Discover who made you what you are
EVERY Family has a story. Genes Reunited will help you discover yours. Find it at www.genesreunited.com.au Discover who made you what you are. Help build your family tree.
In its simplest form Genes Reunited is a great research tool and a wonderful way to contact other people who are researching the same names, all for a basic cost of $20 + a year.
You will need to fill in a family tree or pedigree chart which is available on the website.
Begin by entering information you already know into your family tree. This doesn’t have to be everything you know. Just make a start in the name or family you are most interested in.
You will receive replies from other people researching the same name, and an invitation to look at their tree. And an opportunity to send a message to the relative to see if you connect. A great sharing opportunity.
This money is totally justified and one of the strengths of Genes Reunited, ie is searching other members’ trees. Interacting to see if you connect and what they know. If they don’t connect, hit the delete button. Or proceed and look at their tree if permission is granted. This is a simple means to see if anyone else is researching the same family line as you.
Genes Reunited, originally known as Genes Connected, is a genealogy website that was launched in the UK in 2003 as a sister-site to Friends Reunited.
Since then it has grown to become one of the UK’S largest genealogy websites, with over 13 million members and over 780 million names listed. Genes Reunited holds millions of fully searchable newspaper pages in its British Newspaper Archive collection
Using the above databases, there are varying subscription categories. Amount of information supplied depends on the subscription,
Then it is possible to register for free, which will get you just so far … before having to pay the more expensive and comprehensive subscription.
Using the free capability I was able to enter my great-great grandfather’s name, year and place of birth, and given the opportunity to ‘view’ buttons in the boxes below the entry to view research results. There were no entries in Census, Land and Surveys,
But 33,712 entries in the British Newspaper Archives. Other options were Births, Marriages and Deaths; travel and migration, Armed Forces & Conflicts, Newspapers, Directories and Social History.
Once past these lists it was necessary to either pay-as-you-go or subscribe to one of the options available.
It is almost a one-stop shop and covers most of what you find in the major online databases offering information for you to search that is bound to contain information about your ancestors.
Use the historical records feature to find detailed information of ancestors from hundred’s of years ago.
For me, this site has changed dramatically and is now as part of the Brightsolid family.
Genes has continued to grow and increase its user base. It still continues to evolve and now contains a tree maker with advanced functionality, an extensive collection of over 780 million records and a fully functioning community forum. And is now one of several family history brands owned by DC Thomson including findmypast, and has a partnership with the British Library for British Newspaper Archive, an online repository that plans to digitise 40 million historic news pages over the coming decade.
It also offers historical records, such as census records from England, Wales and Scotland and birth, marriage and death records dating from 1837 to 2006. Online community boards give members the opportunity to chat and share advice. They can also upload and share family photos and documents. This is all in its latest paid incarnation of the program.
On closer investigation, I suspect that I would discover much of the material on ancestry.com and findmypast.com.au that is available in the platinum subscription.
If you get stuck there are active community boards.
With genes reunited you can keep all your family photos and records in one place.
Upload your family photos, letters, certificates and other documents.
Save records you find on the site and attach them to relatives.
Organise your photos, scanned documents and records into folders.
Share them with other members and see photos added by other people.
I suggest googling ‘genes reunited’ and reading instructions for yourself. Perhaps printing off instructions. But I do advise on having a go at the basic search during the holidays. You will be glad you do. I am warning, that it can be addictive.
Once discovering a name match, you, the researcher can contact the person and ask permission to look at their tree. An opportunity to write a comment. And you are off and running.
Dubbo & District Family History Society, ground floor, Community Arts Building, Western Plains Cultural Centre. Opening hours: Saturday 10am-4pm, Tuesday 1pm-4pm, Thursday 2pm-6pm, Friday 10am-1pm. Phone 68818635 in library hours. 0408845796 (ah).
DDFHS has an annual sliding subscription rate of $40 (for one person or two people living at the same address) + a once only $10 joining fee. (other membership categories also apply) that provide unlimited access to all records, plus the most important ingredient: help from library assistants.
New members are always welcome. All subscriptions will be due on January 1. Pay in DDFHS library after January 10, or post subscription to Dubbo and District Family History Society Box 868, Dubbo.
Also on offer is $10 casual fee per session which provides access to the huge collection of genealogical records and databases in the society. More or less a try, before you buy. Closed for Christmas from December 10 to January 10.
It is almost a one-stop shop and covers most of what you find in the major online databases offering information for you to search that is bound to contain information about your ancestors.