Genealogy

 Genealogy Gateway Sites

  • Ancestry Library Edition - The world's largest family history resourse is available through the library, which has a subscription to this site, so the site is accessible when searching at the library. Features include digital images of the U.S. Census 1790-1930, some with indexing, passenger lists, and military records. Full access is available only at the Wichita Falls Public Library. Home users may access www.ancestry.com and must pay a subscription fee.
  • Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers - Search and view newspaper pages from 1860-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
  • Digital Archives of the WFPL - Digitized coverage of 1977-87 Record News, Wichita Times 1977-1987, and Times Record News 1987-98, December 2015-current. Accessible at the library only.
  • Elephind.com - Search all of the world's digital newspapers from one place and at one time, allowing simultaneously searching across thousands of articles using key words & phrases.
  • FamilySearch.org - From the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, renowned for their genealogical research, this genealogical search engine combs files of millions of names in three immense databases, as well as thousands of additional Web sites, and includes lots of digital images.
  • Fold3.com  - The web's premier collection of original military records, providing convenient access to US military records, including stories, photos, and personal documents of men and women who served. Remote access is available with your library card.
  • Genealogy.com - a source for family history buffs to find genealogical research originally posted in GenForum and our most popular genealogy articles. 
  • GeneaNet - This site is free, but registration is necessary to use all features; contains helpful international links.
  • GENUKI - For genealogy research on Great Britain and Ireland
  • HeritageQuest Online - Searchable US Federal Census images as well as family histories, genealogical serials, local histories, and primary sources in full image. Provided by the Texas State Library's Texshare Program. To access from home, request Texshare URL and password from Adult Information Desk, 767.0868 x4234. WFPL Library card required. Find out what's new!
  • Mocavo - Free access to thousands of historical records; sign up for a Mocavo Basic (free) or Mocavo Gold (subscription fee) account will allow creation of a profile to upload family trees, family history documents and photos, as well as connecting with other members. Mocavo Support provides help; receive emails on genealogy tips and Mocavo updates.
  • NewsBank - Digitized text content from the Wichita Falls Examiner (2008-2016). Available at the library and remotely with a library card number.
  • USGenWeb Project - A volunteer-led service in which each volunteer adopts a county and creates a Web page for that county with all the information that you would possibly need to begin your search. With so many contributors, each site is different in content, but not in format. Look for "your" counties and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Genealogy Directories

Research Help

Libraries and Archives

Genealogical and Historical Societies

Census Resources

Vital Records Resources

Land Records

Passenger Lists

  • Ellis Island Passenger Arrival Records - From 1892-1924, over 22 million passengers and members of ships' crews came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York; free registration required.
  • Immigrant Ships Transcriber's Guild - Passenger lists are deciphered & transcribed by over 500 volunteers, and uploaded regularly
  • The ShipsList - Ships' passenger lists, immigration reports, newspaper records, shipwreck information, ship pictures, ship descriptions, shipping-line fleet lists, hundreds of passenger lists to Canada, the USA, Australia, and South Africa.

Geographical Resources

  • Geographic Names Information System from the U.S. Geological Survey - "The Geographic Names Information System contains information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States. The federally recognized name of each feature described in the database is identified, and references are made to a feature's location by state, county, and geographic coordinates."

Civil War Resources

Resources in Military Genealogy, 1898- 

Cemeteries & Obituaries

  • Cemetery Records Online from Interment.net - Publisher of cemetery records and materials relating to cemeteries to locate burials, trace family history, and learn about cemeteries.
  • FindaGrave.com - Free resource for finding the final resting places of famous folks, friends and family members
  • Obituary Daily Times - Obituary entries from U.S. and Canadian newspapers
  • Wichita Falls Cemetery Index - Records for Riverside, Hillcrest, Rosemont, and Lakeview Cemeteries in Wichita Falls, a very large file in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

Texas Resources

Native American Resources

African-American Resources

Other Ethnic Resources

 Adoption Resources

Miscellaneous