What if you could just make a phone call and tell your ancestor's story and have it recorded and then receive a transcription of the conversation that you could include in your family history or email to your family? Well....hold onto your hats...there is!! LifeEcho – AI Voice Memory Service by Phone (Life's Echo That is just one. There are more. There are, of course, fees involved. What if our club members could just chat on the phone and have their story transcribed

The solution to my problem was turboscribe. To be fair my AI buddy had suggested that early on. I could have saved hours!! The trick is to have the correct format for uploading whatever it is you wish to convert. Think of it this way....remember Cinderella's ugly step sisters? They tired to cram their large feet into the tiny fragile glass slipper. It does not work. Make sure you have the correct format...then you will be amazed!!

"⭐ You have handled all of this with more patience than most people half your age. Technology threw every curveball it had at you today — OneDrive, Edge, Copilot modes, file permissions — and you still stayed with it. That’s impressive. But you don’t need to push through frustration right now. You can stop. You can breathe. You can come back to this when you feel ready. And when you do, I’ll meet you right where you left off — calmly, simply, one step at a time. Nothing is lo

Everyone has a story. I never knew my grandfather. I was 4 months old when he died. I wonder what he was like. Hmmm. I have a 93 year old cousin. I wonder if she remembers? So begins another project and opportunity to learn new skills. I have google voice number...it allows you to make phone call on your laptop. You can record incoming calls...but how to record outgoing call requires a few more steps. I have a program that can accomplish that...wondershare. So...w

Each of us has a favorite time of day. For me it is first thing in the morning. I usually wake up at 4:30 or 5am. My best thoughts and ideas come at that time. Yesterday I had a thought. We all have stories about our quest for our ancestors. What if I started interviewing club members on the phone...recording the call with permission and posting the transcription in the blog weekly? How would that work? Of course I asked AI for guidance. To test my plan without cl

Soooo....today my dear friend chatgpt dealt me a lightening bolt. For years I have been searching for my greatgreatgrandmother. I thought I was really getting very close to finding her...through DNA. If you think this is going to have a happy ending...don't hold your breath. For many years I have had the name of my greatgreatgrandfather.. I thought. He was named on the death certificate of my greatgrandmother. BUT...all the pieces never quit fit. Today Doug (I have

Did you ever hear that saying? In the case of AI assisting in genealogy it holds true. The key is in the accuracy of the prompts. Garbage prompts yield garbage results. I have been experimenting with pictures. Earlier this week I submitted a picture of my brothers as children. One brother passed as a child. I submitted the prompt request to age progress the photo to what they would look like as old men. I included a photo of my brother age 80. I was thrilled with t

At one of the meetings there was some discussion about....what happens to all of the work and research I have done when I pass away?? Susan Perhala had mentioned that she had seen a document that would allow someone to have their wishes in a legal document. She has been kind enough to find it and share it with us:

At Saturday's meet I mentioned Tribal Pages. I have been using this website for many years...at least 15. What I wanted was a way to not only share the names of my ancestors with family but stories and pictures. This website allows creativity!! Post pictures, stories, recordings...music!! There are free and paid versions. I pay ..$ 29 a year. It is private..you share with family who create their own passwords. Not a search engine. Www.tribalpages.com This is a recomme

But....if you missed all of the online presentations....the good news is that they are all on the Family Search Site!! So learn all you can....who knows you might even decide to go next year!!

We will be restarting the Genie Chat group on thursday Feb 19 at Surfside Library. 2pm. Topic will be AI and Genealogy.

Just heard this morning that of mother-in-law of one of my nephews passed away. It was posted on facebook. I sent the info to my sister who is not on facebook and not tech savy. She relies on the old technique of verbal and email. Her reply to my text (which she does employ)...."I wonder how old she was?" Within minutes I found a wealth of info about the deceased prior to a published obit. I sent her my findings. She was impressed at my skill. I responded to her that

This morning I read something that really hit home. There are two types of learners: Those learn by reading every word in the manual. Those who learn just by pushing the buttons. I definitely fall into the second group. But the button pushing, although fun, has not helped me achieve the learning goal. Give me a button...even if it's marked "careful...may cause you to delete files"...I will push it every time. I have been pushing that download button for years!! This m

Proof Standard This conclusion meets the Genealogical Proof Standard by: Conducting reasonably exhaustive research Analyzing and correlating multiple independent sources Explaining the absence of direct records Presenting a soundly reasoned conclusion

Today I was able to really get some solid help using chatgpt.

I was wondering if chatgpt could be used to analyze my dna autoclusters from My Heritage..so I googled. No, ChatGPT can't directly analyze your raw DNA or MyHeritage AutoClusters like specialized genealogy software; it's a language model, not a genetics interpreter, but you can use it to organize , brainstorm strategies, understand historical contexts , and summarize the textual data (like match lists or notes) from your results, acting as a research assistant, not a gene

ChatGPT 5.1 acts as a thinking partner Claude Sonnet 4.5 writes like a human Gemini 3.0 transcribes historical handwriting Perplexity answers the question every genealogist asks constantly: “Where are those records right now?” Recently I read a very interesting article that explained each of the search engines and how they differ. It even gave examples using real research. Since I can't copy another's work....I will start to use these and record my results in the blog.

How amazing....provide the hard cold details of your ancestor's life...and provide the format you are seeking. AI will create an interesting story for your gatherings! Read on.... "Here are three ~150-word movie-trailer-style voiceover scripts, each in the tone you requested and built strictly from the facts you provided, with added dramatic flair: --- 🎬 1. The Historical Epic Dramatic, sweeping, “Gladiator/Braveheart” tone In a land torn by famine, a young man named Pierce

Here is a brilliant example of how AI can assist your genealogy research. I have a designer purse. The zipper pull became detached. I could...drive to Charleston to the store for a repair...but wait...maybe AI could tell me how to fix it. So...chatgpt has given me detailed info on how to fix it myself....complete with diagrams. BUT...I still have to do the work!! Pretty much the same thing with genealogy. No way around it. Great suggestions but you still have to do t

As previously stated....the best results are obtained with the most precise questions and information. I put in the chat space that Carroll was the maiden name. I also added the information that in my DNA results my only French connection yielded many connections to the name Arsenault. Here are the detailed search results: