Genealogy

Here are my favorite quotes about genealogy and family history from well-known writers. Some are intriguing, some are a warning to modern generations, and some are inspirational. You may have seen shorter forms of the full quotes that I present here. I find that these lists often miss most of the meaning. I’ll give you … Read more

What and where are the main archives of courts and prisons in Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries? Court and prisoner records can be invaluable resources for genealogy research. Some are only available online through a subscription site. However, there are some great free resources as well. This article covers six of the main … Read more

The RootsMagic family tree software is owned by RootsMagic Inc. The software company was founded in 1986 under a different name by Bruce Buzbee, who remains President. Buzbee created a prior family history product that was licensed through several larger companies. He released RootsMagic independently in 2002. This article looks at the early events that … Read more

Illumina has a fascinating foundation story that illustrates the early days of the biotech industry. Two investors pulled together a small team of scientists who had been involved in other startups. The group formed a new company to take advantage of innovative research in technology. Well, maybe the bare bones don’t sound so fascinating. But … Read more

It can be difficult to delete a family tree or even a single individual from Geni. In some circumstances, you will not be able to remove every tree profile that you added to Geni. This depends on whether your tree is isolated or if it is shared with other Geni members. This article goes through … Read more

The GEDCOM standards are designed to allow the exchange of family trees between different software and websites. But few platforms conform strictly to the guidelines. A GEDCOM validation tool will warn you about potential issues in your GEDCOM files. This article is a review and comparison of two free GEDCOM validation tools. I’ve also got … Read more

Geni offers five types of GEDCOM export, and each type includes a different set of your relatives. This article explains the differences, and which option to choose for what you want to achieve. We also cover the limits on what you can export. And no, you can’t download the entire Geni World Tree! How To … Read more

Uploading a GEDCOM file to the Geni website is trickier than with other sites. You may have some extra work to do to ensure that the import of your family tree completes successfully. It will save you time and headaches if you know about the challenges and pitfalls in advance. This article shows you what … Read more

When I first encountered Geni.com, I was intrigued by the site’s concept of a collaborative family tree. So I wanted to take a closer look at the Geni World Family Tree. The Geni.com website was a little tricky to figure out, so this article covers all the questions that I had to go searching elsewhere … Read more