Resources

There are many websites with genealogy-related info for Washington, District of Columbia, family history research. If you know of additional helpful resources about DC ancestors, please share them with us.

General DC History Links

Wikipedia
- Alexandria VA
- Washington Navy Yard
- Anacostia (one of Washington's oldest neighborhoods)
- Georgetown
- Georgetown 1899 map before streets were renamed
- Pierre Charles L'Enfant
- Street Cars in Washington D. C.
- 1790-1871 Maps slideshow of Washington, D.C. area
- National Register of Historic Places
District of Columbia Public Library
Washingtoniana Collection, Martin Luther King Library (DC Public Libraries)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
"The Political Graveyard" -- Politicians and famous people buried in DC Cemeteries
HonorStates Military Gold Stars, those who died while in service during WWI, WWII, Korean, and Vietnam
Federal Pensioners of 1835, District of Columbia
(Mr. Bill Navey provides this valuable asset---welcome information to everyone researching ancestors
who gave service to this great nation)
Building of the Capitol (Temple of Liberty)
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal
C&O Canal Chronology
Bygone, Brookland: A Short History of Brookland by Robert Malesky, 2022
Lafayette Square
History of Christ Church, Alexandria (est. 1767)
Lloyd House, Alexandria Public Libraries' Historic Records Collection
National Register of Historical Places
Historical Marker Database
Guide to the Wormley Family Papers 1773-1991

Digital Libraries

Hathi Trust
- 1859 Catalogue of Officers and Students of Georgetown University 1850-51 thru 1859-1860
- 1864 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Georgetown College
- 1870 Special Report of the Commissioner of Education ...
- 1890 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia
- 1891 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Georgetown University
- 1893 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Columbian University
- 1895 Personal Reminiscence ... Medical Society ... with many biographies
- 1896 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Georgetown University
- 1899 District of Columbia Society of Mayflower Descendants
- 1908 Cherry Tree - George Washington University yearbook
- 1916 Cherry Tree - George Washington University yearbook
- 1918 Sketch of the Natural History of the District of Columbia with indexed 1917 map
- 1930 Washington Past and Present, Volume III, biographies with portraits
- 1932 Washington Past and Present, Volume V, biographies and portraits
Internet Archive
- DC Public Library
- Charles Sumner School Archives
        + Central High School Yearbook 1906   1907   1908   1909   1910   1911   1912   1913   1914   1915
        + Western High School Yearbook 1895   1917   1919
        + Armstrong Manual Training High School Yearbook 1905   1920
        + Business High School Yearbook 1907   1908   1917
        + McKinley Manual Training High School Yearbook 1914   1915
        + Manual of the Public Schools 1920-21
- 1846 A Memoir of the Life of Edward Stabler, Late of Alexanderia in the District of Columbia; with a Collection of his Letters
- 1850 Wasthington Directory, and Congressional and Executive Register
- 1865 Official Army Register for 1861-1865
- 1877 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia
- 1878 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia
- 1879 Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Maryland and District of Columbia
- 1881 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia
- 1883 List of Pensioners
- 1883 Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science
  + III-IV The Negro in the District of Columbia
  + XVI Anglo-American Relations and Southern History
- 1895 Medical, Pharmaceutical and Dental Register-Directory ...
- 1904 Register of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the District of Columbia
- 1908 Old Georgetown (District of Columbia)
- 1908 Military Order of the Loyal Legion ... John McAllister Schofield
- 1911 History of the Grand Lodge and of Freemasonry in the District of Columbia: with biographical appendix
- 1922 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia
- 1922 Who's Who in the Nation's Capital
- 1923 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia
- 1924 Army List and Directory
- 1931 The American ancestry of Frederic Louis Huidekoper and Reginald Shippen Huidekoper
- 1936 Work: A Journal of Progress by the WPA of DC
- 1945 Ergood Family and Allied Lines
- 1959 Railroad Magazine, Aug issue
- 1967 Historic Graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia
- 1972 Free Negroes in the District of Columbia, 1790-1846
Library of Congress

National Archives

African American Heritage
Deed of Manumission for Robert Hemings 24 Dec 1794
Freedman's Savings and Trust Company
Prologue - Genealogy Notes
DC African American Genealogical Records in The National Archives
1. Records of the Board of Commissioners for Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862-63 (Record Group RG 217) (Microfilm M520)
2. Records of the US District Court for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851 - 1863. (RG 21) (M433) This includes emancipation papers, 1862-63, manumission papers, 1857-63, and fugitive slave case papers.
3. Slave manumission records for 1792-1821, are contained in the Land and Property Records (RG 351), also at the National Archives. The records are part of the original deed books. These are not indexed and the original records are very fragile. Therefore, it is best to look first in the type-written copies of the deeds, made by the WPA in the 1930's-40's. These are kept by the DC Govt., in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, 441 4th St., NW, Tel: (202) 727-5374.
4. Records of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874. There are two sets of records: (1) Register of signatures of depositors in branches (2) Index of branch deposit ledgers.
5. The Slave Schedules for the DC Censuses are on the following microfilm rolls: 1850 Census: Microfilm 437, Roll 57. 1860 Census: Microfilm 653, Roll 105.

Project Gutenberg
- 1836 The Trial of Reuben Crandall, M.D. charged with publishing and circulating seditious and incendiary papers in the District of Columbia, with the intent of exciting servile insurrection
- 1855 Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton, for Four Years and Four Months a Prisoner
- 1903 Military Order of the Loyal Legion ... Cammandery of the District of Columbia
- 1905 A Belle of the Fifties Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Alabama, covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853–66
ACPL Genealogy Center
- 1929 Washington: Baltimore & Ohio by B&O Railroad Company

Maps

Other Genealogy-Focused Sites

Family Search
FindAGrave
Our Family Tree - Search Obituaries
The Ancestor Hunt
Linkpendium
Genealogy Trails
Books We Own - "I have the 1929-1930 edition of the book Who's Who in the Nation's Capital, which contains 714 pages of brief biographies of people living in Washington, DC, at that time. These include representatives, attorneys, ministers, government employees, writers, social workers, etc. The biographies are alphabetized and often include jobs, spouses, parents, children, dates and places of prior residences, and positions, etc. The people listed generally provided their own biographical information, including their home and office addresses." Susan Thurtell Miller, 2024 Jun 28
THURTELL and Related Families
Cyndi's List
Christine's African American Genealogy Website

Museums

Anacostia Museum
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
Hillwood Museum and Gardens
Holocaust Museum
National Air and Space Museum
National Air and Space Museum, Chantilly, VA
National Arboretum
National Museum of American History
National Postal Museum
The Textile Museum
Washingtonian Magazine's Guide to Museums in DC

Archived Queries

These past queries may hold a clue for your family research.

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