USTommyMC

For years there had been a project that I’ve been wanting to start but could never begin. That project was to start a family tree. I searched and searched and could not find software that was either free, inexpensive or had all the features that I needed.

So there I was, in Iraq, surfing the Internet and getting my daily dose of news via Google Reader. I was reading TechCrunch when I saw an article on a new start up named Geni. The article immediately caught my interest because of one simple word, genealogy. The more I read the more interested I became. Geni was less than a week old when I discovered it but I jumped in like a fool in love.

From the get go, Geni provided something that no other genealogy software at the time provided. Geni provided me with the ability to invite family members to the family tree and have them participate in adding other family members. I can go on and on about the hundreds of features that Geni has but this to me was the most important.

All I had to do was add as many people as I could personally remember and then invite them via email. They can then claim their profile, that I started, and continue the tree at their pace. I’m not good at writing when I’m excited so I’ll leave you with some more professionally written articles.

LA Times on Geni

Press Release Newswire on Geni

And last but not least go to Geni yourself and give it a try. Believe me, you’ll find yourself adding more and more family members and they’ll keep the current going. Soon you’ll have hundreds of relatives in your tree and you might even find a few surprises. Come on you’ve got nothing to lose.

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