Heartland Genealogy

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Memories of the Bicentennial -- 4 July 1976 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again — time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the  Mission Impossible  music, please!): How did you observe or celebrate the Bicentennial of America's Founding on 4 July 1976? What were you doing on that day? Did you or your family attend any special events to mark America's 200th birthday? Unfortunately, I don't specifically remember how my family celebrated the Fourth of July in 1976. What I do remember from that summer, however, was a unique event that brought our community together. Seneca, Kansas, was one of the stops on the 1976 Olympic Torch Relay as the flame made its way across the United States on its journey to the Summer Olympics in Montreal. In keeping with the region's history, the torch was carried across northeast Kansas by Pony Express ...

An ABC Biography Project As part of my ongoing ABC Biography series—an approach inspired by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings —I’m using artificial intelligence tools to help transform traditional genealogical research into engaging family stories. Randy’s ABC approach combines three creative steps: A — an AI-assisted biography based on documented genealogical research B — a song inspired by the ancestor’s life story C — AI-generated interpretations such as audio overviews, infographics, or cinematic presentations Rather than combining all three into a single post, I’m sharing each step separately. This post focuses on the biography of Angelina Jane Burke Currey (1836–1901) . Angelina’s life spanned an extraordinary period in American history. Born before the Civil War, she lived through the turbulent Bleeding Kansas era, westward expansion, railroad growth, and the dramatic transformation of frontier communities into established towns and farms. ...

A Handwritten Note about the "Other" James Crawford Do you have handwritten notes tucked away in your genealogy files that lack any documentation? Perhaps they were passed along by another researcher, copied years ago, or slipped into a folder with the intention of “looking into that later.” Today’s  Friday Find  is exactly that sort of document. At first glance, one might assume this handwritten note refers to my ancestor,  James Crawford . After all, it mentions a James Crawford connected to the same general time and place as my research. But that assumption would be wrong. This note actually refers to the  other  James Crawford—the one who has long complicated my Crawford research. For those unfamiliar with my Crawford brick wall, multiple men named James Crawford were living in Kentucky at roughly the same time. My ancestor,  James Crawford who married Sally Smith Duggins , lived in  Garrard County, Kentucky  prior to ...

Heartland Genealogy Through the Years Yesterday, I shared the story of how Heartland Genealogy evolved from GeoCities to WordPress. After writing that post, I took a trip down memory lane with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine—and discovered that some of my earlier genealogy websites still survive. Looking at those archived pages feels a bit like opening an old scrapbook. Some things made me smile. Some made me laugh. And all of them reminded me how much both genealogy and technology have changed. 2006: GeoCities and the Early Web Yes, Heartland Genealogy really did begin on GeoCities. Here’s a screenshot from 2006. That page takes me right back. At the time, I was a school librarian and technology coordinator. While I was responsible for the computers, much of my work involved helping teachers and students learn to use technology effectively. I’ve always thought of myself more as an information specialist than a technology expert. Cre...

My Journey Sharing Genealogy Online How long have you been sharing your genealogy research online? For me, that journey goes back to the early days of the internet. At the time, I was a high school librarian and technology coordinator. While I was responsible for the computers in the school, much of my job involved teaching teachers and students how to use technology effectively. I’ve always considered myself more of an information specialist than anything else. Thus, when the web was still relatively new, putting my genealogy online served two purposes. It was a way to share my family history research, but it was also a way for me to learn about the technology itself. Building web pages taught me about HTML, website structure, and online publishing. The GeoCities Years My first genealogy website lived on GeoCities. Those who were online in those early years likely remember GeoCities as one of the first places ordinary people could create a website. Long b...

with AI Video One of the things I enjoy most about using AI in genealogy is experimenting with new ways to tell family stories. A traditional narrative biography is valuable, but sometimes a different format helps bring an ancestor’s life to life in a new and engaging way. After creating an ABC Biography for my 3rd great-grandfather, Hiram M. Currey (1835–1901) , I decided to see what AI could do with his story in video form. Using the narrative report and research I had assembled, I turned to Google Notebook LM to create an infographic, an audio overview, and a cinematic video interpretation of Hiram’s life. For the first video, I took the infographic and audio overview created by Notebook LM and combined them in Canva to produce a narrated video presentation. This version is probably the most grounded in the documented facts, since it relies directly on the information I provided. The second video is Notebook LM’s cinematic interpretation of Hiram’s story. Whi...

Wells Land in the Sacandaga Patent As I continue digging through my old WELLS research notebook, I’m rediscovering records I collected years ago—some of which deserve a closer look. Today’s find is an early deed involving two Wells brothers: Thomas Wells and Green Wells , sons of Nathaniel Wells , in Broadalbin, Montgomery County, New York . At first glance, this appears to be a routine land transaction. On 13 January 1806, Thomas Wells and his wife Jerusha sold land to Green Wells for $464 . However, one phrase in the deed caught my attention: “all that certain parcel of land situate in Saundaga Patent and is known as a part of lot number three in said Patent…” That reference places the land within the Sacandaga Patent , a colonial New York land grant that helps place the Wells family within the early settlement history of what is now Fulton County, New York. For genealogists, land patents provide valuable historical context. A patent was the original gran...

  Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It’s Saturday Night again — time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the  Mission Impossible  music, please!): Do you have an ancestor whose occupation you know little or nothing about? Pick a great-grandparent or earlier ancestor who held an unfamiliar job (cooper, cordwainer, hostler, etc.). Look up the occupation and write a short description of what their daily work life might have been like. The  1900 census  lists my great-grandfather,  Hiram Currey , as a  magnetic healer . That’s certainly not an occupation we encounter today! I’ve written about this unusual occupation before: Fake or Real? https://heartlandgenealogy.org/2021/01/13/fake-or-real/ Previous Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post: https://heartlandgenealogy.org/2025/02/23/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-145/ For this week’s challenge, I decided to turn to  ...

A Song for Hiram M. Currey One of the fun side benefits of my  ABC Biography project  has been experimenting with ways to bring my ancestors’ stories to life beyond the written word. After creating an AI-assisted biography of my 3rd great-grandfather,  Hiram M. Currey (1835–1901) , I decided to take the next step and turn his story into music. Hiram was a Kansas farmer, husband, father of a large family, and a man whose life spanned frontier settlement, Civil War-era militia service, railroad expansion, and the many challenges of nineteenth-century rural life. Using AI, I created lyrics inspired by his life story and then used  Suno  to generate not one—but two different musical versions of the song. And now I can’t decide which I like better. One version feels more like a heartfelt frontier ballad, while the other brings a slightly different emotional tone to Hiram’s story. Since genealogy is all about sharing stories, I thought I’d let rea...

Finding newspaper articles today is often as simple as typing a name into a search box. Thirty-five years ago, that wasn't the case. Back then, many of us spent hours turning the crank on a microfilm reader, slowly scrolling through issue after issue in hopes of spotting a familiar surname. One of the treasures from those early research days is a handwritten transcription tucked away in my Crawford files. I likely copied this article sometime before 1990, long before the  Dodge City Globe-Republican  was digitized and made searchable online. Recently, I was able to locate the original article on Newspapers.com in the 12 August 1897 issue of  The Globe-Republican  of Dodge City, Kansas. Seeing the actual newspaper image after all these years was a reminder of how much genealogy research has changed—and how valuable those handwritten notes from the “microfilm era” can still be today. The article announced the marriage of my great-grandaunt, Lida A. Crawfor...

Data Centers, Local Control, and the Digital World We Already Depend On In recent months, Kansans have debated proposals for new data centers. Some communities have welcomed the idea, while others have strongly opposed specific projects because of concerns about water use, electricity demand, land use, and local impact. I understand those concerns. Personally, I support the right of local communities to make those decisions. If local landowners and governing bodies believe a proposed data center is not in the best interest of their community—whether because of strain on the water supply, increased energy demand, location concerns, or quality-of-life issues—then I support their ability to say no. That’s local control. At the same time, these conversations have caused me to think more deeply about what data centers actually are and how much we already depend on them. We Already Use Data Centers Every Day When many people hear the phrase  data center , the...

Do you use artificial intelligence in your genealogy research? If so, are you figuring it out on your own, or do you have mentors and resources that help you learn? While much of using AI involves experimentation, I’ve found it incredibly helpful to learn from others who are exploring the same tools and sharing their successes (and sometimes their missteps). My favorite AI mentor is Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing s. His posts about the workflows he has developed using AI—whether for writing biographies, creating songs, and generating infographics—have been especially useful. Seeing how another genealogist integrates AI into an established research process has helped me think more creatively about my own projects. Beyond Randy, I regularly turn to several other people and resources as I continue learning how to use AI in my genealogy work: The Family History AI Show  with Steve Little and Mark Thompson A great source for practical discussions about AI tools, genealogy w...

Do you track the religion of your ancestors? Religion is one of those items that often appears on genealogy research checklists, but it isn’t a fact I’ve spent much time actively documenting. That changed while I was working on the ABC Biography project for my second great-grandmother,  Sarah Ellen (Ralston) Hammond . As I reviewed her obituary, I noticed that her funeral was held in the Presbyterian church. Evidently, I had overlooked that detail when I first obtained the obituary years ago. That small discovery solved a childhood mystery. I remember my grandfather mentioning that  his family  attended the Presbyterian church, but as a child, I could never figure out which side of the family he meant. Now I realize he was referring to his grandmother, Sarah Ellen Ralston Hammond, and likely the Ralston branch of the family. That discovery made me curious:  what religious affiliations appear throughout my family tree? Religion can be more tha...

On May 18, Michael and I will celebrate 52 years of marriage. As I’ve reflected on our anniversary over the past few years, I’ve realized that our story is a bit unusual. Many couples discover that opposites attract—that each brings different strengths, interests, and experiences to a marriage. In our case, we began with an extraordinary amount in common. We were both confirmed in the Methodist church, grounding our lives in a shared faith. We both attended Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia (now Emporia State University), where we pursued degrees in physical science education—though I still tend to say I majored in chemistry. Chemistry, in fact, played a major role in bringing us together. We both worked as chemistry lab assistants, spending hours in labs, classrooms, and around campus, building not only our knowledge of science but also a relationship that would last a lifetime. Then came graduation in May of 1974. And the very next day—we were married. ...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:   It's Saturday Night again -  time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  Determine where your ancestral families were in May 1876 -- 150 years ago. 2)  List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible).   GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS Washington Marion Crawford and his wife Mary (Foster) Crawford were likely living in Warren County, Indiana in 1876. His pension record places him in Washington Township, Warren County in 1873 and the family is found there in 1880.Washington's brother, James, migrated from Warren County, Indiana to Dodge City, Kansas in 1878. Washington followed his brother by moving his family to Dodge City in 1884. In 1876, Washington and Mary's household owuld have included daughter Ida, born in 1862; son, Judson bo...