Description:

NoteFuser is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to connect your Evernote notes to Geni profiles or FamilySearch person records. Are you an Evernote user? With just the click of a button, you can easily create research logs and add other notes right on the Geni or FamilySearch profile.

Watch the NoteFuser demo to learn more!

Click here to check out NoteFuser

Description:

With the advent of online and cooperative genealogy, APIs have become vital in the progression of the industry. In this presentation, Michael Berkovich, the Platform Technical Lead at Geni.com, will explain the implementation and use of APIs in a genealogical context and demonstrate how to use Geni platform APIs.

Another high point was seeing Family Search’s Jimmy Zimmerman win the Grand Prize in the RootsTech Developer Challenge for NoteFuser. NoteFuser easily connects your notes from Evernote to your profiles on Geni or FamilySearch.org. So if you use Evernote, you may find NoteFuser really helpful.

We had a great audience for all of our sessions at Rootstech. For those of you who were unable to attend, we’ll try posting the slides from the presentations soon. For the developer sessions, Justin presented “Technical Roots of the World Family Tree”  and Michael presented “Better Genealogy Through APIs.” Charles gave a great presentation about collaborative genealogy on Geni. And did you catch Noah’s presentation, “Privacy in a Collaborative Environment,” streaming live? It contained lots of interesting information about maintaining privacy while collaborating online.

It was exciting to see all the new ideas and the continued advancements of technology in the world of genealogy. We heard some great feedback from many genealogists and bloggers and gave out lots of Geni schwag. We can’t wait to return next year! Next up will be the NGS Family History Conference May 9 in Cincinnati, Ohio. If you are planning to attend, be sure to come by the Geni booth to say “Hi!”

Check out our photo gallery below! And see our Facebook page for more photos!

Rootstech Photo Gallery

Randy Stebbing

In anticipation for RootsTech 2012 genealogy conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, we interviewed Geni Curator Randy Stebbing, who graciously agreed to share with us his experience working on projects about Mormon genealogy on Geni. Below is part 2 of his interview. You can find part 1 here.

What are some of the biggest challenges of doing Mormon genealogy?

One of the challenges is working with profiles that lived recently. Many of these profiles are initially “private”. Because non-public profiles are by default restricted to close family members it takes patience to contact descendants and get their help by them sharing their deceased ancestors and turning them into “public” profiles. Once the profiles are “public” they can be documented, enhanced with new data and sources, and added to the projects. My number one request for people to help with this project is to make sure that all of their ancestors that have been deceased for a reasonable amount of time be made “public”. I would hope that all contributed profiles in the 1800’s and earlier would be voluntarily made into public profiles so that the “big tree” can continue to grow and be improved.

A second challenge is duplication. On geni, “Pro members” have special access to tools for both searching for and merging duplicates. I’d guess that I’ve probably merged 25,000 profiles to cleanup the 5,000+ profiles that are currently part of the pioneer projects.

Your question asked about challenges of researching early Mormon church members. Actually one of the greatest things about this research is the wealth of material that is available. The LDS Family History Center,coupled with 1,000’s of free local family history centers throughout the world make research easier no matter what your research area is.

What’s the most interesting discovery you’ve made so far through these projects?

The most exciting discovers for me involve my own family history of course. For Mormon specific research the church’s new History Library in Salt Lake is invaluable. For example in a recent visit to the LDS Church History Library my wife and I  found her 2nd great grandmother’s letters and poems written in her own handwriting from the 1800’s. As you an imagine we were thrilled to find these for our family. Many of these letters have now been uploaded to geni for other’s to enjoy. I additionally found a very detailed written history of a different Pioneer era ancestor, Charles Crismon, that detailed his adventures on the frontier. Apparently he made quite a fortune in California, Arizona and Utah in milling, freighting, mining and the railroads, but in the boom and bust economies of that era, lost much of his wealth by the end of his life. My extended family has enjoyed me uploading information that I find to geni. The benefit of this is that branches of the family unknown to me can instantly have the info available the moment I upload it to geni. I likewise benefit from their research.

I’m learning interesting things all the time. Just yesterday I learned some additional information about my 3rd ggrandfather Benjamin Lewis. Previously I knew that Lewis was one of 18 men murdered in the Haun’s Mill Massacre that occurred at the height of the Mormon/Missouri conflicts. Just yesterday, while reading in  a primary source document  I came across one line of text that identified the name of the man in Missouri militia who bragged that he was the one the shot and killed my ancestor. I was then able to add that info to my ancestor’s profile and provide a link to the profile of the person who  purportedly took his life. To me its the surprising connections between people that is so very interesting. On geni, Pro users can find the family relationship between themselves and anyone else in the “big tree”. It’s been fun to find out how I and others are related to Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and other early Church leaders.

How can those interested get involved?

For visitors of the RootsTech conference the publicly available Geni API will be of particular interest. For example I’ve been able to write some programs using the API to provide me with running totals of the number of Mormon Pioneers included in the 24 sub-projects. One way to help the geni community is to get familiar with the API which allows you extend and automate many things on the site.

As far as getting involved in any of the Mormon projects just visit any of them and ask to join them by sending a  “collaboration request”. Then send me the web address link to the geni profile of your ancestor and I’ll help you add them to the appropriate project. Keep your deceased ancestor’s profiles public. Users can help with projects even if they don’t have family members that belong to the project. For example you don’t have to be pioneer descendant to help with these projects.

Finally  I want to put a plug in for the numerous other interesting and valuable projects that are on geni. I know that any of the  7,000 other existing projects on the site would also welcome your active collaboration. Spencer W. Kimball,  the LDS leader, who first got me interested in family history said “We must lengthen or stride and must do it now.” Getting involved is the funnest part of geni —so just do it.

Randy Stebbing

In anticipation for RootsTech 2012 genealogy conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, we interviewed Geni Curator Randy Stebbing, who graciously agreed to share with us his experience working on projects about Mormon genealogy on Geni. Here is part 1 of his interview. Check back tomorrow for part 2.

You’ve been instrumental in creating several projects about Early Mormon Leaders and Pioneers. What first sparked your interest in this area?

You might say its “in my blood” I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and 11 of my direct ancestors where Mormon pioneers. If you add in the extended families there are scores of pioneers throughout my family tree.  In 1980 I was privileged to be able to attend the “World Conference on Records” held in Salt Lake City. On that occasion the author of “Roots”, Alex Haley, spoke to the 11,000 attendees and shared with us how researching his ancestry had changed his life. At that same conference LDS church leader, Spencer W. Kimball, discussed the importance of families which helped cement my interests in family history research. I think attending that conference really got me going. I see the RootsTech conference as a direct descendant of these early conferences and it is a great place to share ideas about the interaction of technology and family history which is what Geni is great at.

Can you briefly describe the scope of a few of the Mormon related projects you have created?

The first project on Geni that I’d like to hi-light is the  “Early Mormon Leaders” project. It includes profiles of 350 early church leaders and includes Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff,  Lorenzo Snow, the Book of Mormon Witnesses, the original Quorum of the 12 apostles and numerous other early church leaders. Emma Smith, Eliza R. Snow and others are there also. It also includes linked in profiles of everyone mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants, and many participants in Zion’s Camp. Brigham Young’s extensive family was a particular challenge.

Also on geni there are the 24 related “Mormon Pioneer” projects. A short background might be helpful to those not familiar with this history. The Mormon Pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following their expulsion from Missouri their leader, Brigham Young, organized thousands of members so that they could make the 1,000 mile trek across the central portion of the USA before arriving in what would become Salt Lake City. Over the next 20 years (1847-1867) an estimated 70,000 men, women and children either walked or rode in covered wagons to re-settle in a land where they could live their religion.

The Mormon Pioneer projects on geni have grown to include 5,600 of the 70,000 total pioneers. As each profile is found it is added to the project corresponding to the arrival year for that person. This is a huge undertaking and is collaborative in nature.

How have these projects helped in your research? Have you found success collaborating and connecting with other users through these projects?

It’s been valuable in my own family research to see the extended family relationships of those that married into my family pioneer lines. Often I’ll come across a history that a different geni user has uploaded about their pioneer ancestor that really gives me a sense of what it was like to actually live and experience that period of history. These people had tremendous amounts of courage, faith and fortitude to have a accomplished what they did. The collaborative aspects of geni and its projects have been an ideal research tool.

The Genealogy Sphere

• There’s no place like home…for 100 years: Centenarian lives in the house where she was born (and these days it has running water and electricity) (Daily Mail) – A woman lives in the same cottage for 100 years
• 8 Ways to Avoid Barking Up the Wrong Family Tree (About.com) – Genealogist Kimberly Powell offers great advice about how to avoid those wrong turns
• With DNA Testing, Suddenly They are Family (New York Times) – Adoptees discover family through DNA testing
• Siblings learn of each other via Web (JournalGazette.net) – Online genealogy research leads to the discovery of a long lost sibling
• Grave Spotting: The 15-Year-Old Who Was Killed While Dodging Kisses in the Met Life Building (Gothamist) – A tombstone and old newspapers reveal a tragic and unusual story
• JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth gets a complete genealogy (The Guardian) – Emil Johansson takes on the Lord of the Rings family tree
• ‘Tartan Butler’ helps visitors trace their roots (MSN) – The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland announces the ‘Tartan Butler,’ a concierge who helps guests learn about their family history
• Fort Kent Historical Society, archives unveil massive genealogical collection (Bangor Daily News) – A massive collection of books, photographs, notes are now available to researchers at the University of Main at Fort Kent.

On Geni

• Monday Recap for January 23, 2012 – Last week’s links
• Celebrating Chinese New Year – See what celebrities were born in the Year of the Dragon
• Come See the Geni Team at RootsTech 2012 – Geni is coming to Rootstech 2012!
• Featured Project: Who Do You Think You Are? – Get ready for the new season of Who Do You Think You Are? by checking out the project on Geni!

Profile of the Day

• Edvard Munch
• Meryl Streep
• Virginia Woolf
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Captain Edward Smith

The project aims to gather all the celebrities who have appeared in each incarnation of the show. There are still several notable figures that are not yet on Geni, including those from the Australian, Irish and Swedish versions. Perhaps you would like to join this project and have fun helping to build their family trees and connect them to over 60 million profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree! Be sure to also check out the Danish project Ved du hvem du er? and the Norwegian project Hvem tror du at du er?

Are you a fan of the genealogy television show Who Do You Think You Are? Join this project and help build the family trees featured in each episode.

View the Who Do You Think You Are? Project

If your looking to attend some talks, stop by one of our sessions to learn about some exciting things going on at Geni. Here’s a list of our sessions:

• Creating the Family Graph – Justin Balthrop
• The Importance of APIs in Genealogy – Michael Berkovitch
• Don’t Do Genealogy Alone – Charles Edmonds
• Privacy in a Collaborative Environment – Noah Tutak

We’ll be around all three days, so stop on by and pick up some great Geni gear. If you can’t make it to the conference, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates. Follow the #RootsTech hashtag on Twitter for updates from other attendees too.

Today, January 23 is Chinese New Year! One of the most important traditional Chinese holidays, Chinese New Year marks the start of the Lunar New Year. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, which symbolizes power, strength and good luck. In addition to Mainland China and Hong Kong, Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Mayasia, and Chinatowns throughout the world.

The holiday is steeped in tradition, food and family, and serves as a family reunion of sorts as everyone gathers together to celebrate the occasion. Large family feasts are comprised of dishes of meats, fish and vegetables to represent good fortune in the coming new year. An abundance of citrus fruits, such as oranges, are also important symbols of luck and fortune.

Decorations of red paper lanterns and parades with dancing dragons help usher in the new year. Perhaps one of the most well-known traditions of Chinese New Year is the giving of red envelopes. Usually gifted to children by adults, these red envelopes almost always contain money for good luck and is probably what every child looks forward to the most during the holiday (I know I did!).

Chinese tradition dictates that people born in the Year of the Dragon are brave, strong, intellectual, innovative and passionate. Click on the images below to check out the Geni profiles of some famous celebrities born in the Year of the Dragon!

Bruce Lee

Sandra Bullock

John Lennon

Shirley Temple

Keanu Reeves

Russell Crowe

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Cause of Death – Benzol Poisoning (Adventures in Genealogy) – Genealogy blogger Deb Ruth finds cause of death in an old newspaper article
• Early African American Newspapers, Tell So Much (My Ancestor’s Name) – Genealogist Angela Walton-Raji discusses early African-American newspapers in genealogy
• GenealogyBank Adds Irish Vital Records to Historical Newspaper Archive (GenealogyBank) – Irish vital records found in old Irish American newspapers
• Trips to find your roots (Fox News) – Travel on a genealogical adventure for vacation
• Family research strikes gold (Commercial-News) – A squirrel hunt newspaper article leads to genealogical treasure
• How I learned I am Tsinoy (GMA News) – Filipino genealogy research leads to new family discoveries

On Geni

• Monday Recap for January 16, 2012 – Last week’s links
• School Census Records Offer Lots of Genealogical Info – Great genealogical information can be found in school census records
• Today’s Release: Record Search and Estimated Dates – Two great new features were added to the site, easier record searches and estimated dates

Profile of the Day

• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Muhammad Ali
• Janis Joplin
• Cary Grant
• Etta James

We’ve made it even easier to search for records from Archives.com, Find A Grave and GenealogyBank on Geni. You can discover even more about your relatives by entering more information for more accurate search results. To start your search, simply click on the Research tab at the top of the page and select Record Search.

Enter in your relative’s name, birth surname, location and birth/death dates and click Search Results to start searching billions of census, vital and military records, newspapers and more!

Estimated Dates

On side-by-side merge comparison pages, we added estimated dates for profiles that do not have birth or death dates listed. Geni will automatically estimate it based on the birth and death years of immediate family members. Currently, only estimated birth years are visible on the comparison page. By comparing estimated dates, users will be able to easily identify bad matches in their Merge Center.

For our full release notes, please visit the Announcements section of our Help Center.

What can I find in school census records? 

Clay County, Minnesota school census records 1915

• Names of children
• Gender
• Names of parents or guardian
• The children’s birth dates
• The age of the child at the time of the census
• Post office location – this can help pinpoint where they lived
• Weeks of attendance
• Parent or guardian signature
• Race
• Nationality
• Disabilities

Where can I find school census records?

 
If you know the location of the school, you can start there. Many schools keep a record of their census records. If the school is no longer around, you can check with the state archives or local genealogical or historical societies. Those records may have been passed on to them. You can also do some online research. Many more school census records are making their way into online databases. Check out sites like FamilySearch or the genealogy search engine Mocavo for digitized copies.

Once you find the records, make sure to add them to your relatives’ profiles on Geni to share your discoveries with your family!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Frankie Meyer: Quaker history reveals hidden genealogy (The Joplin Globe) – Journal entries lead a genealogist to discover new information about his family
• Family Gets Purple Heart Awarded to WWI Veteran (WMUR) – A family genealogy project leads to new recognition for WWI veteran
• Genealogist unearths contribution made by local militia in the War of 1812 – (Thestar.com) – A genealogists uncovers stories about a militia in the War of 1812
• Introducing: Local couple clean and restore tombstones as a labor of love (The Star Press) – A couple works together to restore the tombstones of a local cemetery in Indiana
• Saved by her Corset! The Interesting Case of Dora Bowman (About.com) – Genealogist Kimberly Powell recounts the fascinating story of Dora Bowman
• DNA identifies suspect in 1991 Wash. killing as distant relative of Mayflower family (The Washington Post) – A forensic genealogist’s discovery may help identify a murder suspect
• Lost Colony DNA (The Scientist) – Family histories and DNA may help answer a centuries-old mystery about a vanished group of British settlers
• The Proof is in the Pudding: Citing the Source (Susan’s Genealogy Blog) – Susan Farrell Bankhead offers up some great tips about citing your sources
• Sibling and Family Dynamics (a3Genealogy) – A look into our ancestors lives

Profile of the Day

• Hedy Lamarr
• Grigori Rasputin
• Alexander Hamilton
• Jack London
• Mark Wahlberg

The Genealogy Sphere

• Be Careful in Your Assumptions (Thoughts from Polly’s Granddaughter) – Don’t assume you know all the facts!
• What Can I do to Restore an Old Photo? (Family Search) – Great tips on how to restore old photographs
• Searching Mexico’s census for clues about American history (CNN) – Actor Edward James Olmos talks about genealogy in the Latin community and the digitization of the 1930 Mexican census
• Indigenous genealogy report branded racist (The Canberra Times) – A government sponsored genealogy project causes controversy in Australia
• Genealogy Today: My romance with courthouses (Green Valley News and Sun) – Genealogist Betty Lou Malesky talks about her love of researching in courthouses
• Martin Sheen, Reba MacEntire, Rob Lowe Among ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Season 3 Cast (The Hollywood Reporter) – Mark your calendars! The hit genealogy series returns February 3
• You can’t always trust ‘eyewitness’ accounts (Tampa Bay Online) – A great reminder
• Kissing Cousins: Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick (Origin Hunters) – Genealogist Michael Maglio is excited for the new season of Who Do You Think You Are?

On Geni

• Recap for January 3, 2012 – Last week’s recap of the holidays
• Genealogy Conferences 2012 – A calendar of upcoming genealogy conferences for 2012

Profile of the Day

• Lucretia Mott
• Jacob Grimm
• Sonny Bono
• Nigella Lawson

January

• Yuma Family History Expo (Yuma, Arizona) January 17, 2012
• Arizona Family History Expo (Mesa, Arizona) January 20 – 21, 2012

February

• RootsTech (Salt Lake City, Utah) February 2 – 4, 2012
• 6th Annual Black Belt African American Genealogy Conference and Family History Fair (Selma, Alabama) February 17 – 18, 2012
• St. George Family History Expo (St. George, Utah) February 24, 2012

March

• North Florida Genealogy Conference (Orange Park, Florida) March 2 – 3, 2012
• Fairfax Genealogical Society Conference (Fairfax, Virginia) March 23-24, 2012

April

• Huston Family History Expo (Houston, Texas) April 6 – 7, 2012
• Ohio Genealogical Society Conference (Cleveland, Ohio) April 12 – 14, 2012
• Iowa Genealogical Society Spring Technology Conference (Des Moines, Iowa) April 14, 2012

May

• NGS Family History Conference (Cincinnati, Ohio) May 9 – 12, 2012

June

• Southern California Genealogy Society Jamboree (Burbank, California) June 8 – 10, 2012
• Palatines to America National Conference and the Annual Meeting (Indianapolis, Indiana) June 14 – 16, 2012

July

• 16th Annual Angelina College Genealogy Conference (Lufkin, Texas) July 19 – 21, 2012
• Midwestern Roots Family History and Genealogy Conference (Indianapolis, Indiana) July 20 – 21, 2012

August

• Federation of Genealogical Societies (Birmingham, Alabama) August 29 – September 1, 2012

October

• International Black Genealogy Summit (Salt Lake City, Utah) October 18 – 20, 2012

The Genealogy Sphere

• Seeking Kin: An Israeli finds his American cousins (JTA) – An Israeli man is reunited with his American cousins through genealogy
• Take research beyond names, dates and maps (Tampa Bay Online) – Suggestions on how to put your ancestors into historical perspective
• Following ‘chain of custody’ may lead to family history treasures (Bangor Daily News) – Following the chain of custody for a relative’s funeral bill leads to new discoveries
• Eight generations: Portage family finds special meaning in heirloom quilt at Christmas (mlive.com) – A family decorates their home with a family genealogy quilt
• We’re all (likely) related to stars (Chicago Tribune) – An explanation about why we’re all likely related to celebrities
• Multiple burial sites may complicate research (Times & Transcript) – New burial practices may complicate future genealogical research
• Douglas family reunited with 150-year-old Bible (Bolivar Herald-Free Press) – A family is reunited with an old family Bible

On Geni

• Monday Recap for December 19, 2011 – Links to some great  genealogy articles from the week
• Happy Hanukkah! – Celebrating the first day of Hanukkah
• Play the Geni Celebrity Quiz on Facebook – Play our fun and addictive Geni Celebrity Quiz on Facebook
• A Look Back at 2011 – We looked back at the past year

Profile of the Day

• Rosemary Clooney
• Judas Maccabeus
• James Stewart
• Charles Dickens
• Charles Darwin
• Woodrow Wilson
• Jon Voight
• Rudyard Kipling

2011 in Retrospect

We spent the first couple of months of 2011 further enhancing and refining popular features. Enhancements to documents, sourcing and projects have really helped to make it easier to share and collaborate with other users. As the year progressed, we pursued features to further facilitate collaboration and highlight the advantages of our premium features. We made some significant changes to the way Geni works, and while they may not have been the most popular, we believe they will ensure Geni’s longevity and enable us to continue to build new features and enhancements that make Geni the best collaborative genealogy platform. As we move forward, we remain firmly committed to our goal of creating the canonical world family tree.

Let’s take a look back at some significant developments and milestones of 2011:

Profile Revisions (March 2)
Before the start of 2011, we introduced the ability to view and revert text revisions for profiles, surnames and projects. With this release, we further expanded this feature to allow the ability to view the revision history of a profile and revert to the previous values for each profile field displayed.

Public Editing for Pros (June 23)
To make it easier for users to contribute their knowledge to Geni’s world family tree, we opened up editing permissions of public profiles to Pro users without the need for collaboration. All changes were reversible by other users with edit permissions on the profile and profile field locking was made available to Curators to help maintain the accuracy of the profile’s information.

New Header (August 11)
We introduced a cleaner, simpler header to make navigating on Geni even easier. With these changes, users are able to go directly to their tree in just one click and all notifications are now found in one place.

More Enhancements to Geni Pro (August 11)
New enhanced permissions to Geni Pro were introduced to accelerate the growth and improve the quality of the world family tree. All Geni Pro users were given the ability to edit and merge public profiles. We saw a great increase in the number of merges as users were hard at work eliminating the number of duplicate profiles. With these changes, merging and search became a Pro only feature.

Note: In November, we limited the Pro permissions to edits and merges only on public profiles they are connected to. Pros are no longer able to edit and merge unconnected public profiles without collaboration.

Geni Public Access (August 18)
The Geni Public Access program was introduced to provide Geni users with the opportunity to experience Geni Pro for free at public libraries and genealogical societies that provide access to computers connected to the Internet. Users can experience all the features of Pro from our growing list of participating institutions.

Introducing Geni Plus (September 13)
A new subscription package was introduced that offered many of the benefits of Pro for a fraction of the cost.

Record Matches (September 29)
As part of our effort to create the best platform for genealogists to collaborate and build the world family tree, we partnered with Archives.com and GenealogyBank to help make researching your family history faster and easier. Since record matches are found automatically, users don’t have to spend extra time conducting separate searches from various genealogy databases.

In November, we added Find A Grave to our record matches. The free grave registration site holds millions of records containing photos, biographies and dates to help enrich the information on your relatives’ profiles. We hope to add more great record partners in the future.

Changes to Membership Tiers (November 2)
While Geni has always offered free Basic accounts, we made some significant changes to our Basic and Premium memberships. As your tree grows, you’ll want to take advantage of our Plus and Pro memberships to get the most out of your Geni experience. To help make the membership tiers easier to understand and provide a greater value to our users, a new number-based tree limit was introduced, while search was added as a Plus feature. Based on user feedback, Pro merging permissions were modified. This enabled users to continue working on the world family tree, while accommodating those who wished to build their own tree.

Geni’s World Family Tree Reaches 60 million Profiles (November 11)
This year, Geni’s world family tree reached a new milestone – over 60 million connected profiles and counting. Over 10 million profiles were connected in the past year, bringing us closer to achieving our goal of creating the world’s largest and most comprehensive family tree. We’re thrilled to continue to see the growth of the tree through the hard work of millions of collaborating genealogists.

Geni Celebrity Quiz on Facebook (December 23)
We were super excited to announce this Facebook game. We introduced the Geni Celebrity Quiz on Facebook as a fun, interactive game to test your knowledge of celebrity trivia and discover how some of Hollywood’s top celebrities, both past and present, are related. To top it off, you can even challenge your friends to see who can get the top score!

What’s to Come

As we enter 2012, we are thrilled at the prospect of enhancing our collaboration tools and introducing more exciting features to the site. One such feature we’re eager to enhance is projects. Since introducing projects, thousands of inventive projects have been created and they’ve served as the perfect place to unite individuals who share common interests. It’s been pretty impressive to see what’s been accomplished so far. In the coming year, we have some big plans to make projects even better and we think you are all going to love it!

Thank you to everyone for your passion for Geni and we look forward to another exciting year in 2012!

Happy New Year!

We’ll be down for scheduled maintenance for approximately 1 hour beginning at 5pm PST tonight. Thanks for your patience.

We’re kicking off our Celebrity Quiz with five trivia games:

• Academy Award Winners
• Child Stars
• Stars of the Small Screen
• Kings of Comedy
• Who Said It?

Be sure to check back each week as we add even more fun and challenging games.

Play the Geni Celebrity Quiz Now!

In the second century BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes issued a decree that outlawed Jewish religious practices and ordered an alter to Zeus to be erected in the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Along with his five sons, the Jewish priest, Mattathias, led a large scale rebellion against Antiochus’s actions.  After his death, his son, Judas Maccabeus, successfully drove out the Syrians from the land and liberated the temple.

Upon liberating the temple, it was discovered that there was only enough oil to light the menorah in the temple for one day. However, miraculously, it burned for eight days, which was just enough time to manufacture more oil. Thus, the eight day Festival of Lights was instituted to commemorate this miracle and the Temple’s rededication.

The holiday is a wonderful time to gather with family to celebrate and feast on traditional foods made in oil. For each day, a candle is lit and children receive a small gift. Take the time to enjoy sharing stories with your relatives and have fun spinning the dreidel!

What are some of your favorite family traditions and memories? Share them with us in the comments below.

Happy Hanukkah!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Woman searches for rightful owner of family memories (Bakersfieldnow.com) – A woman finds a suitcase full of photos and letters
• Unlocking decades of family histories (Portside Messenger) – A woman unlocks the genealogy of more than 200 Aboriginal families in SA
• Are We Going to Lose the Social Security Death Index (SSDI)? (Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak) – Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak’s thoughts about the recent changes to SSDI access
• More sites pressured into removing SSDI (About.com) – Kimberly Powell provides a great summary of what’s going on with SSDI and genealogy
• You’re Researching but are You Reading? (Marian’s Roos & Rambles) – Tip on how to become a better researcher
• Scrappin’ Family Calendars (Ancestors Live Here) – Leslie Ann creates a family calendar for Christmas
• RootsTech admits mistake (Dear Myrtle) – Dear Myrtle reports that RootsTech will allow book vendors at RootsTech 2012

On Geni

• Monday Recap December 12, 2011 – Interesting genealogy links
• Genealogy Activities for the Holidays – Fun ways to incorporate genealogy into your holiday activities
• Geni’s 12 Day of Christmas – Get 25% Off a Geni Gift Membership – Geni is celebrating the holiday season with a special holiday discount

Profile of the Day

• Sir Edmund Hillary
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Nostradamus
• James Madison
• Philip K. Dick

A Geni gift membership is the perfect opportunity to get your family to help you with your research and fill in the blanks on your family history! With their gift membership, your loved one will have access to all of Geni’s helpful, time saving tools, including unlimited tree merges, enhanced search, premium support and much more.

Hurry – this special holiday discount is valid until December 27, 2011, so be sure to claim your 25% discount before it expires!

Click here for 25% off a Geni Gift Membership

Christmas is the perfect time of year to share your love of genealogy with your family. Do you have any activities planned for your relatives? Here are a few interesting ideas on how to incorporate genealogy into your holiday festivities!

Decorate your tree

Make decorating your Christmas tree a family activity. This year decorate your tree with family photos of your living relatives and ancestors. You can purchase ornaments that allow you to insert the photos or create your own ornaments. A few years ago, my family decorated our Christmas tree with handmade ornaments. Each piece had a photograph of member of my family. The tree was a big hit and an excellent conversation piece. We left the names off to add an extra element of fun in guessing who was in some of the older photographs.

These ornaments are bound to arouse lots of stories and memories. Keep note of these to add your genealogy research.

Create a game

Everyone has different family traditions during the holidays. At my house, we always have fun playing games. This year, create your own trivia game that revolves around your family. It can be loads of fun and hopefully everyone will learn a little bit more about your family history.

Old family photos can also be turned into a fun game. Have your relatives guess who is in the photo. Maybe they can even help you identify some relatives that had you stumped.

Tell stories

Gather your relatives together to share some stories about your family history. You can also ask about past Christmases. How did your grandparent’s childhood Christmases differ from your own? You may discover some old family traditions. Record the stories on video or on paper. Perhaps you can even turn it into a small book to give to your relatives next year! You can also add the stories to Geni to share with your relatives near and far.

What fun activities does your family participate in? Share them with us in the comments below!

The Genealogy Sphere

• The Good News About Taxes: Finding and Using Tax Records in your Genealogy Research (Archives.com) – Tips on using tax records in your genealogy research
• Monday Memories: Create a heritage cookbook! (Examiner.com) – Create a heritage cookbook to share your knowledge of family history
• Distribution of land after death creates wealth of documents (Citizen-Times.com) – Using land records in genealogy
• To be or not to be: Custer cousin is the question (Bluff County Reader) – Chasing down the Custer surname
• Storage unit holds family secrets (Telegram.com) – A treasure trove of genealogical information is found in an abandoned storage unit in Florida
• Leading children to genealogy (Petoskeynews.com) – Ways to introduce children to genealogy
• Oregon Gravestone sleuth who ‘loves a mystery’ finds home for misplaced marker (The Republic) – A woman uses her genealogy research skills to find the home of a misplaced gravestone

On Geni

• Monday Recap for December 5, 2011 – Check out links from last week’s recap
• St. Nicholas Day – Some history about St. Nicholas Day
• Remembering Pearl Harbor – The U.S. remembers those who died at Pearl Harbor on the 70th anniversary of the attack
• Look Who’s Related: Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman – Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are related! Learn more about their common ancestor Parley P. Pratt.

Profile of the Day

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ashton Kutcher
• Noam Chomsky
• Mary, Queen of Scots
• Newt Gingrich

Their common ancestor is Parley P. Pratt, an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement. Pratt is Mitt Romny‘s second great grandfather and Jon Huntsman‘s third great grandfather.

Parley P. Pratt

Parley P. Pratt was an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a governing body of the Church of Latter Day Saint’s hierarchy, which was organized by the Latter Day Saint movement’s founder Joseph Smith. After the death of Joseph Smith, Pratt and his family were among the Latter Day Saints who emigrated to Utah territory to continue on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the direction of Brigham Young.

A practicing polygamist, Pratt had a total of 12 wives. In 1857, while returning from a missionary trip in the southern United States, Pratt was murdered by Hector McLean, the legal husband of Eleanor, one of Pratt’s many wives. McLean accused Pratt of kidnapping his wife and children and killed him out of revenge. Pratt maintained that he had helped care for Eleanor, who was escaping her oppressive marriage.

Check out Parley P. Pratt’s family tree below!

View Parley P. Pratt’s Geni Tree

The battleship USS ARIZONA sinking after being hit by Japanese air attack on Dec. 7,1941.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy struck the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a surprise military attack. Over 2,400 people were killed and more than 1,000 others were wounded on that day.

The attack came as a shock to the American people and led directly to the United States’s entry into World War II. In President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s famous speech to Congress, he declared it as “a day which will live in infamy.”

Let’s take a moment to remember and honor those who lost their lives in the attack. If you have the opportunity, take some time today to talk to your older relatives and ask them about what they remember from that day. Record their memories to preserve them for future generations and share them with your family on Geni.

Do you have a relative who was there during the attack? Share with us their stories in the comments below.

Saint Nicholas

Also called Nikolaos of Myra, Saint Nicholas was born to a wealthy family in Lycia, Asia Minor and became Bishop of Myra. During his lifetime, Saint Nicholas was known as being a friend to the poor and helpless and a reputation for secretly gifting people. For those who left their shoes out in the night, Saint Nicholas placed gold coins inside. Following his death, his family used his inheritance to help those in need. Saint Nicholas’s miracles and generosity to the less fortunate has made him a highly revered figure in the Catholic faith. Thus, the date of his death, December 6, has been designated St. Nicholas Day by the Catholic Church.

Did you know that it is his generosity and penchant for gift giving that has made him the model of the modern day Santa Claus? Dutch Protestants carried a popularized version of his life to New Amsterdam in America, which is where our present day conception of Santa Claus stems from.

To celebrate this day, families enjoy a large feast and exchange gifts. Children will leave out their shoe in anticipation for Saint Nicholas’s nightly visit. If they were good, in the morning the children will find their shoe filled with small gifts and sweet treats. St. Nicholas Day is a fun and festive reminder of the importance of giving and helping those in need.

Do you celebrate Saint Nicholas Day? What are some of your holiday traditions?

The Genealogy Sphere

• Not Your Grandmother’s Genealogy Hobby (The Wall Street Journal) – Geni was featured in this Wall Street Journal article!
• Pocahontas wedding site traced (News24) – Archaeologists discover the location where Pocahontas was married
• 10 Questions to Ask a Research Facility Before You Visit (About.com) – Kimberly Powell’s tips on what to ask before visiting a research facility
• A Point of View: A convert to family history (BBC News) – An historian changes her views about genealogy
• The British Newspaper Archive: A Great New Genealogy Resource (The Professional Descendant) – Up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library collection now available online
• Letter blaze the trail for local author’s tale of family history (Cleveland.com) – Author learns about her family history through her ancestor’s letters

On Geni

• Monday Recap for November 28, 2011 – Last week’s recap
• Honor Someone Special with a Tribute Video – Great opportunity to honor a loved one
• Family Tree Tuesday – Linda Ronstadt – Learn more about Linda Ronstadt’s family tree
• Gravestone Photo Exchange – Geni users created this project to help others photograph their families’ gravestones

Profile of the Day

• Claude Levi-Struass
• Natalie Wood
• Mark Twain
• Rosa Parks
• Princess Alice of Battenberg

Gravestones hold a wealth of information for the genealogy researcher. Many genealogists trek through cemeteries hunting for their relatives graves, some traveling far and wide to find that new bit of information. However, in many instances, people are unable to afford to travel long distances. In that case, check out the Gravestone Photo Exchange project. Here you can find volunteers who are willing to travel to a local cemetery to help photograph your relatives’ gravestone for you. Check out the project’s discussions to see what areas already have volunteers. You can also sign up in the discussions to offer your assistance for a cemetery near you!

Join the worlds largest family tree

View the Gravestone Photo Exchange Project

Linda Ronstadt is a popular American recording artist and is recognized as one of the most versatile and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history. Once dubbed the Queen of Rock, Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award and a Tony Award nomination.

Ronstadt was born on July 15, 1946 in Tuscon, Arizona to Gilbert Ronstadt, a prosperous machinery merchant, and Ruth Copeman. Her father was descended from a pioneering Arizona ranching family, who greatly contributed to Arizona’s history. Her grandfather, Fredrick August Ronstadt, was a prominent business man and cultural leader in Tuscon, Arizona. He formed the F. Ronstadt Hardware and Machinery Company, which quickly became the largest business of its kind in southern Arizona. He was also a guitarist and a vocalist and formed Tuscon’s first professional orchestra, the Club Filarmonico Tucsonense, in 1896.

Looking back even further into history, you learn that her third great grandfather, Agustín Vicente Zamorano, was once the provisional Governor of Alta California. He is best remembered for being the first to bring a printing press to California.

Luisa Espinel

Interestingly, Linda’s maternal grandfather, Lloyd Groff Copeman, was a prolific American inventor. He held several hundred patents to his name, and is credited with devising the first electric stove, an early form of the toaster and a flexible rubber ice cube tray.

It’s no coincidence that Linda pursued a career in music. In addition to her paternal grandfather’s musical inclinations, her aunt, Luisa Espinel, became an internationally known musician and leader in the preservation of Spanish songs and dances.

Check out Linda Ronstadt’s family tree and see how you’re related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Holiday dinner table great genealogical resource (SCnow.com) – Genealogy tips for Thanksgiving
• Archives.com Partners with Family Tree DNA to Offer DNA Testing (SF Gate) – Archives.com announces DNA testing with Family Tree DNA
• Getting the Most From Genealogy Conferences (The Root) – Ways conferences can help your genealogical research
• Genealogy Beginner’s French Canadian Genealogy Tips (Genealogy Beginner) – Tips on French Canadian genealogy
• Was J. Edgar Hoover black? (The Washington Post) – Genealogy research reveals that J. Edgar Hoover may have some African American ancestry

On Geni

• Monday Recap for November 21, 2011 – Last week’s recap
• Celebrities of Native American Descent – Check out famous figures on Geni who are descended from Native Americans
• Happy Thanksgiving! – Some fun activities to enjoy with your family during Thanksgiving

Profile of the Day

• Voltaire
• Massasoit
• William Bradford

Online Viewer Rating is scheduled to begin March 2012 and will run till September 2012. Check out The Tribute Video Festival page for video submission guidelines and festival details. The ten highest rated tribute videos will be judged by the Hollywood Tribute Video Festival Jury, which includes some amazing Hollywood talents.

Honor a loved one who has significantly contributed to your life’s journey and upload your tribute video to The Tribute Network and share your stories with others.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Tribute Network!

If you’re making a video for a relative, be sure to add it to their profile on Geni and share it with your family! And post the link to your video in the comments to share it with the Geni community. Have fun!

Click here to visit The Tribute Network

1. Ask your relatives questions

Best place to start is to ask your relatives about your family history. See if you can found out names, dates and interesting anecdotes about your ancestors.

2. Share some of your research

You can share some of your genealogy research with your family. You may peak your relatives’ curiosities to learn more about the family. It may even help open them up to start spilling some interesting family tales.

3. Share photographs

Before your relatives get together, contact your family and ask them to bring over any old photographs they may have around. Sharing photographs is a great way to spark some memories. And to add some more fun, make it into a game. Gather some old pictures of relatives and see who can guess who’s in the photos.

4. Food!

Since it’s Thanksgiving, chances are that you will have some traditional dishes that have been in your family for many years. Talk about the food! What’s the history behind the dish? How was it passed down? Share recipes. You may be surprised by how many great stories are unlocked by food.

5. Give thanks

The holidays are about coming together and giving thanks for all your blessings. Take the time to share what you are most grateful for.

Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving from Geni!

Will Rogers

Cowboy and world famous actor Will Rogers was born to a prominent Cherokee Nation family in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). His father was a Cherokee judge, Confederate veteran and served several terms in the Cherokee Senate. Rogers County in Oklahoma is named in honor of  his father, Clement Rogers.

Heather Locklear

Actress Heather Locklear is part Lumbee descent through her father’s lineage. Her last name, “Locklear,” is in the language of the Tuscarora tribes and means “hold fast.”   The Lumbee have a mixed ancestry, which is mostly comprised of European, Native American and Africans who intermarried with each other. While the Lumbee are recognized as Native American people, they are only recognized as a tribe by the state of North Carolina.

Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe is considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports. He won Olympic gold medals for the 1912 decathlon, played American football and professional baseball and basketball. He was of mixed ancestry, Caucasian and Native American. Thorpe was born in Indian Territory and raised in the Sac and Fox nation in Oklahoma. His native name was Wa-Tho-Huk, which translates as “path lighted by great flash of lightening.”

Check out many more Notables of Native American Background on Geni!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Man Unearths Historic Cemetery in French Quarter Backyard (WDSU) – A historic discovery with deep roots in New Orleans history.
• U.S. Social Security Death Index to be changed (Examiner.com) – It was announced that state death records would no longer be used to add records to the SSDI database.
• Genealogist help pastor find his Indian roots (Plant City Courier & Tribune) – An amateur genealogist helps a fellow trace his Cherokee Indian roots.
• Archives.com Partners with the National Archives to Unveil the 1940 Census (Archives.com) – It was announced that Archives.com will provide the public with digital access to the 1940 U.S. Census.
• How an oral history interview can help your genealogy research (The Jersey Journal) – Tips on interviewing your relatives.
• Lost cousins unite thanks to Holocaust database (Associated Press) – Lost cousins are reunited thanks to a family photo recently uploaded to Yad Vashem‘s online database of Holocaust victims.
• African-Americans to reunite with Ghanaian ancestry (The Spectator) – African Americans are to be reunited with biological families in Ghana through DNA.
• Family tree searches time-consuming, enlightening (Richmond Times-Dispatch)- Genealogy research can takes lots of time, but has great rewards.

On Geni

• Monday Recap for November 14, 2011 – Last week’s recap
• Native American Genealogy on Geni – Check out some great Native American genealogy projects
• African American Genealogy Part XII: Home is Where the Heart is – The final installment of our African American Genealogy Series with Sharon Morgan.
• Look Who’s Related: Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder – Superman is related to Lois Lane! See how Christopher Reeve is related to other notable figures.

Profile of the Day

• Prince Charles
• Georgia O’Keeffe
• Chief Sitting Bull
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Colin Powell

Share with us some of your favorite links from this past week!

The World Family Tree has over 60 million connected profiles. Have you found any interesting relationship paths? Let us know how you’re related!

Justin Timberlake is Christopher Reeve’s 14th cousin once removed!

George W. Bush is Christopher Reeve’s 8th cousin!

Barack Obama is Christopher Reeve’s 8th cousin once removed!

Richard Gere is Christopher Reeve’s 10th cousin once removed!

Want to be notified whenever a new article is released in this series? You can subscribe via email or through RSS.

Home is Where the Heart is

by Sharon Leslie Morgan

When I was a child, many of my friends were recent arrivals from the South whose families came north during “The Great Migration.” Those of us who were born in Chicago sometimes laughed at their funny accents and country ways. There were also many children who disappeared every summer. When school let out for vacation, their parents sent them south to experience country life with their grandparents.

I was not one of those children. Although I have undeniable roots in Alabama and Mississippi, I was not born there nor did I have grandparents in those locations to spend my summers with. I didn’t visit the South until I was a married woman with a child of my own. I have been making pilgrimages back at almost every opportunity since.

As a genealogist, I believe the best way to appreciate the truth about my ancestors is to walk in their footsteps. My journeys take me to a lot of old courthouses, cemeteries and farms.

African Americans have a long history that reaches all the way from the cotton fields of the South across the waters to Africa and all points in between. We provided the labor that built America — literally. Over the four centuries we have been in this land, we have contributed in every possible way to the evolution of American society. I can think of no better way to honor those contributions than by researching my genealogy and trying to see life through my ancestor’s eyes.

During my travels, I have visited the courthouse in Forrest County, Mississippi; a county named for Nathan B. Forrest, a Confederate general and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. I walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma where civil rights demonstrators were beaten and incarcerated on “Bloody Sunday” so that my great grandfather would have the right to vote. I went to Tuskegee University, where my grand uncle learned the electrical trade. I found the farm and family graveyard for white ancestors in Mississippi; along with a road that still bears their name. I stood in the remnants of slave markets where my ancestors could have been sold or bought. I discovered a long abandoned cemetery on the plantation land where my ancestors picked cotton.

Almost every location I have visited has a bitter memory associated with it. Yet, every time I go South, I am reminded of the paradox that the South, as bitter as the memories may be, is the only homeland most African Americans will ever know. It is the place of memories that, through genealogy, will live forever in my heart. This is how I know that I am guided by my ancestors. They want to be remembered and reach out to me at every turn. In almost every town, I haven’t needed a GPS to find the ancestral homestead. At virtually every cemetery, I feel like I’m holding a dowsing rod as I discover graves of ancestors I may not even have been looking for.

As Geni continues its mission to unite the world in one family tree, I hope we can find a way to connect back to our past and forward to our future; in the process, tearing down the racial and social barriers that continue to divide us.

Native American Diaspora – a place to trace the diaspora of Native Americans throughout the world, including Bermuda, Bahamas, the Caribbean, Europe and Northwest Africa.

Cherokee History Project - The goal of this project is to develop genealogical and historical knowledge of the Cherokee, indigenous peoples of North America

Shawnee History Project - The goal of this project is to develop genealogical and historical knowledge of the Shawnee, indigenous peoples of North America.

And don’t forget to check out these other great Native American projects on Geni: Notables of Native American Background, Sioux Families, Navajo Code Talkers, Native American Medal of Honor Recipients and many more!

Check out Native American genealogy projects on Geni

The Genealogy Sphere

• Better GEDCOM Statement (Dear Myrtle) – Dear Myrtle announces she is stepping down as moderator of the Better GEDCOM project
• The Big Genealogy Blog Book (We Tree) – Amy Coffin announces the release of The Big Genealogy Blog Book
• Researching American Indian Genealogy (Family Tree Magazine) – Family Tree Magazine has complied a list of helpful articles about researching Native American ancestry
• Interesting Ancestors of Emily & Zooey Deschanel (About.com) – Learn about the ancestors of actresses Emily and Zooey Deschanel
• Genealogy Research: Try Online Discussions (The Root) – Helpful tips on using online discussions in genealogy research
• Genealogy in America (The Fortnight Review) – An interesting personal story about the journey of researching your ancestors
• Why Do We Care About Our Ancestors? (Salon) – A look at how genetic testing in genealogy can transform our concept of identity
• Brick Wall Breadkthrough: Follow the Breadcrumbs On & Offline (Archives) – Tips on how to break through your brick wall

On Geni

• Find A Grave Record Matches Now on Geni – Find A Grave record matches added to our growing number of record partners
• Latin Grammy Award Winners on Geni – A look at past Latin Grammy Winners on Geni
• African American Genealogy Part XI: So Much More – Part XI of our African American genealogy series
• World Family Tree: 60 Million Profiles and Counting – Geni’s World Family Reached a new milestone with 60 million profiles connected
• Happy Veterans Day! – Giving thanks to our countries veterans

Last Week’s Profiles of the Day

• Andy Rooney
• Edmond Halley
• Charles de Gaulle
• Shakira
• Morgan Freeman

Originally, Veteran’s Day was proclaimed Armistice Day by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on November 11, 1919, which marked the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. After World War II, the holiday was renamed Veterans Day in honor of all veterans.

Below are some famous faces who are also military veterans. Be sure to check out our numerous projects dedicated to veterans of various wars throughout history.

Bill Cosby – In 1956, Bill Cosby joined the Navy and served served as a Hospital Corpsman for four years during the Korean War.

James Stewart – Stewart’s family had deep military roots. Both his grandfathers fought in the Civil War. Stewart flew 20 combat missions with the United States Air Force.

Elvis Presley, U.S. Army

Elvis Presley – In 1958, the “King of Rock and Roll” was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private, where he served for two years.

Audie Murphy, U.S. Army

Audie Murphy – Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier, receiving every U.S. medal available at the time. After the war, Murphy became a highly popular actor and starred as himself in the film, To Hell and Back.

Mel Brooks – He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and became a combat engineer. He took part in the Battle of the Bulge, clearing German mines after the battle.

Do you have a veteran in your family? Share with us their story!

Take a look at the World Family Tree page for automatic updates and other interesting statistics about the tree.

Have you connected to Geni’s World Family Tree?

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So Much More

by Sharon Leslie Morgan

Even though I have done my best to cover the basics of family research, there is still so much more.

The point to remember is that every human being has left a paper trail of some sort. Your job is to find it and put the puzzle pieces family relationship together. Depending on how deep you want to go, there is no end to where you can look and what you might find.

There are land records, tax lists, Social Security files, military records, newspapers, cemetery records, funeral programs, city directories, church records, work records and records of fraternal and social organizations. As you proceed with your research, you will surely find references to many of these on your own.

And don’t forget family heirlooms. One of my distant cousins has a bible from 1877 that was presented to his mother. It lists all the births, marriages and deaths in his line of the family and was indispensable in building his part of the family tree. In my mother’s belongings, I found a box of old letters written to her brother when he was serving in the Navy in World War II. What a glimpse of life she shared, with him then and with me now.

Speaking of heirlooms, I have a couple of words to say about photos.

We are very lucky that the state of photography has become so advanced as it is so nice to be able to visualize people, places and things with the ease that photographic images make possible. Before the 1800s, photography was not universally available. It was expensive and out-of-reach for most people. Some of my most cherished possessions are photographs of ancestors I will never meet. They may be gone, but their visage continues to exist.

Whatever photos and documents you find, there are many programs available to catalog and save your images. I use free Picasa software that saves files in .jpg format, which is easy to transmit and share with others.

To cover everything about how to do family research would easily fill a book. And, fortunately, it has… several of them.  The books I recommend for further study are:

BLACK ROOTS: A Beginner’s Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree by Tony Burroughs

BLACK GENEALOGY by Charles L. Blockson

A GENEALOGIST’S GUIDE TO DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN-AMERICAN ANCESTORS by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom

FINDING A PLACE CALLED HOME: A Guide to African American Genealogy and Historical Identity by Dee Parmer Woodtor

For the African American researcher, I encourage you to never become disheartened. You may not find some of the ancestors you are looking for nor prove definitively some of your family relationships. Much of what you find will be “circumstantial,” but that is better than nothing at all. At least you will have tried and for that you shall be blessed by the ancestral spirits who came before and watch over you now.

In closing, I just have to mention one more time what a great place Geni is to share — information and photos.

Let’s take a look at other past Latin Grammy winners on Geni:

Ricky Martin – In 2006, Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin was named Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy. He has sold over 60 million albums worldwide and is the founder of the Ricky Martin Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to the well-being of children. Tonight he is nominated for Record of the Year.

Lalo Schifrin – He is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and television scores, including the theme from Mission: Impossible. Schifrin has received four Grammy Award nominations and six Oscar nominations.

Marc Antony – He is a three-time Latin Grammy Award winner and actor and has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. Antony is considered one of the top selling tropical salsa artists of all time.

Alejandra Guzmán – She is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican rock singer and actress. Throughout the Hispanic world, she is known as the “Queen of Rock.” She has sold over 15 million albums.

Mercedes Sosa – She was an Argentine singer, popular throughout Latin America. Over her four decade-long career, Sosa recorded forty albums and won five Latin Grammy Awards including Best Folk Album in 2009.

To see the record matches for a profile, click on the Record Matches button and we’ll list any matches from our record partners. You can click through to visit our partners and view the records about your relatives.

We plan to continue to add more record partners in the future. If you have any you would like to see, please let us know!

Want to be notified whenever a new article is released in this series? You can subscribe via email or through RSS.

The Modern Marvel of DNA

by Sharon Leslie Morgan

DNA testing is a modern marvel that makes it possible to “prove beyond doubt” whom you are related to and where your family originated.

National Geographic is leading a project that seeks to chart “new knowledge about the migratory history of the human species by using sophisticated laboratory and computer analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.  In this unprecedented real-time research effort, the Genographic Project is closing the gaps of what science knows today about humankind’s ancient migration stories.” Their research suggests that “all humans today descend from a group of African ancestors who—about 60,000 years ago—began a remarkable journey.”

DNA tests are commercially available from a variety of sources, costing from $150-300 per person. This technique is especially useful for African Americans, for whom recordkeeping during slavery was so incomplete and paternal evidence so obscured.

During slavery, it was common for slaveholders to produce children with their female slaves. Because slave children followed the status of their mothers, many of our forefathers (black and white) are lost. In a best case scenario, mixed race children were cared for, educated and enabled to have privileges. In the worst case, they were shunned and sold away.

I am not an expert on DNA, but I do know that there are two strains of genetic material: One comes from the father and the other comes from the mother. When you do DNA testing, you need a person who is a direct line descendant. If you test a male, you will get the paternal result. If you trace a female, you will get the maternal line. That means for me, my mother, her mother, her mother…..  I need a male relative to trace back his father, his father, his father….

I have recently found through testing that my maternal ancestral origins are within the Makua tribe of Moçambique. DNA tests revealed a definite match with the Bantu people there. In my joy, I researched to find a picture of a Makua woman. She has the same high cheekbones and broad nose that my great grandmother had. Our family ascribed that to being “Indian.” But the DNA results said otherwise. On my paternal side, I found a preponderance of Scottish and Puerto Rican. Huh?!! The Scottish certainly confirms the origins of my Leslie maiden name. I haven’t figured out the Puerto Rican part yet.

Whatever the results, I cannot express how happy I feel to finally have a definitive answer to where I came from. Now I know for sure, I came from somewhere. What DNA testing did for me was to provide a “homeland,” a place “from whence I came.” That is a major reward for all of the genealogical research to which I have devoted myself over the last 30 years.

I am told there is now a test that can verify both lines and bring the results much closer in physical time. I wish I could tell you more, but, like  you, I am still learning.

DNA aside, Geni can help you connect with living people — your family — people who are alive right now who want to make connections.

Annemarie Healy

Geni projects are a fantastic tool to collaborate with other genealogists who are working in the same genealogical area. We recently interviewed Annemarie Healy, a Geni user since 2009, who recently created the Irish Portal project. The project is the perfect place to collaborate, find advice and assistance when researching your Irish ancestry.

Can you give us a brief overview of the Irish Portal project and what goals you hope to accomplish?

Overview in brief: The Irish portal is a gateway  for people who are interested in researching their Irish roots,it will provide tools advise and will function as a meeting point for researchers

Goal: One of the goals is to reach not only Irish researchers in Ireland but also the many descendants of Irish emigrants world-wide. Other goals are, to create a treasure of information that can be used when tracing Irish family-trees, create a meeting point where people can discuss and share findings  and other useful information and where they can collaborate on their research.

The project already has 216 collaborators. Have you found success connecting and engaging with other Geni users?

Surprisingly we recieved comments and feedback on some posted material within the first day, but it needs to build up a small bit more. 216 collaborators but more followers who need to be pulled in to the project.

What is your most exciting discovery so far? Have you connected to Geni’s World Family Tree?

They are all exciting but no discovery made yet trough the use of Irish portal.

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges in researching Irish ancestors?

We are dealing with a lot of serious challenges when it comes to researching Irish ancestors

1. Lack of documents and records in Ireland compared to the United Kingdom, we have no 1841, 1851 ect census records and a lot of original records were burned in Dublin in the old days.

2.Emigration, half the population of Ireland left for a better life in the Irish famine, and  also before and after this. By arrival in the new countries they surnames where often spelled incorrectly and often it was not recorded where in Ireland the people came from.  This results in a almost impossible quest to find the families back in Ireland

3.Ireland can be a very difficult country to do research, when looking for your Irish roots take note that just as in England, full records did not become available till 1864. Most record registration before this time was only a church registration and often it was up to the priest what information was supplied on the records.

How can projects like this help those who have hit a brick wall?

We can help by helping. We can supply sources, advise, tools, information and guidance, and work together.
But helping eachother is just as important as anything else above.

Geni has always offered a free Basic account to our members. This is a great way to give Geni a try and see how quickly your family tree can grow. As your tree grows and you want to take advantage of advanced features, such as profile matches and tree merging, you can choose from two subscription levels, Plus and Pro.

We’ve made two changes to these membership tiers to make them easier to understand, and provide more value to our members.

Tree Size

We’ve moved from a relationship-based limit to a simple number limit. The relationship-based limit was difficult to understand, and was overly restrictive, especially for users interested in adding ancestors, rather than cousins and other living relatives.

Now Basic (free) members can build a tree with up to 100 people. This means a user tracing a single ancestral line can add 99 generations with a Basic account, rather than the 5 generations previously possible.

A Plus membership increases your limit to 1,000 people. If you upgrade to a Pro subscription, there are no size restrictions to your tree.

Search

Users who upgrade to Plus can now take full advantage of Geni’s advanced search feature to search all 110 Million profiles on Geni. Plus and Pro users can search for profiles by name, date, location, and more.

Merging

When trees overlap on Geni they can be merged together to create a single, more complete tree. Usually this happens when a tree grows large enough to overlap the World Family Tree, and a Pro in the World Family Tree merges the trees.

Based on user feedback, trees can no longer be merged without the permission of someone in that tree. This means that your tree will no longer be merged into the world family tree, or any other tree, until you, or someone else in your tree, is ready to merge your tree. Users in other trees can send merge requests to other trees, but someone in that tree will need to approve before the profiles and trees are merged.

This is a significant change, and we hope that it will better accommodate users interested in working on their own trees, while maintaining the ability to grow the world family tree over time.

Note: These changes have no impact on viewing permissions and you will still be able to edit profiles you collaborate on.

We welcome feedback from our users. If you would like to let us know what you think or offer some suggestions, please post your comments here.

Embed this graphic:
<div><a href="http://www.geni.com/blog/?p=71011"><img src="http://www.geni.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DayoftheDeadinfographic_v3.gif"/></a></div> <div style="text-align:center;width:600px;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;color:#666;padding:5px 0 20px 0;">Create your <a href="http://www.geni.com/">family tree</a> on Geni for free, and connect to the <a href="http://www.geni.com/worldfamilytree">World Family Tree</a><br/>to find out if you're related to any of our famous fathers.</div>

In celebration of Family History Month, we’ve been giving away a free one-month account of Geni Plus to several lucky winners for every day of October. Thank you to all those who entered our giveaway. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your responses each week.

As promised, today we are excited to announce our grand prize for the month….a free Lifetime Pro Account!

How to Enter

Entering the contest is fast and easy. Simply answer the question below in this blog post. Your answer will be your entry to our grand prize for Family History Month.

Question

If you could have dinner with any one of your ancestors, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Rules

1 ) We reserve the right to update the rules at any time without notification
2 ) You must have a Geni account to win. (Registration is free)
3 ) No purchase needed
4 ) For your entry to be valid, you must follow the steps in the “How to Enter” section
5 ) You must provide a valid email address in your comment on this blog
6 ) Contests/giveaways must be legal in the area in which you live for you to participate
7 ) All entries must be received by Friday November 4,  2011
8 ) If you win, you must respond within five days to the notification email to claim your prize
9 ) One winner will be randomly chosen from valid entries. Your odds of winning depend on how many people enter the contest
10 ) One entry per person

Good luck!