Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Hi Anita,

1. Yes, I put "Paul Revere's Ride" on my project "notables: to do" plate. After we finish off a couple of the started ones!

2. Yes, we are adding parents, wives, and children to the Projects. It's a genealogy project after all.

3. Yes, profiles can be part of many projects. That's part of what's really cool about the Projects application, and this way, profiles will get richer and more detailed and more accurate with each pass.

I'm still working on Ben Franklin and will hit up your list next.

Ok If your going to mention Paul Revere don't forget;

In 1896 Helen F. Moore, dismayed that William Dawes had been forgotten, penned a parody of Longfellow's poem:

'Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear—
My name was Dawes and his Revere

Since I was merged with this huge tree, I'd like to know just how Benjamin Franklin is related to me. He has New England roots, which I don't. Any common ancestor is probably back in the stone age.

Philip, according to the big tree, you and Benjamin Franklin are 11th cousins, 6 times removed. His New England roots have European roots. Even his father was born in England. So, stone age, no. Your connection probably goes back to the 1400's or so.

Private User@bre
OK Brendan, how did you get the relationship between the two of them. I see you're not pro. Is it something I can do (I am Pro), or is it something you can do because you're colaberating on a project?

@Marvin
You can go to Benjamin's profile and to the left of the relationship finder is the push pin which you can use to find the relationship between two profiles other than yourself. Once you push it in, you simply go to the other profile, in this case Philip's, and then it displays the relationship between Benjamin and Philip.

I went to Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the "Declaration of Independence" and clicked the Green Push Pin at the top right of the profile box. I then went to Phil Hotlen and clicked the blue box, which gave me the connection between them. Without Pro, I can not see the actual path of family members, but it does say that they are 11th cousins, 6 times removed.

Looks like Peter and I were typing at the same time. Thanks Peter

Private User, it seems we were typing at the same time. :)

again :)

Thanks!

I love that push pin function but it took me forever to figure it out.

I am with you Hatte...wasn't until Peter and Brendan both explained it that I finally understood what it was all about!

Hatte and Anita, is there some way we could better explain what the pushpin is, or how to use it? (Best would be if we could do so on the page, without taking up extra space)

If I had read the FAQs, I would have understood it. In general, I only learn about features of applications that I need. I do not read manuals. There are no little pop up "tips" or other ways for people to learn Geni features and this detracts in my opinion. A lot of older relatives have trouble using Geni.

As far as explaining the pushpin, I think it's simple -- if you want to know the relationship of two people, go to the first person, e.g., Thomas Jefferson, and click on the pushpin on the upper left (?) of his profile. Then go to the profile of the second person, e.g., your grandfather, and click on the blue rectangle "Show Relationship" in the upper middle of his profile. Geni will then show the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and your grandfather (or which two profiles you have used the pushpin with). Normally, when the pushpin is not "pushed", Geni shows all relationships with respect to you.

When you want to stop showing relationships in terms of Thomas Jefferson or whomever you've "pushed" the pushpin for, just click again on the pushpin of the first profile (e.g., Thomas Jefferson in this case) and Geni will default to showing relationships to YOU.

Mike, the pop up is good, but may not be enough information to fully explain it. Maybe put a [more information] link at the bottom of what you have already, that points to a page detailing it and the steps. A couple of screen shots would be good. And an explanation that it has to be removed when done.

Hatte, you don't get a pop up if you put the mouse over the pin? If not, what browser and version are you using? Help - About

Brendan, I do get a pop up, but still didn't understand how it worked.

THe current popup says "do display relationships to the current profile rather than yourself:...which after I figured out how it worked made sense, but without knowing how it worked, made no sense at all... what other relationship would I display if not mine...???

I think better workding on the pop up would be to say "click to show FUTURE relationships in reference to THIS profice rather than your own". That better describes what the pushpin is doing, especially to someone who doesn't understand it....

I block pop ups by default. I guess I will change my Internet options to allow pop ups from Geni.

Yes I agree with Anita. The pushpin is a very lovely and rather sophisticated function and needs to have a better explanation.

Hatte...it isn't an internet popup window...just a notice that opens, like a comment on Excel would...if that reference makes sense to you. Your popup blocker shouldn't block it...

Thanks, that's what I was getting at -- what explanation in that pop-up would be better? (I'm the Geni engineer who created the push-pin)

I'll pass Anita's suggestion around the team, to replace the current text.

Thanks for your input, now back to the Signers of the Declaration of Independence... :-)

This is supposed to be about the declaration????

? for those more experienced out there....how would I show a marriage, divorce and remarriage and second divorce of the same couple, with a third marriage later on to someone else thrown in the mix just for fun? No kids from the 2nd or third, I just want the data to be accurate.

Not perfect, but you could create them as separate events.

Okay I see the pop up. The fact that I never noticed it shows it's not that intuitive :) But I still love the pushpin.

I think the text is okay because it has to be short, but people aren't going to "get it". I'll ask my 83 year old mother!

FYI, we're going to change the text of the pop-up (slightly) to read: "Click this push pin to find relationships from this profile to other profiles." Once you click it, the relationship header will read, "View other profiles to see their relationship to <name>. Click the push pin again to reset them to yourself."

Outstanding Michael!

Check this out:

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-05.html

National Archives to Put the Founders Online

Washington, DC…The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grantmaking arm of the National Archives, is pleased to announce a cooperative agreement with The University of Virginia (UVA) Press to make freely available online the historical documents of the Founders of the United States of America.

We are going to have rocking profiles! Maybe not immediately LOL.

A point which I'm going to put in the Projects page overview:

Historian Ron Chernow, author of the recent biography "Washington: A Life," said, “Unfortunately, the Founders have become remote and abstract, when in fact they are rich, full-blooded, and fiery characters. This new site will not only help students learn more deeply and develop a visceral love and respect for this era, but it will stimulate interest in history for teachers, too, and will reconnect them to primary sources.”

UVA will find out about the power of Geni -- we'll just nag until we get our documents.

Tens of thousands of Document. I hope they make it easy. Scary. Try to find something in the Library of Congress, it is not GOOGLE. That is an idea Google should put it together.