Geni Creates First Comprehensive Genealogy Service With Record Providers …

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA, Sep 29, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) —
Geni, the collaborative family history community home to the
largest, most accurate “World Family Tree,” today made documents from
both the Archives.com and GenealogyBank.com records databases
available quickly and easily to Geni members through profile-based
alerts.

Traditionally, genealogists have been forced to manually re-enter
vital information, such as names, dates and locations, on every site
they visit for every person in their family tree. Geni now automates
this process by automatically searching record partners’ collections
any time one views a relative’s profile on Geni. When matches are
found, an alert will appear with links to records from each provider.
If a member wants to view any of these records, they can view the
profile’s results in each database with one click, saving them
valuable research time.

“We recognize the importance of source records when building a family
tree. Documenting sources is even more important in a collaborative
environment like Geni,” said Noah Tutak, Geni CEO. “By providing
records from the person’s profile, first with partners Archives.com
and GenealogyBank.com, and with many others to come, we can save
genealogists from spending their time conducting separate searches on
the many genealogy databases available.”

Archives has compiled more than 1.5 billion historical records,
including vital (birth, death, marriage, divorce), census, newspaper,
obituary, military, and immigration. Recently, the entire U.S. census
became searchable on Archives.com, including more than 500 million
records, and three million images. Archives also offers a seven-day
free trial, so users can try the membership risk free.

“It’s almost overwhelming the number of public records that are
available. The tough part is finding the ones that are relevant to
your family,” said Joe Godfrey, director of product at Archives.
“Highlighting applicable documents to Geni members directly on their
profile pages is a great way to save what most of us don’t have
enough of… time.”

GenealogyBank is home to more than 5,700 fully searchable U.S.
newspapers from 1690 to the present and over one billion genealogy
records, including obituaries, birth and marriage notices, passenger
lists, military records and much more. Over 95 percent of the
newspapers on GenealogyBank cannot be found on other genealogy
websites. GenealogyBank adds millions of records every month and
offers a 30-day trial, making it easy for users to find first-hand
accounts about their ancestors.

“We’re excited to help Geni members discover the stories, names,
dates, places and events that have played a role in their family
history,” says Ross Allred, director of GenealogyBank. For decades,
family historians had to travel across the country to hundreds of
libraries to access these newspapers — now they are instantly
available to Geni members 24/7 with a click of a mouse.”

About Archives
Archives.com is a leading family history website that
makes discovering family history simple and affordable. The company
has assembled more than 1.5 billion historical records in a single
location, and makes them available at a price that’s up to 80 percent
less than the leading competitor. Archives also partners with other
leading family history websites to provide integrated record
collections, discounted memberships, official certificates and other
special promotions. Archives.com is free to try for seven days,
allowing anyone to explore the benefits of membership without risk or
obligation. Archives.com is owned and operated by Inflection, a
fast-growing data commerce company.

About GenealogyBank
GenealogyBank.com, a division of NewsBank inc.,
is one of the largest and fastest growing searchable newspaper
archives online for family history research. More than one billion
genealogy records have been added to the site since it launched five
years ago, to help people discover, preserve and share their family
history. The website provides genealogists with access to full-text,
fully-searchable newspapers published in all 50 states. The website
also provides access to hard-to-find pension lists, military records,
land claims and other helpful records including free access to the
Social Security Death Index. GenealogyBank.com is owned and operated
by NewsBank, inc., one of the world’s premier information providers
for more than 35 years.

About Geni, Inc.
Geni is an online community of casual and expert
genealogists working together to create a single World Family Tree.
Members can invite relatives to help them build their family tree
with no limit to the number of people, documents, photos or videos
added. They can then discover how they are related to celebrities,
historical figures and other members of the World Family Tree.
Privately held and based in Los Angeles, Geni’s financial backers
include Founders Fund and Charles River Ventures. It was founded by
David Sacks, the original chief operating officer of PayPal and
founder of Yammer, Inc.

        
        Media Contact:
        Jennifer Wilbur
        Rockstar Communications
        jen@rockstarcommunications.com
        619.965.9045
        
        
        

SOURCE: Geni

        mailto:jen@rockstarcommunications.com
        

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