One of the many blogs I follow is Genealogy Happy Hour, which previews podcasts presented by Amy Crabill Lay and Penny Burke Bonawitz. In the latest episode, they discuss 2026 research plans.

Amy is going the traditional path, creating her own plan. Penny is trying out two AI platforms and creating two separate plans.

I’m not really much for having AI do any of my writing, but, with guidance, AI capabilities could produce excellent research plans. With human review, they can be edited and fine-tuned with a completed product ready to go in way less time than a 100% human-designed plan.

With my limited use of AI platforms, I’ve decided that Claude does really well with genealogy-related tasks so, just for fun, I created this prompt:

Please review my blog posts on www.emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com for 2025. Create a reasonable genealogy research plan for me for 2026, based on families who have been featured last year. Where do I need to add more details, check new resources or just beef up my knowledge about them?

The result was pretty impressive.

2026 Genealogy Research Plan

Based on 2025 Blog Research Activity

PRIMARY FOCUS: Adams Family (Connecticut/New York)

Recent Breakthroughs in 2025-2026:

• Successfully identified descendants of David Adams through both wives (Susannah Lockwood and Sarah Squire)
• Used FamilySearch full-text search to find estate records, wills, and court documents
• Discovered Ann Adams married Ephraim Lyon (estate 1794-1829)
• Found Squire Adams’ 1830 will naming siblings
• Located 1869 incompetency hearing identifying four sons of Squire Adams Jr.

2026 Research Goals:

1. Complete David Adams Jr. Family (Otsego County, NY)
   • Continue using full-text search for New York records
   • Search for land records, probate records, and tax lists
   • Identify all children and their descendants through mid-1800s
   • Check Otsego County deed books for family relationships
2. Westchester County, NY Branch
   • Follow grandchildren who moved from Connecticut
   • Search Westchester County probate and land records
   • Look for connections to other Connecticut families who migrated
3. Verify and Correct Jacobus Errors
   • Cross-reference your findings with Donald Lines Jacobus’ published genealogies
   • Document corrections with primary sources
   • Consider publishing corrections for other researchers
4. Flesh Out Half-Sibling Lines
   • Complete Sarah Squire’s children’s families
   • Search for married names of daughters
   • Trace male lines through at least 1850
5. Resources to Explore:
   • Continue FamilySearch full-text search systematically
   • Connecticut State Library – probate records
   • New York State Archives – court records
   • Land deed reconstruction using DeedMapper
   • Newspaper obituaries via Newspapers.com and Chronicling America

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SECONDARY FOCUS: Loyalist Research

Based on Your Adams Loyalist Work:

1. John Adams (Loyalist)
   • Document his Loyalist activities comprehensively
   • Search for claims filed with British government
   • Check United Empire Loyalist records (Canadian connections)
   • Investigate property confiscations in Connecticut
2. Other Loyalist Ancestors
   • Your 2024 brick wall post mentioned 9 Loyalist/pre-Loyalist ancestors
   • Systematically research each one
   • Check Provincial Archives of New Brunswick for land grants
   • Nova Scotia Archives for Loyalist settlements

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MAINTENANCE RESEARCH: Ongoing Family Lines

Sabo/Carpatho-Rusyn Families:

• Continue monitoring for new Slovak church record digitization
• Check FamilySearch for new eastern European collections
• Search for the elusive John Szabo/Sabo marriage record
• Investigate Julia Scerbak Sabo’s extended FAN club connections

Stufflebean Lines:

• Follow up on the brick walls from your 2024 post:
  • Lewis Peavler (c1805-c1881, Tennessee/Missouri)
  • Samuel W. Scott (1797 Kentucky – 1835 Missouri)
• Check newly digitized Missouri records
• Search Tennessee county histories for Peavler family

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SKILL DEVELOPMENT & NEW RESOURCES

Technology to Master in 2026:

1. FamilySearch Full-Text Search
   • You’re already excelling here – continue systematic searches
   • Share your methodology in blog posts
2. AI Tools for Genealogy
   • You mentioned AI resources on your site
   • Experiment with ChatGPT for research planning
   • Try Claude AI for document analysis and transcription
3. DeedMapper
   • Visualize Adams family land holdings in Connecticut
   • Map migration patterns to New York
4. Wayback Machine
   • You wrote about this in May 2025
   • Use it to recover lost genealogy websites

New Record Collections to Monitor:

1. FamilySearch additions (especially Connecticut probate)
2. Ancestry’s full-text search feature (announced 2026)
3. MyHeritage UK and Ireland collections
4. State-specific digital collections

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WRITING & DOCUMENTATION GOALS

Blog Content:

1. Write comprehensive Adams family series
   • Document your methodology
   • Share the estate records you’ve found
   • Publish corrections to Jacobus
2. Create case studies on:
   • Using full-text search effectively
   • Solving New York research problems
   • Loyalist research strategies
3. Update resource pages:
   • Keep Connecticut resources current
   • Add New York research tools
   • Update Carpatho-Rusyn toolbox

Family History Preservation:

1. Continue work on preserving your tree (you mentioned this in January 2025)
2. Share with younger family members
3. Consider DNA connections for breaking brick walls

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QUARTERLY MILESTONES

Q1 2026 (Jan-Mar):

• Complete David Adams Jr. family in Otsego County
• Write 2-3 blog posts on Adams research

Q2 2026 (Apr-Jun):

• Research Westchester County branch
• Attend genealogy conference/RootsTech

Q3 2026 (Jul-Sep):

• Focus on half-sibling lines (Sarah Squire’s children)
• Vacation research trip?

Q4 2026 (Oct-Dec):

• Compile Adams family corrections to Jacobus
• Review year’s progress and set 2027 goals
• Update blog resource pages

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BRICK WALLS TO TACKLE

Highest Priority:

1. Adams family members who moved to New York
2. John Szabo marriage record (your Sabo mystery)
3. Peavler family origins in Tennessee

Medium Priority: 4. Swedish ancestor from Genarp 5. Other 2024 brick wall ancestors

Resources for Brick Walls:

• DNA matches on Ancestry/23andMe
• Local historical societies
• State archives research trips
• Collaboration with other researchers

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NOTES & REMINDERS

• Continue “Friday’s Family History Finds” weekly posts
• Maintain “Saturday Night Genealogy Fun” participation
• Share discoveries with genealogy community
• Back up research regularly (you emphasized this in April 2025)
• Keep control of your data in genealogy software
• Document sources meticulously as you research

Remember: The Adams family research has been incredibly productive. Use the same methodology (systematic full-text searching, comprehensive estate record analysis, FAN club investigation) for other family lines.

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This plan is based on your blog activity from 2025 and should be adjusted as new discoveries emerge or priorities shift.

This plan has a strong focus on my Adams research, which I began writing about at the end of 2025 and which I’m currently working on. Claude definitely picked up on my most recent rabbit holes.

Claude’s conversation with me included:

Your Hot Research Lines for 2026:

1. Adams Family of Connecticut – You’re on fire with this one! Your recent FamilySearch full-text discoveries show this is where you’re making breakthrough progress. I recommend completing the full David Adams descendancy project while momentum is high.
2. Slovak/Carpatho-Rusyn Families – With 73 posts on St. Dimitry’s Church alone, plus major research on Sabo (58 posts), Kucharik (28 posts), and other families, this is clearly a passion project. Consider a concentrated research period to compile everything.
3. Stufflebean/Stufflebean-Stoppelbein – Your own surname with 60+ combined posts deserves a comprehensive family history book.
4. Kentucky Lines – Sturgell (55 posts), Coleman (40 posts), and Bandy (42 posts) families are well-developed and ready for the deep dive into court records and legislative petitions you mentioned wanting to explore.

I then asked Claude to create a research log for me, based on my 2025 and early 2026 blog posts. I wasn’t quite sure what the end result would look like, but made the request because Penny asked for one as she explained her process in the Genealogy Happy Hour podcast.

This post is already quite long and Claude’s research log is even longer, so those results are in Part 2, also published today.