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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.

Genes Extras

Genes Reunited subscription bonuses

As a way of saying thank you to our subscribers, we have launched Genes Extras. You'll find exclusive competitions and discounts on family history magazines, days out and much more.

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On this day in 1851, Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. Born in Edinburgh to Thomas Stevenson, a lighthouse engineer and Margaret Isabella. He was christened Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson, his middle names in honour of his maternal grandfather, a Minister of the Church of Scotland. When Stevenson was 18 however, he changed the Lewis to Louis and four years later the Balfour was gone as well.


It’s always wonderful to hear back from our members about the marvellous discoveries they’ve made using Genes Reunited. Derek Cawser’s story is a fabulous inspiration for those who’ve believed they lost a part of their family forever, and a great example of family ties overcoming time and distance.


Every month, Genes Reunited chooses a family photo sent in by our customers to be examined by dress-historian, portrait specialist and photo detective Jayne Shrimpton. This month’s family photo was a lovely image of a group of very smartly dressed Victorian young ladies on a hill walking trip in the Lake District. 


Using Genes Reunited’s collection of historic newspapers, we take a l ...


Has the Tour De France got you in the mood for a bike ride? Be careful not to catch the dreaded ‘Bicycle Face’.


‘When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today.’ A D Day veteran’s return to the Beaches of Normandy.


William Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated every April in Stratford-upon-Avon, his birthplace, with a costumed parade. He was baptised on 26 April, and is thought to have been born on or near 23 April.