Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor

Known as the father of photojournalism, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine having served from 1899-1954. He is credited with having built the magazine into the publication that it is today. Grosvenor was also president of  the National Geographic Society  from 1920-1954 and made it into one of the world’s largest and best known science and learning organizations through its magazine of ambitious natural and cultural explorations around the world. He advocated policies of neutrality and positive, upbeat journalism through the Great Depression and the beginning of the Cold War. By the 1950s Grosvenor and his staff were criticized as being conservative and unwilling to modernize which lead to the National Geographic’s subscription base to fall. Grosvenor stepped down from his role in National Geographic in 1954. 

Gilbert Grosvenor was born on October 28, 1875 in Istanbul, Turkey to Edwin and Lilian Waters Grosvenor. He married Elsie May Bell who was the daughter of inventor Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Hubbard. Gilbert and Elsie are the parents of Melville Bell Grosvenor and Dr. Mabel Harlakenden Grosvenor; and grandparents of Gilbert Melville Grosvenor and Edwin S. Grosvenor.

Dr. Mabel Grosvenor

Dr. Mabel Harlakenden Grosvenor became one of the first female graduates of the Johns Hopkins University medical program in Baltimore, Maryland. She became a pediatrician and worked with disadvantaged children in Washington, D.C.’s Children’s Hospital. Grosvenor had worked as a secretary for her grandfather Alexander Graham Bell. In October 1920, she accompanied her grandfather on his “farewell visit” of Europe, where he searched for long-lost ancestors. They found several cousins he didn’t know existed by scouring genealogical records in Scotland which was where Bell was born. Grosvenor oversaw the stewardship of Bell’s legacy Canadian estate at Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia until her death in 2006.

Melville Bell Grosvenor was the president of the National Geographic Society and editor of National Geographic Magazine from 1957-1969. During this time he increased the size of printed photographs in the magazine, and initiated the practice of opening articles with a two-page photo feature. The magazine began to branch out from land expeditions to cover investigations into space and the deep sea. Grosvenor expanded into the production of documentaries bearing the National Geographic name among them were the first American expedition to Mount Everest and Jacques Cousteau’s underwater exploits.

Melville’s son Gilbert Melville Grosvenor is a past president and chief executive of the National Geographic Society (1980-1996). He was also a former editor of National Geographic Magazine (1970-1980). Grosvenor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2004. Gilbert’s brother Edwin S. Grosvenor is the editor in chief of American Heritage magazine. He is a former president of the National Geographic Society. Edwin along with Morgan Wesson wrote a biography of his great-grandfather, Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone.

Check out Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• New Area Means New Rules – Sometimes (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – Great tip when you’re researching your migrating ancestors
• Sarah Polley explores her uprooted, twisted family tree (LA Times) – Actor-director Sarah Polley talks about her newest documentary about her family
• Skeleton of teenage girl confirms cannibalism at Jamestown colony (The Washington Post) – Archaeological discover shows evidence of cannibalism in Jamestown colony
• Searching for Roots, Finding Characters (NY Times) – New HBO comedy by Christopher Guest finds the humor in genealogy
• Director of Franklin County, Ala., archives uses hangers to search for grave sites (TheRepublic.com) – A local archives director explains how he uses hangers to find gravesites

On Geni

• SuperSearch™ with Geni – We’ve added a direct link to MyHeritage’s SuperSearch on Geni
• Family Tree Tuesday – Charles Pillsbury - Are you related to Charles Pillsbury? Learn more about his ancestry here
• Introducing a Faster Way to Research Your Ancestry – We added “Research this person” link on your relatives’ Geni profiles for an even faster way to find historic records
• More Amazing Discoveries Made Through Record Matches and Smart Matches™ – Read about some amazing discoveries made by Geni users

Profile of the Day

• Stephen Colbert
• Thomas Gainsborough
• Emily Dickinson
• Rainn Wilson
• Maureen O’Sullivan

Jennifer Lynn Young:

“So far Smart Matches have led me to 17 collateral ancestors (siblings of ancestors in my direct line), a photo for one gr-grandmother whose profile has been faceless up til now; and – the biggest thrill of all – Smart Matching connected me with a family tree on MyHeritage that may have given me the parents of a Scottish ancestor who has been a genealogical brick wall for fifty years! My great-aunt hired a researcher in Scotland to gather information on this family line in the Sixties, but they struck out. My family will be thrilled, and although I didn’t start out as a fan of SmartMatches I have to say I’m an enthusiastic convert now!”

Kris Stewart:

” I have had my Irish 3rd great grandmother in my tree for many years but could never find any info on her parents. Following a Smart Match the other day, I was able to contact a cousin who lives in Ireland. In her MyHeritage tree, she had the parents and additional info from the church records there in Ireland.”

“This ancestor was actually an ancestor of the great grandmother whose photo I found the other day through a Record Match. The Record Match led to a photo on the Canadian Headstones site. I had the name and date of death and I knew of the site, but had never searched that site for that particular ancestor before. Many other family members were also buried there, and came up in Record Matches in the tree as well. The time saved by being pointed in the direction of existing records without having to enter the name and info of each person into a search box is invaluable.”

Jason Wills:

“Thanks to record matching i just discovered my aunty is Estonian.”

“I had searched for the surname and drew a blank, and had heard my great aunt was “Croatian”, but straight away found the Smart Match, and that she was Estonian and now have a short link to Estonian Jaak Tulp through her.”

“Here’s her Estonian grandfather:”

Georgett Studnicka:

“You are giving me many matches (I love it!).”

Randy Schoenberg:

“I like to add new profiles to the tree. Now, as soon as I add a profile, I wait for the little blue circle to appear and tell me if there is a Tree Match to an existing profile on Geni, a Smart Match to a tree on MyHeritage or a Record Match to one of MyHeritage’s billions of records, including census data, birth records, social security death records and newspaper articles. The data is so comprehensive that it is hard to add more than a few profiles without getting a match to something helpful.”

Jaak Tulp:

“First of all i wanna apologize that i even thought first that RM and SM are somehow obsolete. I can say now for sure, that they are not. I hit a real gold mine – all of the added profiles are either pastors, professors, scientists, doctors, militarists and they are connected to me via the dearest childhood friend of my grandmother she played with in the castle of Karksi, Estonia. The father´s branch of bloodline of the friend includes also the father of “Õ” letter in Estonian alphabet Otto Wilhelm Masing a.s.o. So…thank you, thank you and one more time thank you. I´m thrilled and exited! After a while my collaborator found the connection point to existing profiles in Geni and merged them, but i have still lots of profiles to add and looking for the data extraction tool to save my fingers for clicking, not typing ”

To read more exciting discoveries by other users, click here.

We always happy to hear more success stories. If you have a story you would like to share with us and possibly feature on the blog, please email us at community@geni.com .

“Research this person” link on a profile (click to zoom)

Clicking on this convenient link will automatically take you to MyHeritage’s SuperSearch™ results for that profile. There’s no need to type in information about your relative to start your search; Research this person takes the information on the profile, including the full name, gender, birth date, and death date, and automatically searches for matching records from MyHeritage’s collection of 4 billion historical records and millions of newspaper articles. This link provides a simple and easy way for you to discover more about the lives of your family members.

MyHeritage SuperSearch™ results (click to zoom)

The “Research this person” link is especially useful in cases we do not find a Record Match for someone. Remember, just because there are no Record Matches doesn’t mean there are no records for that person. Our matching technologies are incredibly accurate because we only show you matches that we are highly confident belong to that individual. When no Record Matches are found, it means that we were unable to locate records that meet our confidence threshold. In order to maximize your results, we recommend you make it a habit to use the “Research this person” link on every profile on Geni that you want to learn more about. In the example above for Margaret Mitchell, we see there is 1 Record Match and 17 Smart Matches™. When we click on the “Research this person” link, we discover that there are many more results matching her name, birth and death dates! 

A summary view of the SuperSearch™ results is free, as is drilling-down and viewing full records from certain free data collections such as Find-A-Grave or the 1940 Federal U.S. census. A MyHeritage Data subscription is required to view other historical records in full. With instant access to SuperSearch™ as well as Record Matches and Smart Matches™, you will find your Data subscription more valuable than ever. Fast and automatic, researching your ancestry has never been easier. With more and more historical records being added to the tree everyday, Geni’s World Family Tree is quickly becoming an even better reference family tree for the whole world.

Keep an eye out for more enhancements soon to make your genealogy research on Geni a valuable and productive experience for all.

Charles Alfred Pillsbury

Charles A. Pillsbury was the founder and namesake of the Pillsbury Company and was a flour industrialist. He was a flour miller in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pillsbury was a Minnesota State Senator from 1877-1897 and held the chairmanship of the Finance Committee of the Senate.

Charles Alfred Pillsbury was born on December 3, 1842 in Warner, New Hampshire to George Alfred Pillsbury and Margaret Sprague Carleton. Pillsbury married Mary Ann Stinson who was the daughter of Captain Charles Stinson and Mary Ann Poore.

Pillsbury had created his own brand called “Pillsbury’s Best” and was claimed as the finest flour in the world. The use of a series of carefully gauged steel rolls in the crushing of grain into flour effected an entire revolution in all the large flour mills of the United States since it was efficient and produced excellent quality. In 1872, he had persuaded his father and his uncle, John S. Pillsbury, to join him in an expansion of the business. Pillsbury introduced a system of company profit sharing in addition to regular wages to his employees as a reward for their interest in the success of the business. As a consequence, no strikes ever interrupted the Pillsbury business.

John S. Pillsbury

John S. Pillsbury was a politician, businessman and philanthropist. He had served as the eighth Governor of Minnesota from 1876-1882. He often anonymously donated funds to causes he favored. Pillsbury helped the University of Minnesota recover from debt in its early years, later served as a regent and became known as “The Father of the University.”

Charles A. Pillsbury’s great-grandson is Charles A. Pillsbury, he is a lawyer and community activist in New Haven, Connecticut. He ran for United States Congress as a Green Party candidate in Connecticut in 2002. Pillsbury was college roommates with cartoonist Garry Trudeau at Yale University. The comic strip Doonesbury created by Trudeau used the combination of the word doone and the surname of Charles A. Pillsbury.

Check out Charles A. Pillsbury’s family tree and see how you may be related!

William D. Washburn

William Drew Washburn was an American politician and founded the Pillsbury-Washburn Milling Company, which later became the Pillsbury Company. He served in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

He was born on January 14, 1831 in Livermore, Maine to Israel Washburn and Martha Benjamin. He made a large fortune from his business ventures in lumber and flour milling, and by the 1880s he was among the wealthiest men in Minnesota. Washburn served as the first president of Soo Line Railroad from 1883 to 1889. He built a mansion in 1883 known as “Fair Oaks”, it was designed by E. Townsend Mix, who also designed Minneapolis’ Metropolitan Building but the mansion was eventually demolished in 1924 to make way for a park.

Elihu Washburn

Three of his seven brothers became politicians as well – Israel Washburn, Jr., Elihu Washburn and Cadwallader Washburn. Israel Washburn, Jr. was originally a member of the Whig Party, but later became a founding member of the Republican Party. The Republican Party  was formed when Israel was angry over the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and had called a meeting of 30 members of the U.S. House of Representatives for a discussion. Israel was the 29th Governor of Maine from 1861 to 1863, he helped recruit Federal troops from Maine during the American Civil War and in 1862 he attended the Loyal War Governors’ Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gave Abraham Lincoln support for his Emancipation Proclamation. The town of Washburn, Maine is named in honor of Israel.

Cadwallader C. Washburn

Elihu Washburn was appointed as the United States Secretary of State in 1869 by President Ulysses S. Grant out of respect for his championship in the House during the Civil War and to give Washburn diplomatic clout after being appointed Minister to France. Although he was Secretary of State for only eleven days, he ended up being Minister to France for eight years. Washburn was known for his diplomatic integrity and for his humanitarian support of Americans and Germans in France during the Franco-Prussian War.

Cadwallader Washburn was the founder of General Mills. Prior to founding General Mills he was a United States Congressman from 1855 to 1861. He had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, becoming colonel of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, brigadier general of Volunteers and major general in 1862. The city of Washburn, Wisconsin and Washburn County in northern Wisconsin was named after Cadwallader.

Check out William D. Washburn’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Preserving your photos for future generations of genealogists (Nj.com) – Tips on preserving your old family photos
• Woman traces long-lost ring to Boston relative (The Suffolk Times) – A woman finds a long lost family heirloom while gardening
• Is Juliana Margulies My Cousin? (Freud’s Butcher blog) – A family history research may have a possible connection to The Good Wife star
• Amanuensis Monday: One Girl’s Childhood During the Great Depression (Pages from the Ancestry Binders) – Wonderful story about growing up during the Great Depression
• Don’t Force the Household (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – Take caution when making assumptions about family relationships in pre-1880 census

On Geni

• Monday Recap for April 29, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Record Matches and Smart Matches™ Lead to Exciting New Discoveries – Great stories from Geni users about their new family history discoveries
• Family Tree Tuesday – Lydia Field Emmet – Learn more about painter Lydia Field Emmet’s family tree
• All U.S. Census Records Now Available! - All U.S. census records are now available in your Record Matches on Geni!
• NGS 2013: Geni is Heading to Las Vegas! – We’re going to NGS 2013 conference. Will you be there?

Profile of the Day

• William Randolph Hearst
• Willem-Alexander
• Jose de Alencar
• Catherine the Great
• Margaret Mitchell

In just one week, Geni will be at the

The conference is a great opportunity for genealogists and those interested in family history to meet and share ideas on how to advance family research.

Will you be at NGS? We love meeting Geni users – come find us at the MyHeritage booth #431 and meet the entire NGS 2013 team! Let us know you’re a Geni user and we’ll give you one of our famous “Who’s Your Daddy?” t-shirts for free!

Can’t make it to Vegas? You can receive instant updates by following us on Facebook and Twitter. And follow the official Twitter hashtag #ngs2013 for updates from other attendees too!

See you there!

This collection is the nation’s largest and most important set of records and includes a huge searchable index and all scanned images of the original census documents, spanning every decade from 1790-1940, covering some 520 million names.

Lydia Field Emmet

Lydia Field Emmet was best known for her work as a portraitist. Her paintings can be found hanging in the White House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other prestigious art galleries. In 1883, at the age of sixteen, she was commissioned to illustrate Henrietta Christian Wright’s children’s book Little Folk in Green. Emmet was an illustrator for Harper’s Bazaar magazine and was commissioned to paint an official portrait of the First Lady, Lou Henry Hoover from President Herbert Hoover which now hangs in the White House.

She was born on January 23, 1866 in New Rochelle, New York to merchant William Jenkins Emmet and illustrator Julia Colt Pierson. Thomas Addis Emmet was Lydia’s paternal great grandfather. He was a prominent lawyer who later served as New York State Attorney General. He was an Irish nationalist who held a pivotal position in the Dublin Society of the United Irishmen after the failure of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Emmet immigrated to the United States with his family after his younger brother, Robert Emmet, was hanged in 1803 for high treason by the British government for his attempt to implement an Irish rebellion. Robert Emmet became an heroic figure in Irish history.

Lydia’s paternal grandfather was Judge Robert Emmet who served as the captain of a cavalry regiment in the War of 1812. Her maternal grandfather was Josiah G. Pierson who was an inventor and is believed to have invented the first properly functioning nail-cutting machine, with a patent registered for the device in 1795. He was the son of Congressman Jeremiah Halsey Pierson.

Robert E. Sherwood

Jane Emmet de Glehn, Lydia’s sister, was also an artist and married Wilfrid de Glehn, a notable British impressionist painter. In 2007, Arden Galleries in Manhattan held an exhibition of paintings by five generations of women in the Emmet family which included Lydia’s great aunt Elizabeth Emmet and her great-great grandnieces Julia Townsend and Beulah Emmet.

Playwright, editor, and screenwriter Robert Emmet Sherwood was Lydia’s nephew, he was the son of her sister Rosina Emmet. Sherwood won four Pulitzer Prizes, one of them for his book Roosevelt and Hopkins which recounted his time working as a speechwriter for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the film The Best Years of Our Lives.

Check out Lydia Field Emmet’s family tree and see how you may be related!

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

Wendi Newman:

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

Jeff Gentes:

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

Jeff’s most interesting find so far…

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

Ashley Odell:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Genealogy Sphere

• Geni.com adds Historical Records to Advance Family Tree Collaboration (Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter) – Dick Eastman shares the good news with the genealogy community
• Geni.com adds Record Matches and Smart Matches (Geneamusings.com) – Randy Seaver checks out his latest Record Matches on Geni
• Patricia Ward Kelly on her late husband Gene Kelly’s Irish heritage – and why his mother tried to hide it (Independent.ie) – The wife of Gene Kelly shares the story of researching her late husband’s Irish heritage
• WWI prisoner of war postcard found (BBC News) – A postcard sent home by a captured WWI soldier is found
• Genealogy is Anthropology ((going) The Extra Yad) – Excellent article exploring the parallels between genealogy and anthropology

On Geni

• Monday Recap for April 22, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Introducing Record Matches and Smart Matches™ for Your Family Tree – We’re excited to bring you perhaps the most important new feature on Geni yet

Profile of the Day

• Al Gore
• Shirley Temple
• Milton Hershey
• Edward R. Murrow
• Carol Burnett

Two new technologies for Geni

Record Matching automatically finds matching historical records for your family tree on Geni from MyHeritage’s growing collection of billions of newspaper articles, birth, death, census and other records. Add color to your family history with the first and only service in the world to automatically discover historical newspaper articles about the people in your family tree. Save yourself valuable time in your research and shine new light on your ancestors’ lives and personalities with new revelations right at your fingertips.

Smart Matching automatically finds matches for your family tree on Geni in MyHeritage family trees so you can discover new ancestors and relatives, connect with other family tree owners, and reunite with long-lost family members. With more than 1.2 billion profiles on 27 million MyHeritage family trees around the world, you’re bound to make an exciting discovery – many discoveries in fact. Sophisticated name-matching technology uses synonyms, phonetics and international variations to find your relatives even when spelled differently or written in another language in other family trees.

Record Matching and Smart Matching work together to make each other better. If a person in your tree on Geni has a Smart Match, the system will use the extra information in that Smart Match to get you more Record Matches. As you add new information from matches to your tree on Geni, including new relatives that you discover, you will receive more matches; it’s a cycle that will help you improve and grow your family tree. 

How to use the new matches

Whenever you view a profile or family tree on Geni, the system checks in the background for relevant matches, and automatically displays them right on the tree or the profile. Visit your Merge Center to view a convenient list of all matches in your tree.

 The new Merge Center (click to zoom)

New matches are found all the time as MyHeritage keeps adding more historical records and family tree profiles, so the matches you see today are just the beginning and there is much more to look forward to.

Let’s take a look at these new Matches in action.

Record Matches

Below you can see the new buttons for Tree Matches, Record Matches and Smart Matches on a profile.

 Matches shown on a Geni profile

The Tree Matches (leftmost box out of the three) are matches with other profiles on Geni – these have not changed. Next to them are the buttons for Record Matches (middle box in brown) and Smart Matches (rightmost box in green). 

Click on the Record Match button to view a list of matching records, or the Smart Match button to view matching MyHeritage tree profiles. Record Matches and Smart Matches are displayed on a single page, with Record Matches at the top followed by Smart Matches. The page is co-branded MyHeritage and Geni.

List of matches (click to zoom) 

In the top left corner there is a box summarizing the main information about this person and close relatives as known on Geni. This makes it easy for you to compare this information at a glance with the information provided by the matches.

The matches are listed on one page, Record Matches followed by Smart Matches, and you can change the criteria by which they are sorted. By default, matches are listed by confidence so that matches listed at the top are more likely to be correct. But worry not, the matching technologies of MyHeritage have a 97% accuracy so you will rarely encounter incorrect matches.

The recommended modus operandi with your matches is to review them all, glean as much information from each match by adding it to your tree on Geni, and then confirm correct matches and reject wrong ones.

There are three buttons on each match in the list to facilitate this: Review match, Confirm this match (checkmark), and Reject this match (X). Use the Review match button to view all of the details for that record on its own record page, including an image of the record if there is one, such as for a census record or newspaper. It is recommended to drill down into every match rather than using only the abbreviated summary in the list. There are many types of records that include a scanned image of the original document, so don’t miss them. You can confirm or reject each match from the record page or from the list of matches. Use the Confirm this match (checkmark) button to add that record to the matching Geni profile. This will add the record as a source to the profile and add the record to the Confirmed Matches module on the profile. Keep in mind that you will have to enter any new information manually to the Geni profile; in the future you’ll be able to add new information from the record to the Geni profile in a special data extraction screen with a few clicks. Use the Reject this match (X) button to indicate that the record is not a correct match for that Geni profile. As you confirm or reject the matches, the counter numbers of pending matches on Geni will automatically be updated. Rejected matches will disappear and confirmed matches will be associated with the respective Geni profiles. Work your way through all matches this way. Then, as MyHeritage adds new content, you will get new matches and new discoveries will present themselves to you. 

Viewing the list of matches is free, as is drilling-down and viewing full records from certain free data collections such as Find-A-Grave or the 1940 Federal US census. A MyHeritage Data subscription is required to view other historical records in full, and to confirm matches. MyHeritage Data subscriptions work on both Geni and MyHeritage and also provide unlimited access to MyHeritage SuperSearch, a powerful search engine for historical records with more than 4 billion records.

Here’s an example of a Record Match from The Salt Lake Tribune, matching Charles Brent Hancock published in November 26, 1921, soon after his death:

 A record page showing a newspaper Record Match (click to zoom)

Typical to many newspaper articles, a lot of information is provided that may be new to the Geni tree. For example, this specific article mentions the person’s cause of death, names his parents C. B. Hancock and Samantha P. Rawson Hancock who are missing in the tree on Geni. The article also names his wives and all his surviving relatives. Lots of new material here for the Geni tree, from a 1921 newspaper article delivered automatically.

A simple click of the Confirm button will add the record to Charles Hancock’s profile on Geni. A thumbnail of the document will now appear as a Confirmed Match on the profile’s page. When you confirm a match, all users benefit, as they will see the record and a summary of the data in the record. Viewing the full record will be free in some collections, such as Find-a-Grave and the 1940 U.S. census, and in others, it will require users to get a Data subscription. This effort makes the World Family Tree on Geni better, because each record need only be associated with a profile once, to benefit all users. 

The screenshot below shows how the profile will look on Geni after a match has been confirmed with it:

 Geni profile with a confirmed match

Confirming a Record Match also automatically creates a source and citation for the record and adds them to the profile. This is important for keeping track of the evidence that has allowed the user to reach the conclusions entered in the Geni profile.  Sources and citations are vital in genealogy but because of the extra work many users still don’t add them. We hope that by introducing one-click confirmations that create such sources and citations, their quantity and quality will increase substantially in the World Family Tree. Also note that citations come with all information from the record for future reference.

Source and citation created for a confirmed match 

Smart Matches

Smart Matches are similar to Record Matches, but they compare your tree to over 1.2 billion MyHeritage family tree profiles, growing at more than one million new profiles per day. These matches are separated from Record Matches for several reasons. A match with another family tree is for some users more exciting, because that other tree has an owner who might be an unknown relative of yours: someone to get in touch with and learn more from. Historical records usually don’t provide another user for you to get in touch with. For other users, family trees are less reliable than historical records like census and birth records, and are treated with more doubt. For those reasons, Smart Matches and Record Matches are listed separately so you can handle them separately with different expectations. Always remember, however, that  a Smart Match can help you discover new information about your relatives; you’ll also find new relatives from the MyHeritage tree that you can add to your tree on Geni. So for every Smart Match you get, don’t look only at the person but also at the close relatives. Let’s look at an example, this time starting from a tree rather than an individual profile.

Below you can see what it looks like when you have matches in your tree view.

Matches shown in the tree

The number you see in the tree is the total number of matches (Tree Matches + Record Matches + Smart Matches) for that profile. Hover the mouse over the magnifying glass to learn more about the matches and see their breakdown by type. Just like on a profile, click on the green Smart Matches button to view the list of Smart Matches for that profile. This will take you directly to the Smart Matches section of the list of matches for this profile. 

 Accessing a person’s Smart Matches from the tree

Just like with Record Matches, when viewing Smart Matches you can Review the match, Confirm the match (checkmark), or Reject the match (X). Always confirm if the match is correct and reject if the match is incorrect. If the match is correct but does not add value, also confirm, do not reject it. Use the Review Match button to view all of the details for that match on its own page, including birth and death dates and locations and a list of the immediate family members. Always remember to review every match because it is often where you can find more relatives to add who are missing on Geni. You can either confirm or reject the match from that page too. Use the Confirm (checkmark) button to add that match to the Confirmed Matches module on the corresponding Geni profile. Confirming a Smart Match offers you the choice of whether or not to create a source for it within Geni. Simply select “Yes” to create a source within the Geni profile. By default, sources are not created for confirmed Smart Matches. Opinions vary and the debate is sometimes heated on whether another family tree can be a source. Our advice is that if a Smart Match is correct but does not provide new information that you can add to Geni, confirm it but don’t make it into a source. If, however, you have found valuable information in a Smart Match that has led you to add more information or more people to the Geni tree, then you should confirm it and make it into a source, and other users will be able to follow where you have taken the information from. Since family trees owners do copy information from each other, it is better to have each taker pointing at the source rather than not leaving any information on its provenance.

Here’s a Smart Match example:

A “Titanic” Smart Match

In the above Smart Match, you can see that the matching profile on MyHeritage has some information that was missing from the Geni profile. Here we not only have a picture of Daniel Warner Marvin and information on the city in which he was born, but we also learn an interesting anecdote about Marvin – he was once friends with Thomas Edison; He and his wife Mary had their wedding in the home of the bride’s parents by the Reverend Dr. John Caughey of the Harlem Presbyterian Church on March 17, 1912; They returned from their European honeymoon aboard the RMS Titanic. Although Daniel Warner met with an unfortunate fate on board the Titanic, his documentation in the World Family Tree is now about to get a whole lot better.

 Optionally creating a source on Geni from a confirmed Smart Match

A simple click of the Confirm button will add the Smart Match to your relative’s profile on Geni and give you the option to create a source within the profile. The profile photo from the MyHeritage tree will appear in the Confirmed Match module on the profile’s page. You can manually add the new details found in the match to your Geni profile. You can also add any immediate family members that aren’t already on your tree. In the future, you’ll be able to add this information with just a few clicks.

The screenshot below shows how the profile will look on Geni after a Smart Match has been confirmed, a source created and the information from the match has been added: 

 Geni profile with a confirmed Smart Match

You’ll notice that in addition to the Smart Match photo, the profile now has a more detailed birth location. The new anecdote and the story about his marriage and death was added to the profile’s About section to give everyone a greater insight into the life of Daniel Warner Marvin. This is a great way to add new information to your tree. As you confirm matches and add new information and profiles to your tree, more matches will be found, in a virtuous cycle.

Contacting another tree owner 

Another powerful benefit of Smart Matches is the ability to contact the MyHeritage Site Manager (the tree owner) to connect with new relatives and exchange more information that you can add to Geni. Contacting other users on MyHeritage requires a Data subscription. To contact the Site Manager of your Smart Match, click on the Contact link at the right of the page under “Site Manager.” A MyHeritage inbox will open for you to compose and send your initial message. Smart Matches are a great way to make new discoveries and reunite with long lost family.

Please note that initially, Geni users will receive Smart Matches with MyHeritage trees, but not vice versa. We are working to make the matches completely mutual and this will take a few more months to complete.

Newspapers

Newspaper articles can add a lot of color to your family tree. They can reveal something about your ancestor that you would have never found just looking at vital records. 

Here’s an example of an unexpected discovery found for the family tree of MyHeritage founder & CEO, Gilad Japhet. He discovered a Record Match for his relative, Gertrude Sarah Levin, who married Solomon Dietch. Gilad knew little else about them until he made this unexpected discovery. The Record Match was a newspaper from Kansas in the 1930’s. It included their wedding photo and the intriguing caption, “Love needed no words.” It turns out that the wedding was conducted in sign-language as they were both deaf mute. This is just another great example of how Record Matches add color to what we know about the lives of our ancestors and relatives.

What next?

We’re committed at Geni to building the largest, most accurate and best documented family tree of the world. Historical records are key to creating a world tree of the highest quality. The historical records on MyHeritage are a very large and extensive collection, rapidly growing, some of them exclusive and found nowhere else. 

MyHeritage is adding more data at a fast pace. For example, next week MyHeritage will be adding the entire collection of U.S. Federal Censuses conducted in each decade from 1790 to 1930, with scanned original images, a total of more than 530 million names, and all this data will be matched automatically to all the Geni profiles! The collections are global in nature and not USA-only. New collections are added every month. With a wealth of historical records, the most powerful technology in the market to match them to your family tree on Geni, the ability to associate records with profiles and create sources in one click, and Smart Matches with more than a billion family tree profiles, the World Family Tree on Geni will quickly become an even better reference family tree for the whole world.

We think Record Matches and Smart Matches will be of tremendous value for every Geni user and we can’t wait to have you check them out. In the future, we’ll provide tools to help you add information from matching records and trees into your tree on Geni, including new relatives, in just a few clicks (until then you’ll need to add new information manually). As with any new release, please excuse us for any glitches, that may characterize the initial launch of this important new functionality, and be sure to send us your feedback and suggestions.

A Data subscription is required for viewing all historical records (except those provided free).

A single Data subscription provides full access to all Smart Matches and Record Matches, allows contacting tree owners, and gives unlimited access to the MyHeritage SuperSearch engine for historical records. For a limited time, Data subscriptions are discounted 36% off the regular price ($76.10 instead of $119.40 per year). Don’t miss this opportunity to discover more about your family history at such an affordable low price. The 36% introductory discount will be lifted soon after the US census records are added, so act now to secure this low price for yourself. 

Look for the Record Match and Smart Match buttons on your relatives’ profiles and see what new discoveries await you. View your Matches now!

Enjoy,
The combined teams of Geni and MyHeritage

• Oldest child doesn’t always ‘know it all’ about family history (Bangor Daily News) – Keep in mind younger siblings may know some stories older siblings may not have heard
• Long-lost brother reunited for the first time in 80 years after being fostered apart as babies (Daily Mail UK) – Two long lost brothers find each other 80 years after they were separated
• Fraternal Orders and Your Family History Research (4yourfamilystory.com) – Carline Pointer shares some great tips about using fraternal order records in your family history research
• Memories of WWII: A German Family’s Tangled Wartime History (Spielgel Online) – The story of a family’s complicated place in World War II history
• Genealogy: Search for a grave leads to a family he never knew (Coastal Observer) – A man searching for his sister’s grave discovers long lost relatives
• No longer saved for generations, family heirlooms are being shed (StarTribune) – More and more people are parting with family heirlooms

On Geni

• Monday Recap for April 15, 2013 - Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Francis Preston Blair, Sr. – Learn more about Globe editor Francis Preston Blair
• Activities for Your Next Family Reunion – Check out some fun activities for your next family reunion

Profile of the Day

• Jean-Paul Sartre
• Charles Chaplin
• Alexander Cartwright
• Albert Einstein
• Charles Darwin

Are you planning a family reunion in the near future? Here are some fun activities to get your entire family involved in learning about your family history.

1. Fill in the family tree

Here’s a fun game to get some of the younger members of your family interested in their genealogy: make copies of blank family trees for each youngster and have them ask relatives to help them fill out the tree. This is a good way to get children to catch the genealogy bug early. You can even make it a competition and see who can fill out the tree the most.

2. Who’s the baby?

Everybody loves seeing pictures of babies. Print out the baby pictures for each of your relatives and if you have them, of your ancestors, and have your family guess who is in the picture. Not only will your family have fun seeing cute baby pictures, but it presents the perfect opportunity to share family stories of your relatives when they were young.

3. Bring those family recipes to life

No family gathering is complete without food. Many families have recipes that have been passed down between generations. Bring those recipes to life by cooking your family dishes for all to sample. If possible, invite your relatives to bring their own dishes to share. You may find that each dish has a story behind it. What could be more fun than to learn about your heritage while filling your tummy with homemade deliciousness?

Have you been to a family reunion? Share some of your family reunion experiences with us in the comments below!

Image credit: Erin

Francis Preston Blair

Francis Preston Blair, Sr. was an American journalist and politician. He was made editor of the Washington Globe in 1830 which was the recognized organ of the Andrew Jackson party. Blair was a member of Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet” that gave him a powerful influence. The Globe was the administration organ until 1841 and the chief Democratic organ until 1845. In 1849, Blair ceased to be its editor.  He was convinced after the Mexican War that slavery should not be extended beyond where it was currently allowed even though he held slaves. In the 1860 Republican convention Blair supported the nomination of Abraham Lincoln and took it upon himself to advise Lincoln.

The city of Silver Spring, Maryland was was founded and named after Blair’s summer home. He had encountered a “mica-flecked” spring in the vicinity of Seventh Street Pike in 1840 which he liked so much that he bought the surrounding land and created a summer home for his family which he called “Silver Spring.”

Francis Preston Blair, Sr. was born on April 12, 1791 in Abingdon, Virginia to James Blair and Elizabeth Preston Smith. He was married to Elizabeth Gist and had three sons, Montgomery Blair, James Blair and Francis Preston Blair, Jr. His daughter Elizabeth Blair married Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee of the United States Navy who had commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron from 1862-1864 and was a cousin of Robert E. Lee. 

Montgomery Blair

Montgomery Blair was a politician and lawyer from Maryland. He was an abolitionist and a loyal member of the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He served as Postmaster-General in Lincoln’s Cabinet from 1861-1864. He married Mary Woodbury, she was the daughter of Levi Woodbury who was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a U.S. Senator, Governor of New Hampshire and cabinet member in three administrations. Montgomery and Mary were the great-grandparents of actor Montgomery Clift.

Francis Preston Blair, Jr. was a politician as well and a Union Army general during the American Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and he was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President in 1868. He was an accidental witness to an incident in a famous homicide case in 1870 while he was staying at the then famous Fifth Avenue Hotel. Blair had woken up to cries of help from across the street and watched from his hotel window as two men ran out of a brownstone mansion across the street. They were two of the sons of Benjamin Nathan, the Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange, who had been bludgeoned to death the previous night. The mystery of the homicide was never solved.

Benjamin Gratz Brown was the great nephew of Elizabeth Gist, but was also related to Blair through their common ancestors John Preston and Elizabeth Patton. He was a Senator, the 20th Governor of Missouri and the Liberal Republican and Democratic Party Vice presidential candidate in the presidential election of 1872. In 1856, he fought a duel on Bloody Island in the Mississippi River with Thomas C. Reynolds who was then the St. Louis District Attorney over the slavery issue. Reynolds was not hurt, but Brown was shot in the leg and limped for the rest of his life.

Did you know Blair House, the official state guest house for the President of the United States at one time belonged to Francis Preston Blair, Sr.? Blair acquired the property in 1836 during his time in Washington when he was serving Andrew Jackson, the house was purchased by the U.S. government in 1942.

Check out Francis Preston Blair, Sr.’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Warning! Don’t do THIS (Nutfield Genealogy blog) – A good warning to all genealogists – keep your old paper journals
• Medial records useful in genealogical research (Examiner.com) – Great explanation on how medical records can be helpful in genealogical research
• Auschwitz survivor’s social media search for long-lost twin (CNN) – Auschwitz survivor Menachem Bodner looks to Facebook to find his long lost twin brother
• 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jon Hamm’s Roots (The Huffington Post) – Genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak traces Mad Men star Jon Hamm’s roots
• Grandfather’s hidden photos inspire Holocaust film (MSN News) – A man’s discovery of his late grandfather’s photographs inspires him to make a documentary
• Toad Doctor, Leech Bait & Eater of Mortal Sin: How Our Ancestors Earned a Living in the 18th – 19th Centuries (The Huffington Post) – Did your ancestors have any of these unusual occupations?
• A soldier’s long-lost Civil War ring is returned to his family in Pennsylvania (The Washington Post) – A relic hunter returns a long-lost Civil War ring to family
• Newbiggin Genealogy Project aims to map town’s ancestry (BBC News) – A man aims to trace the family history of an entire town

On Geni

• Monday Recap for April 8, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – John Huston – Learn more about famed director John Huston’s family tree
• Your Family History Discoveries - Have any interesting family history discoveries? Share your stories with us!

Profile of the Day

• Margaret Thatcher
• Annette Funicello
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Gustav Vigeland
• Ulysses S. Grant

It’s always interesting to hear these type of stories and several of you had a few to share of your own on Facebook. Here are a couple we wanted to share with you below.

From Karen Macagno:

About 8 years ago I met a young Italian fellow named Flavio online. It turned out that we shared a common ancestor, Tommaso di Saluzzo (my 23rd great-grandfather, died in the 1200s.) It seems that Flavio’s line continues through Tommaso’s son, who remained in Italy, and my line through his daughter, who married an English noble. So I thought it was pretty amazing to find my far-off, distant “Italian connection.” But then the story gets…interesting. Seems that Flavio’s great-grandfather was from the same small town (Villafalletto, Cuneo) as my husband’s dad. In fact, my husband’s great-uncle and Flavio’s 2nd great uncle traveled *together* to the USA in 1900!

From Kristin Roca:

I tried to research my 2nd great aunt whose name is Hilda Arendal Hanson (named after Arendal Norway where our relatives come from) She grew up in Patten Maine (1900′s-1930′s) where her father was a doctor. I popped onto facebook and found so many people who knew her or her father and even was able to get never seen before pictures of her and her senior yearbook! I also learned her father saved the life of a mother and child during childbirth-The mother and father being so grateful allowed my 2nd great uncle,the dr to name the baby-GALEN. Well, Galen is still alive (in his 80′s) and also the longest living member of his family. His sister wrote to me to thank my family because if the mother died during his birth she and 4 other siblings would not even be here-a whole family would have been wiped out. Amazing!

Do you have similar stories to share? If you’re interested in sharing your stories or breakthroughs with us, send it to community@geni.com.

John Huston

John Huston was a film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote screenplays and directed films which are considered classics such as The Maltese Falcon (1941),  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), The Misfits (1961), and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). Most of Huston’s films were adaptions of novels that often depicted a “heroic quest” as in Moby Dick or The Red Badge of Courage.

John Huston was born on August 5, 1906 in Nevada, Missouri to Walter and Rhea (Gore) Huston. Walter and Reah divorced in 1913 and as a result John spent his childhood living in boarding schools, but would travel with each of his parents separately during summer vacations. Walter Huston was born in Toronto, Ontario and of Scottish and Irish descent. He began as a vaudeville actor and later a stage and screen actor. He was directed by his son, John in the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Anjelica Huston

John married five times and with his fourth wife Enrica Soma he had actress Angelica Huston and Walter “Tony” Huston. Although Soma’s daughter writer and editor Allegra Huston was not John’s biological daughter, he treated her one of his own. He had another son, actor and director Danny Huston with Zoe Sallis.

Huston’s grandson, Jack Huston also became an actor best known for his role on Boardwalk Empire as Richard Harrow. Jack’s parents are Walter “Tony” Huston and Lady Margot Lavinia Cholmondeley.

Did you know three generations of Huston’s won Academy Awards? Walter Huston won for Best Supporting Actor for the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, John Huston won for Best Director for the same film making them the first father and son to win at the same ceremony; and Anjelica Huston won for Best Supporting Actress for the film Prizzi’s Honor.

Check out John Huston’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Genealogy Today: Knowing family history cuts kids’ stress (Green Valley News and Sun) – A recent study shows children who know about their family history are better at handling stress
• Asheville Genealogy Column: Avoiding research errors (Citizen-Times.com) – A list of some of the most common mistakes made by researchers. Are you guilty of a few of these?
• Genealogy in palm of your hand (TheSpectrum.com) – Technology makes research easier than ever
• Hiding in pre-1850 Census Records? (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – Could your ancestors be hiding in pre-1850 census records?
• A family history search ends with a medal ceremony (kait8.com) – A man’s journey to learn more about his father and grandfather ends with the being honored for their service to the country
• By trick of fate, Norwegian relatives find each other in Miami (The Miami Herald) – Two Norwegian relatives find each other in a Miami CVS.
• Early Women Occupations, Jobs & Avocations (GenealogyBank.com blog) – Do you know what these terms used in old newspapers to describe our female ancesors’ occupations?
• Why we’re having less sex with our (genetic) cousins (The Telegraph) – Changing mating patterns show a decline in relatedness among partners

On Geni

• Monday Recap for April 1, 2013
• Family Tree Tuesday – Samuel Morse

Profile of the Day

• Lucille Ball
• Hans Christian Andersen
• Buffalo Bill
• Anthony Perkins
• Roger Ebert

Samuel Morse

Samuel Morse was an inventor, contributing to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs and he was a co-inventor of the Morse code. He was also an accomplished painter. Morse had gone to England for three years to perfect his painting techniques and by the end of 1811 he gained admittance to the Royal Academy. After observing and practicing life drawing and absorbing its anatomical demands at the academy he produced his masterpiece, Dying Hercules. To some, the painting seemed to represent a political statement against the British and also the American Federalists. 

He started pursuing a means of rapid long distance communication because he was unaware of his wife’s failing health and her lonely death for days do to the current way of communication of a horse messenger. He had witnessed various experiments with Charles Thomas Jackson’s electromagnets which helped him develop the concept of a single-wire telegraph. The original Morse telegraph is part of the collections of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. With the help of Professor Leonard Gale, who taught chemistry at New York University, Morse introduced extra circuits of relays at frequent intervals and was soon able to send a message through ten miles of wire instead of just a few hundred yards. In time the Morse code would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world, and is still the standard for rhythmic transmission data.

Original Morse telegraph

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born on April 27, 1791 in Charlestown, Massachusetts to Jedidiah Morse and Elizabeth Ann Finley Breese. Jedidiah was a preacher of the Calvinist faith and supporter of the American Federalist party. He thought it helped preserve Puritan traditions and believed in the Federalist support of an alliance with Britain and a strong central government.  He was a notable geographer whose textbooks became a staple for students in the United States. He made significant contributions to Dobson’s Encyclopedia, the first encyclopedia published in the United States after the American Revolution.  He became a pastor in Charlestown, Massachusetts and served until 1820. Throughout his life he was occupied with religious controversy, and in upholding the faith of the New England church against the assaults of Unitarianism. 

Jedidiah Morse painting by Samuel Morse

Sidney Edwards Morse was Samuel’s brother who was a geographer, journalist and also an inventor. He became a contributor to the Columbian Centinel of Boston, writing a series of articles that illustrated the danger of the American Union from an undue multiplication of new states in the south, and showing that it would give to a sectional minority the control of the government. He moved to New York in 1823 and founded the New York Observer with his brother Richard Cary Morse. The newspaper became the oldest religious newspaper in New York and the oldest weekly newspaper in New York City. Sidney remained as senior editor and proprietor until 1858 when he retired.

Samuel’s maternal great grandfather and namesake was Reverend Samuel Finley who founded the West Nottingham Academy and was the fifth president and an original trustee of the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) from 1761-1766.

Check out Samuel Morse’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• A Land Patent is Just the Beginning (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – Don’t stop at the land patent. Check out this tip on where land patents can lead.
• Social media breaking down family history barriers (Standard-Examiner) – Thomas MacEntee talks about how social media has made genealogy more accessible
• Family Tree Talk: Researcher shares her genealogy adventure (Sentinel-Standard.com) – A genealogist follows her genealogy to Germany to learn more about her family history
• Cracking another genealogy case (HeraldStarOnline.com) – A local librarian helps an Italian family researching their roots

On Geni

• Idaho Territory ~ 150 years – Guest blogger Leslie Ann shares some interesting history about Idaho
• RootsTech 2013: Day 1 – Here’s a peek into day 1 of RootsTech
• RootsTech 2013 Recap – Full recap of RootsTech 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Family Tree Tuesday – William S. Burroughs, Jr. – Learn more about William S. Burroughs family tree

Profile of the Day

• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Walt Whitman
• Marie Under
• Virginia Woolf
• Cy Young

William S. Burroughs, Jr.

William S. Burroughs, Jr. was an American novelist who wrote three novels, two of which were published as Speed in 1970 and Kentucky Ham in 1973. Prakriti Junction, his third novel that he began in 1977 was never completed, although extracts from it were included in his third published work Cursed From Birth. He appears briefly in the 1983 documentary Burroughs, about his father, in which he discusses his childhood, his liver problems, and his relationship with his family. Poet John Giorno calls him “the last beatnik” in the documentary.

William S. Burroughs III (known as William S. Burroughs, Jr.) was born on July 21, 1947 in Conroe, Texas to William S. Burroughs II and Joan Vollmer. Joan Vollmer was the most prominent female member of the early Beat Generation circle. She became the roommate of Edie Parker, who later married Jack Kerouac, while she was a student at Barnard College. Their apartment became a gathering place for the Beats during the 1940s. Vollmer was shot and killed accidentally by Burroughs II in a drunken game of ‘William Tell’ in Mexico City. Burrough III relates his memory of the day his mother was shot dead, as well as the following reunion with his father after he was freed from a Mexico City prison in chapter three of his novel, Kentucky Ham. He went to live with his paternal grandparents, Mortimer and Laura Lee Burroughs, while his father stayed in Mexico.

William S. Burroughs II

William S. Burroughs II was a novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. He was a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author. His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. While living in New York City in 1943, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of what became the counter-cultural movement of the Beat Generation. During his later years, Burroughs developed a painting technique whereby he created abstract compositions by placing spray paint cans some distance in front of blank canvasses, and then shooting at the paint cans with a shotgun. These splattered canvasses were shown in a Chicago gallery in the late 1980s and a New York City gallery in the early 1990s.

Calculating Machine Patent

William S. Burroughs I was Burroughs III’s great-grandfather, who was an inventor. He invented a “calculating machine” designed to ease the monotony of clerical work. He was a founder of the American Arithmometer Company, which later became the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, then the Burroughs Corporation which later merged with Sperry Corporation to form Unisys.

Check out William S. Burroughs III’s family tree and see how you may be related!

It was a blast to meet Geni users and hearing about their genealogy adventures on Geni. Here’s our busy booth on the first day.

Geni Curator Adam Brown spent a lot of time at the booth helping people with their genealogy. He was even able to help connect a new Geni user to the World Family Tree. Special thanks to Adam for hanging out with us!

On the first day, Noah Tutak, General Manager USA for MyHeritage, gave a presentation entitled “Collaborative Genealogy: The Ugly, the Bad, the Good” about the benefits of collaborative online genealogy. He had an amazing turnout and some really great questions from the audience.

Day 2 of RootsTech was Developer Day. Justin Balthrop, VP of Technology at MyHeritage, gave a talk right after lunch on “Building Genealogy Apps Using Clojure and Functional Programming.”

Later that afternoon, Michael Berkovich, Software Architect at MyHeritage (USA), led a presentation called “Family Tree in Your Pocket – How to Build an IPhone App Using Geni API.”

There was plenty to do the second night of the conference. Geneablogger Thomas MacEntee held a fun party for his 50th birthday complete with beaded necklaces, a photobooth and lots of cupcakes and treats.

Friday night was also Late Night at the Library, where the Family History Library was open for extended hours for both experienced and novice genealogists to discover records for their genealogy research. Thanks to the extended hours, some of us on the MyHeritage and Geni teams had the opportunity to do our own family history research at the library. Geni’s Customer Service Manager Charles Edmonds was even able to get some help on finding Jamaican birth and death records.

The best keynote of the conference was given by David Pogue and MyHeritage’s Chief Marketing Officer Ori Soen on Saturday. After an incredible musical number by David, Ori jumped in to talk about MyHeritage’s continued growth and success.

Genealogy blogger James Tanner then joined the stage to share the power of collaboration and automation in genealogy. He also gave a little preview of what’s coming soon to Geni! If you missed it, the video of the keynote will be posted on the RootsTech website very soon.

At the end of the keynote, it was announced that MyHeritage would be giving away free 6-month data subscriptions to the first 500 people at the booth. As soon as the exhibit hall opened, the booth was swarmed by eager genealogists.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and we can’t wait to see everyone again next year. Be sure to check back on Facebook later for even more photos from RootsTech 2013.

This year was especially exciting as it was the first time we attended RootsTech as a part of the MyHeritage family.

Check out a picture of our booth early morning before the crowd came in:

We even had the pleasure of meeting Curator Adam Brown. Here he is working on his tree at the booth:

Stay tuned for more RootsTech posts and pictures on the blog, Facebook and Twitter!

It has been 150 years this March since Idaho Territory was created. President Lincoln signed the bill creating Idaho Territory March 4, 1863 from  Dakota Territory, Nebraska Territory, and Washington Territory. Originally,  the territory included all of modern-day Idaho and Montana, and most of Wyoming.

Idaho was home to Native people thousands of years before it became a Territory. You may know of one in particular who was born in 1787 named Sacajawea.

The area was also busy with explorers, trappers and traders. Kullyspell House was the first non-native establishment in the Northwest and was built in 1809 near Lake Pend Oreille.

In 1836 Henry Spalding and his wife Eliza Hart Spalding established a mission for the Nez Perce near Lapwai. and opened Idaho’s first school, created the first irrigation system, printed the first book in the Northwest and grew the first Idaho potato.

In 1860, Idaho’s first town Franklin, was established near the Utah border, and as gold and silver were discovered, mining towns sprung up between 1860 and 1863 at Pierce, Idaho City, and Silver City.

Idaho communities are celebrating its sesquicentennial birthday with speeches, exhibits, performances and more. Since I can’t be in Idaho, my favorite form of celebration is reading the histories of the Pioneers, miners and other settlers of Idaho.

The Idaho State Journal is doing a sesquicentennial series in their Sunday edition.  One such article is about one of my distant relatives Henry Hyrum Henderson.

The Idaho Statesman is also doing some articles about Idaho history.

Some fun facts about Idaho:

• Idaho is the 13th largest state in the U.S.
• Idaho produces 72 types of precious and semi-precious stones. Some of these stones can be found nowhere else in the world, which is why it is known as The Gem State.
• No. 1 National producer of potatoes, trout, lentil, and Austrian winter peas.

If you have Idaho ancestors, this is the perfect time to honor their memory by sharing their stories and adding them to the Idaho Pioneers Project.

The Genealogy Sphere

• Rail dig may have found London’s lost ‘Black Death’ graves (NBC News) – Archaeologists discover a lost burial ground in London
• The Stories That Bind Us (New York Times) – Creating a strong family narrative to reinforce your family relationships
• The puzzling probate (The Legal Genealogist blog) – Judy G. Russell works through a troublesome probate record
• Holocaust Survivor’s Search for Lost Twin Goes Viral (Newser.com) – A Holocaust survivor searches for his long lost twin
• How close is that post office? (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – If your ancestor lived near the county lines, know their proximity to their post office

On Geni

• Monday Recap for March 11, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Buckminster Fuller – Learn more about Bucky Fuller’s family tree
• Meet the Geni Team at RootsTech 2013 – We’re going to RootsTech! Will you be there?

Profile of the Day

• Frederick IX of Denmark
• Liza Minnelli
• Jane Delano
• Victor Emmanuel II
• Andrew Jackson

Unlike any other conference, RootsTech provides you with the unique opportunity to connect with industry experts and discover the latest tools and techniques for researching your family history. From genealogists to developers, RootsTech offers hands-on workshops, presentations and more for all skill levels. 

This year we’re especially excited because it will be the first time Geni will be attending as a part of the MyHeritage family! Find us at booth 325 with the entire team. We love meeting Geni users, so be sure to stop by, say hi and pick up a free “Who’s Your Daddy?” Geni t-shirt.

Here’s a list of all MyHeritage and Geni team members who will be speaking throughout the conference:

Thursday, March 21

• Noah Tutak of Geni.com will discuss the benefits of collaborative genealogy, with “Online Collaboration: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” at 11am in Room 255F.
• Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage Chief Genealogist, will give an introduction to MyHeritage, with his talk on “MyHeritage Treasure Trove: An overview of all products and features for genealogists on MyHeritage” at 1.45pm in Room 255A.
• Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage Chief Genealogist, will be on a “Future of Genealogy” panel at 11am in Hall 1.

Friday, March 22

• Justin Balthrop, CTO of Geni.com, will teach basics of Clojure programming language to in “Building Genealogy Apps using Clojure and Functional Programming,” at 1.45pm in Room 257A.
• Michael Berkovich, MyHeritage Software Architect (USA), will discuss building iOS mobile applications for genealogy in his workshop “Family tree in your pocket – how to build an iPhone app using Geni API,” at 4.15pm in room 257A.
• Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage Chief Genealogist, will give a talk on “Crowdsourcing: When the power of many benefits all,” at 4.15pm in Room 258.

Saturday, March 23

• MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet will give the keynote speech at 8.30am in Hall 1, with David Pogue, weekly personal-technology columnist for The New York Times and a monthly columnist for Scientific America
• Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage Chief Genealogist, will present “Meet your Match: How MyHeritage SmartMatches and Record Matches can help you overcome brick walls,” at 11am in Room 255A.
• Mark Olsen, Business Development Manager at MyHeritage USA and WorldVitalRecords will speak on “SuperSearch: How to find your missing ancestors on the MyHeritage search engine,” at 1.45pm.

For more information on the sessions, click here.

We can’t wait to meet everyone, so be sure to come by and if you’re a Geni user, pick up your Geni gear. If you can’t make it to the conference, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for the latest updates and photos. Follow the #RootsTech hashtag on Twitter for updates from other attendees too. See you there!

Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller

Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. He published more than 30 books, inventing and popularizing terms such as “Spaceship Earth”, ephemeralization, and synergetic. He developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, including widely known geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres. He was the second president of Mensa from 1974-1983.

Drawing from Fuller's Patent - Laminar Geodesic Dome

While he was serving as the Summer Institute director in 1949 at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, he began reinventing a project that would make him famous which was the geodesic dome. Although the geodesic dome had been created about 30 years earlier by Dr. Walther Bauersfield, Fuller was awarded United States patents. He is credited for popularizing this type of structure.  In 1949, he erected his first geodesic dome building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits. To prove his design, and to awe non-believers, Fuller suspended from the structure’s framework several students who had helped him build it. The U.S. government recognized the importance of his work, and employed his firm Geodesics, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina to make small domes for the Marines.

Margaret Fuller

He was the grandnephew of American journalist and women’s rights advocate, Margaret Fuller. She was the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism and her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. She became the first woman allowed to use the library at Harvard College and she was the first female correspondent for the New York Tribune. Her father Timothy Fuller, offered her an education as rigorous as any boy’s at the time and forbade her from reading the typical feminine fare of the time, such as etiquette books and sentimental novels. Margaret later blamed her father’s exacting love and his valuation of accuracy and precision for her childhood nightmares and sleepwalking.

The Genealogy Sphere

• Howard Stern digs up some family history (Nj.com) – Howard Stern discusses his family history
• One Piece of Paper is Not Proof (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – A great tip to remember!
• Celebrating Women’s History Month – Wedding Day Stories: A Tricky Elopement (Carolina Girl Genealogy blog) – Cheri Hudson Passey shares a great story about her great grandparents’ elopement
• Letter to Ireland Answered – 28 Years Later (The Huffington Post) – Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak receives a response to a letter she wrote 28 years ago!
• Why Start and Continue a Family Autograph Book? (Filiopietism Prism) – Learn more about this very interesting genealogy project
• Top Ten Genealogy Research Mistakes (LoveToKnow.com) – Have you made these common genealogy research mistakes?

On Geni

• Monday Recap for March 4, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Sir Winston Churchill – Learn more about Winston Churchill’s family tree
• Celebrating International Women’s Day – See if you’re related to these inspiring women

Profile of the Day

• Henry the Navigator
• Patsy Cline
• Ayn Rand
• Stanley Kubrick
• Hannah Van Buren

Let’s take a look at some influential women in history:

Marie Curie was a brilliant Polish physicist and pioneer. Famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity, Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win a Nobel Prize in two fields (Physics and Chemistry) and the first woman to be entombed in Paris’ famed Panthéon on her own merits.

Margaret Thatcher is a British politician and the longest serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20th century, holding the position from 1979 – 1990. She is also the only woman to have held the post. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady,” Thatcher defined her own conservative political philosophy that has come to be known as Thatcherism.

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was a leading civil and women’s rights leader in the United States. An instrumental figure of the 19th century women’s suffrage movement, Anthony championed the right for women to vote. She helped draft the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits any citizen to be denied the right to vote based on gender. Fourteen years after her death, the 19th Amendment was finally ratified, giving women the right to vote.

 
Are you related to these influential women? Do you have some great inspirational stories about women in your family trees? Share them with us in the comments below!

Sir Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill was a British politician, known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century. Churchill served as Prime Minister twice from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955. He was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family on November 30, 1874 to Lord Randolph Churchill and Jennie Jerome. Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite who was the daughter of American millionaire Leonard Jerome. Leonard Jerome was known as ‘The King of Wall Street”, he held interests in several railroad companies and was often a partner in the deals of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was a patron of the arts, and founded the Academy of Music, one of New York City’s earliest opera houses. 

Lord Randolph Spencer-Churchill

Lord Randolph Churchill was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His title was a courtesy title only, and therefore was not inherited by his eldest son, Winston Churchill. In 1885, he had formulated the policy of progressive Conservatism which was known as “Tory Democracy”. He declared that the Conservatives ought to adopt, rather than oppose, popular reforms, and to challenge the claims of the Liberals to pose as champions of the masses.

Winston Churchill was the grandson of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough. He was Member of Parliament for Woodstock from 1844 to 1845 and again from 1847 to 1857, when he succeeded his father in the dukedom and entered the House of Lords.

Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill  was the son of Sir Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Preston from 1940-1945. Randolph’s wife from 1939-1946 was Pamela Harriman who later became United States Ambassador to France and they were the parents of Winston Churchill III. Winston was a British Conservative Party politician.

Sarah Churchill, daughter of Winston and Clementine, was a British actress and dancer. She was named after Winston’s ancestor, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. During World War II, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Churchill is known for her role in the film Royal Wedding (1951) as Anne Ashmond, starring opposite Fred Astaire.

Today in 1946, Sir Winston Churchill used the phrase “Iron Curtain” in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.

Check out Winston Churchill’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• ‘Genealogy is Like Crack’ (The Voice online) – Henry Louis Gates discusses the addictive nature of genealogy
• Researching Family History: Going the extra mile led to man receiving treasure trove of family genealogy information (Deseret News) – If you ever find family history documents or photos in the trash, save them!
• Hey, Jon Stewart, Your Roots Are Showing (The Huffington Post) – Genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak researches Jon Stewart’s family tree
• Friday’s Faces From the Past: Bloomfield Brothers (Past-Present-Future blog) – Smadar Belkind Gerson shares photos and stories about the Bloomfield brothers
• An adoption in the 1800s (Nutfield Genealogy blog)- Have you encountered adoptions in the 1800s? Read how Heather Rojo unraveled her adoption mystery
• What Would You Do with a Genealogy Time Machine? (The Olive Tree Genealogy blog) – Great question to think about. If you could travel back in time, what family history event or ancestor would you visit?

On Geni

• Monday Recap for February 25, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – John Foster Dulles – Learn more about former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ family tree

Profile of the Day

• Jennifer Lawrence
• Victor Hugo
• John Steinbeck
• Linus Pauling
• Frederic Chopin

John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953-1959. He advocated an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world which made him a significant figure in the early Cold War era. He also advocated support of the French in their war against the Viet Minh in Indochina and it is widely believed that he refused to shake the hand of Zhou Enlai at the Geneva Conference in 1954. He played a major role in the Central Intelligence Agency operations to overthrow the Mossadegh government of Iran in 1953 (Operation Ajax) and the Arbenz government of Guatemala in 1954 (Operation PBSUCCESS).

As Secretary of State, he supervised the completion of the Japanese Peace Treaty, in which full independence was restored to Japan under United States terms. Dulles spent considerable time building up NATO and forming other alliances as part of his strategy of controlling Soviet expansion by threatening massive retaliation in event of war.

Allen Dulles

John Foster Dulles was born on February 25, 1888 in Washington, D.C. to Presbyterian minister Allen Macy and Edith (Foster) Dulles. Dulles’ younger brother Allen Welsh Dulles was the first civilian and the longest-serving (1953-1961) Director of Central Intelligence and a member of the Warren Commission. Under Dulles’ direction, the CIA created MK-Ultra, a top secret mind control research project which was managed by Sidney Gottlieb. He is considered one of the essential creators of the modern United States intelligence system and was an indispensable guide to clandestine operations during the Cold War. He established intelligence networks worldwide to check and counter Soviet and eastern Europe communist advances as well as international communist movements. Eleanor Lansing Dulles, Dulles’ sister, was noted for her work in the successful economic rebuilding of post-war Europe during 20 years with the State Department.

Robert Lansing, Dulles’ uncle, also served as Secretary of State. He served as Legal Advisor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1915-1920. He negotiated the Lansing-Ishii Agreement with Japan in 1917 and was a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at Paris in 1919. 

John Foster Dulles’ son with Janet Avery, Avery Dulles, converted to Roman Catholicism, entered the Jesuit order, and became the first American priest to be directly appointed as a Cardinal. 

Dulles’ maternal grandfather was John W. Foster, who was Secretary of State under Benjamin Harrison.

Did you know John Foster Dulles tried to join the United States Army during World War I but was rejected? He was rejected because of poor eyesight and instead he received an Army commission as Major on the War Industries Board. 

Check out John Foster Dulles’ family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• The Wismer Saucepan (Adventures in Genealogy blog) – Deb Ruth shares her husband’s second cousin twice removed’s patent record for a new saucepan
• Harriet Tubman’s Tallahassee descendants loan artifacts to archives (Tallahassee.com) – In honor of Black History Month, Harriet Tubman’s descendants loan a few of her artifacts to the FAMU Black Archives
• Photochrom prints: images to use (The Legal Genealogist) – Judy Russell shares advice on what images you can use to illustrate your family tree
• You Know You Are A Genealogy Addict When… (Genealogy Addict, I am blog) – Are you a genealogy addict?
• How did war impact your ancestor? (Genealogy Tip of the Day) – Good questions to ask if your relative lived through a war

On Geni

• Recap for February 19, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Harriet Beecher Stowe – Learn more about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s family tree
• The Buffalo Soldier – Check out the Buffalo Soldier project and build the trees of these brave soldiers

Profile of the Day

• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Ansel Adams
• Karl Marx
• Seth MacFarlane

In 1866, to help rebuild the country after the Civil War, the United States Congress established the first peacetime all-black regiment in the U.S. Army to help patrol the western frontier. About 6,000 African Americans were recruited into six regiments: 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Regiments. The last four were later merged into the 24th and 25th infantry.

According to some stories, the name “Buffalo Soldier” was given to the cavalry men by the Native Americans tribes they fought because of their resemblance to the dark, curly-haired buffalo that roamed the plains. In total, 23 Buffalo Soldiers received the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars. Did you know they were also among the first national park rangers in the Sierra Nevada?

We remember these soldiers not only for their bravery in combat, but also for their enduring commitment and honor to stand in service to the United States despite facing discrimination and segregation.

Today, over 400 Buffalo Soldiers are buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presido.

Have you seen the Buffalo Soldier project on Geni?

The purpose of this project is to research the black soldiers who served in the U.S. Army in the 1860′s, to create their Geni profiles, and to follow their families forward to today. This project will focus on the soldiers of the 9th & 10th Cavalry and of the 24th & 25th Infantry Regiments.

Join the Buffalo Soldiers project and help connect these brave soldiers to Geni’s World Family Tree.

View the Buffalo Soldier Project

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. She wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin which was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery, it became influential in the United States and United Kingdom. The novel energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. She was influential both for her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day. After the start of the Civil War, Stowe traveled to Washington, D.C. and there met President Abraham Lincoln. Legend has it that, upon meeting her, he greeted her by saying, “so you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Although little is known about the meeting, except for Stowe’s letter to her husband writing “I had a real funny interview with the President.”

Lyman Beecher

She was born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut to Lyman and Roxana Beecher. Roxana Beecher was a deeply religious woman who died when Harriet was only five years old. Lyman Beecher was a Presbyterian minister and co-founder of the American Temperance Society. He gained popular recognition in 1806, after giving a sermon concerning the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Beecher stoked controversy by advocating “new measures” of evangelism that ran counter to traditional Calvinist understanding. These new measures at the time brought turmoil to churches all across America. He was charged with heresy in 1835 by fellow pastor, Joshua Lacy Wilson. The trial took place in his own church, and Beecher defended himself, while burdened with the cares of his seminary, his church, and his wife at home on her death bed. The trial resulted in acquittal, and, on an appeal to the general synod, he was again acquitted, but the controversy engendered by the action went on until the Presbyterian church was divided in two. Beecher took an active part in the theological controversies that led to the excision of a portion of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in 1837/8, Beecher adhering to the new school branch.

Harriet moved to Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 21 to join her father. She joined the Semi-Colon Club, a literary salon and social club which was where she met her future husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe. He was an ardent critic of slavery, and the Stowe’s supported the Underground Railroad, temporarily housing several fugitive slaves in their home. Calvin was an American Biblical scholar who helped spread public education in the United States. He was critical in the establishment of the College of Teachers in 1833.

Catharine Beecher, Harriet’s sister was an American educator known for her forthright opinions on female education as well as her vehement support of the many benefits of the incorporation of kindergarten into children’s education. In 1823, Beecher opened the Hartford Female Seminary where she taught until 1832.

Henry Ward Beecher

Prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker Henry Ward Beecher was Harriet’s brother. He was an advocate of Women’s suffrage, temperance and Darwin’s theory of evolution, a foe of slavery and bigotry of all kinds. Beecher held that Christianity should adapt itself to the changing culture of times. He was accused of having an affair with a married woman, it became a highly publicized scandal known as the Beecher-Tilton Affair. He was tried on charges that he had committed adultery in 1875, it was one of the most notorious American trials of the 19th century.

Harriet’s half sister Isabella Beecher Hooker was a leader, lecturer, and activist in the American Suffragist movement. Following the Civil War, Isabella carefully ventured into the divided women’s movement with the unsigned “A Mother’s Letter to a Daughter on Women Suffrage,” which relied on the idea that, “women would raise the moral level of politics and bring a motherly wisdom to the affairs of government.” During 1887, Isabella spoke on the need for women to have greater roles in society, including the benefits of female police officers.

Did you know Harriet Beecher Stowe lived next door to Mark Twain? Her house in Hartford, Connecticut where she lived for the last 23 years of her life is located next door to Mark Twain’s house. Both houses are registered as historic places. Mark Twain is also Harriet’s 10th cousin!

Check out Harriet Beecher Stowe’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Genealogy for African-Americans challenging (Standard-Examiner) – An aritcle examining the challenges of African-American genealogy
• Carpe Diem! Missed Genealogy Opportunities (The Olive Tree Genealogy) – Do you have any missed genealogy opportunities?
• A 1913 will and property owned 120 years ago (Footsteps and Footprints blog) – Roger Glass shares the last will and testemant of his great-great grandmother Lucy Ann Jackson
• Hey, Prince, Your Roots are Showing (The Huffington Post) – Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak traces Prince’s ancestry
• A Secret Elopement (Mid-Continent Public Library blog) –  A woman discovers her grandparents were married in secret

On Geni

• Monday Recap for February 11, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Edward Everett Hale – Learn more about author and historian Edward Everett Hale’s family tree!
• The Love Story of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning – Read the love letters between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Have you found love letters in your genealogy research?

Profile of the Day

• Burt Reynolds
• Abraham Lincoln
• Taylor Swift
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth Barrett came from a prominent and wealthy family and she was already a well established poet before she met fellow poet Robert Browning. She lived as a semi-invalid in her father’s house, under his domineering hand, and had become a bit of recluse. Robert had been an admirer of Elizabeth’s work for some time, and with the help of a friend, John Kenyon, met Elizabeth in 1845. The two quickly fell in love and thus, began one of the most famous courtships in literature. Her father disapproved of Robert, who believed he was an unreliable fortune hunter, so the couple kept their relationship a secret. Together, they exchanged hundreds of love letters, and by 1846, the couple eloped. Her father disowned her and she faced disgust from her brothers, who believed she had married a low-class gold digger. However, Elizabeth stood by her husband, and shortly after their wedding, they fled to Italy.

She lived the remainder of her life in Italy, and the couple had a son in 1849. Later, she published her best-known work, Sonnets from the Portuguese, which consisted of a collection of sonnets chronicling the couple’s courtship and marriage.

Read Robert Browning’s first letter to Elizabeth Barrett below:

10 January 1845
New Cross, Hatcham, Surrey.

I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett,-and this is no off-hand complimentary letter that I shall write,-whatever else, no prompt matter-of-course recognition of your genius and there a graceful and natural end of the thing: since the day last week when I first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you of their effect upon me-for in the first flush of delight I thought I would this once get out of my habit of purely passive enjoyment, when I do really enjoy, and thoroughly justify my admiration-perhaps even, as a loyal fellow-craftsman should, try and find fault and do you some little good to be proud of hereafter!-but nothing comes of it all-so into me has it gone, and part of me has it become, this great living poetry of yours, not a flower of which but took root and grew .. oh, how different that is from lying to be dried and pressed flat and prized highly and put in a book with a proper account at top and bottom, and shut up and put away .. and the book called a “Flora,” besides! After all, I need not give up the thought of doing that, too, in time; because even now, talking with whoever is worthy, I can give a reason for my faith in one and another excellence, the fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought-but in this addressing myself to you, your own self, and for the first time, my feeling rises altogether. I do, as I say, love these Books with all my heart-and I love you too: do you know I was once not very far from seeing .. really seeing you? Mr Kenyon said to me one morning “would you like to see Miss Barrett?”-then he went to announce me,-then he returned .. you were too unwell-and now it is years ago-and I feel as at some untoward passage in my travels-as if I had been close, so close, to some world’s-wonder in chapel or crypt, .. only a screen to push and I might have entered-but there was some slight .. so it now seems .. slight and just-sufficient bar to admission, and the half-opened door shut, and I went home my thousands of miles, and the sight was never to be!  Well, these Poems were to be-and this true thankful joy and pride with which I feel myself.  

Yours ever faithfully,  
Robert Browning.

Have you found love letters in your family history research? Share your stories in the comments below!

Edward Everett Hale

Edward Everett Hale was an American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman. He was a child prodigy who exhibited extraordinary literary skills. He graduated from Boston Latin School at age 13, then enrolled at Harvard University where he won two Bowdoin prizes and was elected the Class Poet. In 1839, Hale graduated second in his class and then studied at Harvard Divinity School. He was licensed to preach as a Unitarian minister in 1842 by the Boston Association of Ministers. He later left the Unity Church in 1856 to become pastor at the South Congregational Church where he served until 1899.

His best known work was “The Man Without a Country” which was published in the Atlantic in 1863 and it was intended to strengthen support for the Union cause in the North. He employed a minute realism which led his readers to suppose the narrative a record of fact. Hale’s short story “The Brick Moon”, serialized in the Atlantic Monthly, is the first known fictional description of an artificial satellite. He assisted in founding the Christian Examiner, Old and New in 1869 and became its editor. In 1875, the Christian Examiner merged with Scribner’s Magazine. Hale became Chaplain of the United States Senate in 1903 and the following year he was elected as a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Nathan Hale

Hale was born on April 3, 1822 in Boston, Massachusetts to Nathan Hale and Sarah Preston Everett. Nathan Hale founded the Boston Daily Advertiser in 1813 serving as editor and publisher until his death in 1863. He was one of the founders of the North American Review in 1815 and the Christian Examiner in 1823. Hale was active in promoting industrial improvement, especially the Boston and Albany Railroad and diverting the Lake Cochituate for potable water in the Back Bay, the Neck and the South Cove.

Charles Hale, Edward Hale’s brother, was a legislator in the Massachusetts state House and Senate intermittently between 1855 and 1877. He was house speaker in 1859 and in the 1860s he lived in Cairo, Egypt as the American consul-general. In Cairo he arrested the conspirator, John Surratt, suspected of plotting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Susan Hale

Edward Hale’s sister was author, traveler and artist Susan Hale. Without any particular teaching, she learned to draw and to paint early in life. She became a teacher when her father became ill and the family income needed to be supplemented. In 1872, she studied art in Paris, France and Weimar, Germany to get the best training in watercolor she could for nearly a year. When she returned she began giving lessons in watercolors. She educated her niece Ellen Day Hale, daughter of Edward and his wife Emily Baldwin Perkins, who became a painter and printmaker. Ellen Day Hale’s 1893 portrait, June, which depicts a young woman sewing, wearing a bun and checked dress, is in the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Edward Everett Hale’s fourth great-grandfather was Richard Everett, founder of both Springfield, Massachusetts and Dedham, Massachusetts. Edward’s uncle was Edward Everett, one of the great American orators of the ante-bellum and Civil War era. He is often remembered today as the featured orator at the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg in 1863, where he spoke for two hours, immediately before President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous, two-minute Gettysburg Address.

Did you know Edward Everett Hale is related to Abraham Lincoln? Edward Everett Hale is Abraham Lincoln’s 11th cousin once removed.

Check out Edward Everett Hale’s family tree and see how you may be related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• MN Woman Discovers Heritage in Swedish Reality Show (KSTP.com) - A woman from Minnesota learns of her ancestry through a reality show in Sweden
• A tool for finding urban ancestors (GenerousGenealogists.com) – Tips for using city directories to find relatives
• Why the princes in the tower are staying six feet under (The Guardian) – Interesting article about the Church of England’s refusal to allow forensics experts to test the bones of Richard III’s nephews
• Confederate Records for Free, Slave, White and Black (a3Genealogy blog) – Good places to look for records for your Confederate ancestors
• Black History Illuminated by Tracing Lives of Former Slaves (VOA News) – Did you know that before Arlington National Cemetery became the country’s most prestigious military cemetery, it was once a thriving community of slaves and former slaves?

On Geni

• Monday Recap for February 4, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Oliver Ames - Learn more about former Massachusetts governor Oliver Ames and his family history
• New on Geni: DNA Tests for Genealogy! – Exciting news! You can now purchase DNA tests on Geni at great discounts

Profile of the Day

• Richard III
• John Harbaugh
• Aaron Burr
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Jules Verne

Have you hit a brick wall in your genealogy research? You can break through these brick walls by identifying your direct paternal line (Y-DNA), direct maternal line (mtDNA) and relatives across all lines via autosomal DNA (Family Finder). DNA tests can help you:

• Discover your origins and find new relatives – solve the missing pieces of your family history by uncovering your family’s origins and discover new relatives through DNA matches
• Map your ethnic origins – do you have European, Native American, Jewish or African American ancestry you didn’t know about?
• Prove your surname’s ancestry – find out if the males carrying your surname are actually related to each other

Geni has partnered with Family Tree DNA, a global leader in DNA tests specialized for genealogy, to bring you the highest quality DNA testing available on the market. Family Tree DNA established the world’s largest DNA database for genealogy (with more than 400,000) DNA records. You may know them from their work with National Geographic on the Genographic Project. All results are analyzed in an advanced genetic genealogy lab in Houston, Texas. You can rest easy knowing privacy is strictly enforced and the results are not shared with anyone but you.

Order Your DNA Test Now

What kind of DNA tests are available?

You can choose from a wide range of DNA tests that will analyze your direct paternal lines and direct maternal lines and other comprehensive ancestral tests to further advance your genealogy research. As an added bonus, all Pro members receive an exclusive 10% discount!

That’s not all – for a limited time, we’re offering a massive discount on the most versatile DNA test available, Family Finder. Normally priced at $289, all Geni members can purchase the Family Finder test for only $169! Based on autosomal DNA, Family Finder can find people related to you through any shared ancestor, within the last 5 generations, not just through the direct paternal or maternal lines. Hurry, this special offer won’t last long!

 All DNA Tests (click to enlarge)

Curious to try out some of the most revolutionary technology for genealogy available? Check out all the DNA tests on Geni and pick the one that best fits your family research needs. If you have any questions about these DNA tests, please read our detailed DNA FAQ.

For a great overview of DNA testing for genealogy, check out genetic genealogist CeCe Moore’s guest blog series DNA Testing for Genealogy – Getting Started.

Order Your DNA Test Now

Oliver Ames

Oliver Ames was the 35th Governor of Massachusetts during 1887-1890 and a financier. Prior to being governor he was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts from 1882-1886. Ames had entered public life avowedly to vindicate his father’s memory.

Ames was born on February 4, 1831 in North Easton, Massachusetts to Oakes Ames and Eveline Gilmore. Oakes Ames was an American manufacturer, capitalist, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts. As a congressman, he is credited by many historians as being the single most important influence in the building of the Union Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad. He is also noted for the subsequent scandal that alleged the improper sale of stock of the railroad’s construction company.

Oakes Ames

Oakes Ames was the son of Oliver Ames, Sr. who was a blacksmith that had built a business of making shovels and was nicknamed “King of Spades”. Ames eventually became a partner in the business and established the firm Oliver Ames & Sons with his brother Oliver Ames, Jr. Ames made a large fortune during the Civil War. Through his influence, Ames obtained contracts for his family firm in the construction of the Union Pacific and staked nearly all the family’s holdings as capitalization for the project. The contracts were later transferred to the Credit Mobilier Company of America after Ames ousted its founder Thomas Durant. His brother Oliver, Jr. (1807-1877) was appointed president of the Union Pacific in 1866. It was disclosed in 1872 that Oakes Ames sold shares in Credit Mobilier to fellow congressmen at a price greatly below the market value of the stock which became a public scandal. In 1873, the House passed a resolution formally censuring Ames, detractors referred to him as “Hoax Ames”.  As his father’s heir, Oliver Ames, spent several years in paying off the obligations of millions of dollars incurred by the Union Pacific Railroad and other undertakings. On the 14th anniversary of the completion of the railroad in 1883, the state legislature of Massachusetts passed a resolution exonerating Ames.

Oakes Ames (1874-1950) was the son of Oliver Ames (1831-1895), he was an American botanist specializing in orchids. He spent his entire professional career at Harvard and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1911. The Orchidaceae were little-known before Ames’ study and classification. With his wife, Blanche Ames they made expeditions to create scientifically accurate drawings of the plants they cataloged. Their work was published in the seven-volume Orchidicae: Illustrations and Studies of the Family Orchidicae. They also developed the Ames Charts, illustrating the phylogenetic relationships of the major useful plants, which are still used. His estate is now the Borderland State Park in Massachusetts.

George Plimpton

American journalist, writer, editor, and actor, George Plimpton was Oakes Ames’ grandson. Plimpton is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. He has appeared in a number of feature films as an extra and in cameo appearances. At Harvard, he was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert Kennedy. Plimpton, along with former decathlete Rafer Johnson, was credited with helping wrestle Sirhan Sirhan to the ground when Kennedy was assassinated at the former Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Check out Oliver Ames’ family tree and see how you maybe related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• Digging up the past: Passing the family history torch (Afterthekidsleave.com) – A good way to get your kids into genealogy: tell them they’re descended from Vikings!
• Use SMART goals for your family history and genealogy planning (Examiner.com) – Great tips on how to plan your family history research
• Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king’s (BBC News) – The remains of Richard III of England have been confirmed
• Follow Friday – The 1918 Flu Epidemic (Nutfield Genealogy blog) – Links to some interesting articles about the Spanish Flu
• Hot off the press! (Past-Present-Future blog) – Are you following Smadar Belkind Gerson’s research into the Bloomfields? Check out her latest discovery!

On Geni

• Monday Recap for January 28, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Silas Wright Titus – Are you related to “The Water Wizard”? Learn more about Silas Wright Titus’s family tree!

Profile of the Day

• Ludvig Holberg
• Robert Frost
• Anton Hansen Tammsaare
• Justin Timberlake
• Langston Hughes

Silas Wright Titus

Silas Wright Titus, known as “The Water Wizard”, was an engineer who discovered and patented deep water pumping technology. He also discovered early water supplies for New York City and other towns and cities in the United States in the late nineteenth century.

Silas Titus

His father Colonel Silas Titus was a military officer who fought in the American Civil War in the Union Army. In 1835, Titus took a stage coach to New York City travelling through Buffalo and Albany. He saw the first railroad in New York running from Schenectady to Albany and he was impressed by the new technology that he organized a town meeting upon his return to Detroit that approved the building of a railroad from Detroit to Ypsilanti, Michigan. He became one of the commissioners of the Detroit and Shiawasse Railroad Company which was responsible for the first continuous 30 mile stretch of railroad in the United States. Although Titus was a Seventh-day Adventist his marriage to Eliza McCarthy was performed by Catholic Bishop John DuBois, it became the first catholic marriage record in Onondaga County, New York.

The Genealogy Sphere

• Cpt Edward Doherty – the man who tracked down an assassin (The Sligo Champion) – Interesting article about the man who lead the hunt and capture of John Wilkes Booth
• My Grandmother’s Writings Part Two: File Cabinets and Beer Boxes (nocategories.net) – Tip on keeping things organized when repacking collections of materials
• O death! Thy name is woman (The Legal Genealogist blog) – Judy Russel delves into the history of women and the death penalty
• Calling Up the Ancestors: Genealogist Megan Smolenyak (Irish America) – Irish American magazine interviews genealogist Megan Smolenyak and talk DNA and celebrity genealogies
• What’s in a name? A family’s history (Charlotte Observer) – The town of Huntersville, NC renames a street after the Walters family, who have lived on the same street for five generations
• Hemingway documentary chronicles family history of mental illness (KansasCity.com) – A new documentary from Mariel Hemingway chronicles her family’s history with mental illness

On Geni

• Monday Recap for January 21, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – William E. Dodge, Sr. – Learn more about abolitionist and Native American rights activist William E. Dodge, Sr.’s family tree
• Alfred Hitchcock Travels Abroad – Check out Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 immigration form

Profile of the Day

• Louis XVI
• D.W. Griffith
• John Hancock
• Ernest Borgnine
• Tom Jobim

When you take a closer look at this document, you can find a ton of useful genealogical information. This document shows Hitchcock took TWA NC 513 departing from Paris on May 25, 1946 and arrived in New York the next day. His full name, labeled “Given Name” and “Family Name,” is written as Alfred Joseph Hitchcock. He gives his age as 46 and his sex as male. His country of citizenship is England. Under destination, Hitchcock states he was heading to his home at 10957 Bellagio Road Los Angeles, California. He lived at this residence with his wife, Alma Hitchcock.

Here’s were it gets really interesting – the document also contains Hitchcock’s passport number: RP 1403899 issued in Philadelphia on March 20, 1946. His ticket was issued in London, England on May 24 and was paid for by Vanguard Films, the production company behind Hitchock’s 1946 film Notorious.

I found this document to be really intriguing. Also included is his physical description – height: 5′ 8”; complexion: flesh; color of hair: brown; color of eyes: brown; race: white; married. When asked if he could read and write, Hitchcock said “yes” to both. His calling or occupation is listed as “Motion Picture Dir.”

As you proceed to the other questions, you’ll notice that they can potentially provide you with new clues. These include questions about the passenger’s health (both mental and physical), criminal history and deformities or marks of identification. Hitchcock answered “no” to most of these, but if he hadn’t, imagine how many different directions his answers could have taken you!

Have you found immigration forms in your genealogical research? What interesting discoveries have you made? Tell us in the comments below!

Click here to view the full document

William E. Dodge, Sr.

William E. Dodge, Sr. was a founding member of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and represented New York’s 8th congressional district in the United States Congress for a portion of the 39th United States Congress in 1866-1867. He was a noted abolitionist and Native American rights activist, and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865-1883.

He was born on September 4, 1805 in Hartford, Connecticut to David Low Dodge and Sarah Cleveland. David Dodge helped establish the New York Peace Society, he managed the first cotton factory built in Connecticut. Dodge, Sr. married Melissa Phelps who was the daughter of Anson Greene Phelps and Olivia Eggleston. Dodge and his father-in-law Anson founded the mining firm Phelps, Dodge and Company, one of America’s largest mining companies. 

He built the Macon and Brunswick Railroad along with his associates, connecting Macon to what was then a remote area of the state. He was also a founding member of the Board of Trustees for the Syrian Protestant College which was later renamed the American University of Beirut.

His eldest son William Earl Dodge, Jr. was one of two controlling partners in the Phelps, Dodge and Company for many years. Dodge, Jr. married Sarah Hoadley, daughter of David Hoadley who was president of the Panama Railroad Company. Dodge, Jr. and his cousin, Daniel Willis James, transformed the Phelps, Dodge and Company from a placid and profitable import business into one of the world’s largest and wealthiest mining corporations.

Dodge, Jr.’s daughter Grace Hoadley Dodge donated about $1.5 million and many years of service to philanthropic work. She was the main source of funds for the New York College for the Training of Teachers, which became Teachers College, and subsequently a school of Columbia University.

Elizabeth Clementine Stedman, sister of William E. Dodge, Sr., was first married to Edmund B. Stedman and later to U.S. diplomat and politician, William Burnet Kinney. Elizabeth was an American writer, she published Felicita, a Metrical Romance (1855), Poems (1867), and Bianco Capello, A Tragedy, written during her time abroad in Europe. Her son by her first marriage, Edmund Clarence Stedman was an American poet, critic, essayist, banker and scientist. He was one of the first seven chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1904.

Did you know that Dodge County, Georgia is named after William E. Dodge, Sr.?

Check out William E. Dodge, Sr.’s family tree and see how you maybe related!

The Genealogy Sphere

• “Grandma Did What?” Digging Up the Roots of Family Lore (Wall Street Journal) – Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak gives a brief summary of some common misperceptions passed down by families
• Address book is a family history, bound by tradition (MPR News) – Do you still have a physical address book? A great article to remind us that these old address books hold breadcrumbs of life changes
• Family history: the shifting secrets of our genealogies – in pictures (The Guardian) – A look into how attitudes on privacy have changed over the last 200 years
• DNA: the privacy sky is not falling (The Legal Genealogist blog) – Judy Russell’s recent blog post about DNA testing in genealogy should help calm some fears about privacy
• The Baldwin Sisters share a little family history (KPCNews.com) – A touching story about how an orphaned twin became a part of the family

On Geni

• Monday Recap for January 14, 2013 – Last week’s recap
• Family Tree Tuesday – Mariana Victoria of Spain – Learn more about Mariana Victoria of Spain’s family tree

Profile of the Day

• Amy Poehler
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Muhammad Ali
• Kevin Costner