Geneanet, a company unlike any other

I have found some good information on Geneanet and would recommend this site when looking for ancestors in Mauritius in the 17th to 18th Century, although not all names are present under “Records of the Actes”.
I translate from French to English (automatically) to help me with my search (but the surnames change to the Angalised form and sometimes it looks a bit odd (e.g. de Laine translates to ‘Wool’ & LeMeme translates to ‘The Same’). I try to put the French name in as it is more accurate. Overall a good site and vastly improved from when I first started using it several years ago.
One thing I find hard to do is when I get a ‘Smart Match or Simple Match’ how do I link that match with MY tree? It is not very clear and there is no Confirmation button that I can see. Can Geneanet tell me what I can do?
Thank you very much.
Wishing everyone a Safe and Happy 2021. Look after each other and know that there are many people around the world praying for Europe and the UK as you face this terrible virus. Bon Chance!

Are there any databases for England?

Recently I haven’t had the time to read all my geneanet alerts immediately as I receive them, so I leave them on my computer thinking that the information reains in my unread or even read emails. However, I just discovered today that if you don’t print the information right away, you lose all the information. I thought all my geneanet email information would remain forever on my computer until I deleted them, but this is not the case, so I’ve lost a whole lot of information which I wish I would have copied as soon as I first opened them. does anyone know what is going on with this Program?

Having traced my ancestors back to Etienne de Sully born 1565 in Aubigney I was wondering if there are any records that I can explore

Have only signed up will leave a better comment later

I hve been an “on and off” seeker of my family tree. I wll be looking to at least verify the information I’ve developed over the years an wll look forward to adding the premium membeship when I feel competent to use it to expand and correct what’s been done until now,

Geneanet, and more specifically the Premium membership benefits/tolls are the best tool for my tree building (2 year member). In fact I keep my latest tree on this site, and only update them once in a while on a few other ones. In comparison to other sites (which I do use mainly for further research when needed):-I find the tree layouts/display easy to view-Other features are also great tools, such as the instant alerts when the individual may be a duplicate. -Also easy, the relationship calculation makes it ideal when adding new connections in between new family branch additions.-The option to ‘Print’ (view) easily a list/chart of an indicidialds ancestors/descendants is a unique tool that offers a ‘all in oneview’ snapshot.-I love the -Geneastar trees as well, it is always an interesting adventure finding new connections to celebrities and famous figures of the past and present. (and the advanced search that finds connections to famous trees is great too)-The alert tool after performing a search is also something I have not seen on similar sites.-The feature of adding a picture to the profile of an individual in your tree by linking it to an existing one is fabolous as well!-Also the easy family book creation “Printable Family Book’ feature is top notch and  has a very professional look in comparison to other sites.-I also like how the DNA matching features are improving.-I’ve found many Trees (with 10K -200K indv.) that are easily connected to me on this site (South America, UK, Germany)
I believe not all the users have taken the time to learn how to use all the wonderful Geneanet offers, this accounts mostly with any dissatisfaction of the Premium member/site. There is an easy to find, easy access Help articles and forums on the site *the top right icon with the question mark)  https://en.geneanet.org/help/ or on that page you can get IT support help (under ‘Need help’ ‘Ticket contact’ ). I just noticed the Youtube channel (mostly in French) https://www.youtube.com/c/geneanet/videos
A few changes I’d like to see are:for the site to allow a ‘change of sex of married parters’ (as is if you have made an error in reversing the father and mother you have to first undo their relationsion, correct it, and reconnect them as a couple.-I’d like to see a search feature where you can see on the spot (as two types in fields Connect X to X) if there is an ancestral connection between two people on a tree, right now you can only search one by one in a step by step process. (this feature would be Fantastic for Geneastar trees)-On the ‘DNA matches’ feature I’d like to see a field to add you Paternal and Maternal Haplogroups as an option (and as a part of the filter search)

Geneanet has been a good resource for me born in England and having ancestors born in Reunion, Mauritius and possibly France during the 18th & 19th centuries. I have used both the free and premium services successfully and latterly the ‘ask an expert’ service.
I must praise the expert for his diligence and research knowledge having contacted various Mauritian societies and finding information that has helped me greatly. The fee is quite reasonable and the work involved considerable. Thank you.
Wishing everyone a happy and successful New Year.

Happy good year 2021 !

I have put my accurate address and yet your system tells me it is an invalid address which it is not and I cannot go further.

Please post your questions in our forum

DNA! This is my hope for the future of Geneanet.

Thanks for the access to old French records! I appreciate the perks of Premium membership.

Does Geneanet have any influence on DNA restrictions in France? I have many Hebert-surnamed relatives in Canada and the United States. These have been verified through advanced Y-DNA testing (Family Tree DNA), combined with robust paper trails.

On this side of the pond, we’re on a serious search for our living Hebert relatives in France but find that we are blocked by the lack of DNA testing among French residents.

We are descended from Hebert brothers, Antoine and Etienne, who arrived in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) about 1650.

Merci beaucoup!

i would like to contributed my genealogy to Geneanet but my file is too big 116.000 names all french names, i use Legacy, i do not know how to cut it or separate it, give me some suggestion, please
I’m grateful to find new infos with the link Familysearch-Geneanet Thank you. lefevrerc@msn.com

i tried the program and enjoyed the only problem you to enter new found relatives manually

In balance, I have provided more meaningful data than vice versa. What I have understood from your site is what is NOT in my genealogy, although very useful information. I don’t use paywalls at all, it is a moral dilemma, that paradox you talk about. Nevertheless, you have the benefit of me going to the town hall in some random European country and posting it to your site. You are welcome!

I enjoy the concept of mutual information offered by the platform Geneanet, am admirative of its stability (24 years!), and for the subtility of the information provided in the letter of its founder/president above. To enhance my understanding of “free”, “freemium” and “premium” I would be interested to know how much (say in percent) free information Geneanet gathers from users who use the site for free, as compared to the amount of information received by Geneanet from users of Geneanet Premium who pay to provide their share of information to the system (?). Obviously, the platform is a win-win! The question is: how much is it a WIN-win, or a win-WIN, or a WIN-WIN? This may change in time also… Does it? How? Thank you for your answers or comments.

I can only say that this site has been a ‘gold mine’ for my work on my wife’s Frontier lineage, I have
become an american in love with France.

Very good site for European records.

I am still learning about this site and may become a premium member in the coming year. Many of us are looking for a site that can replace Rootsweb WorldConnect which Ancesrty.com ruined. This may be the answer. I also understand that any company has to make money. Yes, the “Trees” and “work” are ours but, the servers, employees, etc to host sites like these cost money. You seem to have a good balance that allows us to freely post and view tree’s while charging for more information. Keep up the good job!

Great site found out a lot from my French ancestry. Thanks for free access.

I found the French departmental archives extremely useful in extending the knowledge possessed by other family members, so enabling me to build a genealogy going back 12 generations thus far—and I’m only just getting started!

Your website has been most valuable for me. It has enabled me to further pursue my French ancestry and to discover more relations. Do you however have access to Heraldic records?

Hello. Geneanet has been great I I have found a family in France that i would not have known and are directly related to me on the Mangeolle side. I used to be with Ancestry but they are now very expensive £90 for six months. I had my DNA with ancestry that was completely useless. all they want is money its a rip off. one question Can geneanet put pressure on the French government to release there DNA files to the world I can’t wonder why they won’t, people would like to know exactly where they come from.

I have also found this site very helpful in finding information from way back. Well organized and easy to use. I cannot afford to pay for a subscription every year. I manage to put all request in a file and then I get a subscription for a year. That seems to give me all the time I need for what I have to look for. There are other sites that I am interested in subscribing too but like I mentioned above I have to manage my dollars to make sure that I visit all sites that I can. Thanks you.

i would love to pay for the premium service…i just dont know how that can be done…im living in the Philippines…i cannot get a dollar account here with my bank….im on US Social Security….iM dealing in pesos….I have no credit account…the only way I see to pay for something like this is with
western Union…but you dont deal with that sort of money sending process…so I feel so frustrated because its not the money…its how to pay that has me trapped…i have no banking in the US….is there a solution for me….i love the site…and what you stand for….thank you

Your site has facilitated access to my ancestors in the Alsace and sharing with other genealogists in Germany. I am very pleased to have found geneanet, and plan to share my family tree on your site very soon. Thank you for providing your service free.

This site has been very helpful. The easy access to other people’s family trees enables sorting out relationships several generations at a time. Thank you for the free access, and thanks to all the people who supplied data.

I applaud the site’s origins and ethos. the fact it is different from other sites is useful too because the others follow an American model. It is very useful to me as I have a mystery DNA connection to France.
However, the site is predominantly loyal to its French roots and I think limited by them. Many of the things done by other sites, free tree searches for exampleare possible elsewhere and more advertised than here. DNA here is last in all of the websites for usefulness. I am notified every time a match is made. WIthout going into detail, this is not helpful. The general list of matches is not searchable nor downloadable as say MyHeritage where I can download my 8000 matches of all sizes and campare them and also access tools to analyse. GedMatch the same.
It would be a shame to lose the assets that Geneanet has but it needs to actively engage in what it does offer and look at how it is not matching the other sites. (Do not throw away the baby when throwing away the baby’s bath water?) :)
Most people can not afford more than one site and will often take a subscription for a year when it is necessary, their level of enquiry will be small and occasional and this is one place where free information is useful.
Lastly, I often find myself asking two questions, if a free site is not useful why would you pay a subscription. If I pay for a subscription do I really want 2 billion records or just one set and how many searches am I going to make to justify the large subscriptions.
Many of the big companies are struggling trying to maintain large computer systems when the number of users can not maintain the cost. Volunteer information is really useful here and Geneanet needs to keep its volunteer contributions?
Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

I am not experienced with family research. I find Geneanet very helpful in tracing family links between Louisiana and France. Some French members have been helpful, and I hope to perhaps visit them whenever I can next travel to France.

Some one I last had contact with many years ago, popped up on your site again and has been a wonderful help despite the fact that I am not on his tree. I’m very grateful, Thank you.

As a pensioner, Geni has changed my life. I have spent many pleasant hours searching our family trees and preparing documents for my grand children who are all in Australia. (Me and my wife are the only ones of our family in South Africa). Thank you once again, G-D bless you.

Most of my research of my four main family lines has been completed for the past three centuries and I have used Geneanet for many years in the hope of breaching those four brickwalls. I still live in hope. My family tree format is unusual and not suitable for the Internet.

My recent relatives all lived in south east England. When I receive your suggested possible members of my family tree they invariably come from USA. and the names don’t usually match. Is it not possible to have a better filter to align names / places more accurately?

Geneanet is a great service and the free part of it is really encouraging people to start investigating and recordering their family tree. What I dislike about Geneanet is that everybody’s family tree is kept separate from other family trees. This duplicates data and is not allowing members to add to (and correct, if necessary) their common ancestors. I am still not clear if the “matching” function of the premium membership allows such collaboration on a shared family tree.

I have found this is the best site and allows you to communicate with other members.. Tis has helped me to track my ancestors back to 1425. Information I have found on my family came from a rare book published in France. Without the freedom and help from Geneanet site My family will1678 …Thank you Geneanet and all the helpers / family Merry Christmas and a very Happy Healthy 2021….

I have built a Family Tree on MY HERITAGE. What, if any, restrictions apply to transferring a copy to Geneant? I reside in Canada and noted the phrase ‘In Continental Europe’ which suggests residential requirements.

Thank you for geneanet I have found my Belgium family and lots more information about my ancestors across Europe.

I’ve found this site to be the best for finding old records in Europe. Thanks for allowing free access to so much data.

It is a valuable tool within the genealogical world. I will, in the new year upgrade my membership, if only to sustain its associated membership model – thanks

What is the significance of the identifier next to the name of a possible ancestor listed on the geneanet site eg colgnecm1911752 Does this identify someone who has transcribed a record onto the geneanet site.

Seasons Greeting to all..Thank you for providing information re tracing family members I have had success in my search.

I let my subscription lapse accidentally and it wiped out my tree. Is my tree somehow on here and I just cannot find it?

Thank You

While the numbers are impressive, the main problem I have with a product like Geneanet and similar ones such as MyHeritage, is the accuracy of the information. Anyone can put up any genealogical information regardless of any verification and the information is frequently inaccurate. It is then copied blindly by others and presented as fact. It seems that some “genealogists” focus on quantity rather than quality! I would like to see verified data tagged in some way so it is easier to differentiate between that and the other information. I now use this site merely as a source to investigate further and use for example FamilySearch, for verification.

I concur with Natalie Cornwell’s comment

Thank you for providing this product. It is very helpful.

This is a great website, and the explanations are very helpful. I am not a premium member, but I am considering it.
Good job GeneaNet, keep it up!
regards,
Alex

Unfortunately I subscribed to another providor before I new about Geneanet. Once that subscription ends I will subscribe to premium. I like the Geneanet set up the best of what I am using know and previously.

I am very grateful to Geneanet for the help you have given me .I am 79yrs & find I can not join all sites but thank you for your help.

Someone said that one can die twice in our lives, the first is the pass away of our body, but the other is when dies the last one that remember us. Thanks for bring to life all our ancestors y keeping them alive not only in ours lifes and our memory but also in the archives of internet and in the clouds till the end of times.

Thank you for offering this great product. It has helped me locate so much information about my ancestors that I couldn’t find before.

I support your work as a Premium Member, this is an invaluable site, thank you for all the long & hard work that has been put into creating it ..

i have just switched from Family Search to Geneanet, as FS kept adding names to my tree which went back almost to Adam and Eve. Most of this is garbage. Please assure me Geneanet will not do the same. Is there an extra level of security or Privacy I need to add?

There are millions of older Americans like me who though we would like to trace or contribute to helping others by supplying information cannot afford the premium edition because we are on a fixed income.

Thanks,
Jerry Borque

Hello.
I stopped subscribing when I found that geneanet had the same information as Geneanum, with the same errors! I have been sending corrections to Geneanum so unless Geneanet updates the formation obtained from Geneanum, Geneanet will be propagating the wrong information. One case in point. Adami miscopied the name Angela Pace for Angela Grech and the wrong information appears in other members of the various genealogy site as well as MaltaGenealogy.com to whom I gave a file to prove my research is correct and Charles Said Vassallo is now updated the site when I send him files of the names I am researching
Hope this is a help in reviewing/ updating your site since so people have to rely of your site if they cannot get or understand the original records. By background has resulted in my being competent in a number of languages.
If you have an updating program I could send you my research files which contain more details than what appears in Geneanet
Cheers Emanuel Vidal

How can find information on the relatives of a deceased friend?

Hi!
I have a question: which are the partners that Geneanet have and which are the genealogy societies indexes G. work with?
Thank you for an answere,
Muriel Prieto

I depend a great deal on your organization. I have a question however. Using Reunion 13 I have collected almost 7000 names most of which are related to the Hénon and Herman families of the Ardennes region of Belgium and France, and a possibly doubtful ancestry back to Pépin de Landen (576-639) who might be my 38G Grandfather. However, over the years I have not given the sources for most of entries, although the great majority of them I collected from listings on Geneanet. Should I upload my files to Geneanet? And how do I proceed? Thank you (BTW I am subscribing to G. Premium now).
Alain Hénon

I simply am unable to afford it. .So sorry for this ..Times are so hard in my country right now with the pandemic . money is so tight ..This is my only outlet to keep my sanity . goog luck and success with this ..keep up the good work . you are free to use any or all of my info in the my heritage site. C.D. brandjes

What is the price?

I joined because I cannot find data about my French ancestors on other sites. I M hopeful I will be more successful with Geneanet. I have already found little bits and pieces that makes me so happy. My new information supports family stories and anecdotes. I am having some issues with finding records in Mauritius. My great great grandfather was a sugar planter there..

I am a newer member/subscriber, however, I have not figured out how to really take advantage of the information available. Or at least information that I think is available. For example, the Geneanet notices i get every few weeks have a very small amount of information available, but I can’t seem to tie any of that information to a bigger picture. Are all these tidbits just that, broken pieces.

Perhaps my challenge is my approach. I have established a good tree starting with a name in Germany that went to the Black Sea and became know as Germans from Russia. This family then moved to the United States. Now I am working from that point in Germany and trying to build the other way. By a stroke of good fortunate i stumbled across a name in my family that connected me to Switzerland and the early 1500’s. This linkage is only one thin branch and want to flush this part of my tree out so there is more meat, but I don’t have enough names in the thin branch to pull names in to me.

Any suggestions on how to better use Geneanet to help me get to where I want to go?

Searching name Sobbry

I am no longer an avid user because prior to you segregating access with your new Premium we can’t gain access as you say to very important data unless…we join. Alas, it was only time when Corporate Greed would take effect.
Your next step I would assume you will sellout to Ancestry that also was free in the early days.
Too bad, you lost quite a following.
Paul de Jacques de la Bastide

Merci beaucoup ! I love the help your website has given me. I have added as many as 8 gernerations of French ancestors to my family tree.

I wish to end enrollment in Geneanet. Thank You for your help

At this time I am very satisfied with the services that Geneanet provides and I have renewed my subscription.
Best Wishes for the New Year
Sincerely
Liliane S White

in the 1880 federal census/Massachusetts in the DDD – the Homeless section – I find a ‘Geo. Martin age 3 in the North End section – how can i attach him to Annie Martin widow in the the regular census were i find her seeing that his father is unknown because he die while Geo. was about 2or years of age. enough that you can and will share with me will be very grateful Thank Arty.

Thank you! I have been with Geneanet for quite a while and it is a unique and much need Genealogy site.

I have already renewed my subscription for another 2 years.

I have 2 trees on Geneanet. One that I subscribed to many years ago, but didn’t pay for it anymore. Then as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we were offered a free Premium membership with GENEANET through the partnership the two organizations had worked out. So I transferred my tree from FamilySearch.org to Geneanet.org 4/10/2017. Therefore I now have 2 trees there. One with the name “hjordi” and another with the name “hjordi1”. This one with this picture and my name as Hjördis SJÖSTEDT-SMITH is my 1st family tree “hjordi”. Is there any way to combine the two trees under my “hjordi1” account?
I’m afraid of loosing information that I have in the first tree that I haven’t recorded in the 2nd tree. I don’t have time to compare the two and see what compares between the two trees. I only wish I had one tree, the one under “hjordi1”. That one is through the partnership between Geneanet and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their FamilySearch.org site.
I would be grateful for any suggestions! Thank you! Hjördis SJÖSTEDT-SMITH

Thank you! Can I upload a complete version of my tree from another site? Can it override my current tree?
Thank you and Happy New Year
Jennifer

I receive access gratefiully thru Family Search.Thank you for the service you provide as we seek our ancestors.

Really interesting site to find some people

Thank you for offering a great product. As a paying member or several other genealogy sites, i appreciate the value of this one.

Thank you so much for explaining what Geneanet is about. I love the part where I can e-mail and connect with long reaching portions of my family tree that I didn’t know existed.

When I add someone to my tree I need to see the documents that prove the information. I do not want to take someone else’s data without proof. Is this proof available when you join the paid plan?

I would like to know if you have a comprehensive data base for Polish ancestors.

The problem with your website is still the amount of free to paid results. It’s not a good balance. For those just getting started or still at the early stages of searching it’s better to use other sites. like Family Search. Even Ancestry gives you more free. More free info would motivate to the paid site IMHO.

As a premium member, you have my full support.

My idea of genealogy is, that is must be free!!! You are making money with my lifeswork.