Record Matches and Smart Matches™ Lead to Exciting New Discoveries

Just last week we launched Record Matches and Smart Matches™ on Geni and already it’s made a huge impact on the quality of the World Family Tree. Many users are finding new and exciting information and relatives that they never knew before.

Check out what some Geni users are saying about their latest discoveries:

Wendi Newman:

“The new matches between Geni and MH are not just Smart, but extremely intelligent and very easy to use. I’m adding credibility to my profiles with matches to records like census data and international birth/death records, finding potential cousins I didn’t even know about who are active on MH, and the BEST part is finding photographs of family members I might otherwise never know what they look like! Admittedly, I was hesitant to pay an additional data fee to MH at first, but the additional family information I’m gaining is invaluable.”

Jeff Gentes:

“The new matches are awesome! Finding a ton of new information. :-)”

Jeff’s most interesting find so far…

“Tough one, but I think a newspaper entry about the person’s wedding. It described many of the family members including the parents, who I didn’t have listed. This led to some great break throughs.”

Ashley Odell:

“These are easily the very best development at Geni in terms of expanding research capabilities since I joined in 2007. I can’t get over how much fun the newspaper records are, and also how beautifully the matching works. The only problem I have right now is figuring out which new leads to chase, because I have so many branches that I can expand dramatically now, but only so many hours in a day! Guess I’ll just have to spend more of them on Geni.

I found a rural Vermont newspaper article from 1972 in which my great-aunt was complaining about a bear that kept wandering through her yard and eating her berries. In other articles, I also found the name of the school where she was a teacher and the names of some of her cousins who came from Massachusetts to visit one summer.

You can find names, dates, and locations on just about any genealogy website. But now with Record Matches on Geni, you can find records that capture more personal stories, which are helping me get to know my ancestors and what happened in their lives better.”

And the new Record Matches and Smart Matches™ are just the start – you never know where they might lead. Read how Ashley learned more…

“By following a lead through a Record Match, I just found this really fantastic photo of my great-great-uncle Marcus (front left, seated) and the Jamaica, Vermont baseball team from I think 1922. (His cousin Wales is in there, too, but I don’t know which one he is.)*

I knew the story from local lore — the tiny town of Jamaica beat the “big city” Brattleboro in the West River Valley baseball championship, something the old-timers still talk about all the time — but had never seen a picture. And in looking at the picture, I recognize the trophy in the front center from having seen it at the Jamaica Historical Foundation so many times.

*Could* I have found it without Record Match? Probably; it’s on the UVM website. But *would* I have? I doubt it, because a) it never would have occurred to me to go looking and b) the UVM website doesn’t give names with the picture. And yet, there he is, in uniform! Very cool. :)”

We’re glad Record Matches and Smart Matches™ are so useful to our users and we’ll continue to make improvements going forward. Have you checked out your new Matches?

*Update: From Ashley, “By the way, I’ve since figured out that it was Hubert, not Wales, and that he’s the guy seated on the far right of the middle row. Thanks, Geni”