Web Sources for Icelandic Genealogy

    Genealogy Sites
    • The Forefather Finding Facility has a large database of Icelandic genealogy. If you e-mail with the first name, last name, approximate birth date, and location in Iceland where your ancestor was born or lived, you may be able to get a list of ancestors and descendants. Of course you can write in English, but the computer listings will be in Icelandic. The computer listings will be sent as text documents so you can easily print them.
    • FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Search searches a very large database of genealogical data compiled by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The database does not contain living persons. It has many entries for Icelandic ancestors which have been transcribed from church and other records.
    • Ancestry.com provides some free databases. Most of their databases require a subscription.
    • Icelandic GenWeb contains complete online census data for Iceland in 1816 and some smaller files. You will need an Adobe Acrobat reader and enough Icelandic to follow the basic instructions.
    • Social Security Death Index provides death dates of Americans who collected Social Security after 1940.
    • Bureau of Land Management provides a search by name of homestead land patents in a state. This site will tell you if your ancestor homesteaded in the state, and if so, where. The date of patent is at least 5 years after the person first occupied the land. For US$10 you can order a copy of the patent application forms which will provide details about the buildings and livestock at the time of application.
    • Dominion Land Grants lets you search for a name on ArchiviaNet and get the location of the corresponding homestead in Canada.
    • Canada 411 is a Canadian online telephone directory that may be useful in locating living descendents, particularly if the name is uncommon.
    • US Telephone Directories on the Web is an American online telephone directory that may be useful in locating living descendents, particularly if the name is uncommon.
    • Cyndi's List is a list of Icelandic web sites useful to the genealogist.
    • Genealogy Software SpringBoard provides user evaluations of most genealogy programs.
    • Genealogical Software Report Card scores common genealogical programs for features.
    • SoftSeek has a list of free and shareware genealogy software.
    • myfamily.com provides free space where you can upload a GEDCOM file from most genealogy programs to publish your family tree.

    Language Aids
    • Icelandic Alphabet illustrates the Icelandic alphabet including its special accents and characters and tells you how to enter them on your keyboard.
    • Icelandic Names explains the patronymic system of Icelandic names, how they are used, and how they have changed.
    • Tiny Dictionary defines Icelandic words useful to genealogists, like occupations and relationships.
    • Intertran provides free machine translation between many languages including Icelandic and English. The Icelandic to English translation is more like a dictionary lookup. It does not provide clearly readable text.

    Geography and History Sites
    • GIsland: Interactive Maps and GIS of Iceland provides interactive maps to locate current placenames and geographic features in Iceland. Needs precise spelling including special characters and capital first letter. Reykj+ will locate all places starting with those letters.
    • Antique Maps of Iceland has maps of Iceland from the earliest to the 19th century.
    • The Icelandic Emigration provides some history about Icelandic emigration, particularly to Manitoba.
    • 19th Century Travels in Iceland provides selections from books about travel in Iceland.
    • Gallery of 19th Century Icelandic Landscape Art has paintings of scenes in 19th century Iceland.
    • History of Iceland provides a comprehensive history of Iceland from first settlement to the present day.
    • Islandia has information on history, language, religion, schooling, tourism, government, the flag, and other topics.



      Hálfdan Helgason - Reykjavík - Iceland
      halfdan@itn.is
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