Free Books & Old Web Sites

Like all genealogists, I love free books.

• Google Books is tops but  PDFs are not necessarily searchable. If you download a book that isn't, try to find it on Archives.org.
• Archive.org also has tons of free downloadable books and their PDFs are fully searchable. It's a snap to find a book if you know the title or author.  Note the website is: https://archive.org - NOT .com.
• Muebooks.com has been popping up as a result when searching with Google for a specific book. The site tells me to insert my name and email and I'll receive a downloadable link.   Furthermore it says that "By submitting, I certify that I agree to the terms and conditions and privacy policy."  However there isn't a link for said terms, conditions, and policy.  Seems a bit fishy to me - how about you?
  
  I searched for reviews of this site to determine it's safety. It took awhile, but I found one review on Scam Adviser:  From João Sousa.

"The site tried to get my credit card number. Downloader tried to install lots of unwanted crap in a subreptitious [sic] manner. Promised book was not delivered."

If anyone has successfully downloaded from muebooks.com, I'd appreciate your feedback and will post another muebooks.com review. For now, I recommend skipping this site.  [Note: I am willing to pay for an e-copy of the Loudoun County Tithables book I was searching for but haven't found one.]

By the way, Archive.org has more than just books.  It's home to the Wayback Machine.  This site is a lifesaver when you get a dreaded 404 Not Found error, especially for old Rootsweb, GeoCities and AOL Hometown hosted sites.  Just go to Archive.org and put the old URL into the Wayback Machine. 

Want to try it?  Use the following link listed on FamilySearch.org's Loudoun County VA Taxation Wiki.  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vafccdar/dar1749.html

If you put the URL in your browser, you would expect it to take you to the Fairfax County DAR's web site which hosted a transcription of  the1749 List of Fairfax County, Virginia Tithables. This DAR site has moved to another domain and as far as I can tell, they no longer host this information.

Instead, put it into The Wayback Machine and it will take you to a snapshot of the old site: here. This snapshot from 2011 is the last one they captured. Earlier snapshots are available and although they may not be necessary in this case, it may be helpful in instances when you want an earlier version of the site.

Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn