5 Free Resources for Texas Family History Research You May Not Be Using

Free places you can look for information about your Texas ancestors.

The Lone Star State is a big state with 254 counties, and it has a ton of resources that are available to the family history researcher. However, there are some I come back to again and again while researching ancestors who lived in Texas. And while I love and use Ancestry.com all the time for Texas research, it just doesn't have everything I need. Also? Not everyone can afford to have an Ancestry.com subscription. So, I thought listing some free places to look online and offline for your Texas ancestors might be helpful to everyone. The following are 5 free-to-access Texas family history research resources with some comments and specific links to more information about each one:

1. Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research ~ Located in Houston, Texas, and named as "...one of the top genealogy research libraries in the United States," by Family Tree Magazine, Clayton's holdings are vast with way more than just Texas research resources. Take some time to explore this site fully. However, I can recommend taking a look online at their list of Collections, searching their Microprint Collection, searching their Periodical Collection, and then, since Clayton Library is a part of the Houston Public Library System, doing some advanced searching of their Online Catalog.
2. Texas State Library and Archives ~ Located in Austin, Texas, is a site for many -- not just genealogy and family history researchers. You'll want to explore the site fully, but I'd like to point out their Genealogy Page, theirindex for county records on microfilm available for free via Inter-Library Loan within Texas from their regional depositories, a listing of those regional depositories and the counties they serve, and information about their Archives & Manuscripts.
3. Texas General Land Office ~ The Texas General Land Office is a very busy state agency as they scan 5000 Texas document pages per week. (James Harkins, 17th Annual Angelina College Genealogy Conference) Again, this is a website that was not created for just the family history researcher, and while I love what they make available online for us, it's not the easiest website to navigate. So? Along with exploring their site fully, here are direct links to the portions of their site that are the most useful for us: read information about their Collections, read information about doing genealogy research at the GLO, search the Texas Land Grant Database, search their Online Map Database, search their online Surname Index, search all Archival Collections located at the GLO, learn how to use their GISweb Mapping Viewer, then play with their GISweb Mapping Viewer and you might want to purchase one of their research guides.
4. Texas Archival Resources Online [TARO] ~ An online database of descriptions of archival materials, manuscripts, and museum collections held in repositories across the state. It's a must-consult when trying to perform an exhaustive search of possible resources for that clue or piece of evidence that just might give you the answer you're seeking about your Texas ancestor. You'll want to search these online finding aids before doing onsite research. You can browse the finding aids by repository, perform a basic search, or perform an advanced search.
5. FamilySearch.org ~ I'm always surprised to find out at my local presentations how many people have never heard of FamilySearch.org, much less used it for their research. It's a free family history website sponsored by the LDS Church with many Texas research resources. Here are links to the ones that are the most useful for us researching our Texas ancestors: General Search of all their online collections, Texas-based online collections, Online Catalog to find microfilmed records to rent,instructions on how to use the Online Catalog, instructions for ordering microfilm, how to locate a Family History Center near you, their online Research Wiki, and their research wiki page for doing Texas-based research.

Want more Texas research resources?
Visit my Texas Genealogy Resources page.

Happy Researching!
~Caroline
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