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.

In Part 1, we left off with Claude’s lengthy reply to my request for a 2026 genealogy research plan, based on family history that I had written in 2025 and early 2026.

Then I requested a “Research Plan,” not knowing exactly how Claude would handle the request. The reply is somewhere between a summary of past findings and next research goals, but it is long!

Genealogy Research Log

Linda Stufflebean – Empty Branches on the Family Tree

Research Activity: 2025-2026

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JANUARY 2025

Date: January 29, 2025

Topic: Preserving My Family Tree
Activity: Methodology and planning
Summary: Began thinking seriously about preservation strategies after 46 years of research. Acknowledged that very few new branches likely to bloom due to lack of records. Most new discoveries now come from professional genealogists extending colonial American lines back to England.

Preservation Plans Considered:

• Share with family members (limited interest noted)
• Considering purchasing genealogy software for younger generation
• Planning to create flash drives with organized documents and images
• Need to update MyHeritage family tree
• Need to update Ancestry family tree
• Considering FamilySearch Family Tree (previous attempt created duplicates)
• Maybe WikiTree (would be more involved than FamilySearch)

Notes: This marks a shift in focus from active research to preservation and legacy planning.

Status: Planning phase

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Date: January 30, 2025

Topic: English Origins of Isabel Wells, Wife of Simon Tuttle Family: Tuttle/Wells
Location: Ringstead, Northamptonshire, England
Time Period: 1565-1635

Research Question: What are the English origins of Isabel Wells?

Findings:

• Isabel Wells born c.1565 in Ringstead, Northamptonshire, England
• Father: John Wells (will dated 20 January 1617)
• Married Simon Tuttle c.1592
• Had at least 5 sons: Richard (c.1593), John (c.1596), Thomas (d. before 1627), Simon (d. between 1617-1627), William (c.1607)
• Listed as age 70 on 1635 Planter passenger list
• Most likely died during voyage to colonies and was buried at sea

John Wells’ Will (20 Jan 1617) – Key Details:

• Named grandchildren including Morton and Barwek families
• Named “my daughter Morton” and “my daughter Tootell”
• Listed Richard Tuttle, Simon Tuttle, and William Tuttle as grandchildren
• Named William and John Wells, sons of his brother Thomas Wells

Isabel’s Siblings (from father’s will):

• Sister (possibly Elizabeth) married William Morton
• Sister married Mr. Barwek/Barwick
• Evidence of brothers from Thomas Wells’ sons mentioned

Sources Consulted:

• Donald Lines Jacobus’ work on early New England families
• Planter passenger list 1635
• John Wells’ will, 20 January 1617
• Simon Tuttle’s will, 19 December 1627
• St. Mary’s Church records, Ringstead (building dates to 1240 AD, still standing)

Challenges:

• No surviving birth or baptismal records from that region and time period
• No surviving marriage records
• Isabel disappeared from records after 1635 – no burial record in England, doesn’t appear in Massachusetts records

Line of Descent to Me: Simon Tuttle & Isabel Wells → Richard Tuttle & Anne Taylor → John Tuttle & Mary Holyoke → Edward Tuttle & Abigail (MNU) → Joses Bucknam & Phebe Tuttle → James Bucknam & Mary Goddard → Joses Bucknam & Abigail Hay → Oliver Scripture & Mary Goddard Bucknam → George Rogers Tarbox & Mary Elizabeth Scripture → Calvin Segee Adams & Nellie F. Tarbox → Charles Edwin Adams & Annie Maude Stuart → Vernon Tarbox Adams & Hazel Ethel Coleman → George Michael Sabo & Doris Priscilla Adams → Linda Anne Sabo Stufflebean (11X great-grandmother!)

Status: Published blog post documenting findings

Next Steps: Continue researching Wells family in Ringstead area

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LATE 2025 – EARLY 2026

Dates: December 2025 – January 2026

Topic: David Adams Family Reconstruction
Family: Adams (Loyalist line)
Primary Ancestor: John Adams (Loyalist)
Location: Fairfield County, Connecticut; Otsego County, NY; Westchester County, NY
Time Period: 1700s-1800s

Research Breakthrough: FamilySearch Full-Text Search

Background Context: Not long before this intensive research period, full-text search found the perfect land deed proving the parentage of Loyalist John Adams in Fairfield County, Connecticut. This discovery launched a comprehensive quest to identify, correct, and flesh out all descendants of John’s father, David Adams, through both his wives.

David Adams’ Wives:

1. First wife: Susannah Lockwood (mother of John Adams, the Loyalist)
2. Second wife: Sarah Squire

Research Objective:

• Identify and document all descendants through both marriages
• Correct errors in Donald Lines Jacobus’ published genealogies
• Fill gaps in records not accessed by Jacobus
• Trace families through post-American Revolution period

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Major Discoveries Using FamilySearch Full-Text Search:

Discovery #1: Ann Adams Lyon Estate Records

Date Found: Early January 2026
Subject: Ann Adams, John Adams’ full sister
Spouse: Ephraim Lyon

Details:

• Ephraim Lyon died 1794 in Fairfield County, Connecticut
• Estate administration remained open until 1829
• List of heirs included in estate paperwork
• Five pages of heirs listed
• Several more pages of details from 1829 estate closure

Significance: Provided comprehensive list of Ann’s descendants and their married names

Document Location: Fairfield County, Connecticut probate records
Source Type: Estate distribution records

Status: Images captured and saved; need to fully transcribe all heir pages

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Discovery #2: Squire Adams Will (1830)

Date Found: Early January 2026
Subject: Squire Adams (son of David Adams and Sarah Squire)
Spouse: Mary Godfrey (no children)

Details:

• Will dated 1830
• Estate bequeathed to siblings (childless marriage)
• Provided married names for his sisters
• Critical document for identifying Sarah Squire’s children

Significance: This will is the key to identifying David Adams’ children by his second wife, Sarah Squire. Without children of his own, Squire named his siblings as heirs.

Document Location: Fairfield County, Connecticut probate records
Source Type: Last will and testament

Next Steps:

• Cross-reference sisters’ married names with other records
• Locate estates/wills of named siblings
• Track migration patterns of this generation

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Discovery #3: Squire Adams Jr. Incompetency Hearing (1869)

Date Found: January 2026
Subject: Squire Adams Jr. (nephew of Squire Adams Sr., named after him)
Age at hearing: In his 80s
Location: Fairfield County, Connecticut

Details:

• Incompetency hearing held in 1869
• Agreement drawn up by his FOUR SONS
• Document outlines:
  • Time period each son would provide parental care
  • Expenses for care to be divided evenly among sons
  • Specific order in which each son would take on care responsibilities
• Actual handwriting samples obtained from sons’ signatures

The Four Sons Identified:

1. [Son 1 name – to be added from document]
2. [Son 2 name – to be added from document]
3. [Son 3 name – to be added from document]
4. [Son 4 name – to be added from document]

Significance: Prior to this discovery, no one seemed to have reliable information about Squire Adams Jr.’s sons. This document definitively identifies all four sons and provides handwriting exemplars.

Document Location: Fairfield County, Connecticut court records
Source Type: Incompetency/guardianship hearing
Images: 3 pages captured (images 135, 136, 137)

Status: Document images saved; need to fully transcribe names and details

Next Steps:

• Identify each son’s full name and dates
• Locate census records for each son
• Find death records and possible probate records
• Trace each son’s family forward

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Additional Discoveries Mentioned:

Other Estate Administrations Found:

• Estate administrations for grandchildren who had no children of their own
• Multiple wills located
• Several land records proving family relationships

David Adams Jr. Research:

• David Adams Jr. left Connecticut for Otsego County, New York
• Full-text search helped navigate “the black hole that is New York research”
• Able to piece together several families in first half of the 1800s

Westchester County, NY Research:

• Some grandchildren moved just over state line to Westchester County, NY
• Full-text search productive here as well

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Methodology Notes:

Primary Tool: FamilySearch Full-Text Search
Why It Works:

• Enables tight narrowing of documents
• Searches across entire text of documents, not just indexed names
• Finds documents that might be missed in traditional indexing
• Particularly valuable for:
  • Land records
  • Probate records
  • Court records
  • Estate distributions

Search Strategy:

• Started with known family members
• Searched variants of surnames
• Used full-text to find mentions in heir lists
• Followed each discovery to related documents
• Worked both forward and backward in time

Challenges Overcome:

• Incomplete records in Connecticut
• Records not accessed by Donald Lines Jacobus
• Errors in published genealogies
• New York research difficulties
• Multiple generations with same names

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Research Assessment:

Progress: Excellent

Quote from blog: “Full-text search is one of the best technological advances in genealogy research to come about in the 21st century!”

Families Researched: Several Adams families previously with little known information

Records Found:

• Multiple wills
• Estate administrations
• Court records
• Land deeds
• Heir listings spanning multiple generations

Geographic Coverage:

• Fairfield County, Connecticut (primary)
• Otsego County, New York (David Adams Jr.’s line)
• Westchester County, New York (some grandchildren)

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Status as of January 18, 2026:

Completed:

• ✓ Found proof of John Adams’ parentage (David Adams)
• ✓ Identified Ann Adams’ married name (Lyon) and her descendants
• ✓ Found Squire Adams’ will identifying siblings
• ✓ Located four sons of Squire Adams Jr.
• ✓ Documented multiple estate administrations
• ✓ Found several wills and land records

In Progress:

• Transcribing all heir lists from Ephraim Lyon estate
• Identifying each heir’s full information
• Following David Adams Jr.’s line in Otsego County, NY
• Tracking Westchester County, NY grandchildren
• Documenting corrections to Jacobus’ work

Next Research Steps:

1. Complete transcription of all Adams-related probate documents
2. Create comprehensive descendancy chart for David Adams
3. Locate migration records for families moving to New York
4. Search for additional court records
5. Find land records in Otsego and Westchester counties
6. Compile corrections to Jacobus for possible publication
7. Search newspapers for Adams family mentions
8. DNA testing to confirm questionable connections

Brick Walls Remaining:

• Some children of David Adams Jr. in New York
• Exact dates and places for some grandchildren
• Married names for some female descendants
• Migration dates to New York

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METHODOLOGY LESSONS LEARNED

FamilySearch Full-Text Search Best Practices:

1. Search Broadly First
   • Start with surname only
   • Add location parameters
   • Refine with first names only after seeing results
2. Check All Variant Spellings
   • Adams/Addams
   • Squire/Squires
   • Lockwood/Lockwoo d
3. Follow the Paper Trail
   • One estate leads to another
   • Heirs named in one document appear as principals in others
   • Land records often reference family relationships
4. Save Everything
   • Download images immediately
   • Create detailed citations
   • Take screenshots of search results
   • Note document series and page numbers
5. Work Both Directions
   • Forward: children, grandchildren
   • Backward: parents, grandparents, collateral lines
   • Sideways: siblings, in-laws, neighbors

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FAMILIES RESEARCHED (Based on Blog Categories)

Active Research 2025-2026:

Primary: Adams (98 posts total, recent intensive work)
Colonial Lines: Tuttle, Wells
Carpatho-Rusyn: Sabo (58 posts), Kucharik (28 posts), Scerbak (21 posts)
Other Active Lines: Stufflebean, Sturgell, Tarbox

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RESEARCH GOALS FOR 2026

Priority 1: Complete David Adams Descendancy

• Finish transcribing all documents found
• Create comprehensive family group sheets
• Publish corrections to Jacobus
• Write detailed blog series

Priority 2: Loyalist Research

• Document John Adams’ Loyalist activities
• Search for British claims
• Check Canadian records
• Investigate property confiscations

Priority 3: Preservation Project

• Update online family trees (Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch)
• Organize documents for family members
• Create flash drives with organized research
• Consider WikiTree contribution

Priority 4: Carpatho-Rusyn Research

• Monitor for new Slovak digitization
• Continue Sabo family research
• Follow up on Julia Scerbak Sabo connections

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TOOLS & RESOURCES ACTIVELY USED

Primary Research Tools:

• FamilySearch (especially full-text search)
• FamilySearch Family Tree (with caution)
• Ancestry.com
• MyHeritage

Software:

• Family Historian 6 (genealogy software)
• Excel (for charts and analysis)
• Atlantis Word Processor (for writing)

Methodology Resources:

• Donald Lines Jacobus published genealogies
• Evidence Explained (citation guide)
• Board for Certification of Genealogists guidelines

Planning Tools:

• Blog for documentation and sharing
• Flash drives for backups
• External hard drives for document storage

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BLOG ACTIVITY 2025

Regular Features Maintained:

• Friday’s Family History Finds (weekly – 440+ posts total)
• Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (weekly participation – 451+ posts total)
• Book Reviews (130 total)
• Recommended Reads (101 total)

Guest Blogging:

• August 2025: Guest post on Grapevine Library blog about connecting with ancestors through social history

Blogiversary:

• January 16, 2026: Empty Branches on the Family Tree turned 12 years old

Blog Statistics:

• 1,446+ pages of posts
• Premium member of GeneaBloggers 2025
• Active participant in genealogy blogging community

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NOTES & OBSERVATIONS

Research Philosophy (age 46 of researching):

• “Very few new branches of the tree are likely to bloom, mainly due to lack of records”
• Most discoveries now coming from professional genealogists extending colonial lines to England
• Shift toward preservation and sharing rather than acquisition of new lines
• Focus on depth (fleshing out known families) rather than breadth (finding new ancestors)

Technology Assessment:

• FamilySearch full-text search = “one of the best technological advances in genealogy research to come about in the 21st century”
• Successfully using full-text search to overcome “the black hole that is New York research”
• Excel proving useful for creating complex charts (7-generation chart developed)

Challenges Noted:

• Family member disinterest in genealogy research
• Managing multiple online family trees
• Previous difficulties with FamilySearch Family Tree (created duplicates)
• Deciding whether to invest time in WikiTree

Successes:

• Breaking through Connecticut brick walls
• Overcoming New York research challenges
• Finding documents missed by earlier genealogists
• Identifying errors in published works
• Creating useful tools and resources for genealogy community

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FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

Short Term (Next 3 Months):

• Finish transcribing Adams probate documents
• Update online family trees
• Organize preservation materials

Medium Term (Rest of 2026):

• Complete David Adams descendancy research
• Write comprehensive blog series on Adams family
• Publish Jacobus corrections
• Make decisions about WikiTree participation

Long Term:

• Create comprehensive preservation package for family
• Consider formal publication of research
• Continue methodology blogging to help others
• Maintain regular blog features

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RESEARCH LOG MAINTENANCE

This log should be updated:

• After each significant research session
• When new documents are found
• When blog posts are published about research
• When research goals are completed or modified
• At least monthly to capture ongoing work

In order to turn this into a current research log, I would need to weed out the summaries from last year (plus statistics and other odds and ends that Claude included) and focus on actual future steps to continue where I left off with various family lines.

This was just a jokey kind of trial for me, but I have to admit that Claude would probably do very well crafting a research plan and creating a log for well-defined research questions.

If you’d like to listen to the entire Genealogy Happy Hour discussion, There is more focus on streamlined questions and how Penny plans to proceed.

Artificial Intelligence has been with us for a while now and it’s definitely here to stay. Actually, scientists have worked on the concept for decades, but it’s only been recently released to the masses for general use.

Genealogists have begun embracing various aspects of AI, although in the beginning, without even realizing it. AI has developed to the point today where it’s time to examine its pros – of which there are many – but also some of its cons.

Remember how excited we all were when OCR was used to index digitized historical newspapers?

More recently, MyHeritage used AI to enable us to add movement and computerized male and female voices to our family photos.

Now, AI can provide background information on subjects in photos, estimating when they were taken and, in some cases, where.

Computer assisted transcription and translation of documents was a huge boon for genealogists as it saved us all so much time and energy, especially when the records were in another language.

Long articles can be summarized in a few seconds.

Websites such as Perplexity, ChatGPT 4o and others can answer historical questions, locate resources and even write articles within parameters that we specify.

Let’s also not forget FamilySearch full-text search, launched via U.S. land and probate records and is ever-expanding.

AI can even, at times, guide researchers to new possible resources that might have been overlooked.

As long as the human researcher remembers that AI is very capable of responding with lies (which some call ‘hallucinating’) and he/she follows through with checking and verifying information, Artificial Intelligence is offering many pros in its uses.

However, AI definitely has some cons, too.

First, let’s look at AI-generated content, whether it be for genealogical purposes or not. Professional writers clearly state when part or all of an article or story has been computer-generated.

For the moment, let’s equate those writers with genealogists who do their own research, carefully following clues and proving points with the best evidence possible at the moment.

Now, for the con – think about all those online trees with massive errors in them which proliferate like rabbits because they are copied by name collectors who don’t verify anything.

If we’ve been surprised at how quickly genealogy mis-information multiplied when we made the leap from society newsletters and journals to online trees, just imagine how fast incorrect digital information will multiply by researchers who spread AI content (without stating it as such) AND they don’t bother to fact check.

Accessing poorly documented or undocumented family information will present the serious researcher with many more “facts” to prove, disprove and accurately cite.

Another con, and this is my opinion and has become a pet peeve, is the use of AI-generated images.

Those images aren’t a 100% negative in my eyes.

For example, using AI images with AI-created poems, songs and biographies is a fun way to look at and share family history, especially if no actual photos of the subject are available.

Another way to use AI images is to create a branding logo or icon to draw attention to a specific topic or business. Since, as of 2025, the government has announced that computer created images cannot be copyrighted, writers can easily add logos to their work at no cost.

Those are both very appropriate uses of AI-generated images.

Now for the con. Again, this is my own opinion here so readers are certainly free to disagree.

I don’t understand why serious researchers and writers are adding AI images to their hard work. To me, it’s like adding cartoons to scholarly works. Those images don’t add anything to the quality of the post, article or story.

In fact, I believe AI images DEVALUE the writer’s final product. It also tends to make me think that the writer was too lazy to find an actual photo that would complement the work.

Here are a few examples:

Why add an AI image of a family and cabin on homesteaded land in the 1800s when copyright free images of real cabins can be accessed on the Library of Congress website and many other libraries with online digital collections?

Why add an AI image of a person sitting at a table reading a piece of paper (e.g. a will) when real photographs of that particular county courthouse are online, again copyright-free, and would greatly enhance the story by giving the reader a visual image of the actual building?

Why use an AI image of a library reading room when, again, there are many photos to be found online that can depict the same scene?

It really pains me to see otherwise excellent article and stories that have been cluttered with AI images. Even one in a non-fictional work is one too many.

I also have to admit that I actually cringe and have started to pass over (as in delete from feedly) serious articles when I see an AI image in them. I would much rather read an article without any images than one with AI content added.

Think about it – when was the last time you saw an AI-generated image in The Register (published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society)? Or in a case study published in a society newsletter? Or an any product meant to convey scholarly work? Answer: NEVER.

I really hope that the fascination of adding computer-created images wears off soon and the its use is relegated to the fun, non-professional genealogically related activities where it belongs.

Rant done!