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My Heritage Buys Geni.com

Israeli based genealogy site My Heritage just purchased competitor Geni.com. The purchase will allow My Heritage to acquire billions more global records, making the company a huge competitor in the genealogy market.

 

 

 

The addition of the Geni.com records brings My Heritage up to approximately 72 million registered users. These numbers elevate My Heritage as a serious competitor to Ancestry.com, which had about 1.87 million users as of the first quarter of 2012.  One more point that solidifies My Heritage as a global force in online genealogy research is the site’s focus on collaboration and record sharing: which gives it a great social media feel.

Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of My Heritage commented. “Today’s news is a major turning-point for the family history industry, giving us significant new resources to extend our market leadership and deliver new value to families worldwide,”

Adding…

“Well established as an innovative and social brand, Geni.com is a natural addition to My Heritage and together we look forward to taking collaborative family history to new heights. Over the past few years our dedicated workforce has transformed My Heritage from a garage start-up into a successful, dynamic and global company. With new funds, impressive new talent from Geni.com and new world-class leaders on our Board, we look forward to fulfilling our potential and accomplishing our mission to bring family history to the masses.”

Along with the new records, My Heritage also gains some new talent in the form of Geni.com employees and engineers. One more addition to the My heritage family will be founder of Geni.com David Sacks, who will take a seat on the My Heritage board of directors.

About the sale, Sacks says, “What we’ve learned over the years building Geni is that there are three key assets that customers want in the genealogy space: records, private trees, and the world family tree. This deal brings together all of these pieces to form the most complete offering in the genealogy space. Together with My Heritage, we look forward to continuing Geni’s mission of connecting humanity through a single family tree”

Although united, the two companies will operate separately keeping their independent services: yet allowing users an option to collaborate. A system of two-way information exchange between the sites is a huge added-value initiative for users of both sites. My Heritage users gain additional records and Geni.com users gain My Heritage’s Smart Matching technology (a fantastic tool that finds common matches between user’s family trees) and access to My Heritage DNA kits for those interested in genetic genealogy.

Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15 marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. A month long celebration of Hispanic culture that recognizes the role Hispanic Americans played in the forming of North America.

From Columbus’s discovery of the “New World” under the patronage of Spanish monarchs to the earliest continuous North American settlement in St. Augustine, Florida. Hispanic people have played an important part in the shaping of a nation.

 

Hispanic Heritage Month began, as a week long celebration first made official by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968.  In 1988, President Ronald Reagan expanded it to a month long salute beginning on 15 September and running through to 15 October.

Today, an estimated 14% of US citizens claim Hispanic roots. That adds up to approximately 42.7 million Americans with a heritage that can be traced back to Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean and both Central and South America.

For genealogy beginners with an interest in learning more about their Spanish American ancestry here are a few great places for you to begin climbing the branches of your family tree.

Spanish American Genealogical Association (SAGA)

Founded in April 1987, SAGA is a non-profit organization interested in collecting, researching, indexing and digitizing genealogical resources related to the earliest Spanish and Mexican settlers in Texas.

Hispanic Genealogy Facebook Page

A fantastic page where you can go to ask questions related to Hispanic genealogy.

FamilySearch.org

Family Search has a total of 174 collections related to Hispanic Genealogy including Catholic Church records, Census, Civil Registrations and Immigration, in addition to some very early birth, baptism, marriage and death records.

Celebrations

If you want to get in on some of the Hispanic Heritage events this month, visit the Library of Congress site where you can start your celebrations with Family Day: Central American Traditions at the American History Museum, Smithsonian Institution: which promises to be a day filled with music, dance and art.

While you are there spend a little time learning about the culture-hero and deity, Quetzalcoatl, Hispanic American war veterans  and Hispanic genealogy. All part of this month’s special exhibits and collections.

Do Genealogy Specific Search Engines Simplify Your Family Tree Research?

 Have you ever wished for a genealogy exclusive search engine that could:

Organize and simplify your family tree research?
Cut out all of the garbage returns and zero in on your specific search criteria?
Do it FAST and FREE

 

A search engine like this is on the top of my family history wish list and while  it seems that every other genealogy search engine I come across is making claims that their tools use the ultimate in “Intelligent Search” or “Smart Technology”:  I have yet to find one that fulfills all promises made.

In reality, what I have found is that most sites that make these claims simply redirect you to the major known genealogy sites or query boards.

While Mocavo comes close and Google does an excellent job with the right search terms   the best strategy is simply gather up your family tree templates and go straight to a reputable record source such as Family Search, Ancestry.com or the archive/repository for the area you are searching.

In fact, if your search is geography specific it may be more worth your time and money to join the family history society that covers your specific location.

Finding the all the time you want to spend researching your family tree can be hard enough without wasting it on useless searches that yield few results.

Deep Ancestry and a Rediscovered Scottish Tribe

Have you heard the term “Deep Ancestry” a process that uses both mtDNA and Y-DNA to find the most ancient roots on your family tree?

This week Scotland’s DNA Project has come forward with some groundbreaking results using this process. Population Geneticist Dr. Jim Wilson of Edinburgh University along with journalist Alistair Moffat reported that the project has found one of Scotland’s long lost tribes.

 

 

The tribe called the Maeatae lived about 208 AD in the area around Stirling. History documents them in the works of the Roman writer Dio Cassius who recorded them as a hostile tribe living close to the Antonine Wall and in Adomnán’s Life of Columba (Saint Adomnán of Iona (627/8 – 704)). All references to the tribe disappeared after the 8^th century…until now.

Moffat best known for his book The Scots: A Genetic Journey states “When the great Roman emperor Septimius Severus invaded Scotland with the largest army ever seen north of the Tweed, 40,000 legionaries and auxiliaries and a supporting fleet, he fought the Maeatae. They were mentioned by Roman historians as a fierce people and much later, noted by Adomnan, the biographer of St Columba. And then they disappeared from history,” Moffat goes on to say, “Now they are found. DNA has uncovered a high concentration of a distinctive marker clustered around Stirling and the foothills of the Ochils – the homeland of the fierce Maeatae. These are stories only DNA can tell.”

Other results from this study include:

• Nearly 100 distinctive Y-DNA groups have been found thus far
• One percent of Scottish men are descended from Tuareg and Berber Tribesmen of the Sahara
• The basic lineages of Scotland and England are similar
• Actor Tom Conti is a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte

Test participants paid around 170 pound to have their DNA tested. From these, lineages were discovered for one Viking, one Arab, a Hebridean and three Saxons.

The future of the project promises even more excitement as Dr. Wilson reveals that they will be looking even closer at Neanderthal DNA in Scotland.

Adoption and Genealogy: A Primer for Adoptees

Growing up in a family with a very healthy and robust “Scotts” pride brought the significance of family history home to me at a young age. From my family I gained an awareness of ancestry. Additionally, I experienced the sense of connection that only comes from knowing your ancestral roots…from the unique perspective of an adopted child.

As an adopted child, no matter how wonderful my family was at involving me in every aspect of their proud heritage, I was always aware that it did not really belong to me. I was equally aware that one day I wanted to trace my own lineage.

Through countless conversations with other adoptees, I know that this is a common theme.  As a result, I have come to believe that there is an intrinsic yearning in all of us to seek out and understand our ancestral and cultural origins.

Adoption is a Unique Genealogy Challenge

Genealogy for adoptees presents unique challenges on both emotional and practical levels. Among them are restrictive laws, ethical considerations, rights to privacy and even a sense of taboo associated with an adoptee attempting to trace their family tree.

Not least, among these concerns is the need to be sensitive to the feelings of an adoptive family, who may or may not support the wish to uncover a separate family history. Having said this, it also bears mentioning that an adoptees wish to uncover their genetic origins does not presume a desire to know their birth parents.

Still, out of a sense of loyalty and sometimes a guilty feeling of betrayal, sadly many adoptees wait until their adoptive parents have passed on before beginning any research. Clearly, genealogy for adoptees is a complicated matter that requires a good deal of careful consideration, patience, understanding and support.

If you are an adoptee, who wants to research your genetic family tree here are a few suggestions you may want to revue before beginning.

 

Seek Support

Before you begin your genealogical journey, join an adoption support group. Meeting other adoptees with similar interests in family tree research can be a great source of support and advice.

 

First Steps

Before you can begin your research, you are going to need a little basic information; you can start by asking yourself the following questions:

Do you know your place of birth? (Hospital, town/city, state, country)

Do you know if an attorney or agency handled your adoption?

Have you been told anything about your birthparents or the circumstances of your adoption?

Do you have a copy of your birth certificate or adoption decree?

 

Prepare Yourself

Before you find a birth parent, you should fully understand the need for discretion. Their lives may have changed significantly from the time they gave you up. It is possible that not all members of the family are aware of the adoption. Even if they are, they may not be supportive of any new contact. Respect their right to privacy.

 

Once you have accomplished all of the above steps, you will have gained some understanding of what you are taking on. You will also be far more prepared to begin your research in earnest.

Genealogy Beginner supports the efforts of all adoptees in their quest to discover their roots. Join us on the Ask a Genealogist forum where your questions about genealogy and adoption are encouraged by our resident genealogist, who is also an adoptee.

 

Image Credit: Nath_013 via Photobucket

 

 

 

How to Make a Better Family Tree

Many families take great pride in their ancestry; maintaining and preserving their family history in great detail. For countless others, knowing their origins determines for them, to a great degree, how they see themselves today. When you first set out on this journey and begin to learn just how much time and effort are required to study your family’s roots it can be a little daunting. For this reason some people may shy away from this rewarding pass time thinking it too difficult.

 

 

That is simply because they do not yet know that there are many people in the world of genealogy only too happy to reach out and lend a hand to beginners.

People as resources

One of the best things about taking on the task of researching your family tree are the people you will meet along the way, those who share your passion for genealogy. People who can help point you towards great resources or who will take the time to give a little advice when you are stuck at the dreaded brick wall and are just not sure where to look next. Persons who can help you get off to the best possible start by taking the time to introduce you to the many tools that will make your research easier.

Making a better family tree is not always about finding those important names, dates and places or about filling in as many blanks as possible. You will discover that as you as you add the branches, it is the friends you make along the way that put the blossoms on your tree.

Great resources available here: Free Blank Family Tree Template.

Top 25 most popular 2009 genealogy blogs

ProGenealogists recently announced their “25 Most Popular Genealogy Blogs for 2009” awards. We are very honored to be part of this group. A glance through the other blogs on the list is truly humbling. It’s even more humbling to read ProGenealogists announcement, noting that “a Google search for genealogy blogs currently results in nearly half a million options, with over seven times that number for ‘family history’ blogs.” I’m not certain how to do a Google search that returns the number of blogs, but to search blog posts, try http://blogsearch.google.com .

At the time I wrote this article a search for the word genealogy returned 857,000+ blog posts containing the word genealogy. A search for “family history” (including the quotes), returns 674,000+ posts.

Subscribe to new Google Search results

The search results page contains one of my secrets for uncovering news stories that you won’t see on the other genealogy news sites. You can subscribe to the results of your blog search by clicking one of the options in the left margin under the heading, “Subscribe.” This will give you an email or news feed of all the new results for your search. That’s only 6,600+ articles you’ll have to read each day to cover all blog posts with either the phrase “family history” or the word “genealogy.” Better yet, let your favorite genealogy news blogs shift through all those posts while you use the email option, called a Google Alert, to set up a Internet-wide sweep for new information on those ancestors you’re trying to find!

And thank goodness the President’s choice for new First Pet is done. Several months ago Google changed their search algorithm. My Google alert for FamilySearch started returning results containing “…First Family searches for dog…” To prevent this behavior, include quotes around words you don’t want Google to break into separate words. But I digress…

Measurement Challenges

Choosing the 25 most popular genealogy blogs had special challenges not encountered when measuring the 50 most popular genealogy websites.

“Many people read blog entries through RSS feeds and other means and seldom actually visit the blog’s website,” according to Kory Meyerink, noted genealogist and vice president at ProGenealogist. Instead of website traffic, ProGenealogist turned to Technorati rankings. Even this alternative proved problematic, as Technorati doesn’t include Dick Eastman’s popular online blog/newsletters. This led ProGenealogist to include other factors:

Hundreds of genealogy blogs were evaluated based on their overall content, Technorati rating, and industry experience. Due to the ever-changing nature of the blogosphere and the authority basis of Technorati rankings, it is anticipated that this list will change frequently.

When I first started blogging years ago (has it really been that long?) I found my Technorati authority rating changed so erratically, I couldn’t stand to follow it. Since I seem to be in widget-mode of late, here’s a widget that displays my authority rating in real time:

View Ancestry Insider authority

Like other widgets I’ve posted lately, it is likely you won’t be able to see it (adjacent to “View Ancestry Insider authority”) if you read this article in your email or news reader. View this article online (click here) to see the widget.

The Technorati Authority of a blog is a count of the number of other blogs that have posted links to it during the previous six months. Since other winners of the most popular blogs award have increased my authority by posting the list of winners, I’m honored to return the favor. They are:

1. About.com Genealogy (Kimberly Powell)
2. Eastman Online Newsletter* (Dick Eastman)
3. Genea-Musings (Randy Seaver)
4. Creative Gene (Jasia)
5. DearMYRTLE (Pat Richely)
6. AnceStories (Miriam Midkiff)
7. Genealogue (Chris Dunham)
8. footnoteMaven (Anonymous)
9. Genetic Genealogist (Blaine Bettinger)
10. Tracing The Tribe: Jewish Genealogy Blog (Schelly Talalay Dardashti)
11. GenaBlogie (Craig Manson)
12. Olive Tree Genealogy Blog (Lorine McGinnis Schulze)
13. Steve’s Genealogy Blog (Stephen J. Danko)
14. Ancestry.com (Juliana Smith)
15. TransylvanianDutch (John Newmark)
16. GenDisasters (Stu Beitler)
17. Genealogy Insider @ FamilyTree (Diane Haddad)
18. Think Genealogy (Mark Tucker)
19. California Genealogical Society and Library Blog (California Genealogical Society)
20. The Genealogy Guys (George G. Morgan and Drew Smith)
21. CanadaGenealogy, or, ‘Jane’s Your Aunt’ (Diane Rogers)
22. Ancestry Insider (Anonymous)
23. GenealogyBlog (Leland Meitzler)
24. Ancestor Search Blog (Kathi)
25. Genealoge (Hugh Watkins)                         /its a tie!/
    Legacy News (Legacy Tree Software)         /its a tie!/

(This posting is from The Ancestry Insider. Click the link to view the full article from its original source.)