Genealogy | WorldCat.org

WorldCat.org and genealogy: A powerful combination

WorldCat.org connects genealogical researchers to millions of pieces of unique content not found elsewhere.

Newspapers, family Bibles, cemetery and burial archives, microfilm, and digitized local records—it’s a treasure trove of family history waiting to be uncovered. Learn how to make the most of this powerful, global resource.

Connect to an incredible range of resources

Genealogists love libraries and archives because they are often the only source for unique, local information about births, deaths, marriages, businesses, and other family histories. WorldCat.org can connect you to a huge variety of sources of information in this topic area including:

Cemetery and burial records
United States Civil War and other military records
Family Bibles, church histories, and records
General genealogical resources, such as directories, handbooks, and magazines
Indexes of births, marriages, deaths, wills, and obituaries
Microfilmed genealogy and local history collections
Newspapers from many countries
Photographs
Slavery and antislavery materials, including slave records
Town histories and probate records

In addition to library resources, WorldCat.org also connects you to millions of records from FamilySearch, a nonprofit family history organization with the largest collection of genealogical and historic records in the world.

Tips to search for your family history

Family names
Enter the family name followed by the word “family” (e.g., “Marsh family”). Watch a short video for tips on how to search for family names.

Specific person
Enter the person’s full name (e.g., “Sarah Johnson”). Watch a short video to learn more about how to search for an individual’s name.

Organizations
Enter terms to describe the organization (e.g., “presbyterian”). Watch a short video for tips on how to search for cemetery records.

Geographic locations
For place names within the United States, search the place name in combination with the abbreviated and full state name (e.g., “Union Springs NY” and “Union Springs New York”). Watch a short video for tips on how to search for locations.

View the full playlist for additional instructional videos.

A family tree success story

A genealogy researcher living in Ohio had a large, framed photograph with eight men from the late 1800s in her upstate New York childhood home. The family legend was that the seven brothers and their father had gone to talk to President Lincoln, and that their name was Campbell or DeCamp and they lived in Ohio.

She searched for both “decamp family ohio” and “campbell family ohio” and found a citation for a “Record of the descendants of Ezekiel and Mary Baker DeCamp of Butler County, Ohio.” Since the Baker name appeared, and since WorldCat.org indicated that a copy of this item was in the Cincinnati History Library, she drove the two hours from Columbus to Cincinnati.

She found that not only was Mary Baker DeCamp the sister of her great-great-great-grandmother, Phoebe Hedges Baker Marsh, but also discovered a reproduction of the same photograph from her childhood home. The book detailed the story of how these seven DeCamp brothers and their father visited and talked with President Lincoln after being introduced to him by a local judge.

Personalize your experience, create your own lists, and connect to favorite libraries with a WorldCat.org account.

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