Not sure where to start looking for your ancestors? Here are links to Internet sites that offer aids to genealogical research in Western Pennsylvania and beyond:

Launched in 1996, Cyndi's List (www.cyndislist.com) is the most comprehensive source of genealogical Web sites, a list that is categorized, indexed, searchable and free. It's a portal to 251,850 sites in more than 180 categories, from "Acadia, Cajun and Creole" sources to "Writing Your Family's History."

The Social Security Death Index provides birth and death information for people with Social Security numbers who received benefits and whose death was reported to the Social Security Administration after it began a computer database. About 98 percent of deaths in the database occurred in or after 1962. It's searchable free at several locations on the Internet, including ssdi.rootsweb.com.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors a free Web site (www.familysearch.org) which provides access to ancestral files submitted by users; the Social Security Death Index; some census records (1880 United States, 1881 British Isles and 1881 Canadian); and a personal ancestral file computer program to organize information.

Historic Pittsburgh (digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh) is a free, searchable collection of books, maps, photographs and census records (for Pittsburgh 1850 to 1880 and for Allegheny City 1850 to 1870).

Ancestry.com is a fee-based subscription service that provides access to U.S. census records from 1790 to 1930 and British Isles census records from 1841 to 1901, as well as newspapers, obituaries and immigration records.

RootsWeb.com is the free site sponsored by Ancestry.com; it hosts message boards, surname lists, family trees and the Social Security Death Index.

The PAGenWeb Project (www.pagenweb.org) provides free access to resource and reference information for Pennsylvania research. The site provides county-by-county information maintained by volunteers. The Allegheny County page (www.rootsweb.com/~paallegh) has links to about 25 sites, including family genealogy pages, early Western Pennsylvania photographers, historic maps, tombstone inscriptions for more than 150 cemeteries, and more.

The Post-Gazette's genealogy page (www.post-gazette.com/newslinks/genealogy.asp) describes what material is available from the PG archives (dating to 1786), at what locations and in what format. The page also has selected links to Western Pennsylvania history and genealogy sites.