Top 5 Family History Search Places after FamilySearch

So, where to look does change depending on what era and what place, but here are some of the best resources, after FamilySearch:

1) Ancestry.com.  Generally, if FamilySearch doesn't own it, Ancestry does.  Ancestry is expensive, but if you are using BYU wireless, you can use it for free, because BYU made a deal with them.

2) Castlegarden.org and Ellisisland.org  Immigration records are pretty much the hallmark crowning jewel of opening a "dead" line.  Some people this doesn't work for.  There are people, like me, whose families immigrated back when there was no such thing as "legal immigration," and there aren't records.  But for the rest of us, Ellis Island and Castle Garden it was.  Ellis Island opened in 1892 and closed in 1954.  If you had people that immigrated between 1892 and 1934, regardless of what European country they came from, regardless of where they went after, they probably came through Ellis Island.  Castle Garden operated as the main immigration station from 1855 to 1890.  Both websites allow you to access immigration records on their websites.  Don't get fooled by the "you have to pay thing."  You don't, you just have to pay if you want a framed doohickey from them.

3) USgenweb.org.   This is a "grass roots" compilation of databases specific to geographic areas.  It is a resource.  Use it.

4) findagrave.com and billiongraves.com  You would be surprised how much you can find from a gravestone.  But they tend to have birth, death and even the places on those sometimes. On top of that, families are buried together a lot, and you can sometimes find siblings, infant stillborn children and other unknown family members that way.  Plus, I have had experiences where I thought a sister of an ancestor was not married, but then found that her gravestone said, "Loving wife."  So, I went and found her husband.

5) America's First Families: This one is good for me, and since a lot of "Classic" Mormon families are in the same boat, I will throw it on here.  http://personal.linkline.com/xymox/  This website works with classic American families (as in 1600s).  A good resource.