Have you found ancestors in the United States census? Census records are one of the most important resources in genealogy. With the information provided in these records, finding a relative in the census will often open doors to additional discoveries. The very first U.S. census was conducted on August 2, 1790. Every household was visited by a census taker to record information for each person who was within the household on the census day. In… Read the full story

While researching your family history, you may sometimes come across funny names in your family tree or maybe an amusing name will pop out in an old document. For fun, we took a look at some profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree and a few historical records to find some very amusing names that will be sure to give you a chuckle. Check them out below! 1. Here’s Pleasant Wear in the World Family Tree. 2. Wealthy Nutter can be found in the 1920 U.S…. Read the full story

Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Nelson Mandela, who is often considered one of the most inspirational and beloved leaders in history. In honor of this occasion, check out these 10 interesting facts about the former South African president and freedom fighter. Image: Library of Congress 1. Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, South Africa. He was given the name Rolihlahla, a Xhosa… Read the full story

The World Family Tree on Geni currently has over 120 million people connected. This has been made possible through collaborative research of millions of Geni users. Although information on public profiles is accessible to everyone, the ability to edit them may be limited depending on your permissions. All users can edit the basic information of any public profile they are connected to, but to get full edit permissions on a profile, you will need to send a collaboration request… Read the full story

In many parts of the world, the end of the school year means students receive their yearbooks to sign and remember the year they’ve had. Years from now, they will be able to look back at these yearbooks to remember what happened during this unique moment of their lives. Yearbooks are also fantastic records to explore for genealogy, too. With these school records, you can learn about what clubs and activities family members were a part of and see… Read the full story

We had a fun time at the 49th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree! From May 31 – June 2, a few members of the Geni team headed over to the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel in Burbank, California to participate in this exciting and engaging conference. The Geni booth before the doors opened For the first time, the exhibit hall was open on the Thursday, which is usually reserved for DNA Day. This year the day was packed with… Read the full story

We’re proud to announce a long awaited improvement for Geni users – our new HTML tree is now available on all tablet and mobile devices! The new HTML tree replaces our HTML5 version of the tree, which was previously available for devices that do not support Flash. In the past, the HTML5 tree presented users with a very limited version of the family tree, which did not provide users with the best experience for working… Read the full story

Today the U.S. celebrates Memorial Day to honor of the men and women who have died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Many people will take this time to visit cemeteries to honor our fallen soldiers. The holiday is traditionally celebrated with large parades and family barbecues as we also welcome the unofficial beginning of summer. Image: Kathleen T. Rhem, U.S. Army This long weekend also presents a great opportunity to research your military ancestors. Here are a few ideas on… Read the full story

Will you be at the 49th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree next week in Burbank, California? Geni will be there May 31 – June 2, 2018 at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel. We look forward to this fun conference every year! A few changes are in store for this year’s conference. By popular demand, this year, the exhibit hall will be open a day early on Thursday, May 31 during the Genetic Genealogy Conference. Jamboree will then… Read the full story

It’s World Family History Day! World Family History Day is celebrated on on May 15 of each year and it falls on the same day that the United Nations observes its International Day of Families. This is the perfect day to dive into your genealogy research and share with your relatives all of the amazing things you have uncovered about your family history. In honor of World Family History Day, check out our list of fun ways you can make… Read the full story