March 2018

Spring is here! As you start your spring cleaning in your home, you may also want to make time to do a little spring cleaning in your Merge Center too. Do you recall the last time you took a look at your Requested Merges, Tree Conflicts, or Data Conflicts? It’s easy to forget to check these when you are busy adding new branches. Take a fresh look at some of these pending requests and conflicts… Read the full story

On this day in 1625, King James VI and I died at the age of 58. Crowned the King of Scotland at thirteen months old, James’s reign in Scotland lasted for 57 years and 246 days, longer than any of his predecessors. James was born on June 19, 1566 and was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. His mother’s reign was plagued in scandal. On May 15, 1567, his… Read the full story

On this day in 1750, astronomer Caroline Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany. A pioneer for women in the field of astronomy, Herschel made several significant contributions to the field, including the discovery of several comets. As a young girl, Herschel was struck with typhus, which stunted her growth. At just 4 feet and 3 inches, her mother believed that she would be destined for spinsterhood and would not require much of an education. However, her father… Read the full story

We are sad to hear of the passing of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, who has died in his home at the age of 76. Considered one of the most brilliant minds in science, Hawking overcame great odds to make some of the most groundbreaking discoveries about our universe. Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England to Frank Hawking and Isobel Walker. Born into a well educated family, Hawking showed an aptitude for math and science at an early age. He studied… Read the full story

We’re back from RootsTech 2018 and we had a wonderful time! Thousands of genealogists from all around the world gathered at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the largest family history conference in the world. Throughout the conference, the Geni booth was packed with people eager to learn more about collaboration  and Geni’s World Family Tree. Several users stopped by to say hi and tell us how much they enjoy using the… Read the full story

How far telephones have come! On this day in 1876, inventor Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his new revolutionary invention, the telephone, and forever changed the way people communicated. Bell’s family had a significant influence on his research on hearing and speech. His father and grandfather were elocutionists and both his mother and his wife were deaf. His research led to experimentations with hearing devices and an interest in transmitting speech over wires. Bell… Read the full story

Have you read One Hundred Years of Solitude? On this day in 1927, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez was born in Aracataca, Colombia. Considered one of the greatest Latin American writers of the 20th century, Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Affectionally known as “Gabo” throughout Latin America, Márquez pioneered the style of “magical realism,” which incorporated fantastic or magical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. He was raised by his maternal grandparents… Read the full story

We’re excited to share that the science team at Geni’s parent company, MyHeritage, led by MyHeritage’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. Yaniv Erlich, has had a groundbreaking paper published today in Science, one of the most influential academic journals in the world. The research was conducted with scientists at Columbia University, the New York Genome Center, MIT and Harvard, and provides fresh insights into the last couple of centuries of marriage and migration in Europe and… Read the full story