2011

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

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

So, you uploaded a document to Geni. Now what do you do? It’s not doing any good just sitting there without being linked to the relevant data. First off, go to the documents page on Geni. Next, click on the document in which you’d like to add your data. Now click on the edit button in the upper righthand corner. Now, you’ll want to provide as much information as possible about your document. Give it… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Andrew Jackson http://www.geni.com/people/Andrew-Jackson-7th-President-of-the-USA/6000000007059604501

So, what happened in the world of genealogy last week? Let me show you. The Genealogy Sphere Looking For Your Civil War Ancestor? by a3genealogy Hands-On Technology at RootsTech by Kimberly’s Genealogy Blog RootsTech Presenter Interview: Lisa Alzo by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History Mozart Genealogy??? by EASTERN WASHINGTON GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY BLOG 161-Year-Old Graveyard to be Bulldozed to Make Way for New Runway at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport by Geneanet On Geni Embed the World Family… Read the full story

Have you ever wanted to show off to your friends how big your family tree is? If you’re a member of the World Family Tree here at Geni, you now can embed an ever-updating ticker that shows off how big the “Big Tree” really is. If you’d like this widget on your site…   Join the worlds largest free family tree     You just have to paste a snippet of code wherever you’d like… Read the full story

This week we highlight the Old Masters Project. This project is dedicated to all of the great painters from the mid 13th to the mid 19th century. There are currently 48 profiles included in the project. Perhaps you’ll want to contribute by adding more great artists in history to Geni? Here’s a look at some of the profiles included: Jean Fouquet – He is considered one of the best French painters of 15th century. He… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: D.W. Griffith http://www.geni.com/people/D-W-Griffith/6000000004594579922

Although DNA testing has been around for a while, only recently have genealogists started using DNA to help trace the origins of their ancestors. While DNA testing cannot give you specific information (names, dates etc.), when used in conjunction with your other research, genetic testing can help us prove/disprove ancestral lines while also leading us in possible new directions to pursue. Let’s take a quick look at how DNA testing can help you trace your ancestry…. Read the full story

The Holocaust is one of the most tragic events in human history. Today, we try our best to honor the memories of all of the victims of the genocidal policy of Nazi Germany. A little while ago, some Geni staffers were given a tour of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust by Randy Schoenberg — the president of the museum, and an avid member of Geni. He was kind enough to give us an… Read the full story