I've been interested in genealogy (family history) since childhood. Both my paternal grandfather and my maternal grandmother were genealogists. Some of their writings are reproduced here in my website. It was my grandmother especially who kindled the interest in me. I have always had a curiousity about history, and I believe that learning the history of ancestors is the most personal way to connect with history, and I have read much history that I would not have read had I not had an involved ancestor.

Biographies of Ancestors

This section contains individual biographies of ancestors.

Banks/Dean Genealogy

This section contains a web-based multimedia family tree constructed from my genealogical database (The Master Genealogist, v. 7.04) using John Cardinal's Second Site software. Living people are omitted to protect their privacy.

Selected Genealogical Websites

Cyndi's List: index of Internet genealogy sites.

Database & research sites

Ancestry.com: largest subscription genealogical database resource online.
Ancestry.co.uk: British version of Ancestry, which contains the same data and may cost less to join.
Footnote.com: Another subscription site. Emphasis on newpapers.
WorldVitalRecords.com: Another subscription site. Less expensive than ancestry.com.
Familysearch.org: LDS databases and Family History Library catalog. Free.
NewFamilysearch.org: online sharing LDS database.
Rootsweb: free database site.
Leo's Genealogics Website: comprehensive database of Medieval genealogy.
BYU Library Family History Archives.
Access to Archives: National Archives of USA.
Free BMD: Transcription of the Civil Registration index of births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales.
Genuki: UK and Ireland genealogical information maintained by volunteers.
USGenWeb Project: Similar to Genuki, but for the USA. Organized by State.
Documents Online: National Archives of Great Britain.
Allen County Public Library: Library in Indiana that has a massive genealogical collection.
New England Historic Genealogical Society: has many databases concerning New England ancestry.
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
Some Notes on Medieval English Genealogy.
The Henry Project: Ancestors of King Henry II of England.
The Descent of Captain Meriwether Lewis from the Kings of England and Scotland: an essay I wrote to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Some Recommended Genealogical Books

The Source: A Guidebook Of American Genealogy (Third Edition), by Loreto Dennis Szucs & Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, eds. General reference text on American Genealogy.
Evidence Explained:Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace 2nd Edition, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. How to cite your evidence.
The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, Third Edition by Val Greenwood.
Ancestral Trails. The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History, Second Edition by Mark D. Herber.
Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700. Eighth Edition by Frederick Lewis Weis and Walter Lee Shepard, Jr. (In many respects the 7th edition was better.)
Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, Or Dormant, Volume 1 by George Edward Cokayne. There are 7 Volumes in this series, the link here is just to volume 1.
The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History, by Gary Boyd Roberts.
Ancestors of American Presidents, 2009 Edition, by Gary Boyd Roberts.