Genes Reunited

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:24 am

I have been lucky and found two distant cousins through Genes. Although if my memory serves me right one of them found me before I joined Genes. They are from each of my main lines so I am a happy chappy

I do agree though that hot matches can be a pain, they take so long to look at I now just get rid of those that only have one person matches. Although by doing this there is the chance I may miss a link. But I look at it this way, if there is only one match then the chances are there is no link to my lot.

I also agree that their constant changing of page formats is horrendous. Add to that my slow browser problem and sometimes I just leave the site screaming like a demented soul.

So far I have only had one non reply so I am lucky (so far).

I suppose I will play devils advocate here and say it has its good and bad points, but at least I now have two living long lost relatives.

But as it is a name and date match only, I wish I didnt get matches from areas that are so distant from where my lot lived.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:44 am

I looked at Genes occassionally for a year or two and didn't have much of an opinion of it - I took the plunge and subscribed about 18 months ago. Got the usual bunch of vague 'hot' matches which all proved to be a bit of a waste of time. Then along came a contact which did match up - not directly as his info ony touched onto mine by marriage way back. However he did put me into contact with someone else (who does not use Genes) - the lady in question turned out to be a cousin in the US who I did not know existed - opened up a whole new dimension for my research - lots of my patrenal line went to the US but I knew very little about them for. I now correspond with my cousin almost daily and we share our research - she even had masss of info on our mutual relatives in Aberdeenshire which I had not yet uncovered.

So for me Genes proved to be a godsend - albiet indirectly - but if I had not subscribed to it I probably would not have found my cuz. Best ten quid I have spent in the past few years !

Merry Christmas

Ted

James Clark · Post by **James Clark** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:56 pm

I've found Genes Reunited to be a useful site. I've got about 20 contacts whose trees that I can view that are cousins of one degree or another. It's much easier and cheaper doing research on Scotlands People when you know what you are looking for in advance! Maybe I'm just lucky to have found so many matches?

I used to ignore the 1 match Hot Matches, but know I go through them and can fairly often find one person who is a match. Now if only they would all reply to confirm it. To be fair most people do reply even if it is a negative.

My most interesting match is a fellow who still lives in the area my (and his) ancestors were from. I believe his sister still farms there. I will visit him if get a chance to go to Scotland in 2008 as I currently plan.

Scottishlass · Post by **Scottishlass** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:41 pm

I've had nothing but good luck with genes reunited abd recently signed on for another year ,only disappointment is when you send of a hot match question often the person doesn't answer.

Post by **Pandabean** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:38 pm

I have found GR really helpful I managed to find at least 3 cousins on the Greenlees side, half a dozen on the Robb side and a few others on other family names.

I think I have managed to to get as much out of it as i can. Just got to wait and hope someone will register with some of my McDonald names.

Although I do hate it when someone sends you an email asking if a "So and So" is connected when they are born in the US and my lot are in Scotland at the time.

Andy

ninatoo · Post by **ninatoo** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:24 am

I have very mixed feelings about genes reunited.

I had a very important link up through genes reunited about a year ago. I was not a member at the time, but someone checked out a message from a (now I know) third cousin there. She was looking for family as she had been orphaned quite young and knew nothing about her father's side of the family. I joined and the rest is history and we are all still in touch and as these things do, it has snowballed and she has more family than she dreamed of! So that link was especially heartwarming.

However, I cannot load my tree to the site and I have written to them many times, and never once received a reply. I do not want to sit down and type it all in again...I am too lazy and do not have the time. So I am restricted to searching for names and sending emails, and then if they reply I send them to another site which hosts my tree. All very complicated.

Add to the flash boxes on the main page and again at every new page at that site, which are enough to start someone having an epileptic fit, and I find it very annoying to use.

Yet, despite this, I did recently renew my subscription with the idea that I will try to persevere a bit more this year and MAKE the site work for me. If no joy, I won't renew next time.

Dennis · Post by **Dennis** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:05 am

Season's Greetings

I like GR. As my tree grows I get more and more hot matches with people who have at least 4 in common with me. I don't really bother with the 1 match anymore, unless I have time, and usually start with 2 in common.

All the best in the New Year!!!!