Genealogy by Country (US, UK, Ireland)

The English-speaking-world starting points: deepest free + paid record sets, organized by country. For census see Genealogy Census Records; for wills see Genealogy Wills, Probate & Land; for immigration see Genealogy Immigration & Passenger Records.

United States

Free

• ★ ★ FamilySearch — free; the universal first stop. Census 1790–1950, vital records by state, military, immigration, parish, courthouse images.
• ★ NARA (National Archives) — free; federal records (census, military, naturalization, land patents).
• Library of Congress — free; manuscripts, maps, digitized newspapers.
• Internet Archive — free; out-of-copyright genealogy books.
• USGenWeb Project — free; volunteer state/county pages with transcriptions.
• State archives + State Historical Societies — free or near-free; massive variation in digitization.
• County clerk websites — free; quality wildly variable.
• HathiTrust — free + paid via libraries; published genealogies and county histories.
• HeritageQuest — free via library card; older digitized US Census + Revolutionary pension files.
• BLM-GLO — free; federal land patents.
• Chronicling America — free; pre-1923 US newspapers.

Paid

• ★ Ancestry US — paid; deepest US indexes; ThruLines DNA matches.
• MyHeritage US — paid; competitive coverage.
• Findmypast US — paid; smaller US footprint, complementary.
• Newspapers.com — paid Ancestry-owned (~$45/mo Publisher Extra).
• Fold3 — paid Ancestry-owned military.

Specialty

• AfriGeneas — free African-American.
• Slave Voyages — free; Atlantic + intra-American slave-trade voyages.
• Dawes Rolls — free; Native American (Five Civilized Tribes) enrollment.
• JewishGen — free Jewish (see Genealogy By Country (Jewish/African/Asian)).
• DAR Genealogical Research System — free; Revolutionary War patriots.
• NEHGS / American Ancestors — paid; New England specialist.
• NSDAR / SAR — patriotic society membership databases.
• State-specific archives — Virginia (Library of Virginia), New York (FamilySearch + state archives + NYG&B paid), Pennsylvania (PA Historical & Museum), Massachusetts (NEHGS + state archives).

England & Wales

Free

• ★ ★ FreeBMD — free; volunteer-transcribed birth/marriage/death indexes 1837–1992. Excellent.
• ★ FreeREG — free; volunteer-transcribed parish registers.
• ★ FreeCEN — free; volunteer-transcribed UK census.
• GENUKI — free; locality research guide hub for UK & Ireland.
• The National Archives (TNA) — free indexes, paid digital downloads (~£3–4 per record).
• Discovery (TNA's catalog) — free index across UK archives.
• British Library — free; manuscripts, maps.
• Welsh Newspapers Online — free.
• People's Collection Wales — free.
• Online Parish Clerks (OPC) projects — free; Cornwall, Devon etc.

Paid

• ★ Findmypast — paid; ~£15/mo. The deepest UK & Irish records: 1841–1921 census, parish records, military, newspapers via BNA bundle.
• Ancestry UK — paid; competitive; especially strong on military.
• TheGenealogist — paid; UK; tithe maps, lloyd george domesday survey, niche occupational records.
• British Newspaper Archive (BNA) — paid; ~80M pages.
• MyHeritage UK — paid.

Vital records ordering

• GRO (General Register Office) — paid (~£11 PDF / £14 paper); England & Wales B/M/D certificates 1837+. Free GRO online indexes for births 1837–1922 + deaths 1837–1957 (better than FreeBMD for some years).
• Local Registrar's offices — paid; for very recent or very specific certs.

Scotland

• ★ ★ ScotlandsPeople — paid pay-per-view (~£1.50/credit; B/M/D images = 6 credits each, ~£9). The only legal source of full Scottish vital records images. Statutory B/M/D 1855+, Old Parochial Registers (OPR) 1553–1854, censuses 1841–1911 + 1921, wills, valuation rolls, kirk session records.
• National Records of Scotland (NRS) — free; index searches.
• ScotlandsPlaces — free; tax rolls, gazetteers.
• Scottish Genealogy Society — paid membership.
• National Library of Scotland Maps — free; superb historical-map collection.

Ireland

The "burned records" reality: the 1922 Public Record Office fire destroyed most pre-1900 census + wills + parish registers. Workarounds dominate Irish research.

• ★ ★ IrishGenealogy.ie — free; Irish state-run; Catholic + Church of Ireland + Presbyterian + Methodist parish registers; civil B/M/D 1864+; Clare, Cork, Dublin, Kerry registers indexed. The default starting point for Irish ancestry.
  • https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/
• ★ National Archives of Ireland (NAI) — free; 1901 + 1911 Census; Tithe Applotment Books (1820s–1830s); Soldiers' Wills.
• ★ Griffith's Valuation (1847–1864) — free at Ask About Ireland; the substitute census for pre-1864 Ireland; lists every head-of-household with land/property valuation.
• FamilySearch Ireland — free; partial parish coverage.
• Findmypast Ireland — paid; deepest Irish records on a single platform; petty sessions (court records), workhouse records.
• Ancestry Ireland — paid; complementary.
• PRONI (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) — free; will calendars, valuation revision books, street directories.
• Roots Ireland (IFHS) — paid + some free; aggregates Irish Family History Society regional church records.
• Ireland Reaching Out (Ireland XO) — free; community of locality experts who help researchers find ancestors.

Workarounds for the 1922 fire

• Substitutes — Tithe Applotment Books, Griffith's Valuation, Civil Survey, Hearth Money Rolls.
• Church-register survival — Catholic registers in many parishes survived because they were held locally; CofI registers were largely destroyed (kept centrally).
• Estate / landlord records — sometimes name tenants; held at PRONI / NAI / private collections.

Canada (English-speaking parts)

• ★ Library and Archives Canada (LAC) — free; census 1851 onward, immigration, military, naturalization. The Canadian first stop.
• FamilySearch Canada — free.
• Ancestry Canada — paid.
• MyHeritage Canada — paid.
• AncestryDNA Canada — paid; same database as US.
• Provincial archives (Ontario, Quebec via BAnQ, BC, etc.) — free or near-free.
• Drouin Collection — paid via Ancestry; Quebec Catholic parish registers.

Australia / New Zealand (briefly here)

• ★ Trove (NLA) — free; the AU/NZ research bedrock. See Genealogy Newspaper Archives.
• ★ Papers Past (NLNZ) — free; NZ.
• Ancestry AU/NZ — paid.
• Findmypast AU/NZ — paid.
• State Records of NSW / VIC / SA / etc. — free; convict records, electoral rolls.
• Australia destroys its census by law; use electoral rolls, ship arrivals, parish records.
• NZ census also destroyed; use electoral rolls, BMD indexes (free at BDM Online).

What's changing in 2024–2026

• FamilySearch Full-Text Search rolling across US handwritten records — game-changing.
• GRO digital index for England & Wales expanded; reduces FreeBMD dependence.
• 1921 Ireland Census released January 2026.
• PRONI digital expansions continue.
• Findmypast Irish Catholic registers expanding via diocesan partnerships.

Pick this if…

• Default US starting point: FamilySearch + Ancestry (paid) + Newspapers.com via library card.
• Default UK starting point: Findmypast (paid) + free FreeBMD/FreeREG/FreeCEN + GENUKI for guides.
• Scotland: ScotlandsPeople pay-per-view; budget ~£30–60 per intensive session.
• Ireland: IrishGenealogy.ie + Griffith's Valuation + NAI 1901/1911 first; then Findmypast Ireland.
• Maximum free path: FamilySearch + state archives + free aggregators + library-card access to Ancestry Library Edition.