February 2011

Profile of the Day Kim Cattrall Ella Fitzgerald Coretta Scott King George Washington Geni How To How To: Merge Profiles How To: Upload Documents How To: Tag a Photo with a Profile ID How To: Find Other People’s Relationship Paths Interesting Geni Blog Posts Look Who’s Related: George Washington and all the Presidents Family Tree Tuesday – J. Paul Getty Family Stories from the Raj Looking Through Land Records Featured Project: Authors of Great Literature… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Natalie Portman http://www.geni.com/people/Natalie-Portman/6000000009677719251

Today, we sit down with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak — a very well known genealogist. We discuss her most recent book as well as some of the interesting things she’s done up to this point. Afterwards, we discuss her thoughts on the start of the second season of Who Do You Think You Are? This episode is a great primer for those new to the genealogy community, so don’t hesitate to jump in. [Download This Episode]… Read the full story

Your third-great grandparents and closer are marked as private by default. If there is a reason to change that, it’s easy to make any given adult profile public. Here’s how.

Today we feature the Authors of Great Literature project. From the times of ancient Greece to the 20th century, the works of these authors have withstood the test of time and continue to be read by new generations today. Is your favorite author included? Check out the Authors of Great Literature project and help contribute more great authors to Geni! Here’s a look at a few of the 127 profiles already included in this project:… Read the full story

Ever wanted to know how to merge two profiles together? Here’s how. Our tools even allow you to merge duplicates surrounding the merged profiles.

Profile of the Day: Kim Cattrall http://www.geni.com/people/Kim-Cattrall/6000000011348794972

This is a visual guide for uploading your documents from your computer to Geni.com.

The purchase and sale of land is one of the most well documented sources you may find in your genealogy research. In the U.S., the sale of public land can be traced back to the beginnings of westward expansion and the passage of the Homestead Act. In many cases, you can even trace the ownership of land back to when America was first colonized and land grants were distributed to early settlers. After the American Revolutionary War, the… Read the full story

Here is a visual walkthrough on how to tag a photo on Geni using the profile ID from any person. If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below this post.

Profile of the Day: Ella Fitzgerald http://www.geni.com/people/Ella-Fitzgerald/6000000004569848355

Profile of the Day: Coretta Scott King http://www.geni.com/people/Coretta-King/6000000004024016334

From 1858 to 1947, the British ruled over southern Asia. During this time period, many British women went to India to find their future husbands. A woman by the name of Anne de Courcy is currently in the process of writing a book about these young women from this fascinating period of time. Anne is on the look out for well-substantiated stories, letters, or journals from any women who went to India during the Raj,… Read the full story

J. Paul Getty was an American industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Company. Getty’s father, George, was a lawyer and successful oilman, amassing a great fortune at the time of his death. After taking over the family business, J. Paul Getty’s successes in the oil industry made him one of the richest men in the world. An avid collector of arts and antiquities, Getty founded the J. Paul Getty Museum, which holds an impressive… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: George Washington http://www.geni.com/people/George-Washington-1st-President-of-the-USA/6000000008211776777

If you’re a Geni Pro Member, you have the ability to view relationship paths. Put simply, this features shows you how any two people are most closely related on the World Family Tree. Here’s how to view the relationship between two people without your profile being one of them. First, search for the profile you’d like to start with. In this example, I’m starting with Prince William. Once you find the profile, go to the… Read the full story

The biggest strength of the world family tree is the ability to find out how everyone’s related. Last week, I showed you how Vice President Joe Biden is related to President John Adams. Today, I want to show you how George Washington, the first US President, is related to every other US President. John Adams is George Washington’s 10th cousin once removed Thomas Jefferson is George Washington’s 8th cousin thrice removed James Madison is George… Read the full story

Geni Projects is a great feature for genealogists. It allows you to make a dedicated section to keep track of a specific aspect of your research. For example, today’s highlighted Project is the US Presidents and Vice Presidents. If you want to make a cool new Project, here’s how: First, go to the More drop-down menu, and then select “Projects” Next, click the “Start a new Project” button. Now, a lightbox will pop up with… Read the full story

This coming Monday is Presidents Day in the U.S. Also known as Washington’s Birthday, the holiday has evolved overtime to not only honor George Washington‘s birthday (February 22, 1732), but also Abraham Lincoln‘s birthday (February 12, 1809) and the legacies of all U.S. presidents. Today we highlight the U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents project in honor of  the upcoming holiday. In this project you can find the master profiles of all 44 U.S. presidents and their vice… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Rosie O’Donnell http://www.geni.com/people/Rosie-O-Donnell/6000000011112054103

Although church records may not have been kept with genealogy in mind, these records can provide genealogists with vital information to help fill the gaps in their research. Even if your ancestor was not a regular attendant, you may find detailed information on births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. How do you go about obtaining these records? If you’re lucky enough to have access to your family Bible, you may be able to gather enough… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Halle Berry http://www.geni.com/people/Halle-Berry/6000000008470524294

So, now that you’ve ordered your kit, taken your test, and received your results, how do you put them to good use in your genealogy research? Well, it depends on which company you decided to do your testing through. I have personal experience with 23andMe, so that is the example I’ll use today. Before you do anything else, go to the mechanism that matches people with similar DNA. 23andMe calls this feature “Relative Finder.” This… Read the full story

One of the strengths of collaborative genealogy is finding out how we’re all related. Geni has a great tool for Pro members that allows you to find the path through the “Big Tree” from one person to another. This series of posts is designed to show off how cool this is. Today, I want to show how Joe Biden, the current US Vice President, is related to the first US Vice President John Adams. As… Read the full story

While we at Geni were in Salt Lake City, Utah for RootsTech, we toured the LDS church’s Family History Library. This huge building has innumerable amounts of data. From books to microfiche, this library is one of the best resources in the United States for genealogical information. Check it out.

While we were at RootsTech last weekend, we had a pretty great giveaway. If you gave us your name and e-mail address at our booth, we entered you for a chance to win an iPod Touch. We had quite a bit of uptake, but we could only have one winner. We picked a number at random, and that number was Devin’s. He came back to the booth, and we asked him to send us a… Read the full story

We love that Geni is used the whole world over. It’s very important to us to bridge the language gap. Thanks to Tr8n, we now have many translation options. Here’s how to switch which language Geni displays in: 1) Go to the language drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner. 2) Scroll down, and then select the language you’d like to read Geni in. 3) Now you can use Geni in your native language. If… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Spike Lee http://www.geni.com/people/Shelton-Lee/6000000007578022502

Our DNA holds the answers to a lot of questions. Ancestry is one of them. When we have our genome analyzed, we can compare our data to the community aggregate as well as known-relations. DNA testing provides us the ability to see who we’re related to, and how closely. Family Tree DNA and 23andMe are two of the most well-known direct-to-consumer DNA testing companies. They both offer Y-DNA, Mitochondrial DNA, and Autosomal DNA tests. Family… Read the full story

Today, we sit down with Laura McLean. She’s been a Geni user for years, so we have a lot to gain from her thoughts. How has documentation affected the way you use Geni? Now that more content is sourced, is it easier to tell what needs to be merged? I’m still exploring the documentation feature. I think it’s off to a good start, but there’s a long road ahead before it reaches its full potential…. Read the full story

During his career, legendary actor John Barrymore was hailed as one of the greatest performers on the screen and stage. He is remembered for his highly lauded interpretations of Shakespeare’s Richard III and Hamlet. For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Barrymore was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Barrymore was born on February 15, 1882 into a theatrical family. His parents were Broadway stage actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew…. Read the full story

RootsTech was pretty great. If you didn’t get to go out and experience it in person, we hope you can get the gist of it from us. Here is the last bit of pictures from the conference floor. I hope you like ’em.

Amos Elliston, our CTO here at Geni, gave a presentation on the API panel at RootsTech. If you’re at all interested in what some great developers have in store, check out this video. Many thanks to the folks at Family Search for having us on the panel.

Profile of the Day: Susan B. Anthony http://www.geni.com/people/Susan-B-Anthony/6000000009126877247

Tpstry is a very cool website that focuses on asking questions about you and your family. At Roots Tech, the founder sat down with our CTO to ask him three questions. Take a look.

Profile of the Day Tim McGraw Marvin Gaye Harriet Beecher Stowe Walt Disney Aaron Rogers Geni Blog Posts Featured Project: Food & Beverage People Making a Tombstone Rubbing Welcome to Roots Tech Interview with Shmuel-Aharon Kam Family Tree Tuesday – Frank Sinatra Roots Tech Posts Dear Myrtle Amy Coffin GeneaBloggers Ancestry Insider TruScape

Profile of the Day: Geoffrey Chaucer http://www.geni.com/people/Geoffrey-Chaucer/6000000000779479226

Jason over at Truscape. The mobile development panel. My cool-guy Family Search Developer Network Badge. Roots Magic Gordon Clarke from Family Search. Ping Pong at the Microsoft booth. Generation Maps George and Amos at the Geni booth.

We were at Family Search’s Roots Tech conference all of last weekend. From Thursday until Saturday, Geni was fully represented in Salt Lake City. We rocked our booth, and our CTO Amos Elliston was on a panel with other leaders in Genealogy discussing the benefits of APIs. We have many cool things to share with you from Roots Tech, so keep your eye on the blog this week.

This week we highlight the Food & Beverage People project, which features individuals who have made significant impacts in the food industry. Their successes have contributed a wide array of food and beverages that we all still enjoy today. There are already 17 profiles included in this project. Perhaps  you’ll want to help add some more people whose creations have satisfied our stomachs! Take a look at a few of the profiles included: Will Kellogg… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Tim McGraw http://www.geni.com/people/Tim-McGraw/6000000011310252279

Making tombstone rubbings is an easy and fun activity to preserve the headstones of your ancestors. Before embarking on your adventure to the cemetery, make sure to first get permission from the proper authorities. Some cemeteries have banned this practice in order to preserve fragile headstones and prevent further damage. Once you have permission, it’s very important that you check the structural integrity of the tombstone. Do not attempt a rubbing on a stone that… Read the full story

Geni is here in full force here at Roots Tech. We’re rocking our booth, shaking hands, giving out swag, and attending panels. If you’re here in Salt Lake City, please stop by to say hello, and get some swag. If you’re not in the area, stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages to play the “Home game.” We have a lot of exciting things coming, so keep an eye out.

Profile of the Day: Marvin Gaye http://www.geni.com/people/Marvin-Gaye/3930934667570041304

Profile of the Day: Harriet Beecher Stowe http://www.geni.com/people/Harriet-Beecher-Stowe/6000000000695208641

Shmuel is our Curator from Israel. He has been a Geni user for a long while now, and he has a lot of insight for us. How did you get into genealogy in the first place? Have you been able to share all of your hard work with the members of your family? I caught the genealogy bug pretty early. As a 6th grade student, I was too damn smart-aleck AND lazy. As this was… Read the full story

Born Francis Albert Sinatra, Sinatra was an American singer and motion-picture actor who became one of the most sought-after performers in the entertainment industry. Sinatra enjoyed a multitude of success in both music and film. In 1953, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film From Here to Eternity. Sinatra was the only child of his Italian immigrant parents. His father, Anthony Martin Sinatra was a fireman and professional boxer,… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Walt Disney http://www.geni.com/people/Walt-Disney/6000000005291270001

Profiles of the Day Vanessa Williams Nat King Cole George Washington Carver Robert Frost Andrew Jackson How To How To: Make Documents Useful How To: Add Sourced Facts to Profiles How To: Unfollow a Discussion How To: Add Your Genealogy Videos to Geni How To: Try Geni Pro for Free Other Posts Featured Project: Inventors Interview with Henn Sarv Researching African American Genealogy Geni Teaser — The Next Stage of Genealogy Interview with Erica Howton… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Aaron Rodgers http://www.geni.com/people/Aaron-Rodgers/6000000011335677500