For her 86th birthday, Marie Frey got an extra special gift – her 86th great-grandchild! Recently, the Today Show shared Marie’s amazing celebration. The family welcomed Blakely Grace Frey on June 23. Blakely is the fifth child born to Marie’s grandson, Kenny. Being one of seven children, Marie had lots of experience growing up in a large family. She and her husband Gerald were married for nearly 60 years before he passed at the age of 83…. Read the full story

If you have tried to navigate around a very large tree, chances are you may have encountered some fatigue while dragging your cursor across the screen. It’s possible you may have even gotten a bit lost as you followed a line from one branch to another. Did you know there are other ways to move around the family tree without having to drag it across the screen? Queen Elizabeth II’s family tree Here are a few options you may have overlooked to help you make your… Read the full story

Whether you’re just getting started researching your family history or have been doing genealogy for years, everybody makes mistakes. But if you have them in mind, you can take steps to make sure you don’t make some of the common mistakes that befall genealogists at some time or another. Here are five common genealogy mistakes for you to avoid: 1. Making assumptions One of the easiest and most common mistake to make is to make assumptions about… Read the full story

We’re excited to announce big news – Geni and Family Tree DNA, a global leader in genetic genealogy, have partnered to integrate Family Tree DNA test results into Geni’s World Family Tree. Today we are releasing a project that has been one and a half years in the making! As of today, Geni supports three major DNA technologies to enhance the World Family Tree – Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA. Users can now link their… Read the full story

When relatives pass away, we may be lucky enough to inherit family heirlooms that have been passed on through generations. Some common family heirlooms include family Bibles, jewelry or furniture. However, sometimes we end up inheriting something that’s a little more unusual. (Image: U.S. National Archives) The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library holds an unusual family heirloom of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The image above is the Roosevelt Family Hairwork Bouquet, which was made from the hair… Read the full story

Genealogy reports are an important part of family history research. Today, we’re happy to introduce Ancestor and Descendant Reports for your family tree on Geni. Ancestor and Descendant reports will enable you to view a compact list of a profile’s ancestors or descendants up to 20 generations. You may also export the report as a PDF to save to your computer, print it or share it with a friend or relative. To view a profile’s Ancestor and Descendant report, navigate… Read the full story

Summer is finally here! It’s the perfect time to get outdoors for some fun genealogy activities with your family. With longer days, you and your family can spend even more quality time together while also learning about your family’s heritage. Make the most of these long summer days with these family history activities: Photograph gravestones Now that the days are filled with sun, take your family on a trip to visit the graves of your ancestors or… Read the full story

How’s this for a birthday gift? For her 100th birthday, Dorothy Martell witnessed the birth of her great-great grandson! KPNX reports that Weston Alexander Heiser was born on June 6, 2016, exactly 100 years to the day since Dorothy was born. Weston is the first son of Dorothy’s great granddaughter, Alyssa Heiser. Since finding out about her pregnancy, Alyssa had hoped she might give birth on her great grandmother’s birthday. She had gone into early labor… Read the full story

This weekend the Geni team headed over to the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport for the 47th annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. Over 1,400 people attended this year’s conference. The Geni booth before the exhibit hall opened We had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, chatting with Geni users and introducing the power of collaboration on Geni’s World Family Tree to newcomers. The conference flew by as the exhibit hall was filled with attendees throughout… Read the full story

Thanks to the collaboration of millions of genealogists and family historians, Geni’s World Family Tree has over 100 million profiles connected. That’s over 100 million people connected to a single family tree! Here are 10 reasons why you should be collaborating in the World Family Tree now: 1. Work with others in projects Why research alone, when there’s an entire community who is just as passionate about genealogy as you? Who better to work with than… Read the full story