Fun with Genealogy

It’s that time of year again! October is Family History Month – an entire month devoted to the celebration genealogy. Learning about your family history gives us a greater appreciation of our past and a better understanding of where we come from. Check out  these 5 fun activities to celebrate Family History Month! 1. Interview your relatives Take this month to see which relatives you have yet to interview and record their stories. Nothing makes… Read the full story

If you’re lucky enough to have tons of old family photos stored in your home, chances are they are tucked away in a box, perhaps in a closet, never to see the light of day. Your old family photographs are just waiting for you to bring them to light in a creative, unique display in your home. Check out how a few crafty folks have created some beautiful pieces of jewelry to display their family… Read the full story

This Sunday, the U.S. and many other parts of the world will celebrate Father’s Day. Observed on the third Sunday of June every year, Father’s Day is the perfect summer celebration for outdoor festivities and family gatherings in honor of our father’s, grandfather’s and paternal figures in our lives. Did you know Father’s Day was well celebrated long before it was officially recognized as a national holiday in 1972? The day was founded in Spokane,… Read the full story

Are you planning a family reunion in the near future? Here are some fun activities to get your entire family involved in learning about your family history. 1. Fill in the family tree Here’s a fun game to get some of the younger members of your family interested in their genealogy: make copies of blank family trees for each youngster and have them ask relatives to help them fill out the tree. This is a… Read the full story

It’s Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day brings out the romantic in many of us and what better way to spend Valentine’s Day than to read about great love stories in history. Baylor University, in collaboration with Wellesly College digitized the love letters between English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. The entire collection is now available online for your viewing pleasure. Elizabeth Barrett came from a prominent and wealthy family and she was already a well… Read the full story

The holidays are just around the corner! Celebrate this holiday season with some fun activities for the entire family! Check out some ways you can share your family heritage with the ones you love. Swap Stories   With your entire family gathered in one place, it’s the perfect time to share family stories from the past. Ask an older relative to share a special holiday memory from their childhood or a memory of a passed… Read the full story

There’s been a lot of news lately surrounding Justin Bieber‘s ancestry. Well, it turns out Justin Bieber has even more celebrity relatives in his musically-gifted family tree. Thanks to Geni’s World Family Tree, you can easily find out  how he’s related to other celebrities, historical figures or even you! Check out a few of his famous relatives below. And the best part, you can actually see how they are related! We’ve posted many of Beyoncé Knowles celebrity… Read the full story

In tonight’s episode of The Office, Ed Helms‘ office manager Andy Bernard learns he is related to Michelle Obama. Will you be watching the hilarity as Andy brags to his co-workers about his newly discovered relative? In honor of “Andy’s Ancestry,” we thought it would be fun to see how the Office star was really related to the First Lady. As it turns out, Michelle Obama is Ed Helms’ 18th cousin once removed! Just like his… Read the full story

The world has been abuzz over NASA’s latest accomplishment – the successful landing of Curiosity on the surface of Mars. NASA’s rover has already started sending images back of the red planet. Considered one of the most ambitious planetary missions in history, scientists hope to investigate whether life ever existed on the planet. However, without the scientific breakthroughs of physicist and inventor Robert Goddard, none of this may have ever been possible. Known as one of the founding… Read the full story

Early this morning, the nominees for the 64th Primetime Emmys were announced. Were you surprised by any of the nods? While taking a look at this year’s nominees in comedy, we noticed that many of them had family trees connected to Geni’s World Family Tree. If you’re connected to the world family tree, you may very well find your relationship path to some of this year’s Emmy hopefuls! Here’s a look at how some of… Read the full story

Earlier this week, we showed  you how Reese Witherspoon was related to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon. Now lets take a look at how some other famous faces are related to the people who signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776! Matt Damon grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and attended Harvard University. Did you know he is related to fellow Massachusetts resident John Adams? He is Matt Damon’s fourth cousin… Read the full story

This July 4th, the U.S. will celebrate its 236th Independence Day! On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence. Two days later on July 4, its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and declared the 13 American colonies independent states and no longer a part of the British Empire. Check out our infographic for some fun facts to help mark the holiday! How will you be celebrating this Fourth of July?

This week Mark Wahlberg shows off his comedic chops in his new movie, Ted. Written and directed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Wahlberg plays a man whose childhood wish for his teddy bear to come to life comes true. MacFarlane also lends his voice as the titular teddy bear and best friend. Did you know the pair are also distantly related? Seth MacFarlane is Mark Wahlberg’s 13th cousin thrice removed!* Read on to see which other… Read the full story

This week, the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens nationwide. Based on the fictional novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, the story follows the life of President Abraham Lincoln but with a twist – he was secretly a vampire hunter! In honor of the movie’s release, check out how these five famous faces are related to the real Abraham Lincoln. 1. Starring as the vampire hunting President is actor Benjamin Walker, who’s married to Mamie Gummer, daughter of actress Meryl… Read the full story

This Friday, Tom Cruise lends his voice as Stacee Jaxx in the rock musical Rock of Ages. Just this week, Cruise was honored by The Friars Club with the Friars Club Entertainment Icon Award in New York, becoming the fourth recipient of the honor and placing him in the same company as legends Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra. On hand to present his award was his Rock of Ages co-star Alec Baldwin. Did you know… Read the full story

June 2 kicks off Queen Elizabeth II‘s Diamond Jubilee celebration. In honor of her 60 years on the throne, here’s a look at just a few notable celebrities who are related to the Queen of England. Throughout her long and distinguished reign, Queen Elizabeth has met with 12 U.S. Presidents. In 2009, President Obama made a visit to Buckingham Palace. President Obama is Queen Elizabeth’s 9th cousin twice removed! Just this week, teen idol Justin… Read the full story

This week Brad Pitt made an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in support of his new movie Killing Them Softly. The film was created in collaboration with writer/director Andrew Dominik, who worked with Brad in the film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. In the film, Brad played the American outlaw Jesse James. Did you know Brad Pitt and Jesse James are actually related? Jesse James is Brad Pitt’s 9th cousin twice removed!… Read the full story

It was announced earlier this week that Britney Spears will be the latest celebrity judge to join The X Factor. The newly engaged Spears has been making a comeback lately. She was recently listed as No. 6 on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Celebrities and on May 20, she will compete for Top Dance Artist at the Billboard Music Awards. Let’s check out how she’s related to some of today’s top stars! It was originally rumored that Miley… Read the full story

Joss Whedon‘s highly anticipated superhero film, The Avengers, has broken domestic and international box office records this weekend. Are you excited to watch Joss’s take on the multi-superhero movie? Joss began his career as a sitcom writer and before long began writing screenplays for feature films. It was through his success in television that he amassed a fervent and devoted cult following. As the mastermind behind television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, Whedon… Read the full story

This Friday’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? features Rob Lowe and his journey to discover his ancestors. Since his family tree on Geni is already connected to the World Family Tree, we thought it would be fun to see how he was related to some of his celebrity pals! Rob currently stars in the critically acclaimed comedy Parks and Recreation as city manager Chris Traeger. Did you know he is also related to a couple… Read the full story

Last week we showcased a few celebrities we found in the 1940 U.S. census. During our research, we also discovered some celebrity neighbors! Mary Pickford, Fred Astaire and Charlie Chaplin all lived on the same street in Beverly Hills, California! Actress Mary Pickford was living at 1143 Summit Drive with her husband Charles Buddy Rogers. During her marriage with Douglas Fairbanks, the home was known as “Pickfair” by the press and was once a hot… Read the full story

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the RMS Titanic‘s fateful voyage. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about the Titanic and learn a little bit more about some of the most notable passengers on board. Want to learn more about other Titanic passengers? Check out the RMS Titanic project on Geni and join other users working hard to build the family trees of all the Titanic passengers and crew! Are you related to a Titanic passenger?… Read the full story

Now that the 1940 U.S. census images are up, we thought it would be fun to see where some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities were living at the time. Check out a few big name Hollywood players in the 1940 census! Click on the census images to get a better view. Shirley Temple   Dimpled actress Shirley Temple was 11 when the census was taken. If you weren’t looking carefully, it would have been easy to… Read the full story

Are you a fan of country music? Did you catch Taylor Swift win her second consecutive Entertainer of the Year Award at this past Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards? The gala was co-hosted by country singers Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire. Did you know Taylor Swift and Reba McEntire are related? Reba is Taylor Swift’s 15th cousin once removed! It’s no wonder Taylor Swift has found success – country music runs in her veins…. Read the full story

Happy Middle Name Pride Day! Today everyone is encouraged to celebrate their middle names. Middle names are an interesting thing in genealogy. Some people may choose to hide their middle name, while others choose to embrace them. Either way, it’s likely that you have encountered a few unusual middle names in your genealogy research. As you find them, it might be fun to try to understand their origins. Middle Names and Family Connections   Some… Read the full story

The 84th annual Academy Awards are this Sunday, February 26 with comedian Billy Crystal returning as host. Are you excited to see who will win Hollywood’s most coveted prize? This year, best buds George Clooney and Brad Pitt will both be vying for the Oscar for Best Actor. Did you know the pranking two-some are also related? Brad Pitt is George Clooney’s 18th cousin twice removed! Let’s take a look at how some of this… Read the full story

Nearly all National Scout Associations throughout the world are celebrating Founder’s Day or World Thinking Day today in remembrance of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, and his wife, Olave Baden-Powell, founder of Girl Guide movement. Coincidentally, the husband and wife team both share February 22 as their birthday. Robert Baden-Powell was a lieutenant-general in the British Army. An avid outdoorsman, Robert published the first book of the scouting movement, Scouting for Boys, in… Read the full story

This Monday, February 20, the U.S. celebrates Presidents Day across the country. Although the holiday was created specifically to remember George Washington‘s birthday, observance of the holiday has expanded to honor all the presidents of the United States. Check out how you can celebrate Presidents Day on Geni! U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents Project   A great Geni project is dedicated to all the U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents. Check out the family trees of… Read the full story

Christmas is the perfect time of year to share your love of genealogy with your family. Do you have any activities planned for your relatives? Here are a few interesting ideas on how to incorporate genealogy into your holiday festivities! Decorate your tree Make decorating your Christmas tree a family activity. This year decorate your tree with family photos of your living relatives and ancestors. You can purchase ornaments that allow you to insert the… Read the full story

Tension is building in the Republican race for the presidential nomination as we get closer and closer to the beginning of the primaries. While the GOP candidates duke it out in the debate field, we thought it would be fun to look into how two Republican presidential nominee hopefuls are related. Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is Jon Huntsman’s third cousin once removed! Their common ancestor is Parley P. Pratt, an early leader of the Latter… Read the full story

It’s turkey time! This Thursday, November 24, is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Traditionally, families and friends gather to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast together. While we all gather around to stuff ourselves with yummy goodness and give thanks, the holiday also poses the opportune time for some genealogical data collection! Here are five ways you can get gather some information from your family during the holiday: 1. Ask your relatives questions Best place to start is… Read the full story

When actress Margot Kidder was recently connected to the world family tree, we wondered, “Great! Now, how is she related to Superman?” It turns out, the former Lois Lane star is Christopher Reeve’s 15th cousin once removed! Take a look at how Christopher Reeve is related to other famous figures. The World Family Tree has over 60 million connected profiles. Have you found any interesting relationship paths? Let us know how you’re related! Justin Timberlake is… Read the full story

In celebration of the Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, we thought it would be fun to take a look at how this holiday is celebrated around the world and share with you some interesting facts from Geni about each country. Enjoy!

It was announced a few months ago that actress Angelina Jolie would take on the role of Cleopatra in an upcoming biopic. We thought it would be interesting to see how Angelina Jolie is related to the Egyptian queen and look what we found: Cleopatra is Angelina Jolie’s 57th great grandmother! Check out how Angelina Jolie is related to other notable celebrities in Geni’s World Family Tree! The World Family Tree is quickly approaching 60 million… Read the full story

Last weekend, I spent my saturday in a small town in Ohio. That town is where my father’s family has been for generations, and it’s where our annual family reunion is held. Since I was going to be using this reunion as a way to collect and disseminate genealogical information, I decided it was worthwhile to let you folks in on how everything went down, and what I learned from it. As it turns out,… Read the full story

I took some time recently to sit down with the folks at MobiWolf to talk about their wonderful Geni client for Android phones called GeneDroid. If you use an Android device, take a moment to read through this Q&A. And of course, we’d love for you to check out GeneDroid for yourself. What does GeneDroid offer? Access to the biggest genealogy database Geni from your handset. GeneDroid – it is an easy to navigate family… Read the full story

The LA Latino International Film Festival started on Sunday, so today we’re happy to celebrate a few well known Latinos from Los Angeles. Antonio Villaraigosa, 41st Mayor of Los Angeles, is an LA native. Born to a father from Mexico and a mother of Mexican descent, Villaraigosa has strongly supported the latino community. Interestingly, his maternal grandparents both came over from Mexico in the early 1900s. Villaraigosa’s grandfather worked as a merchant in the LA area… Read the full story

Today marks the 244th anniversary of the birth of John Quincy Adams — Sixth President of the United States. But did you know he did much, much more in his career besides serve as President? He also served as: US Representitive Secretary of State Ambassador to the UK Ambassador to Russia Ambassador to Prussia State Senator of MA Any single one of the positions would make for an illustrious career. Truly, he was a massive… Read the full story

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Today is a federal holiday here in the United States; a day dedicated to remembering the conceptual birth of America. Since many of us have today off, it’s a great time to read up about the history of Independence Day. As featured recently, we have a great project on Geni called Signers of the “Declaration of Independence”: Colonial America in 1776 Project. This is a great place to start, but… Read the full story

Heading into Father’s Day in the United States, we thought it would be fun to pull some interesting facts about fatherhood from the World Family Tree and share them with you in this infographic. Here’s to dads everywhere!

With the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton this week, it is a good time to discuss the genealogy of the royal family. Of course, the House of Windsor‘s history is very well known, so we can easily find how they’re related to over fifty million people on the big tree. Let’s step back a second, and just look at some interesting data we’ve found regarding the royal couple.     William’s Family Princess… Read the full story

The third Monday of April is Patriots’ Day — a holiday in Massachusetts and Maine that marks the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. 236 years ago, the shot heard ’round the world was fired, and that started the battles of Lexington and Concord. Today, we commemorate all of the people who risked everything for the freedom of all Americans. If you’re interested in learning more about the people that took part in the American… Read the full story

Seventy-four years ago, Colin Powell was born in New York City to immigrants from Jamaica. He went on to become a Four-Star General in the US Army, the National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretary of State. This incredible man was the first African-American person to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he was the first African-American to be appointed Secretary of State. Today, we celebrate General… Read the full story

Martin Luther King, Jr. has become a symbol of peace and tolerance in the United States. Forty-three years ago, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, we honor the man by remembering him and his family legacy. Dr. King’s four children (Yolanda, Martin, Dexter, and Bernice) and his wife Coretta have all continued promoting his goals of equality and nonviolence. We would love to see Dr. King and his family connected to the world family… Read the full story

Among the many hats that he wore, Benjamin Franklin was the United States’ first Postmaster General. Eighty-five years later, William Hepburn Russell co-founded the Pony Express. That alone is an interesting tidbit, but did you know that Benjamin Franklin and William Russell were actually distant cousins? Here’s how: This is a great example of the benefit of being connected to the world family tree. If you can find a better relationship path, we’d love for… Read the full story

This weekend marks the 151st anniversary of the beginning of the Pony Express. Operating from April 3, 1860 until October 1861, it was the best way to send mail to and from California. Despite it’s extremely short lifespan, it has become a substantial part of American history. Today, I want to showcase the Geni profiles of four influential members of the pony express. Buffalo Bill’s Profile on Geni William Hepburn Russell’s Profile on Geni William… Read the full story

The American Civil War is an incredibly rich part of history. There are countless records, stories, and images available that make genealogical research of this era a true joy. The US Civil War Notables project is the perfect place to start, but there is a lot more information available. For example, you might want to check out the Other People in the American Civil War project or Croatian Soldiers in American CIvil War 1861-1865 project…. Read the full story

Today is the 221st anniversary of President John Tyler‘s birth. Thanks to the birthday paradox, I figured that another US President might also share his birthday. Not quite, but President Jimmy Carter‘s brother Billy Carter does. Former UK Prime Minister John Major does as well. Maybe shared birthdays aren’t as reliable as I’d hoped, but I was able to find some very interesting relationship paths. Take a look: James E. Carter, 39th President of the… Read the full story

William Shakespeare, largely thought of as the greatest English writer of all time, is connected to over 54 million profiles in the world family tree. I’d like to take this opportunity to show off a few interesting paths. Most interestingly, one of the greatest English writers and one of the greatest American writers are cousins. Take a look: Mark Twain is William Shakespeare’s 8th cousin 8 times removed Agatha Christie is William Shakespeare’s fifth cousin… Read the full story

Many, if not most, people in the western world have played the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon — a game where you try to find a connection between any actor and Kevin Bacon through the movies they have been in. Well, wouldn’t it be nice to play a similar game with genealogy? Now you can. For example, did you know that Kevin Bacon and Brad Pitt are 12th cousins thrice removed? Pretty neat. Here… Read the full story