Encyclopedia of Genealogy


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HeritageQuestOnline


HeritageQuest Online at http://www.heritagequestonline.com is one of the most valuable services available today for anyone researching ancestry in the United States. The company is best known for its collection of the U.S. Federal Census records from 1790 through 1930.

HeritageQuest Online contains:

  • U.S. Federal Census records from 1790 through 1930. (No index for 1830, 1840, 1850, nor 1880 census. Partial index for 1930.) The online collection includes new indexes created by HeritageQuest. In addition to the ability to search by name, the census records can be searched by place of birth, age, ethnicity, and other variables.
  • More than 25,000 fully searchable family and local history books. If anyone has ever published a book about your family name or a book about the history of your town or county, there is an excellent chance that you can search that book on HeritageQuest Online. There are numerous other "non-history" books available that also have genealogy value, such as town and city directories, government reports made years ago, biographies, lectures, and much more.
  • Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, again fully searchable with high-quality scanned images of the original applications available online.
  • Signatures of and personal identification data about depositors in 29 branch offices of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-74.
  • PERSI (the PERiodical Source Index - a comprehensive subject index covering more than 6,500 genealogy and local history periodicals written in English and French since 1800).

Best of all, you can view the original records and book pages as high-quality images and even print individual pages on your local printer.

HeritageQuest Online does not sell subscriptions to individuals. You cannot go online, fill out a form, submit a credit card number, and then gain immediate access to these databases. Instead, the parent company, ProQuest, sells only to public libraries.

While it is impossible for a single individual to subscribe to HeritageQuest Online, you can obtain low-cost access, possibly even free access, to this genealogy treasure via other means.

The first and most obvious method of accessing HeritageQuest Online is to visit a subscribing library. Many libraries also offer remote access to their various electronic offerings, including HeritageQuest Online. "Remote access" is a process in which you can stay at home or at school or at any other location of your choice, use a computer with an Internet connection, and connect to the library's web site. Once logged in and verified, you can access remote databases that the library offers. In effect, the library's web site works as a "gateway." It verifies you as a library patron and tells HeritageQuest Online that you are a patron of that library. You can then access exactly the same screens of information from home that you would see if you were seated in the library. You can also print the same screens of information to your own local printer.

Remote In-home Access 

The following is a list of some libraries that offer in-home access to HeritageQuest Online. Most of the libraries offer FREE access. If you know of an exception, please update the following list. If you know of more libraries that offer in-home remote access to HeritageQuest Online, please add them to this list:

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut
  • Any Connecticut Public Library Card holder automatically has remote access thru the Connecticut Digital Libarary. Contact your local library if you need a card or have trouble with access to the site.  http://www.iconn.org 

Delaware

  • All Delaware residents have remote access via the Delaware Public Library web site.  Visit any DPL location in person to obtain a library card & password.  From the Delaware Public Library home page :  Click on the Subject "Genealogy" (on the right), then click on "HeritageQuest Online".  Any non-resident can obtain a Delaware library card for a nominal fee.

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana 

Iowa

Kansas

  • All Kansas residents have remote access to HQ. You will need a Kansas Library Card, available at any Public Library.  http://www.kslc.org/faq.jsp

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

  • Any Maryland Public Library Card holder automatically has remote access thru Sailor, a project of Maryland Public Libraries. Contact your local library to obtain a card in order to gain access to all Sailor resources.   http://www.sailor.lib.md.us 

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

 New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina 

  • Virtually all libraries in the state of North Carolina offer HeritageQuest Online from the library buildings. Many of those libraries also offer remote access, although not all do so. North Carolina libraries obtain their access from NCLive at  http://www.nclive.org

Ohio 

  • Most Ohio residents can obtain free remote access to HQ through their public libraries. If your local library does not subscribe, the large city libraries do, and they will give a card to any Ohio resident.  With your library card, you can reach HeritageQuest at http://www.oplin.org/heritagequest

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania residents who have library cards with ACCESS PA stickers, but do not have remote access thru their own library, may be able to get a free card from one of the systems below. Check a website for requirements. Application is usually in person.

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

  • All South Dakota residents can obtain free online access via the South Dakota State Library:  http://tinyurl.com/dx7cj

Tennessee

Texas

  • Texas residents who are registered patrons of public or academic libraries can obtain free remote access to HeritageQuest Online through the TexShare Databases program: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/pl/index.html. You may need a login & password to access from home; contact your library for more information.

Utah

  • Utah Library Card holders. - Premium PIONEER Databases - A service of the Utah State Library & your local public library. http://pioneer.utah.gov/
    All of the Premium PIONEER Databases can be accessed from any Utah public library & all but a few from your home; how you get into the databases depends on where you live and who (which library) is offering access. If you live in Davis County, Murray, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Weber County or Uintah County, the databases are accessed through their servers using library card barcodes. All other areas of the state need to request an access code from their local public library.

Vermont

While not all libraries in Vermont have HQ access, you may be able to obtain a library card from another library. If you do not pay taxes in a particular town, you are charged out of town fees, usually  based on the per capita resident tax support. Fees can vary widely from one town to another and are paid annually. See the individual library sites for details.

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia 

Wisconsin

Wyoming

  • All residents of Wyoming can have remote access - WYLD (Wyoming Libraries Database) is a collaborative effort to provide access to the collections and services of every Wyoming Library on the "Electronic Frontier." You must enter a WYLD library card & PIN to gain access.  http://gowyld.net
For more information about HeritageQuest Online, go to http://www.heritagequestonline.com

 


Last Modified 5/23/07 11:09 AM

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