11.4.4 Indian Wars 11.4.5 Civil War, Spanish-American War, and Phillipine Insurrection 11.4.6 Remarried Widows 11.5 Pension Payment Records 11.6 Headstone Applications 11.7 American Gold Star Veterans 11.8 National Parks Service (Civil War) 12 Newspapers 13 Immigration Records 13.1 Russian Immigration 13.2 Irish Famine Immigrants 13.3 German Immigration 13.4 Italian Immigration 14 Internet Archives 15 Miscellaneous 16 State Specific Resources

Genealogy Sites

External websites or platforms that provide additional resources and tools for researching family history and genealogy.

• WikitreeGenealogical Societies Committee
• The USGenWeb Project
• Genealogy Trails History Group
• National Genealogical Society
• Political Graveyard - The Internet's Most Comprehensive Source of U.S. Political Biography

Federal Census Records

Federal Census records have been digitized by several of NARA's partners, and will eventually be available as well through the National Archives Catalog.

• Search Census Records Online and Other Resources

Birth and Death Records

• Obits Archive - Search Social Security Death Index Records

Biographies and Memoirs

A list of sites containing records of biographies and memoirs written accounts of a person's life.

• Free Biographies Online – Collections & Guides

Cemetery Resources

Cemetery resources can be a valuable tool for genealogists, as they can provide wealth of information about an individual's death and burial. This is a list of national sources compiling information about cemeteries.

• Find a Grave
• Billion Graves

Obituary Resources

Obituary resources can provide genealogists with wealth of information about an individual's life, death, and family, as well as insight into the individual's personality and historical context in which they lived. This is a list of national resources for obituaries.

Ethnic Resources

This is resources specifically tailored to help individuals research their family history and genealogy within a particular ethnic or cultural group.

African-American Hertiage

• Smithsonian - The Collection
• Slave Data Collection
• ProQuest - African American Heritage
• Federal Writers' Project - A Collection of former Slave Interview (1936-1938)

Jewish Genealogy

• The Global Home for Jewish Genealogy
• American Jewish Archives
• Smithsonian - American Jewish Historical Society
• Jewish Family History

Native American Genealogy

• Oklahoma Historical Society
• Blackfeet Genealogy Database
• Cherokee Heritage Documentation Center
• The Muscogee (Creek) Nation
• Seminole Nation, I. T.
• The Great Sioux Nation

Bureau of Indian Affairs Records Rolls

The BIA gathered, collected, and created numerous rolls involving American Indians to identify members of various tribes and bands, including Freedmen. These rolls were created as a result of allotments, legislation, removals, treaties, and other activities. BIA rolls can contain names, enrollment numbers, ages, family relations, locations, and more.

• Baker Rolls, 1924-1929 (Eastern Cherokee)
• Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1840 (Multiple Agencies and Tribes)
• Roblin Rolls, 1911-1919 (Indians in Western Washington not enrolled or allotted to an Indian Agency)
• Revised Copy of the Wallace Roll, 1890-1896
• Dawes Rolls, 1896-1914 (Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma)
• Guion Miller Rolls, 1906-1911 (Eastern Cherokee)

Historical Events

Sources for significant events in the country's history that have had a lasting impact on the nation's culture, politics, economy, and society.

Wars

• 1775-1783: American Revolutionary War
• 1796-1794 Cherokee American War
• War of 1812
• 1812-1821 Indian Wars
• 1846-1848: Mexican-American War
• 10 Major Effects of the American Civil War
• 1898 Spanish-American War
• 1914-1918: World War I
• 1939-1945: World War II

Political Events

• Aftermath of the Civil War
• Depression Era - New Deal
• The North Atlantic Treaty Is Signed (April 4, 1949)
• Smith Amends the Civil Rights Act (Feb. 8, 1964)

Social Movements

• The Great Migration (1910-1970)
• The Prophet Is Published (Sept. 23, 1923)
• Thomas Dorsey Invents the Gospel Blues (1932)
• Barbara Johns Walks Out (April 23, 1951)
• The Children March in Birmingham (May 2, 1963)
• Emmett Till Is Murdered (Aug. 28, 1955)]
• Great Migration on the Oregon Trail

Economic Events

• 1849-1857: The California Gold Rush
• Harry Hopkins Starts Work (May 22, 1933) - Social Welfare History Project
• August 14, 1935: Social Security Act

Disasters

• 1816 - Year Without a Summer
• 1862 - Great Flood
• 1874 - Locust Plague
• 1888 - Great Blizzard
• 1896 - Eastern North American Heat Wave
• 1913 - Great Flood
• 1918 - Flu Pandemic (Spanish Flu)
• 1925 - Tri-State Tornado Outbreak
• 1927 - Great Mississippi Flood
• 1930-1936 Dust Bowl
• 1937 - Ohio River Flood

Scientific and Techological Events

• Technology Timeline (1752-1990)

Property and Land Records

Resources for property and land records. Any information about individual's ownership and use of land.

Land Deeds

• Bureau of Land Mangement
• Grassroots of America A Computerized Index to the American State Papers: Land Grants and Claims (1789-1837)

Property Tax

Plat Maps

Homestead Records

• Cancelled Land Entries, 1908-1964
• Serial Patent Files, July 1, 1908–1975
• Alphabetical Name Index to Case Files, 1908–1975
• Numerical Index to Case Files, 1908–1975

Military Land Grants

• Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service
• Service between 1812-1855 Bounty-Land Warrent Applications
• 1812-1855 Bounty-Land Warrent Applications of Indians
• Service between 1849-1930 Bounty-Land Claims Filed and Warrants Issued
• Records Relating to Pensions and Bounty-Land Warrants, 1813-1878
• Incomplete List of Bounty-Land Warrents Issued, 1800-1900
• Stubs and Duplicates of Bounty-Land Warrant Certificates and Scrip Certificates, 1803-1897
• Register of Bounty-Land Warrants Issued, 1851-1856

Map and Photograph Resources

• Library of Congress- Photos, Prints, and Drawings
• Library of Congress- Maps

Military Resources

Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR)

• Carded Service Records of Volunteer Organizations: War of 1812
• Carded Service Records of Volunteer Organizations During Indian Wars, 1817–1858
• Carded Service Records of Volunteer Organizations: Mexican War, 1846–1848
• Carded Service Records of Volunteer Organizations: Civil War (Union), 1861–1865
• Carded Service Records of Volunteer Organizations: Spanish-American War, 1898
• Carded Service Records of Volunteer Organizations: Philippine Insurrection, 1899–1902

Carded Medical Records

If we know (or suspect) a serviceman was wounded, injured, sick, hospitalized or died in the service, and this information was not listed on the CMSR. We can search the Library of Congress's Carded Medical Records. These records were originally intended to help with the verification and approval process for pension applications. Carded medical records existed for Volunteers from the Mexican War to the Philippine Insurrection, and for Regular Army servicemen from 1821 to 1912. You can search for these records with the links below:

• Key to Codes and Prefixes for VA Master Index Card File

Regular Army

• Carded Medical Records for Regular Army, 1821-1884
• Carded Medical Records for Regular Army, 1894-1912

Volunteer Soldiers

• Mexican War to the Phillipine Insurrection

Note: Carded medical records for Confederate Volunteers are filed with their compiled military records (CSMR).

Court-Martial

If you're searching for someone who might have been court martial. You can search records from the Office of the Judge Advocate. I should point out here, when you are reviewing the CSMR, you will likely see dates a soldier might have deserted in the Civil War). Keep in mind sometimes he was not a deserter, but simply trapped behind enemy lines or could not return to his unit for some reason. Many times this is indicated on the CSMR. I just thought I would mention it, so you don't assume he was court martial.

The court martial case files may include documents describing the organization and personnel of the military court, charges and specifications against the defendant, pleas and arraignments, papers and exhibits submitted to the court, proceedings, findings, and sentences of the court, report of reviewing authorities, statement of action by the Secretary of War and the President, and any other related correspondence. Court-martial case files are archived in two parts by time period:

• Court-martial's from 1809-1894
• Court-marial's from 1894 to 1917

Pension Records

Early pensions were only based on injuries or death sustained in the line of duty, but later the pension acts allowed benefits for general military service. Mostly in the form of land bounties. From 1788 to 1855, the War Department granted a bounty of land for military service. This bounty record could contain a wealth of information. At a minimum, they had to provide their regiment and approximate dates of service. Typically, the application file contained supporting documentation, such as narratives of events during service, birth records, marriage certificates, death certificates, family letters, statements from witnesses, and affidavits. One important note about the searches is that the case files contain more information than the index files. But if you can't find a case file, try the index search. If your ancestor applied or received this bounty, you can search below:

Revolutionary War

Congress authorized bounty land warrants for military service in the Revolutionary War under acts 1788, 1803, and 1806. Veterans were granted pensions beginning in 1818, and widows became eligible in 1836.

• Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files
• U.S. Revolutionary War Bounty-Land Warrants Used in the U.S. Military District of Ohio and Related Papers (Acts of 1788, 1803, and 1806), 1788–1806
• Virginia Half Pay and Other Related Revolutionary War Pension Application Files

War of 1812

Regular Army Veterans received disability pensions for service during the "Old War" period, from the end of the Revolutionary War to the beginning of the Civil War. Veterans of state militias federalized received pensions for War of 1812 service starting in 1871, and their widows in 1878. Bounty land warrants for service during the war were based on acts 1811 and 1812.

• Index to War of 1812 Pension Application Files
• Case Files of Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Service Between 1812 and 1855, and Disapproved Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, 1800–1900

Note: This above series also covers bounty land issued for Mexican War and Indian War Service.

• Old War Index to Pension Files, 1815–1926

Note: This series also covers Regular Army, Navy, and Marine Corps service during the Mexican War.

Mexican War

Congress granted bounty land warrants for service in the Mexican War under an act of 1847. Veterans and widows first became eligible for pensions in 1887, as long as the soldier had served at least 60 days or was engaged in battle, and was honorably discharged and at least 62 years old.

• Name Index to Mexican War Pensions, 1887–1926
• Case Files of Mexican War Pension Applications, ca. 1887–ca. 1926
• Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Soldiers Who Served in Both the Mexican War and the Civil War, ca. 1847–ca. 1888

Indian Wars

The bounty land acts of 1850, 1852, and 1855 granted warrants for service in all Indian Wars from 1790 up to the beginning of the Civil War.

• Name Index to Indian War Pension Files, 1892–1926
• Case Files of Indian Wars Pension Applications, 1892–ca. 1926

Civil War, Spanish-American War, and Phillipine Insurrection

Civil War, Spanish-American War, and Phillippine Insurrection - The pension system for Union soldiers began in 1862, with the issuance of pensions for disabilities sustained during service. In 1890, benefits were expanded to include pensions for general service of at least 90 days with an honorable discharge.

• General Index to Pension Files, 1861–1934
• Organizational Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900
• Numerical Index to Pensions, 1860–1934
• Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Veterans Who Served in the Army and Navy Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861–1934
• Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Veterans Who Served in the Army and Navy Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861–1934
• Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of the Army and Navy Who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861–1934
• Case Files of Disapproved Pension Applications of Veterans of the Army and the Navy Who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, ca. 1861–ca. 1934
• Case Files of Disapproved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of Veterans of the Army and Navy, ca. 1861–ca. 1934
• United States Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans 1879-1903, Index and images
• United States Civil War Confederate Applications for Pardons, 1865-1867, index links to images
• United States Civil War Confederate Papers of Citzens or Businesses, 1861-1865, index links to images
• United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865, index and images
• List of Field Officers, Regiments and Battalions in the Confederate States Army

Remarried Widows

Some widows drew pensions from the service of multiple husbands. In such a case, the pension application information for soldiers is usually included in a single file, under the surname of the most recent husband. The index includes the name of the claimant, the name of the soldier and his service unit, and the pension number.

• Index to Pension Application Files of Remarried Widows Based on Service in the War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, and Regular Army before 1861
• Index to Pension Application Files of Remarried Widows Based on Volunteer Service in the Civil War and Later Wars and in the Regular Army After the Civil War

Pension Payment Records

In addition to pension applications, these records have documentation of payments made to veterans approved for pensions.

• Registers of Pension Payments, 1789–1872
• Index to Pension Agency Payment Books, 1805–1909
• Pension Agency Payment Books, 1805–1909
• Registers of Pension Payments, ca. 1811–1868
• Register of Pension Payments, May 29, 1813–July 27, 1866
• Pension Payment Records, 1826–1857
• Records of Pension Payments, 1859–1901

Headstone Applications

• Applications for Headstones in Private Cemeteries, 1909–1924

Note: this is not yet digitized, but here is the link when it is done.

American Gold Star Veterans

A public archive with information on military veterans that gave their life during service. It includes veterans from World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

• Honor State Organization - American Military Veterans who Died in War
• American Battle Monuments Commission - Americans who died in WWI and WWII

National Parks Service (Civil War)

National Park Service for Civil War Veterans. You can search by name, regiments, cemeteries, battles, Medal of Honor and monuments. This usually just has name, side they fought on, and unit. It can help with spelling variations if you are looking to narrow down the person and help you find a unit to search for your ancestor.

• Soliders and Sailors Database

Newspapers

• Library of Congress - Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers
• Elephind - Search World's Historical Newspaper Archives
• Google News Archives
• Online Newspapers in U.S. – Free Newspaper Archives Online

Immigration Records

• Digital Library of America (DPLA)
• Immigrant Ships Transcibers Guild (ISTG)

Russian Immigration

• Field Search - Russians to America Passenger Data File, 1834 - 1897
• Fielded Search - Manifest Header Data File, 1834 - ca. 1900

Irish Famine Immigrants

• Fielded Search - Famine Irish Passenger Record Data File (FIPAS), 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851
• Fielded Search - List of Ships that Arrived at the Port of New York During the Irish Famine, 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851

German Immigration

• Field Search - Germans to America Passenger Data File, 1850 - 1897
• Fielded Search - Manifest Header Data File, 1834 - ca. 1900

Italian Immigration

• Italians to America Passenger Data File, 1855 - 1900
• Fielded Search - Manifest Header Data File, 1834 - ca. 1900

Internet Archives

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

• Internet Archive - Wayback Machine

Miscellaneous

Application for historic registries contained on this site can have a wealth of information about the place, including people associated with it. It can also be a source for photographs, but remember that some images may be copyrighted (check the copyright notice).

• National Park Service - NPGallery Digital Asset Management System Search

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that answers questions with citation sources. It can search the web for questions you ask and provide an answer with a list of sources that support its response. You can then view the source information to decide if it contains the information you need to support your statements, and/or if the information is from a reliable source you want to use.

• Perplixity AI
• Neeva
• Chat OpenAI

Historical markers serve as tangible, publicly accessible records, providing concise yet crucial information about significant events, locations, and individuals, thereby aiding genealogical research by offering direct links to specific historical moments and the people connected to them.

• Historical Marker Database

To use PaywallReader.com, go to the website and paste the URL of the article you want to access into the provided field. Then, click one of the archive site buttons (such as Google Cache, Internet Archive, Archive.Today, etc.) to search for the archived version of the article. If the first archive site doesn’t have the content, try another option to find a working archive.

• Archive URL Search

State Specific Resources

Click on the state flag to go to a resource specific for that state. If a page has not been setup for the state, it will take you the state flag image.

Alabama	Alaska	Arizona	Arkansas	California
Colorado	Connecticut	Delaware	Florida	Georgia
Hawaii	Idaho	Ilinois	Indiana	Iowa
Kansas	Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine	Maryland
Massachusetts	Michigan	Minnesota	Mississippi	Missouri
Montana	Nebraska	Nevada	New Hampshire	New Jersey
New Mexico	New York	North Carolina	North Dakota	Ohio
Oklahoma	Oregon	Pennsylvania	Rhode Island	South Carolina
South Dakota	Tennessee	Texas	Utah	Vermont
Virginia	Washington	West Virginia	Wisconsin	Wyoming