October 2014

Happy Halloween! A yearly celebration in many countries, Halloween is a fun holiday filled with candy, costumes and parties. But do you know where these Halloween activities originated? From Samhain to Halloween The origin of Halloween dates back the Celtic harvest festival Samhain, which was annually celebrated on November 1. During this time, it was believed spirits or fairies could more easily come into our world. Bonfires were lit and offerings of food and drink were left in… Read the full story

In just a few days, millions of children and adults will celebrate Halloween. For those looking for a scare, haunted houses and hayrides are frightening and fun activities to partake in. With costumes of all shapes and sizes, families get to enjoy trick-or-treating for candy, costume parties and pumpkin carvings. It wasn’t until the 1930s that Halloween costumes were mass-produced and sold to consumers. Before then, costumes were made by hand. Do you remember what costumes you wore on Halloween? If you’re still… Read the full story

Ready for Halloween? Check out this week’s roundup of articles to get you pumped for the upcoming week! Image: The Secret in Abraham Lincoln’s Pocket Watch / Mashable The Genealogy Sphere The 16th Century Dance Plague (mental_floss) – Have you heard of the dance plague that may have afflicted our 16th century ancestors? How MyHeritage Uses DNA to Track Family History (Bloomberg) – Watch this interview with MyHeritage CEO Gilad Japhet announcing MyHeritage’s new partnership with… Read the full story

“Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.” – Dylan Thomas (1914 – 1953) 100 years ago today, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales. His father, David John Thomas, was a teacher and his mother, Florence Hannah, was a seamstress. He left school at the age of 16 to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. A little over a year later, he quit his job and… Read the full story

Do you have old postcards in your collection of family history mementos? Before email and texts, postcards were a perfect way to send short messages to family and friends. Because of this, postcards often hold wonderful anecdotes of family memories written in the hand of your relative. Whether your relative was traveling or just sending well wishes during the holidays, postcards bring us an intimate connection with your family’s past. With Halloween season upon us, check out… Read the full story

Earlier this month, we shared some great ways to celebrate Family History month. One suggestion was to plan a trip to the cemetery, a fun activity to explore the outdoors and to take in some family history. To help inspire your next cemetery field trip, Geni user Georgette Tan shares her experiences photographing cemeteries in her country of Malaysia. Born in Sarawak in East Malaysia, Georgette works as a journalist with the local English daily,… Read the full story

Do you remember catching episodes of The Three Stooges? On this day in 1903, Curly Howard was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was born Jerome Lester Horwitz and was the fifth of the five Horwitz brothers. As the youngest child, his brothers nicknamed him “Babe.” He didn’t acquire the nickname “Curly” until joining his brothers in their vaudeville act as one of the Stooges. Known as the most outrageous member of The Three Stooges, Curly’s comedic… Read the full story

Do you have Swedish connections? 181 years ago today, Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden. The fourth son of Immanuel Nobel, an inventor and engineer, and Karolina Andriette Ahlsell, Alfred was the one of eight children born to the couple. Only he and his three brothers survived past childhood. His third great grandfather, Olof Rudbeck, was a Swedish scientist and writer. Alfred developed an interest in technology through his family, especially… Read the full story

Ready for this week’s roundup of articles? Check them out below! Image: Rare photo shows Robert E. Lee’s slave, Selina Gray – the hero of Arlington House / The Washington Post The Genealogy Sphere Rare photo shows Robert E. Lee’s slave, Selina Gray – the hero of Arlington House (The Washington Post) – An incredible find! Rare photograph discovered on Ebay has been acquired by the National Park Service In defense of family history (The Guardian)… Read the full story

Happy 64th birthday to Tom Petty! The lead vocalist of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Thomas Early Petty was born October 20, 1950 in Gainesville, Florida. His love of rock and roll music began at the age of ten when he met Elvis Presley on the set of his film Follow That Dream. He began playing with local bands in his teens, but didn’t find success until joining the Heartbreakers in 1975. The following year, the band… Read the full story

When doing genealogy research, you may come across significant disasters that occurred during your ancestors’ lifetime. These significant incidents can include fires, such as the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 or natural disasters, such as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. One of history’s more bizarre disasters occurred 200 years ago today when over 323,000 gallons of beer flooded the streets of the London parish of St. Giles. The date was October 17, 1814 in the parish of St. Giles, London,… Read the full story

Do you remember watching I Love Lucy? 63 years ago today, the classic sitcom starring Lucille Ball premiered on television. The comedy originally ran from October 15, 1951 to May 6, 1957, and spawned several specials after the series ended. The show also starred Ball’s real-life husband Desi Arnaz as husband Ricky Ricardo and the Ricardo’s best friends and neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz, played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance. It was the first television… Read the full story

We’re excited to announce our upcoming Hangout On Air with best-selling author AJ Jacobs! AJ Jacobs is throwing the world’s largest family reunion in history and he’s inviting every one of his 7 billion cousins to the party! Come hangout with AJ as he shares the latest Global Family Reunion updates and answers questions from the community. Joining AJ will be GFR Cousin Coordinator Eowyn Langholf and a few Geni Curators to discuss the successes and challenges… Read the full story

Did you get any genealogy work done over the weekend? Kickstart the new week with these interesting articles from around the web! Image: George Spencer Millet: The Boy Who Was Kissed to Death / Slate The Genealogy Sphere Trench Life Explained in this Interactive Graphic (MadeFromHistory.com) – A great interactive graphic explaining life inside the trenches of World War I How Iceland’s Genealogy Obsession Leads to Scientific Breakthroughs (The Atlantic) – Iceland’s knack for family history… Read the full story

In many languages, what we call our family members is dependent on age and gender and can get pretty complicated to the non-native speaker. In comparison, the English words we use can seem pretty straightforward. Typically, English uses mom and dad, brother and sister, aunt and uncle, grandma and grandpa, etc. And words such as ‘cousin’ are used generally and can refer to a male or female cousin from your maternal or paternal line. Seems pretty easy right? But… Read the full story

Do you remember the song “Good Vibrations”? On this day in 1966, the hit single was released by American rock band the Beach Boys. The song was composed and produced by Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson with fellow band member Mike Love contributing lyrics. Wilson has recounted that the original idea for the title “Good Vibrations” came from his mother, who had explained to him as a child that dogs sometimes bark at people in response to their… Read the full story

Do you have French connections in your family tree? On October 9, 1757, Charles X of France was born at the Palace of Versailles. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely to ever become king. However, when his eldest brother died unexpectedly in 1761, Charles moved up in the line of succession. He was the younger brother of reigning Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, supporting the latter while in exile. He would… Read the full story

Happy birthday, Matt Damon! Today the star turns 44. Damon was born Matthew Paige Damon in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 8, 1970. He is the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carisson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. In 1988, Damon started attending Harvard University. That same year, he made his acting debut with a single line of dialogue in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza. It wasn’t until 1997 that Damon… Read the full story

Here’s our weekly recap of articles from around the web! Image: Franklin tree has deep roots / Philly.com The Genealogy Sphere Five brothers and sister over 100 a world record say Irish family (Irishcentral.com) – Could the secret of longevity lie with this Irish family? The Clarke family sees five siblings live to be a hundred. The Legend of What Actually Lived in the “No Man’s Land” Between World War I’s Trenches (Smithsonian Magazine) –… Read the full story

Does music run in your family? Today legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma celebrates his 59th birthday! Born in Paris France to Chinese parents, music was a large part of everyday life in the Ma family. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist and professor of music at Nanjing National Central University. A child prodigy, Ma began performing in front of live audiences at the age of 5 and… Read the full story

Today we remember W. K. Kellogg, who passed away on this day in 1951. He was best known as the founder of the Kellogg Company, which produces a wide variety of breakfast cereals. Kellogg was born Will Keith Kellogg on April 7, 1860 in Battle Creek, Michigan. He helped his brother, John Harvey Kellogg run the Battle Creek Sanitarium which was where they pioneered the process of making flaked cereal. In 1906, Kellogg founded the Battle… Read the full story

Family History Month is here again! Each year, the month of October is devoted entirely to genealogy. There’s no better time to celebrate your family heritage, reconnect with your roots and share what you have discovered with the ones you love. We’ve compiled this handy list of ways you can make the most of this Family History Month! 1. Review your family tree on Geni Take a look at your family tree on Geni and see if there are any… Read the full story

Happy birthday, Gwen Stefani! Today the rocker turns 45. Born in Fullerton, California, Stefani rose to fame as the lead singer of the rock band No Doubt. She later pursued her own successful solo career and launched the hit fashion line L.A.M.B. Her love of fashion developed at a young age after her mother taught her to sew. Keeping music in the family, she is currently married to British musician Gavin Rossdale. Today you can catch her on… Read the full story

Do you have any black sheep in your family tree? If your ancestor has an arrest under their belt, police reports may exist that will give you very interesting insights into your relative’s history. Not to mention that a mugshot would be a unique addition to your genealogy record collection! The mugshot was invented by Alphonse Bertillon, a French police officer and biometrics researcher. He applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement, creating an identification… Read the full story

On October 1, 1553, Mary I was crowned the Queen of England. The eldest daughter and only surviving child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary was the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty. After succeeding the short reign of her Protestant half-brother Edward VI, Mary restored England to Roman Catholicism. In the process, she had nearly 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake, earning her the nickname “Bloody Mary.” Her re-establishment of Roman… Read the full story