From the desk
Where the records are Free collections first, then the offices that hold the paper.
The places we search first, nearly all of them free. Most mysteries that stay unsolved stay that way because nobody opened the right free book.
Everywhere · Michigan · Cass County · Indiana · Ohio · Beyond the United States
Everywhere
Start here, wherever your people lived
- FamilySearchFree with an account. Billions of indexed records and millions of filmed ones: censuses, vital records, probate, land and church books worldwide.
- The FamilySearch Research WikiWhat records exist for any country, state or county, and where they are kept. The best first stop for a new place.
- Internet ArchiveCounty histories, family genealogies, city directories and old books, free to read and search.
- HathiTrustMillions of digitized library books. Full text search finds a name inside books you didn’t know existed.
- Chronicling AmericaThe Library of Congress’s free historic newspapers, from every state.
- National Archives: genealogyCensus, military service and pension files, immigration and naturalization records of the United States.
- Library of Congress mapsCounty wall maps, atlases, town plans and panoramic views, many in deep zoom.
- David Rumsey Map CollectionMore than 150,000 historic maps and images online, free to view.
- Land patents (BLM General Land Office)The first sale of federal land to a private owner, with surveyors’ plats and field notes, for the public-land states.
- USGenWebVolunteer sites for every state and county: transcribed records, cemetery lists, biographies and local know-how.
- Ellis Island passenger searchArrival lists for the port of New York, 1820–1957.
Michigan
Where Project Scroll began
- Michigan death records, 1897–1952The Archives of Michigan’s death records: about 1.6 million from 1921 to 1952, with the certificate itself for 1921 to 1948 and an index for 1949 to 1952.
- Michiganology: vital recordsThe Archives of Michigan’s timeline of how the state recorded births, marriages, deaths and divorces from 1812, with links to its collections.
- Library of Michigan county guidesThe state library’s list of what it holds for each county: histories, newspapers on microfilm, plat books and transcriptions. Cass County is linked; pick another county from the same page.
- Michigan County Histories and AtlasesThe University of Michigan’s collection of the old county histories and atlases, full text.
- Michigan Digital NewspapersCentral Michigan University’s portal to digitized Michigan newspapers.
- MIGenWebMichigan’s county volunteer sites.
- Plat maps of Cass CountyThe Cass District Library’s list of every plat book of the county from 1860 to today: which years exist, and which the county Historical Commission reprinted (1860, 1872, 1896 and 1914). The township sheets of about 1928 are in the map room.
Cass County
Where Project Scroll lives: start here, then plan a visit
- FamilySearch Research Wiki: Cass CountyWhich county records exist, from what year, and where each is kept. Its dates sometimes disagree with each other; confirm with the office.
- Cass District Library: guides and indexesThe Local History Branch’s inventories: newspaper, death, marriage and divorce microfilm, cemetery and rural-school guides, and obituary indexes for 1998 to 2025.
- Cass County recorded documentsThe Clerk/Register’s online index of deeds and other recorded documents, from 1 November 1988; older ones are in the books at the office.
- Planning a research tripOur guide to a research day in Cassopolis and the valley: who holds what, a sample day, what to bring and how to ask.
Indiana
Next door
- Hoosier State ChroniclesIndiana’s free digital historic newspaper program.
- Indiana State Library: genealogyMore than 40,000 printed items for family history, with the weight on Indiana and the states around it.
- INGenWebIndiana’s county volunteer sites, many with transcribed county-history biographies.
Ohio
Where so many Michigan and Indiana families came from
- Ohio death records guideThe Ohio History Connection’s guide to Ohio death certificates and indexes, by period.
Beyond the United States
Following a family home
- FreeBMD (England and Wales)Free index of births, marriages and deaths registered from 1837.
- Irish GenealogyIreland’s free civil birth, marriage and death records and church records.
- Riksarkivet (Sweden)The Swedish National Archives: church books and household examination rolls, free to view.
- MatriculaCatholic parish registers from Germany, Austria, Poland and elsewhere, free to view.
- Archion paidProtestant church books of Germany. Paid, and worth it when a German village is known.
- ScotlandsPeople paidScotland’s official records: parish registers, statutory registers, wills. Pay per view.
- Library and Archives CanadaCanadian census, immigration and military records.
Nothing matches that. Try a shorter word.
Three habits that find more
- Search the unusual name. A rare surname, spelled every way it can be said, finds the family and almost nobody else.
- Read the whole page. Neighbors in a census are often in-laws, and witnesses to a deed are often kin.
- Go back to the original. Indexes and transcriptions are for finding things. The record itself is the evidence.
Did you know?
- Most of the 1890 United States census was lost after a fire in Washington in January 1921.
- Each federal census opens to the public 72 years after it was taken.
- The 1850 census was the first to name every free person in a household. Before it, only the head of the household was named.
- Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales began on 1 July 1837.
This list grows as the desk works further afield. Know a free source we should add? Tell us.