USGenWeb ® Needs Volunteers !! 

Whether you have done lots of genealogy or just a little- we need you-  go to our website www.USGenWeb ®.org and look up your state- then see if you county has volunteers!  There are county coordinators needed- or even just sharing your own research to be put on these pages for other researchers!  Volunteering is fun and rewarding!  You can volunteer to do it at your level- easy or difficult- there are spots for everyone!  Do you have questions?  Feel free to email me!  I will do my best to answer your questions! My name is Rebecca and currently I am the County Coordinator in several states- I am one of the Assistant State Coordinators in Wyoming-  and the Project Coordinator for the USGenWeb ® Tombstone Transcription Project.

About Us

In the spring of 1996, a group of genealogists led by Jeff Murphy organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project, which evolved into the KyGenWeb Project. The idea was to provide a single entry point for genealogy data and research for all counties in Kentucky. In addition, the information for each county would be indexed and cross-linked to make it easier for researchers to find a name or data that they sought.

In June 1996, as the KyGenWeb Project was nearing 100% county coverage, interested volunteers decided to create a similar set of pages for all states, establishing The USGenWeb ® Project. Bill Couch wanted to follow in the footsteps of the KY Project with a similar site for Arkansas. Jeff Murphy set up a main page for the states that included a template for volunteers to use. Announcements were made to genealogy mailing lists and newsgroups and news of this Project was spread by email and word of mouth. Volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the efforts for each state, and additional volunteers were sought to create and maintain websites for every county in the United States. By July of 1996 most states were online with state homepages and most had several volunteers.

There was a core group of people who got involved very early and were key to getting this new Project off the ground. It was these people who laid the groundwork for assuring the success of The USGenWeb ® Project. These people included Jeff Murphy, Dale Schneider, John Rigdon, Linda Lewis, Joy Fisher, Kim Harris Myers, Billie R. McNamara, Melissa Calhoun, Nancy Trice, Bill Couch, Betty Sellers, Jim Rothgeb, Deke Smith, Sharon L. Rowe, Mary Lynne Ellis, Edward Hayden, Richard Holler, Laura Cook, Gary Steiner, and Diane Miller.

In October 1996, "The USGenWeb ® Web White Paper" was distributed world-wide by The USGenWeb ® Project. The purpose was to summarize the progress of the Project and to encourage additional people to volunteer. The "White Paper" serves as a very good historical outline of the Project's early days.

Although The USGenWeb ® Project was originally designed to be organized by state and county, much genealogy data cannot be limited to a single county, or even a single state. So, USGenWeb ® Special Projects have evolved to collect and disseminate data that goes beyond county and state lines.

The USGenWeb ® Project continues to evolve thanks to every past, present and future volunteer.

There are many ways you can help!  We need web page managers that serve as County Coordinators in every state!  We need transcriptions of cemteries in every town across the U.S.A.!  We need Census transcriptions!  We need your family history to add to the pages!  The great thing is you can work at this when YOU want to!  It can be all day long if you want- or it can be a few projects here or there.....   What ever your level of expertise is we NEED YOU and we NEED YOUR HELP!!