Useful Links and Forms
Useful Links
This is by no means a comprehensive listing. These are websites that many of our members have used and that were featured in the East European Genealogist journal and at our monthly meetings over the years.
Just a reminder that with the ever changing borders in Europe may mean that your ancestors lived in the Austrian Empire, Hungarian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Prussian state, Russian Empire, Galicia, Poland and Ukraine and somehow still managed to stay in the same village.
For the most part, we have listed websites that are in English. Some of these sites are free to users, some require just a login, while others are paid sites. None of these links are endorsed over others by the EEGS; they are just links that our members have found useful in the past. If you have a link that you think others may benefit from, please send us your suggestions. Enjoy your research!
FamilySearch should be your starting point. With their collection of billions of original records, many from eastern Europe, you may be able to find your ancestor’s records here. There is a login, but the records are free to search and/or browse.
- • Routes to Roots Foundation is a genealogical and Family History guide to Jewish and civil records in Eastern Europe. Concentrating on Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Poland.
- • Arolsen Archives is a comprehensive archive on the victims of Nazi persecution. It includes over 30 million files, index cards, and lists concerning victims of the Holocaust and concentration camp prisoners, foreign forced laborers, and survivors.
- • Genealogy Indexer is a genealogy indexer for online historical directories such as Yizkor books, city directories (such as business directories), community and personal histories, military records (such as Russian empire WWI casualties), school records (such as 1930 Lithuanian primary school teacher’s directory).
- • Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne (Polish Genealogical Society) has regional societies in all major cities and they maintain several databases including Geneteka and Metryki.
- • Geneteka is one of several databases of records and indexes prepared and maintained by Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne (the Polish Genealogical Society).
- • Grobonet states that it is the most comprehensive database for Poland. At present, it has almost four million records from Polish cemeteries and graveyards. In Polish only.
- • Genealogy of Halychyna / Eastern Galicia provides general information on Halychyna/Eastern Galicia, a region that is often misunderstood or ignored in North America. This site is a great starting point for anyone researching ancestral roots in western Ukraine/Eastern Galicia.
- • Hungaricana project’s purpose is to share Hungarian cultural heritage including contents that have never been accessible before.
- • Hungarian Society for Family History Research (MACSE) via its databases, forums, publications, seminars, and other networking events help researchers who wish to know more about their Hungarian ancestry and family background.
- • Poznan Project’s goal is to transcribe the 19th century marriage records from the historic Greater Poland (then Prussian Province of Poznan) into a searchable online database.
- • Pomeranian Genealogical Association has over six million records and is continually digitizing and indexing.
- • Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (SGGEE) focuses on the genealogy of Germans from Russian Poland and Volhynia with some help for related regions.
- • Russians to America Passenger Data File 1834-1897 is a searchable index of data files relating to the immigration of Russians to the United States.
- • ePaveldas - Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Collection holds a number of Lithuanian heritage and culture items. There are over 3,500 Roman Catholic Church register books.
- • JewishGen serves as the global home for Jewish genealogy
- • JewishGen Gazetteer (formerly Shtetlseeker) contains the names of one million localities in 54 countries in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
- • 3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary are 267 historical maps created between 1868 and 1887. The ELTE University of Budapest has the survey on its website.
- • GEDmatch provides more applications for comparing your DNA test results with people worldwide who have chosen to upload their data to this site.
- • DNAeXplained provides genetic research, analysis, and consulting services.
- • Polish Genealogical Society of America is open to anyone doing research within the borders of the old Commonwealth of Poland.
- • Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast holds monthly zoom meetings, gathers parish and community histories, and records Polish cemetery inscriptions in all of the Northeastern states.
- • Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International focuses on the areas of present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia. This includes Czech (Bohemian), German-Bohemian (Böhmisch), Hungarian, Jewish, Moravian, Rusyn (Ruthenian), Silesian, and Slovak ancestry.
- • Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS) is an international organization to promote genealogical research in eastern and central Europe without any ethnic, religious, or social distinctions.
- • Bukovina Society of the Americas promotes recognition of the Bukovina German people and encourage historical research of their heritage.
- • Romanian Genealogical Society collects and publishes genealogical, biographical, and historical material about the other organizations to inform about and preserve Romanian genealogy and heritage.
- • Cyndi’s List contains a variety of links from general “How To” links to “Locality Specific” links. If you are looking for a specific link, chances are this site may have it listed.
- • Google Translate is a free website or app that translates English to a number of east European languages and visa versa.
- • Billion Graves uses modern technology to capture images of headstones with their GPS locations so users worldwide can access those records anywhere. This resource also has a mobile app.
- • Find A Grave has over 226 million memorials created by the community since 1995. This resource also has a mobile app.
- • Can Genealogy is a guide to family history resources in Canada.
Downloadable Forms
Research forms:
- Pedigree Chart - highlight four generations of ancestors for a single person
- Family Group Sheet - document information for one family group on one page
- Research Checklist - track which sources were consulted when researching an individual
- Research Log - log your research progress for a given person
Miscellaneous forms:
- Order form - print and mail this form with a cheque if wish to join or renew your membership and do not wish to do so online. Members may also use this form to order older issues of the East European Genealogist and do not wish to do so online.
- Surname-Village Database submission form - EEGS members may complete this fillable PDF form and e-mail it in or print and mail this form if they do not wish to submit their entries online.
- Query form - EEGS members may complete this fillable PDF form and e-mail it in or print and mail this form