Why Geni?

Well, I still maintain my tree privately on my computer. But what is attractive about Geni is it's breadth ... making connections that I could never get around to making ... collaboration and sharing.

I think its the people I've "met" on Geni. Geneology is about real people who lived, loved and died. The other websites are good for mining the facts, but as Geni says "were all related:. Its one of the reasons I'll be sorry if Geni does away with the forum.

Ancestry.com trees are standalone. They are your own (or copied) research and documentation. There is no real correction mechanism.

I started my genealogy project in geni and worked alone, oblivious of the big tree, for months. Once I connected and particularly once I collaborated I was able to find family lines no one even knew existed -- and I'm talking fairly recent historical family lines from the 1880s. That has opened up brand new historical venues for me.

The geni application is incredibly sticky, it's facebook for genealogy. And the community is fantastic because we have one goal: a shared accurate human family tree.

I had been doing historical research as a hobby for a few years, compiling a timeline of events I found interesting that originally was related to the Great Game, a spy war between England and Russia that took place in Central Asia in the 1800s. I wanted to compare the history of that, and its build-up, to the history I knew (American, European, etc.), and the history of just about anything else that looked of interest to me. Needless to say it got out of hand fairly quick (scope? who needs a scope?).

With the birth of my daughter, I had started inserting family history into the timeline (my mother is fond of saying that the best thing you can give children are roots and wings, thus her interest in genealogy), but soon came to realize that I needed some sort of tool that would help me pull all that together. Not having the extent of research options that are available today, my family had really done little successful research into its history to this point.

That was when I came around to Geni. I was of course first drawn to the fact that it was free (I was under the perception that most services like this were paid for, so basically in this sense Geni caught my attention first), but then found that it was also a perfect tool for organizing what I had, and for extending my family's research into itself. As an organizer, Geni gave me the ability to give my little one more extensive roots than I had dreamed possible.

However, I had been a little hesitant to jump aboard the collaboration thing, though that's Geni's main selling point, as I didn't really want to lose control of my tree. I put a lot of work into it and didn't really want to have someone come along and mess it up. But sometime around the second or third lineage into Charlemagne, I gradually gave in.

I think letting in "the interlopers" (as someone else who apparently wasn't used to the collaboration thing had blurted out on a forum earlier) was a really good learning experience. Again, you have to be of a mindset that is open to new information, and you need to be willing to have patience enough to teach others who have less information than what you have. Thats' often not so easy, but the practice (conveying and comparing sources) is good.

Originally, I hoped to extract more information from Geni to build on my timeline (which I still hope to make use of, or perhaps one day just give it over to my daughter and her eventual siblings to play with, whenever they get the urge to explore it all). Instead, I'm finding that I'm importing more information into the profiles from my research in an effort to make better sense of the bits and pieces extracted from basic information. For me, the timeline function is the perfect place for that, since my best contributions will likely come from my hodgepodged history timeline to begin with.

I've also been doing online based genealogy for a number of years (since I got my first computer in 1997), and have used the resources at local FHCs also for their films and fiche. Belonged to the NYG&B for years, until they closed, but only used resources via internet and phone, in addition to their NYG&B Record for my colonial (and not so colonial) ancestry.

My partner's old fraternity brother, and, as it turns out, a distant cousin to both my partner and myself, is the one who told me about Geni. It seemed like a good idea, so I joined. I was amazed at the number of people who are connected to us, and most through just a few families. It's all been interesting to me as a history buff, and that much more interesting when I can become part of that history.

I maintain my own "real" tree on my computer (with about a thousand back-ups lol), then have the merged info in another file. I never thought about connecting back to medieval royalty, but it seems we do, and that's fun - it certainly explains my obsession with the Plantagenets since childhood!

There are many collaborating with me now, and I like that aspect very much. If only I had a faster computer to open profiles and complete merges in the short amount of time I have to spend here each week. But some get done, and that's what counts, and meeting all the wonderful people here has been grand.

@ John, I certainly hope Geni doesn't do away with the forum! I spend a lot of time reading the posts and advice.

As for Ancestry.com, I used their resources several times, but had an unpleasant experience with them so won't be a paying member again. Ditto for Family Tree and their software. I am taking advantage of Ancestry's 'free' offer of 2 weeks to search for the grandfather of an old friend in the 20th C. census records. Here in NY State, we can access Heritage Quest records through the public library (any one with a card), but their 1930 census index is not yet complete. The worst part is trying to second guess others' interpretations of the names I'm searching - some of the transcriptions are outrageously incorrect.

I hope to be using, and collaborating on, Geni much more in the future (say, after a new computer - at least where speed is concerned). The only glitch I've encountered recently is in downloading gedcoms as backups - I'm not even getting all the information I myself put up here. Maybe it's because of all the cleanups going on at the moment.

I, too, like the goal of the shared tree. My only advice to some would be to keep a backup of your own information on your own computer, and back it up! And then back it up again!

My wife's second cousin entered us and that is what me started. I wanted to upload a gedcom of my private file so I tried the free Pro offer and here I am. I knew about some of my mothers England royal ancestry and my paternal grandfather was LDS who's people migrated from England My first compute was an ATARI, yes they made computers, not just game machines. I was learning and ended up with a genealogy program then went to the local LDS library and walked out with a GEDCOM with 1500 names and I was on my way Several computers later my GEDCOM upload to Geni was over 5000 profiles> Geni is addictive I have a computer on 24/7 transmitting weather data and usually three tabs open in Geni.

Janice, your computer speed is not very important, just your connection speed. The program for Geni is, by its nature slow and moving tremendous amounts of data. It is however a good excuse for a new one<G>

Just stumbled on it. It is free, it is easy to use, one has the help of one's peers, and it connects one with, ultimately, with the fact that we are all related. I like how it will tell you what the relationship is. I am Sidney Lanier's fourth cousin third remove. How cool is that? It's only because of him that I got anywhre; plenty of people have posted what they've researched on him.

These stories are all so wonderful and fascinating. Hi, William! We are related through my Lanier ancestress back about 8 generations (I think we corresponded last year about the Bassano ancestors). Ben, I'm fascinating by your interest in timelines and the Great Game. You are gonna LOVE the new Projects feature Geni is unveiling (sneak a peek at www.geni.com/projects) that we curators are testing now. Janice, you may want to take a look, too--especially with the projects related to the Plantagenets. Eldon, you're one of my favorite supermergers, and it sounds like you may have owned one of the very first personal computer dinosaurs!

Please keep these stories coming. They are such a testament to what keeps us doing what we're doing. I'm glad you mentioned Heritage Quest, Janice--I think my library may be getting that, and I'll check it out. I just did some Ancestry.com searches for a friend today whose grandmother was a German immigrant with an unusual last name--I found hers and her parents' marriage licenses, ships records, some death certificates. Their database has become very thorough--but it's a pretty expensive price.

Has anyone used the OneGreatFamily.com? I don't know much about it, but it's the only one that seems to be trying to do what Geni is doing and create a combined family tree. I wonder what users think of it and how effective it is? Is it all automated or are there manual efforts like we have here at Geni in terms of merging duplicates, I wonder? And I do know that it is somewhat pricey as well. I didn't want to turn my tree over to be totally gobbled up like that--I like the ability in Geni to decide which parts to make public and which parts to keep private.

I'm a bit like Pam in that I maintain an Ancestry.com account as well as a Geni account. They both have strengths. Ancestry.com is better for assisted research. Geni is better for connecting with your living relatives and exploring the history and people that connect us to one another. As a child I remember having trouble understand exactly who Uncle Jack with the hook for an arm was, who Aunt Lucy was, etc. etc. I knew my father was an army officer, but I didn't really know much about where he had been or what he had done. It's my hope that Geni.com will help my children better understand their family connections and their relatives a individuals in their own right with their own unique experiences..

Hi Pam:

The projects are interesting. My timeline starts at 1630 (arbitrarily chosen, but originally with the intent to cover the important parts of Bogdan Khmelnitsky's story on the Russian side, and Cromwell vs King Charles on the English side). That's why I could contribute quite a bit to Thomas Rogers' son John, but had to research out the material on Thomas himself. And also why Province of Maryland Governor Leonard Calvert is much easier for me to deal with than many of the Pilgrims.

Almost tempted to try to insert research onto the Thomas Rogers from Watertown to keep out incorrect information on the Pilgrim Thomas Rogers, but that would require collaboration with a bunch of people who probably are dearly tied to the idea that their Thomas is the Pilgrim (correct information notwithstanding). Certainly if anyone in Thomas Rogers of Watertown's family wanted to collaborate with me, with the understanding that their Thomas isn't the pilgrim, I'd be interested in helping get correct information out there (and maybe put an end to the mess around Thomas the Pilgrim). Thomas of Watertown's history can be fitted in with what I have on the Massachusetts Bay Colony (which started in 1630).

Certainly would love to see more Russian projects. Didn't notice many in the first glance. But overall it's a good start.

I got invited to Geni in october 2008 by a friend of mine that knew I was a semi-professional genealogist. Wanted to use Geni to invite my living second- and third-cousins. Over time I have seen things lacking in Geni compared to common genealogy programs used on your own private computer, and since then I've been activly working to get the Geni program to have the same features as good genealogy programs on your own computer do, and to try to get the the Geni community to adopt the conventions that experienced genealogists use, so we can get a database on Geni that is as good as possible. I know there are a big majority that doesn't know what the genalogy-conventions are, when it comes to names, places, sources e.a. but i'm not giving up. Since Geni is a genealogical site my goal is to get the whole international Geni community to work as genealogists. Which, by the way also, is Genis purpose if you're readeng their intentions.

Good luck to everyone in your hunt for genealogical data. Get your information sourced as primarily (as close to the event as possible) as possible, fill up your profiles with as much historical data as possible (only names, years and dates are very boring), and have fun with your detective work, which is really what genealogy is. I know, I've been at it for almost 30 years, and i'm still having fun, and a lot of work to do. Don't get scared, if you have the interest, it will never go away. But also know that the work will never be finished, because there will always be new marriages and new children born.

I love your enthusiasm, Remi, and the reminder that genealogy goes back and forward in time. Thank for your eloquence.

@Pam: Thanks for the note and link re the Plantagenets. I have to say Geni has gotten me back into reading history - some books for the second time after so many years, not knowing earlier I was actually descended from these people!

When I belonged to Ancestry some years ago, it was only one price for a year's membership, but then it didn't have so many records either. If only the high fee for the international membership were lifetime, I'd be tempted to join again!

@Eldon - your thought was mine too - a good excuse for a new computer! <G>
I do lots of graphics work and it does bog things down a bit. We have a cable connection at one location and Verizon FIOS at another, but most of the time it feels like the old dial-up, lately anyway. Makes me feel better, though, that Geni can be slow going! Thanks.

Geni's gotten much faster lately, at least for me--the merges that used to take minutes are now taking seconds. It varies depending upon time of day. But I like to think it's because we're unclogging the tree as we keep reducing the number of outstanding merges...:^)

Some very similar reasons as you Pam. I really love the interaction with people here. This is really the only place where I've been in 20 years doing genealogy online which has been so interactive.

I've not tried One Great Family so I'm not able to compare.

I have an Ancestry account and I use it in similar ways, but I also find it somewhat frustrating. I used to have copies of some census records which I've since lost. I know they exist, but so far I've been unable to find them listed on Ancestry.

What else did you ask? Lol, I lost track of where I was. Ah well. Anyway, I love it here.

I came to Geni from a different perspective. Only after a full year that my son studied and lived in Melbourne, Australia, we heard that a third cousin was living almost next door. After that they started to meet and he celebrated Christmas with her family.
We concluded that the family tree was well researched and put on paper, but modern tools could bring more to live. And thus we found Geni. This brought many contacts and we are now organising a family reunion from to celebrate the 325th birthday of Nicolaas Heyning the first (1686). For that ocasion we want to proof who his father was through DNA. But that is a difficult story.

So I am now being pulled into genealogy and start to like it. But where will it lead to?

Nicholas,

Serendipity is one of the great things about this.

On the DNA side geneology side, we've been very pleased with FamilyTreeDNA. Also used 23&me (they had a $99 special) for DNA analysis for health planning.

Today I noticed that the GENI tree has grown to 46 million people. That is worth a small celebration?
It makes me curious about some numbers. For instance, how many people on GENI are not connected to the tree (or should we say forest?) and do we know if how they are spread over the centuries?

You make me want to think graphically, Nicolaas. Such interesting questions. How do you define "connected to the big tree?"

Or rain forests with deserts in between ...

I trust that GENI has defined how we are connected and I would also be ineterested to know the answer. The 46 million people is the number they state that I am connected with.
We could some nice graphs if we have the numbers.

I would love graphs about it. Geographic distribution in some fashion as well. But you're also saying we could, from geni data, approximate the population growth of the world.

I would presume the 46 million to be profiles, rather than present living people. For me, the number is less important than how much of my family tree is connected in. It's nice to tap into the tree and see if someone historical is up there, sure, but the main importance to me has been how my ancestors went through history. That's what I want to convey to my daughter when she gets old enough to care about it.

That said, it would be nice to see a breakdown by geographical region over time. I'm sure the Geni marketeers would benefit from such a breakdown, as it would tell them of the gaps that need to be filled on the tree, and may isolate the markets that they want to target... for the rest of us, that's more research material to reference, and possibly some great cross-cultural breakthroughs (a la Roots, from the 1970s).

I'm babbling... time for sleep.

I was also thinking of population movements over time and history, even just in the European American tree we are no doubt more complete with at the moment.

Noah had some statistics on how many of the 46 millions that are marked as living, but I have lost the reference.

Last week was a new weekly record: 122k completed merges in Geni.

Nicolaas,
Somewhere on the site, Geni has a byline that says they have some 90,000,000 (90 million) profiles. So that would mean that about half of the profiles are in/out of the big-tree. The Big-Tree "grows" by about 100,000 profiles every week.

Bjørn,
IIRC, Noah said that 60% of the profiles on Geni were living. I actually thought the percentage would be higher.

Shmuel, I'll bet that, once the majority of the duplicate profiles are merged together, the percentage of living profiles will indeed be much higher- at least for awhile. Once we reach a point where the most reliable historical records of the distant past have been tapped, then the focus will become the somewhat less entertaining but huge amount of work of systematically entering profiles for folks who died within the past 200 years who are NOT direct ancestors of current Geni account holders.

We're doing that?

Can I take the witches and pirates?

David,
I expected the numbers to be much higher regardless of the duplicates. The VAST majority of people will be having very FLAT trees, i.e. spreading out in the present, but few actual ancestors, probably 7 generations at most.