Genealogy Blog : GeneaNet News

Are You Related to Dennis Hopper?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 +0200

Hopper was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas, the son of Marjorie Mae (née Davis, July 12, 1917 - January 12, 2007) and Jay Millard Hopper (June 23, 1916 – August 7, 1982).

After World War II, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where the young Hopper attended Saturday art classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. At the age of 13, Hopper and his family moved to San Diego, where his mother worked as a lifeguard instructor and his father was a post office manager.

Dennis Hopper's Family Tree

Add a Slideshow of Family Pictures and Links to your Favorite Persons in your GeneaNet Online Family Tree

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 +0200

Club Privilege members can add up to 8 pictures that will be displayed in a slideshow in the home page of their Online Family Tree. These pictures can be linked to the page of an individual in the family tree.

Every GeneaNet member can add up to 8 Favorite Persons in the home page of their Online Family Tree to create a quick access to their individual page. Club Privilege members can also create a quick access to the charts and lists, and they can create two groups to organize their Favorite Persons.

Add a slideshow of family pictures

This option is reserved for Club Privilege members.

Select the 'Online Family Tree' tab in the main menu then click 'Presentation & Browsing':

Click 'Home Page' in the left sidebar:

Click 'Add a picture' to add a family picture to your slideshow (recommended size: 405x270 px):

Click 'Add a caption' to add a caption and to create a link to the page of an individual, a chart or a list in your Online Family Tree:

The head of your Online Family Tree home page will look like this:

Pictures are displayed one at a time as a slideshow and visitors can click the caption to be redirected to the page of an individual, a chart or a list in your family tree.

Add links to your Favorite Persons

Select the 'Online Family Tree' tab in the main menu, click 'Presentation & Browsing', then click 'Home Page' in the left sidebar as seen above.

Click the 'Favorite Persons' tab:

Click the 'Add a Favorite Person' to add a Favorite Person to the home page of your Online Family Tree and to create a Quick Access link to the page of an individual, a chart or a list:

Club Privilege members can create two groups to organize their Favorite Persons:

The center of your Online Family Tree home page will look like this:

Visitors can click these links to be redirected to the pages of your Favorite Persons in your family tree.

Are You Related to Katharine Hepburn?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:00:00 +0200

Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut, the second of six children. Her parents were Katharine Martha Houghton (1878–1951), a feminist who headed the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association and later fought for birth control with Margaret Sanger, and Thomas Norval Hepburn (1879–1962), a urologist at Hartford Hospital.

Katharine Martha instilled in her daughter the virtues of perseverance, independence and fortitude, teaching that women were equal to men. As a child, Hepburn joined her mother on several "Votes For Women" demonstrations.

Katharine Hepburn's Family Tree

The GeneaNet 'Individual Matches'

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:00 +0200

The GeneaNet 'Individual Matches' allow you to automatically search for individuals that may match with any of your ancestors in the GeneaNet database!

This powerful feature is reserved for GeneaNet Club Privilege members.

Other GeneaNet members can search for 'Individual Matches' in the Archival Records and Indexes but not in the collaborative family trees.

Go to the page of an individual in your Online Family Tree (GeneWeb) then click the 'Individual Matches' tab:

This will open a new page with the list of the individuals that may match with your ancestor as shown below:

If there are too many or not enough search results in the list, you can edit the search criteria:

- You can search by alternate spelling of name
- You can search for the full first name or only one of the first names
- You can ignore the place
- You can change the year range

Click the 'Archive & Indexes' box to search for 'Individual Matches' in the Archival Records and Indexes:

Are You Related to Orson Welles?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0200

Welles was born on May 6, 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, son of Richard Hodgdon Head Welles (1873, Missouri – December 28, 1930, Chicago, Illinois) and Beatrice Ives (1882 or 1883, Springfield, Illinois – May 10, 1924, Chicago, Illinois).

Despite his parents' affluence, Welles encountered many hardships in childhood. In 1919, his parents separated and moved to Chicago. His father, who had made a fortune as the inventor of a popular bicycle lamp, became an alcoholic and stopped working. Welles's mother, a concert pianist, played during lectures by Dudley Crafts Watson at the Chicago Art Institute to support her son and herself.

Orson Welles' Family Tree

Some GeneaNet Changes and New Options

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0200

Here are the latest GeneaNet changes and new options:

- The 'Online Family Tree > Configure' and 'Online Family Tree > Privacy' menus have changed
- A new 'Family Tree Owner' option has been added
- The number of attached archival records & pictures in your family tree has been added to the 'Quick Access' section
- A new link has been added to the 'My GeneaNet' menu and to the 'Online Family Tree' tab to easily and quickly access your Public Online Family Tree (GeneWeb)

Menu 'Online Family Tree > Configure'

The 'Online Family Tree > Configure' and 'Online Family Tree > Privacy' menus have changed:

- 'Privacy > Living Individuals" has been moved to 'Configure > Privacy'
- 'Configure > Places not Mapped', 'Configure > Access Rights' and 'Configure > Surname Prefix' have been moved to 'Configure > Other'
- 'Configure > Family Tree Root' is now 'Configure > Family Tree Root & Owner'

Family Tree Owner

If you are not the root of your family tree, you can select your name here. This option will be used in some future new features.

Information to be displayed in your Online Family Tree

You can now access this information from 'Online Family Tree > Configure > Other > Data':

And from 'Online Family Tree > Presentation & Browsing > Data > Advanced':

'Quick Access' section

The number of attached archival records & pictures in your family tree has been added to the 'Quick Access' section:

New 'View Online Family Tree' link

A new link has been added to the 'My GeneaNet' menu to easily and quickly access your Public Online Family Tree (GeneWeb):

The same in the 'Online Family Tree' tab:

Are You Related to Uma Thurman?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:15:00 +0200

Thurman was born on April 29, 1970, in Boston to Nena von Schlebrügge and Robert Thurman, and grew up mostly in Amherst, Massachusetts and Woodstock, New York.

Thurman's father, Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (b. August 3, 1941), was born in New York City, to Elizabeth Dean (Farrar), a stage actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr., an Associated Press editor and United Nations translator.

Uma Thurman's mother, Nena von Schlebrügge, was a model born in Mexico City in 1941. Thurman's maternal grandfather was Colonel Baron Friedrich Karl Johannes von Schlebrügge, a German military officer.

Uma Thurman's Family Tree

Some New GeneaNet Online Family Tree Options

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0200

Some new options have been added to your GeneaNet Online Family Tree:

- Some new display options have been added: Display day of week in events date, Add an icon to identify Sosa-Stradonitz (Ahnentafel) numbered individuals on family tree pages, and Display individual in the list of siblings
- The 'Edit' menu now contains options to easily edit your genealogy data
- A new 'Edit Individual' icon has been added
- A new 'Archive' section has been added to the 'History of Updates'
- The 'Archival Record' upload form is now auto-filled.

New Display Options

Go to 'Online Family Tree > Presentation & Browsing > Data > Advanced' to access some new display options:

- Display day of week in events date: Select 'Display' to add the day of week to the date of events on the family tree pages.
- Add an icon to identify Sosa-Stradonitz (Ahnentafel) numbered individuals on family tree pages: An icon can be automatically displayed on your family tree pages to easily identify your direct line of ancestors.
- Display individual in the list of siblings: All of the known siblings are displayed on the page of an individual. Select 'Display' to add the individual itself to the list of siblings.

'Edit' Menu

The 'Edit' menu – at the top right of your family tree pages – now contains options to easily edit your genealogy data:

New 'Edit Individual' Icon

Click the new wrench icon to quickly edit the individual:

History of Updates

This option is very useful if you have a collaborative family tree. A new 'Archive' section has been added to view the history of uploaded and deleted pictures. Click the 'History of Updates' link in the left sidebar:

Auto-filled 'Archival Record' Upload Form

When uploading a new Archival Record to your family tree, the form is now auto-filled with your genealoy data:

Are You Related to Shirley Temple?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:15:00 +0200

Shirley Jane Temple was born on April 23, 1928, in Santa Monica, California. She is the daughter of Gertrude Amelia Temple (née Krieger), a homemaker, and George Francis Temple, a bank employee. The family was of German, Dutch, and English ancestry.

She had two brothers, George Francis, Jr. and John Stanley. Mrs. Temple encouraged her infant daughter's singing, dancing, and acting talents, and in September 1931 enrolled her in Meglin's Dance School in Los Angeles, California. About this time, she began styling Shirley's hair in ringlets similar to those of silent film star Mary Pickford.

Shirley Temple's Family Tree

GeneaNet 'Guest' and 'Admin' Access Rights

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0200

'Guest' and 'Admin' Access Rights are available in your GeneaNet Public Online Family Tree (GeneWeb).

- Private data in your family tree is available (read only) to members with 'Guest' Access Rights.

- Members with 'Admin' Access Rights can edit your genealogy data.
Create new 'Guest' and 'Admin' Access Rights

Select the 'Contacts > Address Book' item in the drop down menu at the top right of the screen:

Your Address Book looks like the following screenshot.

- Search/Select Contacts: you can use the Search box or select an item the left sidebar, and you can also select the first letter of the name of your Contacts in the 'Go to' drop down list.

- Contact Information: you can edit some information and send a message to your Contacts.

- Statistics: program counts visits in the same day as one visit so you can easily see if your Contact is accessing your family tree every day of the week.

Click the 'Add a Person' button at the top right of the screen to invite people to be added to your Address Book and to be given 'Guest' and 'Admin' Access Rights to your Online Family Tree:

Enter the the name (or the GeneaNet username) and the email adress, then select the Access Rights to be given to every person you want to invite (address, expiry date, language, etc. are optional):

If there are many search results, you will be asked to select the correct person to invite:

An email will be automatically sent to every invited person.

Are You Related to David Letterman?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0200

Letterman was born on April 12, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.

Letterman lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, IN, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

David Letterman's Family Tree

The GeneaNet 'Email Alert by Individual'

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0200

GeneaNet has a powerful feature called 'Email Alert by Individual'.

Club Privilege members can receive accurate emails that aggregate the latest entries by name (with alternate spelling), first name (with alternate spelling), place, year, occupation and spouse.

And these Email Alerts can be automatically generated from data in your Online Family Tree!

Select the ‘Searches & Alerts > By Individual’ item in the drop down menu at the top right of the screen:

Configure Automatic Email Alerts

You can create Automatic Email Alerts from a selection of individuals in your family tree to receive a weekly email that aggregates the latest entries:

The option 'Sosa-Stradonitz (Ahnentafel) numbered individuals only' is forced on family trees that contain more than 2 000 individuals to limit the number of generated Email Alerts.

In most cases, if you select the option 'Only individuals with one or less parent', you will automatically create Email Alerts for the individuals who are at the end of the line in your family tree.

If you select the option 'Exclude results with no additional information', the results will not appear in your Email Alert If the GeneaNet member doesn't have any additional information on the ancestors (parents) of the individual.

View/Edit

You can edit the generated Automatic Email Alerts and you can manually add new alerts:

Edit your Email Alert or click 'Delete Email Alert':

Remember that you can easily create new Email Alerts by making a search in the GeneaNet database and clicking 'Create a new Individual Alert' at the bottom of the search results list:

Email Alert

You will receive a weekly email that aggregate the latest entries for your Email Alerts:

Click 'x Results' to view full list then click the 'Tree' icon in the latest column of the search results list to access the data:

Are You Related to Bette Davis?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0200

Ruth Elizabeth Davis, known from early childhood as "Betty", was born on April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ruth Augusta "Ruthie" (née Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney; her sister, Barbara "Bobby", was born October 25, 1909.

The family was Protestant, of English, French, and Welsh ancestry. In 1915, Davis's parents separated and Betty and Bobby attended a Spartan boarding school called Crestalban in Lanesborough, which is located in the Berkshires. In 1921, Ruth Davis moved to New York City with her daughters, where she worked as a portrait photographer.

Bette Davis' Family Tree

GeneaNet: Geolocate your Pictures of Headstones and Memorials on Google Maps

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0200

You can geolocate your pictures of headstones and memorials on Google Maps.

Just enter the name of the city/town and the street address to automatically geolocate your pictures.

Then, you and other members can search for a picture and easily view the nearby headstones and memorials on Google Maps.

Geolocate your pictures

Select the 'Pictures > Headstones & Memorials' item in the drop down menu at the top right of the screen:

Click the 'Update' icon in the last column of the list:

Click 'Edit Description' in the 'Edit' menu:

Enter a country, region, subregion/county, city/town, and a street address, then click 'Apply location' to preview the location on the map.

Click the 'OK' button below the map and your picture is now geolocated on Google Maps:

View the nearby headstones and memorials

When you are viewing a picture of headstone or memorial, click the 'Target' icon next to the street address to open Google Maps:

Click the link 'View the nearby headstones and memorials' at the top of the map:

The map shows the headstones and memorials within the 10 km from the site in question:

Of course, you can also use the Google Street View feature:

Are You Related to Reba McEntire?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0200

Reba Nell McEntire was born on March 28, 1955, outside of Kiowa, Oklahoma, to Jacqueline (née Smith) and Clark Vincent McEntire.

Her father and grandfather were champion steer ropers and her father was a World Champion Steer Roper three times (1957, 1958, and 1961). Her mother originally had plans to become a country music artist but decided not to pursue that professionally and worked as a schoolteacher. Instead, McEntire's mother taught her children how to sing.

Reba McEntire's Family Tree

New: Attach Archival Records & Pictures to your GeneaNet Online Family Tree

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0200

You can now attach Archival Records, pages from Archival Registers, family pictures, pictures of headstones and memorials, and coats of arms to your GeneaNet Online Family Tree!

You can also attach documents uploaded by other GeneaNet members.

An easy way to source your genealogy data!

Go to the page on an individual in your family tree, click the 'Archive' tab then move your mouse over the 'Edit' menu at the top right of the screen:

We have already wrote about the attachment of Archival Records before (see here). The menu has changed but the procedure is the same.

Let's see how to attach a picture of headstone to an individual in your family tree.

Click 'Add Headsrone/Memorial' in the 'Edit' menu and this will open a new window where you can select a picture or search for any picture in the GeneaNet database:

Of course, listed persons must have been indexed.

The picture of headstone is now attached to the individual in your family tree:

A new option is now available in the 'Edit' menu to edit the picture or to delete the attachment:

Just click 'Unattach' to unattach the picture from the individual in your family tree:

Are You Related to Sarah Jessica Parker?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:15:00 +0100

Sarah Jessica Parker was born on March 25, 1965 in Nelsonville, Ohio, the daughter of Barbara Parker (née Keck), a nursery school operator and teacher, and Stephen Parker, an entrepreneur and journalist.

Parker's father, a native of Brooklyn, was of Eastern European Jewish background; his family's original surname was "Bar-Kahn" ("son of Kohen"). Parker's mother was of English and German descent; through her mother, Parker is descended from Esther Elwell, one of the accused during the Salem witch trials.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Family Tree

New GeneaNet Feature: Build your Public Online Family Tree Template

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0100

A new GeneaNet feature lets you build your Online Family Tree template.

The template is divided into different sections as follows: Individual, Parents, Spouses and Children, Siblings, Relationships, Extended Family, Notes, Sources, and Family Tree Preview.

You can specify the information that you want to appear in each section: Basic, Extended, Full, and with Pictures.

Click 'Presentattion & Browsing' in the 'Online Family Tree' tab of the main menu:

Then click 'Data' in the left sidebar:

Or you can click ‘Presentattion & Browsing’ in the left sidebar of your Online Family Tree:

This will open a new page where you can select sections to display in your Online Family Tree:

Move you mouse over any icon in the left sidebar to preview section, then click the icon to confirm your selection:

Refresh or reload the page of your Online Family Tree to view changes:

GeneaNet - Planned Maintenance: Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0100

Due to a maintenance operation, GeneaNet Online Family Trees can't be updated (but they will be available for visitors) on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012, in the morning (Paris, France, Time Zone).

Of course, all of the data is backed up, and is safe and secure.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Best regards,
GeneaNet

Are You Related to Glenn Close?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0100

Close was born on March 19, 1947 in Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter of Bettine (née Moore) and William Taliaferro Close, a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo.

Her parents came from prominent families. Her father was a descendant of the Taliaferros of Virginia; her paternal grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, a stockbroker and director of the American Hospital Association, was first married to Post Cereals' heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, making Glenn Close a relative of screenwriter/director Preston Sturges. Close is also a second cousin once-removed of actress Brooke Shields (Shields's great-grandmother Mary Elsie Moore was a sister of Close's maternal grandfather, Charles Arthur Moore).

Glenn Close's Family Tree

GeneaNet: Upload and Share Indexes

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Sharing information is second nature to most genealogists and GeneaNet lets you easily upload and share your birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial indexes to help other genealogists in their research.

The uploaded indexes are your property and you can delete them at any time.

Of course, you can also read indexes uploaded by other GeneaNet members.

Select the 'Uploads > Indexes' item in the drop down menu at the top right of the screen:

Upload Index

You must create a delimited CSV text file to upload your genealogy index.

A date is a three-part value (year, month and day) and a name is a two-part value (surname and first names).

Example:

husband_name;husband_firstname;wife_name;wife_firstname;day;month;year
COCKE;Henery;BALLDEN;Margaret;1;May;1536
HIX;Mathew;DAWES;Ellen;13;Nov;1559
ORTINE;William;SARGENT;Margret;23;Sep;1559
COB;Reynould;SWINBAYNE;Margret;29;Sep;1559

Maximum file size is 10 MB.

Manage Indexes

Click 'Edit':

You can easily edit, display, download and delete your indexes:

You can browse and search in your Index:

Search indexes uploaded by other GeneaNet members

Select the 'Search > Archive & Indexes' tab in the main GeneaNet menu, click 'Collaborative Indexes', then fill in the search form:

Are You Related to Sharon Stone?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:49:00 +0100

Sharon Stone was born on March 10, 1958 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The second of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy (née Lawson), an accountant and homemaker, and Joseph William Stone II, a tool and die manufacturer and factory worker.

Stone graduated in 1975 from Saegertown High School in Saegertown, Pennsylvania.

Sharon Stone's Family Tree

View and Analyze Traffic on your GeneaNet Public Online Family Tree

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0100

GeneaNet Club Privilege members can view and analyze the traffic data on their Public Online Family Tree (GeneWeb).

The statistics can be displayed by day, week, month and year.

The table shows the number of visits and unique visitors, the average time on website and the bounce rate (percentage of visitors who left the website after one page), by websites, direct entry and search engines.

Click the 'Online Family Tree' tab at the top of the screen, then click the 'Statistics' link in the 'Quick Access' menu:

The 'Enable Basic Counter' option is available to any GeneaNet user and will show a Visitor Counter in the home page of your GeneWeb Family Tree.

The 'Enable Advanced Statistics' option (reserved to GeneaNat Club Privilege members) let you see and analyze the traffic data on your GeneWeb Family Tree:

GeneaStar: Latest Famous Genealogies

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:15:00 +0100

The following genealogies have been added to GeneaStar:

Emmitt Smith, James Packard, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Willard Rockwell, Pete Rose, Herbert Henry Dow, A. Bartlett Giamatti, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Henry Wells, Matthew C. Perry, Oliver Hazard Perry, Matthew Perry, John Phillips, Dan Quayle, Charles Alfred Pillsbury, Adlai Stevenson I, Adlai Stevenson II, Adlai Stevenson III, Brad Hall, John Carradine, Charles Dow, Orrin Hatch, Stephen Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Eli Whitney, Noah Webster, Daniel Webster, Mark Wahlberg, O.J. Simpson, Donnie Wahlberg, Loudon Wainwright III, Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Van Dyke, Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Ron Paul, McLean Stevenson, and George W. Romney.

Thanks Tim Dowling

Are You Related to Glenn Miller?

Jean-Yves BAXTER — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:15:00 +0100

Miller was born on March 1, 1904, on a farm in Clarinda, Iowa, to Lewis Elmer Miller and Mattie Lou (née Cavender). He went to grade school in North Platte in western Nebraska. In 1915, Miller's family moved to Grant City, Missouri.

Around this time, Miller had finally made enough money from milking cows to buy his first trombone and played in the town orchestra. In 1918, the Miller family moved again, this time to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where Miller went to high school.

Glenn Miller's Family Tree