Heartland Genealogy

Using Google NotebookLM One of the questions I often ask while researching an ancestor is, "How can I make this story more engaging for others?" After completing a narrative biography of my great-grandfather, Judson Foster Crawford , I decided to experiment with another AI tool— Google NotebookLM . Using only the information from my documented narrative report, NotebookLM created a cinematic video that presents Judson's life in a documentary-style format. Seeing a lifetime of records transformed into a visual story offers a new perspective on the man behind the census records, city directories, newspaper articles, and family documents. Watch the Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oQt2XSBfuI A Note About the Images The images shown throughout this video were generated by Google NotebookLM to illustrate the historical narrative. They are artistic interpretations and are not actual photographs of Judson Foster Crawford, his family, or the e...

One of the most exciting aspects of today's AI tools is the ability to present family history in a variety of engaging formats. Recently, I used my documented narrative report about my great-grandfather, Judson Foster Crawford , as the basis for a Google NotebookLM Audio Overview . The AI-generated narration summarizes Judson's life—from his years working for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to the family he helped raise. Using Canva , I paired that audio with historical-themed visuals to create a video, which is now available on YouTube. Judson Foster Crawford at a Glance The infographic provides a quick overview of Judson's life and railroad career, while the audio overview adds a conversational summary of his story. Together, they offer two different ways to experience the same documented family history. Watch the Audio Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdOQMJYJOs Although the narration and visuals were created with AI too...

Are Albert Hutchinson’s Parents Wrong? Have you ever had a relationship in your family tree that you accepted for years—only to discover that the evidence might not be as solid as you thought? That is where I now find myself with my second great-grandfather, Albert Hutchinson . Albert served in Company D of the 1st Iowa Cavalry during the Civil War. For years, I have had him identified as the son of Aaron Hutchinson and Sarah Merry . That parentage also appears in online family trees. But there has always been a problem. I have not located a document that directly identifies my Albert Hutchinson—the Iowa Civil War soldier—as a son of Aaron Hutchinson and Sarah Merry. Recently, I uploaded a collection of Hutchinson family documents to Google NotebookLM . These included records involving Aaron Hutchinson, Hutchinson and Merry land transactions, cemetery information, census records, and documents connected with the estate of Lewis N. Hutchinson. Then I asked a...

George Mentzer—From Massachusetts to Woodson County One of the joys of genealogy is rediscovering old county histories. While these books often contain glowing descriptions of their subjects, they can also preserve details that may not be found anywhere else. For today's Monday's Diggings , I'm sharing a biographical sketch of George Mentzer , an early settler of Woodson County, Kansas. I obtained a photocopy of this article many years ago while researching at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka . Today, the same volume is also available digitally through both Ancestry and Archive.org , making it much easier for researchers to access. George Mentzer has appeared on Heartland Genealogy before. Earlier this month I wrote about a Woodson County deed involving George and the fascinating connection between the Mentzer family and George W. Allen of Massachusetts. This biography adds valuable context to that story by describing George's early life, Civi...

The Case of the Missing 1870 Census 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!): Which of your ancestors or relatives have you NOT found in the census records, and what have you done—or are you doing—to try to find that person? Can AI help? Identify one or more of your ancestors that are inexplicably missing from one or more census collections. Why do you think they were not enumerated? The Case of Washington Marion Crawford Every genealogist seems to have at least one family that simply refuses to appear in a census record. For me, one of those families belongs to my second great-grandparents, Washington Marion Crawford and Mary (Foster) Crawford . Washington and Mary were married in March 1860 , so they should have been enumerated together in the 1860 census. A few years later, although he was ...

Using AI to Bring Noah Briles' Civil War Service to Life One of the questions I hear most often when talking about artificial intelligence is, "What can it do for genealogy that I can't already do?" For me, the answer isn't that AI replaces research. It helps me share the stories hidden within the records. My second great-grandfather, Noah Washington Briles , served in Company I, 1st Iowa Cavalry during the Civil War. Like many Civil War soldiers, his compiled military service record consists primarily of muster rolls, pay records, and brief handwritten notes. Those documents are invaluable—but they aren't always easy for family members to understand or appreciate. Recently, I experimented with turning those records into two short cinematic videos. Video 1: Noah Briles' Military Record The first project began with Noah's compiled military service record. After transcribing every card in the record, I asked Google Notebook...

A Revolutionary War Patriot from the Days of GeoCities Do you remember GeoCities ? Long before blogs, Facebook groups, and online family trees, many genealogists shared their research on personal GeoCities websites. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, those sites became an important way to exchange information with distant cousins and fellow researchers. I even maintained my own genealogy pages there. When GeoCities closed in 2009, thousands of genealogy websites disappeared overnight. Fortunately, projects like the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine have preserved snapshots of many of those pages, allowing us to revisit a small piece of early internet genealogy. Today's Friday's Find is a photocopy I saved more than twenty years ago from a GeoCities website devoted to Revolutionary War patriots buried in Indiana. The page featured James Crawford (1758–1836) of Jefferson County, Indiana, complete with the Sons of the American Revolution emblem and a photog...