It is free to view the site contents and use the
family tree maker software. However if you want to
contact other members of GenesReunited.co.uk or take
advantage of other site features, you need to upgrade to
one of the following membership options:
- Standard Membership - £9.95 for 6 months
- Gold Membership - £34.95 for 6 months
For a complete discussion of the differences between
the two membership options, see the "Joining Genes
Reunited" section later in this review.
- GenesReunited.co.uk is part of the "Reunited"
group, including FriendsReunited, FriendsReunited
Dating, GenesReunited International and Census
1901.
- UK-based site, ideal for UK users wishing to
research their family history.
- GenesReunited.co.uk received the 2008 Hitwise award
for the most hits on the internet in the
family-industry category.
- GenesReunited.co.uk gives you the opportunity to
search through a database of 700 million names to build
your personal family tree.
- Search records or other users' family trees to
return the best results.
- Registering on GenesReunited.co.uk is free. Free
membership allows users to use the family tree
generating software hosted on-site, though in order to
make use of all of the features and contact other
members, it is necessary to upgrade.
- User-friendly family history software allows you to
generate, grow and share your family tree easily.
- The "Lifeline" feature allows you to plot the major
landmarks in the life of a particular relative and
access this information easily.
- HotMatches delivers a fortnightly email providing information of potential new matches to your
family name, which could provide some interesting new
leads for your research.
- Use Message Board and Forums to chat with other
GenesReunited users.
- Read other users' success stories in an online
e-zine.
- Use webchat with other users to discuss family
history and ask for help.
- Free personal internal messaging service allows
other users to contact you anonymously.
- "Trying to Find" service allows you to ask for
information about a particular lost relative.
- "Ask an Expert" using webchat to help answer the
more difficult questions that arise in your
search.
- Comprehensive technical support, answering all
questions within 2-3 working days.
There are two different membership options
available on GenesReunited.co.uk, and they provide
differing levels of access to the site's features. Both
membership subscriptions run for 6 months, but they
differ as follows:
- Standard Membership
- View the trees of 9 million GenesReunited
members
- Contact members with shared ancestry
- Join the GenesReunited community and ask others
for advice
- Gold Membership
- All of the benefits of standard membership,
plus...
- Access to the victorian census record
1841-1901
- Access to the UK Births, Marriages and Deaths
register 1837-2004
- Access to the British Military records from WWI
and WWII.
A basic search to GenesReunited.co.uk allows you to
search by the following parameters:
- Forename
- Surname
- Birthplace
- Year of birth
- Keywords
- "Give or Take" (Allowing users to enter information
which may not be correct)
- Search Filtering
- Search Records or Search Trees
GenesReunited.co.uk is a sister
site to the hugely popular FriendsReunited.co.uk, part of
an international group of sites which dominate the family
online-industry market. GenesReunited.co.uk is a UK based
site, offering access to a range of research records from
UK sources, but unfortunately offers no international
records whatsoever. This is a little disappointing, as it
limits the search opportunities of UK users to only
family members who appear on British records (and thus,
eliminates research into family who may have emigrated or
otherwise appear on international records). That said,
standard (and even gold) membership with
GenesReunited.co.uk is some of the cheapest that we have
come across in our research for this category, with gold
membership costing only £34.99 for 6 months. This,
coupled with the friendly approach adopted throughout the
whole group of sites, will certainly please a lot of
users.
Creating a free
account using GenesReunited.co.uk takes a little longer
than with other genealogy sites, but still is not a
particularly arduous process. Once you have created your
free account, you have unlimited access to the free
family tree software hosted by the site. This is one of
the best features of the site, offering the opportunity
to create a professional, flexible family tree with
surprising ease. Every entry on the tree can be
accompanied by a number of additional attachments, such
as photos, documents and audio or video clips. We
particularly liked the 'lifeline' feature, which allows
users the opportunity to plot the personal history of an
individual in the tree and view it along a chronological
line. When researching becomes difficult, or you just
need a little support, GenesReunited offers the
opportunity to get into contact with an expert
genealogist using webchat. We really liked this feature
and thought it was a really useful
addition.
Another excellent
element of GenesReunited is the community feel that is
generated through the myriad of 'community' related
features on the site. Users can contact other users using
messaging, forums and message boards and even use chat to
get in contact with other members. Another excellent
feature is the "Trying to Find" feature, which allows
users to post information about a particular lost
relative in the hope that other users may be able to shed
some light on their history. All in all, we thought the
community functions were well executed, and really
contribute to a feeling of being part of a genealogical
community.
With no international
records featured on the site at all, it is unlikely that
this site will appeal to an extremely serious genealogist
or family history researcher. Even standard membership
does not open up access to even the UK records, only
allowing users the ability to contact other users and
view their family trees. Gold membership does allow users
access to some UK records, but these are certainly not as
extensive as those featured on other sites. That said,
gold membership of GenesReunited is considerably cheaper
than other sites, so we would recommend this site if you
are new to genealogy and wish to try it out, or simply
want to conduct some brief or superficial research into
your family history. If this sounds right for you,
GenesReunited.co.uk could be your perfect
choice!
Click on the button below to check out GenesReunited.co.uk for yourself...
