February 2011

I live in Delaware. The du Pont family is extremely influential here. Their family completely proliferates through our community. Not far into Pennsylvania is one of the du Pont family’s greatest gifts to our country: Longwood Gardens. Founded by Pierre S. du Pont, this wonderfully lush botanical garden is available year round for a nominal fee for maintenance. Featuring acres of gardens, a huge conservatory, the historical Pierce-du Pont house, and a full gift shop,… Read the full story

Today we highlight the Inventors Project. The inventors included in this project have each made their mark in the everyday lives people and in history through their discoveries and creations. This project aims to include all inventors on Geni and learn how we are all related to them. Currently there are 44 profiles in the project. Take a peak at a few of the profiles included: Samuel Morse – He was an American contributer to the… Read the full story

We want you to know how cool being a Geni Pro Member is, so we have a 14-day free trial of our service. To set it up, scroll down to the bottom of the Geni homepage and click the red “Try Geni Pro for Free” link. You’ll then be directed to our Pro Member sign-up page. If you’re just interested in trying out the trial, don’t worry too much about which plan you pick. Now… Read the full story

Born Vincent Damon Furnier, rocker Alice Cooper turns 63 today. Cooper’s pioneering stage theatrics and violent brand of heavy metal introduced horror imagery to rock and transformed the genre. It was announced in December 2010 that the original Alice Cooper band would be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Take a look at his Geni profile!

Profile of the Day: Vanessa Williams http://www.geni.com/people/Vanessa-Williams/6000000011301524473

Today, we are pleased to talk to Henn Sarv — one of our Estonian curators. He works hard at making the World Family Tree better for everyone, so we had a few questions. I’d like to sincerely thank Henn for letting us get to know a little bit more about him. How has becoming a Curator affected your work on the Geni website? What results have occurred because of the implementation of curators? Curatorship promoted… Read the full story

February is Black History Month in the U.S., where we celebrate and remember the past and present achievements of African-Americans. If you are researching your African-American heritage, finding documentation about your ancestors before 1870 can be a challenge. Here are a few resources you may find helpful in your research: U.S. Census Records Census records from 1850 and 1860 included special slave schedules, which provide the name of the slave owner and the number of… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Nat King Cole http://www.geni.com/people/Nat-King-Cole/6000000008339022423

Oral history and interviews are a huge part of genealogy. We here at Geni feel it’s important to share this with your whole tree, so we have a video sharing feature built right into our site. Here’s how to use it. First of all, go to the “More” menu and select “Videos.” In the right hand side, click the green “Add Video” button. Click the “Choose File” button, and then select the video file you’d… Read the full story

Hmm… I wonder what this is hinting at.

Patsy Ann McClenny (Better known as Morgan Fairchild) is 61 years old today. Coming to national prominence after appearing on popular television programs such as Falcon Crest, Fairchild has been a cultural icon since the mid-1980s. If you’d like to know more about Morgan Fairchild, take a look at her profile on Geni.com. Photo Credit

Profile of the Day: George Washington Carver http://www.geni.com/people/George-Washington-Carver/6000000004550009055

Sometimes you lose interest in a particular discussion. Getting updates from that topic can be very annoying. As fortune would have it, it’s easy to unfollow any discussion taking place on Geni. First, go to the Discussion page from the “More” menu. Now, make sure that you’re viewing discussions that you’re currently following. You can change that with the drop-down menu on the right. Now go into the discussion you’re no longer interested in and… Read the full story

We love to interview members of our community. I was lucky enough to have a virtual sit-down with Erica Howton — a curator who is extremely active. How has being a curator changed the way that you use Geni? Is it a substantial change in more ways than one? Any specific situation that being a curator changed? In a word: connectivity. I started out my tree in total isolation (a private, horizontal tree) and had… Read the full story

Newspaper tycoon and politician William Randolph Hearst was the leading newspaper publisher of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Through his newspapers and magazines, Hearst exercised enormous political influence over the American public. During the late 19th century, Hearst engaged in a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer‘s New York World, which led to the creation of yellow journalism. Nevertheless, Hearst successfully created one of the largest newspaper and magazine businesses in the… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Robert Frost http://www.geni.com/people/Robert-Frost/6000000005767685846

So, now that you’ve made your documents useful, you can add facts and sources to your profiles. First, go to the profile you’d like to work on. Go to the Sources tab, and then click on “Add Source.” Pick the document you’d like to cite, and then click “Continue.” From there, you can add the citations for the relevant facts of the profile in question. Make sure to add clear notes to avoid confusion when… Read the full story