The best Family History Finds this week:

Family Stories

Past Perfect by Jeff Record on The Last Aha

Our Christmas Miracle by Lori Samuelson on Genealogy at Heart

On Morning Star Road by Jeff Record on The Last Aha

Research Resources

Townlands and Irish Land Divisions – How to Use the Townland Atlas of Ulster Presentation by Andrew Kane by Chris Paton on Scottish GENES

Finding Genealogical & Historical Sources in the Smithsonian Digital Library by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt

Finding Unexpected Genealogical Sources in JSTOR by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt

Tech News

I love this!:
An AI Genealogical Source Reliability Scale and Conflict Audit Framework by James Tanner on Genealogy’s Star

Me and ChatGPT, a story by Linda Yip on Past Presence

You Can Now Customize ChatGPT’s ‘Personality’ to Suit Your Tastes Even More by Jake Peterson on Lifehacker

Enhance Your Responses from Google Gemini 3 with Expanded Prompts. by James Tanner on Genealogy’s Star

Genetic Genealogy

My Newly Found Half Second Cousin Once Removed by Kitty Cooper on Kitty Cooper’s Blog

My Dominant Left Foot by Doris Kenney on A Tree With No Name

Methodology

Using AI as Your Genealogical Deed Abstracting Partner: A Case Study  by Diana Elder on Family Locket

How I Found My 8th Great Grandparents by DiAnn Iamarino Ohama on Fortify Your Family Tree

Education Is for Everyone

Part 4: Helpful Hoosiers, Elusive Records, and One Good Clerk by Lori Samuelson on Genealogy at Heart

Is Transkribus the Best AI for Handwritten Genealogy Documents? by Deborah Carl on Mission Genealogy

What 2025 Taught Me About Owning My Work by Denyse Allen on Chronicle Makers

They Added Their Own Memories to Family History Booklet! by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree

New Videos on International Institute of Genealogical Studies’ YouTube Channel — Christmas Traditions, Irish Petty Session Records, and Internet Tools by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte

Keeping Up with the Times

It’s free and you don’t have to stay up until midnight!
From Loose Ends to Clear Next Steps: A New year’s Eve Research Reset by Kathryn Lake Hogan on Looking 4 Ancestors

The Death of Christmas Cards? by Eilene Lyon on Myricopia

Improved Search Feature for New Brunswick Archival Collections by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte