February 2012

Today, we highlight the “Rock Star of Opera,” Gioachino Rossini, who was born February 29, 1792 in Pesaro, Italy. Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas, including his most famous Italian comedy, The Barber of Seville. He is considered one of the most popular opera composers in history. Have you seen today’s Google Doodle in honor of Rossini’s Leap Day birthday? Gioachino Rossini’s family tree is still pretty small. Perhaps you can help build… Read the full story

On February 28, 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Frances Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA at Cambridge University. Their research was instrumental in understanding how genetic information is passed and revolutionized the study of biology and medicine. Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their historic scientific breakthroughs. James D. Watson is connected to over 60 million profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree. How are… Read the full story

Here are this week’s links! The Genealogy Sphere Marque these records (The Legal Genealogists) – Tips on using letters of marque and reprisal documents in genealogy Use Internet to dig up family roots (ClintonNews.com) – Tips on using the Internet to research your African-American ancestry Mormon Baptism for the Dead: History and Explanation of an Unusual Ritual (Huffington Post) – There’s been some controversy lately surrounding this Mormon practice. Here’s a brief explanation of the… Read the full story

On February 27, 1807, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine. Longfellow was considered one of the most popular poets of his day. His works were significant in shaping the American character and legacy, especially his poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” which created the American legend of Paul Revere‘s Midnight Ride. Longfellow was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri‘s The Divine Comedy. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is connected to over 60 million… Read the full story

The 84th annual Academy Awards are this Sunday, February 26 with comedian Billy Crystal returning as host. Are you excited to see who will win Hollywood’s most coveted prize? This year, best buds George Clooney and Brad Pitt will both be vying for the Oscar for Best Actor. Did you know the pranking two-some are also related? Brad Pitt is George Clooney’s 18th cousin twice removed! Let’s take a look at how some of this… Read the full story

Who Do You Think You Are? is back tonight with an all new episode featuring actor Blair Underwood. Follow him on his journey as DNA testing and newly discovered documents help him to reconnect with his ancestors. Blair Underwood is connected to over 60 million profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree. How are you related?   View Blair Underwood’s Geni Profile  

Today we highlight popular inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, whose groundbreaking discoveries help give birth to the commercialization of electricity. In 1856, Tesla was born in the village of Smiljan in what is now Croatia. He pioneered concepts that paved the way for modern alternating current (AC) electricity and in 1891, invented the Tesla coil. Nikola Tesla is connected to over 60 million people in Geni’s World Family Tree. How are you related? View Nikola Tesla’s… Read the full story

Nearly all National Scout Associations throughout the world are celebrating Founder’s Day or World Thinking Day today in remembrance of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, and his wife, Olave Baden-Powell, founder of Girl Guide movement. Coincidentally, the husband and wife team both share February 22 as their birthday. Robert Baden-Powell was a lieutenant-general in the British Army. An avid outdoorsman, Robert published the first book of the scouting movement, Scouting for Boys, in… Read the full story

On February 22, 1975, actress and producer Drew Barrymore was born in Culver City, California. Barrymore was born into the famous Barrymore dynasty of actors. She is the granddaughter of acting legend John Barrymore. After her breakout role in ET: the Extra-Terrestrial at the age of 6, Barrymore quickly became one of the most recognized child actors. Following a turbulent childhood and adolescent drug addiction, Barrymore successfully transitioned from a child actor to a highly… Read the full story

We hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! To help you get back into the swing of things, check out some great articles from the world of genealogy! The Genealogy Sphere Hitler had son with French teen (The Telegraph) – New evidence reveals Hitler fathered a son Lost and found (The Hindu) – Geni was featured in an article for The Hindu in India Rediscovering family roots (BuffaloNews.com) – A local genealogical society helps novice genealogists… Read the full story

Yesterday, February 20, marked the anniversary of the death of abolitionist and equal rights leader Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland. In 1838, Douglass escaped from slavery and soon became one of the leading figures of the Abolitionist movement. He wrote several autobiographies detailing his life as a slave, including his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which became influential in its support for abolition. Frederick… Read the full story

This Monday, February 20, the U.S. celebrates Presidents Day across the country. Although the holiday was created specifically to remember George Washington‘s birthday, observance of the holiday has expanded to honor all the presidents of the United States. Check out how you can celebrate Presidents Day on Geni! U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents Project   A great Geni project is dedicated to all the U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents. Check out the family trees of… Read the full story

Tomorrow, February 18th, is musician and artist Yoko Ono‘s birthday. Ono instantly gained worldwide fame when she married Beatles front man John Lennnon in 1969. During their marriage, the pair often collaborated on musical and art projects to promote peace. After Lennon’s death, Ono continued her work in avant-garde art, music and film making. She has also continued her philanthropic contributions to the arts, peace and AIDS outreach programs. Yoko Ono is connected to over 60 million… Read the full story

This Saturday, February 18, will mark the 90th anniversary of famed Estonian writer and poet Juhan Smuul‘s birth. Smuul wrote several novels, often based on his life in his native islands of Muhu. In 1965, he was named People’s Writer of the Estonian SSR. Over his career, Smuul was honored with several prestigious awards for his work. He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1952 and the Lenin Prize in 1961. Johan Smuul is connected to over… Read the full story

Today we’re excited to announce the first step in some major new enhancements to Geni Projects. Projects were first introduced over a year ago as a way for users to organize and work together on groups of related profiles. We think you are all going to love our new changes to Projects. Check out the enhancements below! A New Look   We’ve given our Projects page a makeover. Featured Projects are displayed right at the top… Read the full story

On February 15, 1874, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was born. Shackleton was one of the principle figures during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. His expeditions to Antarctica pioneered routes into the continent’s interior. In 1909, Shackleton and his team made a southern march and established a record Farthest South latitude at 88° 23′ S, by far the closest convergence in exploration history at the time. For his achievement, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII. Sir… Read the full story

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Throughout the world, Valentine’s Day is celebrated by the exchange of candy, flowers and gifts with loved ones. In honor of this romantic day, we’re featuring the Famous Couples in History project on Geni! Check out the family trees of some of the most prominent couples from all over the world. Here you will find a wide range of famous relationships, including historical figures Mark Antony and Cleopatra and the celebrity couple… Read the full story

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today, we highlight Giacomo Casanova, an Italian adventurer and author whose name has become synonymous with the art of seduction. Although history remembers him best as a womanizer, Casanova is also recognized as one of the foremost chroniclers of his age. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th… Read the full story

A recap of the past couple of weeks in links! The Genealogy Sphere Genealogy Research vs. Privacy Restrictions (Archives.com) – Talking about privacy restrictions in genealogy research Genealogy: FamilySearch indexes all U.S. censuses, will add 1940 quickly after April release (The Salt Lake City Tribune) – 1940s census records are coming soon! How NBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Picks Its Celebrities (Investors.com) – Ever wonder how the celebrities in Who Do You Think… Read the full story

Today we remember iconic singer Whitney Houston, who passed away on Saturday, February 11 at the age of 48. A six-time Grammy winner, Houston achieved massive success with her signature song, “I Will Always Love You” from her film, The Bodyguard. An inspiration to musicians all over the world, Houston will be remembered as one of the greatest artists in history. Whitney Houston’s profile is not yet connected to Geni’s World Family Tree. Perhaps you can… Read the full story

Tonight, an all new episode of Who Do You Think You Are? features Oscar winning actress Marisa Tomei and her journey to Italy to learn the truth about the death of her great grandfather. Marisa Tomei’s family tree on Geni is still pretty small and not yet connected to the World Family Tree. After tonight’s episode, perhaps you will be able to help connect her to over 60 million profiles on Geni!   View Marisa… Read the full story

RootsTech did a great job streaming several of the presentations live. Did you catch Noah Tutak’s session online? Here are the slides to his presentation, “Privacy in a Collaborative Environment.” Description: When we work together on genealogy, we’re no longer are constrained to “My tree” or “Your tree.” Suddenly, we’re all working on “Our tree.” In this presentation, Noah Tutak, CEO of Geni.com, will explain how to properly handle private and public data in a… Read the full story

On February 9, 1945, actress Mia Farrow was born. She is best known for her role as a woman pregnant with Satan’s baby in the film Rosemarry’s Baby. She has devoted much of her life to humanitarian efforts and is a strong advocate of children’s rights. As an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Farrow has worked extensively to raise awareness for children in Africa. Mia Farrow is connected to over 60 million profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree. How… Read the full story

The winners of the RootsTech‘s Developer Challenge were announced on the second day of the conference. The challenge called for developers to create a new application or service that introduces a new concept or innovation in family history. The grand prize went to Jimmy Zimmerman for NoteFuser, which brings the power of Evernote to your genealogical research. After receiving his award, Jimmy stopped by the Geni booth to give us a brief demo of NoteFuser with Geni…. Read the full story

On February 8, 1828, French author Jules Verne was born. A pioneer of the science fiction genre, Verne wrote about space, air and underwater travel before the practical means of air travel and submarines had been invented and before any means of space travel had been devised. He is best known for his novels, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days…. Read the full story

We had a great showing for each of our sessions at Rootstech. For those of you who couldn’t make it to our presentations, we’ll be posting the slides to the blog throughout the week. Be sure to keep an eye out for all four presentations! Below you’ll find Michael Berkovich’s presentation, “Better Genealogy Through APIs.” Description: With the advent of online and cooperative genealogy, APIs have become vital in the progression of the industry. In… Read the full story

On February 7, 1477, philosopher Sir Thomas More was born. More is best remembered for his controversial book, Utopia. In the last years of his life, More served as Lord Chancellor and an important councilor to King Henry VIII of England. However, when he refused to accept the king as the head of the Church of England, More was tried for treason and beheaded. Today, he is recognized as a saint within the Catholic Church…. Read the full story

We had a great time meeting everybody at Rootstech in Salt Lake City, Utah. Charles and I were joined by our CEO Noah Tutak, CTO Justin Balthrop and our amazing engineer Michael Berkovich. We had a blast talking to many Geni users who stopped by the booth. Many even came in Geni T-shirts! The first day kicked off on a high note. In Thursday’s keynote, Geni was mentioned during the announcement of a new Chrome browser… Read the full story

Did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday? In a tense and exciting game, the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots 21 – 17. Today we highlight Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who was named Super Bowl XLVI MVP. Manning now has two Super Bowl wins under his belt, and was previously named MVP after the Giants’ 2008 Super Bowl win. Eli Manning is connected to over 60 million profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree…. Read the full story

In anticipation for RootsTech 2012 genealogy conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, we interviewed Geni Curator Randy Stebbing, who graciously agreed to share with us his experience working on projects about Mormon genealogy on Geni. Below is part 2 of his interview. You can find part 1 here. What are some of the biggest challenges of doing Mormon genealogy? One of the challenges is working with profiles that lived recently. Many of these profiles are initially… Read the full story

Season 3 of Who Do You Think You Are? kicks off tonight with an all new episode centered around actor Martin Sheen. Did you know that Martin Sheen’s real name is Ramón Estévez? Tune in tonight to watch Sheen discover his family history. Martin Sheen is not yet connected to the world family tree. Perhaps after tonight’s episode you may be able to help connect him to over 61 million profiles on Geni!   View Martin… Read the full story

In anticipation for RootsTech 2012 genealogy conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, we interviewed Geni Curator Randy Stebbing, who graciously agreed to share with us his experience working on projects about Mormon genealogy on Geni. Here is part 1 of his interview. Check back tomorrow for part 2. You’ve been instrumental in creating several projects about Early Mormon Leaders and Pioneers. What first sparked your interest in this area? You might say its “in my… Read the full story

Today, is the first day of Rootstech! In honor of this event, we’re highlighting Brigham Young‘s Geni profile. Brigham Young was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement and founder of Salt Lake City, Utah. Young even served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Brigham Young is connected to over 61 million profiles in Geni’s World Family Tree. How are you related?   View Brigham Young’s Geni Profile  

On February 1, 1901, actor Clark Gable was born. Considered an acting legend, Gable is perhaps best remembered for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 classic film Gone with the Wind. Did you know that during World War II, Gable enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps? He joined shortly after his third wife, actress Carole Lombard died in a plane crash while returning from a World War II Bond tour. Clark Gable… Read the full story