Genes News

Top tip - Genes Reunited blogs

Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!

  • We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
  • The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
  • In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
  • The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.

New Scottish Census

New Scottish census records

Do you have Scottish ancestors?

Perhaps you do and you just didn't know! Search our brand new Scottish census records today and discover if you have Scottish roots.

Search Scottish Census

Heartfelt poems from bereaved WW1 families


Published in Genes News on 3 Dec 2013 11:14 : wwi world war one ww1 in memoriam poems genes reunited : 0 comments : 12876 views

Touching tributes written by families for their loved ones killed during WW1 have revealed the devastating impact the war had on family life in Britain and the importance of religion for people.


WW1 soldiers in a rush to get to the church on time


Published in Genes News on 28 Oct 2013 12:38 : 10 comments : 22452 views

The loneliness felt amongst the men on the front line and the women left behind during WW1 encouraged relationships to start via letters, with many couples getting engaged despite never meeting face to face. 


Grave Secrets - What graveyard statues reveal about your ancestors


Published in Genes News on 8 Oct 2013 11:26 : 12 comments : 41212 views

“Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;


How to Write a Letter to a Long Lost Relative


Published in Genes News on 4 Oct 2013 14:37 : 10 comments : 75321 views

At Genes Reunited we know searching for missing family members is one of the most emotional journeys a person will ever take. If you’re on this site reading this the chances are you’ve been on a rollercoaster ride of research. This is all done in the hopes that your future will include this newfound relative. Then you do and there’s a sense of triumph for finding them coupled with the feeling of fear; because finding them is only part of the journey. 


WW1 girls just wanted to have fun


Published in Genes News on 30 Sep 2013 08:36 : 0 comments : 13592 views

With their men away fighting on the front line women of Britain enjoyed a new found freedom during WW1 and filled public houses, causing moral outrage and calls for the Government to keep them at home, researchers have found. 


Downton Abbey - Dame Maggie Smith's ancestors also had domestic help


Published in Genes News on 23 Sep 2013 12:24 : 2 comments : 17002 views

With the much anticipated fourth series of Downton Abbey starting last night, we’ve delved into the family history of Dame Maggie Smith who plays the Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham and discovered it wasn’t just the Countess who had servants in her household.


New message boards for the Genes Community


Published in Genes News on 19 Aug 2013 10:44 : 20 comments : 12564 views

Hi everyone today we have launched two new message boards. 


Sinister history of popular sayings revealed in old newspapers


Published in Genes News on 12 Aug 2013 09:18 : 2 comments : 19688 views

The origins of some of the every-day phrases we use are more sinister than you would imagine, according to the family history website Genes Reunited. Researchers have shed some light on the dark history behind some of the nation’s favourite sayings, proving that their origins are rooted in the lives of our ancestors.


The Great Female Pilgrimage of 1913


Published in Genes News on 26 Jul 2013 09:46 : suffragette : 4 comments : 15891 views

Women trekked for weeks across the country to get the vote. A hundred years ago today, tens of thousands of women from all levels of society walked hundreds of miles along carefully planned routes to converge in London's Hyde Park to campaign for votes for women.


North-South death divide has been around for 150 years


Published in Genes News on 25 Jul 2013 15:27 : 3 comments : 10604 views

To coincide with the ONS report released today on life expectancy at birth, Genes Reunited searched the death records from 1866 and 1911 and found that the north-south divide was the same 150 years ago with people in the north dying earlier than those in the south.