March 2011

If you are researching your Chinese heritage in the U.S. and your ancestors had immigrated to the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a great place to look is the Chinese Exclusion Act case files. In 1882, the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Acts to limit the number of Chinese immigrants coming into the country. Ten years later, the Act was modified to require all Chinese residents to obtain a certificate… Read the full story

The Options drop-down menu on any given profile page has been moved. Now when you load up a profile page, the Options drop-down will be in the top right-hand corner right next to the Follow/Unfollow button. This is much more easy to find, and we think you’ll like it a lot.

[Download This Episode] [Subscribe in iTunes] [Subscribe in Your Favorite Podcatcher] Show Notes: What does “collaborative genealogy” mean? For many, the term collaborative genealogy means working with others in order to a) improve one’s own genealogy research results; and b) to contribute to the genealogical community. Collaboration can take many forms including: Attending a meeting of your local genealogical society and talking to other members. Attending a genealogy conference or workshop and meeting other genealogists… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Rene Descartes https://www.geni.com/people/Ren%C3%A9-Descartes/6000000010647044004

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

As you might already know, we’re running a contest to give away three Geni Pro Account this week. Earlier, I showcased three blogs that are working with Geni to give away even more one-year Pro Accounts. Today, I’m happy to announce we have two more blogs participating: Tami Glatz at Relative Curious Lorine McGinnis at Olive Tree Genealogy That brings the total number of eight possible accounts you could win, but don’t wait. Enter now.

Profile of the Day: Ronald Reagan https://www.geni.com/people/Ronald-W-Reagan-40th-President-of-the-USA/6000000010283870415

So, you’ve been on Geni for a while now. You’ve been adding and merging profiles, but how can you tell if you’re part of the world family tree with over 54 million profiles? While you’re logged into Geni, go to our world family tree page. On the right-hand side, you’ll see a statistics box. There will be a phrase that says “You are connected to _________ people on Geni.” If the number is in the… Read the full story

On March 29, 1961 Nelson Mandela was acquitted of treason charges after a four year trial, known as the Treason Trial. Actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Mandela was arrested again in 1962 and imprisoned for 27 years. During his imprisonment, Mandela built his reputation as one of the most significant leaders in South Africa. He was finally released from prison on February 11, 1990. After his release, Nelson Mandela continued to… Read the full story

We’re giving away three one-year Geni Pro Accounts on our blog, but that’s not the only place you can enter to win a free account. We’re working with bloggers in the genealogy community to give away more accounts on their blogs. As of now, you can win a free one-year Geni Pro Account on Taneya’s Genealogy Blog, We Tree Genealogy Blog, and the Find My Ancestor Blog. If you’re interested in increasing your odds of… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Claude Monet https://www.geni.com/people/Claude-Monet/6000000009747798919

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

As of 3 PM PT April 1st, 2011, this contest is closed We’re happy to announce a brand new contest here on the Geni blog. Follow the rules on this blog post to enter to win one of three one-year Geni Pro Accounts. Also, we’re working with a handful of bloggers with this promotion, so you’ll be able to enter to win a Geni Pro Account on their sites as well. Throughout the week, I’ll… Read the full story

Profile of the Day Steve Buscemi Harry Houdini Elizabeth Taylor George Grenville Charles Dickens Interesting Geni Blog Posts Look Who’s Related: Jimi Hendrix and Queen Elizabeth II How to: Block a Geni Member How to: Embed Projects Family Tree Tuesday – Ralph Waldo Emerson Look Who’s Related: Kevin Bacon and Brad Pitt How to: Use Geni Labs Geni Podcast: Hiring a Professional Genealogist American Civil War Records and Genealogy Look Who’s Related: William Shakespeare and… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Mary Pickford https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-Pickford/6000000006884191734

Geni.com is all about collaborative genealogy — working with others to make the best family tree in the world. A great way to start finding new relatives is by working on a surname page. First of all, go to the surname search page, and enter the surname you’d like to work on. Once you’ve found the Surname page you searched for, you can start viewing the information, and manipulating it. As you can see in… Read the full story

Today’s featured project aims to identify and trace the genealogy of Pirates and Privateers on Geni. We’ve all heard tales of dreadful pirates and heroic privateers, but what actually distinguishes a pirate from a privateer? Acts of piracy are categorized as war-like acts committed by private parties that engage in acts of robbery and/or violence at sea. Privateers practice similar methods, however, the most important distinction is that they are authorized by governments to attack… 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

Profile of the Day: Steve Buscemi https://www.geni.com/people/Steve-Buscemi/6000000011524319905

If you have ancestors who fought in the American Civil War (1861-1865), finding their military records may provide you with valuable genealogical information.  Let’s take a look at how military records can help further your genealogy research as you build your family tree: Service Records Finding your ancestor’s service records can provide you with some helpful information, however, they can be a bit limited. You will likely find your ancestor’s name, their rank and unit,… Read the full story

[Download This Episode] [Subscribe in iTunes] [Subscribe in Your Favorite Podcatcher] Show Notes: When and why should you hire a professional genealogist? The answer to this question really depends upon the person doing the hiring and their specific situation related to their research. Has your research taken you to unfamiliar territory? Are you having to deal with a foreign language or a culture with which you are unfamiliar? Are you in a time crunch or… Read the full story

On occasion, we have a feature that isn’t quite ready for prime time, but we want to let users take it for a test drive. If you want to try out these beta features as they come out, just head over to Geni Labs. First, go to the settings page, and click on Geni Labs. Then, you’ll find what we currently have in labs. At the moment, we are currently trying out our Post-to-Geni bookmarklet…. Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Harry Houdini https://www.geni.com/people/Harry-Houdini/6000000010801549516

Profile of the Day: Elizabeth Taylor https://www.geni.com/people/Elizabeth-Taylor/6000000007315737362

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher, essayist and poet, who was instrumental in leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. Emerson believed in individualism and the need for harmony between man and nature. A staunch supporter of the abolitionist movement, Emerson gave a number of lectures calling for the abolition of slavery. Emerson was born on May 25, 1803 to Ruth Haskins and Reverend William Emerson in Boston, Massachusetts.  His father was one… Read the full story

So, you work hard making your favorite project as good as it can be. So, how do you show off to your friends all of the hard work you’ve done? Easy — just embed the project right on your website. From there, copy the HTML code that looks something like this: When you paste that code in your website, it will look a little something like this: Join the worlds largest free family tree Pretty… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: George Grenville https://www.geni.com/people/Rt-Hon-George-Grenville-Prime-Minister-of-Great-Britain/6000000006999611048

Like any collaborative effort, there are going to be some people you don’t want to interact with on Geni. With the tools that we have, it’s quite easy to prevent contact completely. All you have to do is go to the profile in question, and then follow these steps: If you want to see who you’ve blocked, you can always go to the Block User Settings page. Unblocking members is as easy as a click… Read the full story

Jimi Hendrix, legendary rock and roller, has recently made his way onto the world family tree. When we find interesting new tree-members, we like to see how they’re related to other notable figures. Interesting, Jimi and Queen Elizabeth II are 13th cousins. Who knew? There are a few more interesting paths that we found, so take a look: Queen Elizabeth II is Jimi Hendrix’s 13th cousin Bill Gates is Jimi Hendrix’s 8th cousin once removed… Read the full story

Profile of the Day Eli Whitney Julius Caesar Robert F. Kennedy Saint Patrick Wyatt Earp Interesting Geni Blog Posts How To: View Your Family’s Timeline How To: Alter Privacy Settings on Profiles You Manage Look Who’s Related: Elvis Presley and Other Notable Figures Take a Listen to Geni’s CEO on GeneaBloggers Radio Getting Family Involved in Genealogy Family Tree Tuesday – Ingrid Bergman Last Week’s Contest Winners Look Who’s Related: Robert E. Lee and Ulysses… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Charles Dickens https://www.geni.com/people/Charles-Dickens/4850927350690030004

This week’s featured project highlights Nobel Prize Winners on Geni. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded annually for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. In his will, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel requested that his vast fortune be used to create a series of prizes for those who’s achievements provide the greatest benefit to mankind. As of 2010, there has been a total of 813 individuals who have been awarded the Nobel… Read the full story

Privacy on Geni is pretty simple to understand. That said, there are a few settings you can customize as far as the private profiles that you manage, so let’s walk through them. Under the “Private Profiles” section there are two check boxes: Profile Photo and Current Location. If you don’t mind sharing that information with other Geni users, leave them checked. If you’d prefer that they remain private to only your family group, uncheck it…. Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Wyatt Earp https://www.geni.com/people/Wyatt-Earp/6000000003579770707

Between different conventions and different languages, dates can be a tricky subject for genealogists (and everyone else for that matter).  This week we introduced “single field dates” to help Geni users input dates without as much guesswork. Setting your date format in Localization Settings To set your preferred date format, go to your Settings page and click on Localization Settings.  You’ll see the following options: For this example, I’ll use the YYYY MM DD format…. Read the full story

Due to Ireland’s tumultuous history, many vital historical records have been destroyed. Although researching your Irish heritage may prove to be very difficult, take heart in that it’s not as hopeless as you might think. Here are a few general tips on how to get started in your research: Start with your living relatives Begin your research with your close family members and work your way back generation by generation. A large number of Irish… Read the full story

When did your great grandparents get married? Which one of your uncles was born first? Once you and your family have put the information into Geni, you can then access that data very easily with the Family Timeline. If you’re only interested in certain parts of your timeline, you’re in luck. It’s very customizable. 1. You can change the date range (ex. 1908-2004) with the slider in the red box. 2. You can change which… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Saint Patrick https://www.geni.com/people/Patrick-o-%C3%89ireann/6000000008173864486

[Download This Episode] [Subscribe in iTunes] [Subscribe in Your Favorite Podcatcher] Featuring: Thomas MacEntee

Yesterday, I wrote a post about encouraging your family to participate with genealogy. The feedback I received was “We want more tips!” I heard you loud and clear, so here are a two more tips for getting your family more involved with genealogy. Show Them Interesting Relationship Paths Once your family is connected to the world family tree, you can display paths from your family to really interesting people. Once you show them how they’re… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Robert F. Kennedy https://www.geni.com/people/Robert-F-Kennedy-U-S-Attorney-General/6000000003098455001

One of the best aspects of having the world family tree is that we can find how many, many people are related to each other. With this year being the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, I think it is a good opportunity to show how people on completely opposite sides of the war were related. Let’s start with General Grant and General Lee. These two Generals went head to head for the fate… Read the full story

Last week, we ran a contest on the Geni Blog and Twitter with three 12-month Pro Accounts as the prize. As of today, all three of the winners now have their Pro Accounts enabled. Congratulations to @jladeau, @ChristyRoseB, and @TPFelis. I hope you spend the next year making the big tree even better with those shiny new Pro Accounts. If you didn’t win this time, don’t worry. We’ll be holding many more contests in the… Read the full story

Three time Oscar winning actress Ingrid Bergman was born in Stockholm, Sweden on August 29, 1915. Bergman first began her career appearing in Swedish and European films and made a successful transition to American cinema. Considered one of the greatest actresses of all time, Bergman would be best remembered for her role opposite Humphrey Bogart in the classic 1942 film, Casablanca. In addition to her three Academy Awards, she earned throughout her career two Emmys… Read the full story

So, you’re excited about your family tree, and now you want your relatives to join in the festivities. You invite them to Geni, they sign up, and then just look around — they don’t bother adding anything. That’s a shame. How can you incentivize them to add information? Here’s a few tips: Add Photos Photos make all the difference in the world. When someone can actually see the face of one of his or her… Read the full story

Profile of the Day: Julius Caesar https://www.geni.com/people/Gaius-Julius-Caesar-IV-the-Great-100-44BC-Caesar-General-Consul-and-Dictator-of-the-Roman-Empire/6000000001336610897

Last Friday, Noah Tutak (CEO of Geni) was on Thomas MacEntee’s GeneaBloggers Radio program. Streamed live over the internet, this talk program takes live calls from their listeners. We teamed up with Thomas, and we gave away 10 free 3-Month Pro Accounts and one grand prize featuring Geni swag and a lifetime Pro account. If you’re interested in listening, you can Download this Episode.

Elvis Presley was one of the most well known performers of the 20th century. Thanks to the hard work of many Geni users, The King is part of our World Family Tree. Here are some of The King’s most interesting relationship paths: Elvis and George Washington are 9th cousins 6 times removed. Elvis and Franklin D. Roosevelt are 10th cousins once removed. Elvis and Napoléon are 18th cousins four times removed. Elvis and Benedict Arnold… Read the full story

Profile of the Day Sigmund Freud Agatha Christie Judy Garland Aldous Huxley Alexander Graham Bell Geni How To Subscribe to the Geni Podcast in iTunes How To: Filter the Recent Activity Share Your Genealogy with Friends and Family How To: Invite Someone to your Tree Interesting Geni Blog Posts Featured Project: RMS Titanic The Social Security Death Index and Genealogy The Geni Podcast: What’s a Webinar? Family Tree Tuesday – Susan B. Anthony Look Who’s… Read the full story