 AI in Genealogy: Copilot and Gemini OCR for Obituary Transcriptions and Anaysis! Are you using AI to help generate transcriptions, extracts, or abstracts for and/or understand your genealogical documents? I have been testing and using AI for many things in my genealogical world this past year. I have tested out and used various AI platforms for different tasks, as some work out for certain tasks better than others. I recently tested out generating transcriptions and using OCR for historical documents, from my family history, in Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini. Some turned out better than others. It’s a hit and miss. Of course, nothing is perfect, but I’m sure it will get better as time goes by. Check out a few of the results below for using AI to transcribe and/or analyze obituaries and see how you can use AI in your genealogy! Microsoft Copilot AI-Powered OCR Obituary Transcription and Analysis Test- Example (Try #1)Here is an example using AI-Powered OCR for transcription and analysis of an obituary for my 2nd great grandfather, Samuel Steinman. It turned out pretty good, I'd say!
Google Gemini AI-Powered OCR Obituary Transcription and Analysis Test- Example (Multiple Tries)After multiple attempts, with different prompts, Google Gemini was unable to use AI-Powered OCR for transcription and analysis of the same obituary for my 2nd great grandfather, Samuel Steinman. I tried the same prompt as above, just simply "Transcribe", simply "What is this?", and more, to no avail. 
Now, don't think for a moment that Google Gemini is of no use. As I mentioned, I use a combination of different platforms depending on the task, and Google Gemini performs much better in other tasks. More coming soon. More Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
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 MyHeritage Updates March 2024: Share DNA Results with a Collaborator! You can now share your DNA results with collaborators at MyHeritage! MyHeritage has now added the much-needed option to seek advice and guidance from others, by securely sharing your DNA results with a collaborator. By inviting others to view your DNA results, and become a member of your family site on MyHeritage, collaboration has never been easier! Benefits to DNA Collaboration at MyHeritage
Who Can Collaborate with MyHeritage DNA Results
Learn more: New: Sharing DNA Results with a Collaborator More MyHeritage and Other Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more MyHeritage and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 FamilySearch Updates March 2024: Historical Records Full-Text Search FamilySearch has just added new, experimental products to the FamilySearch Labs, with many using AI! One of these new features is a historical record full-text search, powered by AI, where you may unearth hidden discoveries in historical records that have never been searchable until now! As of now, there are only 2 collections included in the experimental FamilySearch Labs for this feature, U.S. Land and Probate Records and Mexico Notary Records, with more being added soon! Not only does it generate a full-text search, but it also gives you a full transcript, which is downloadable, with the original record! Check out an example below! FamilySearch Full-Text Record Search FamilySearch Historical Records Full-Text Search- Example 1 FamilySearch Full-Text Record Search & Full Record Transcript FamilySearch Historical Records Full-Text Search- Example 1-2 FamilySearch Full-Text Search Record Transcript Download FamilySearch Historical Records Full-Text Search- Example 1-3 If you’d like to try out this or any other experimental features, you must sign up first at: FamilySearch Labs More FamilySearch and other Genealogy ResourcesLearn about other FamilySearch updates and features, along with more family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 MyHeritage: New Ancestor Profile Pages! MyHeritage has just revamped their ancestor profile pages for your family tree, making it way easier to work on each ancestor in your family tree, with everything right at your fingertips! From the new MyHeritage profile pages, you can not only work from an extremely pleasant page with a new, updated modern look with soft, pleasant colors, but you can now access everything that you could possibly need to work on for that particular ancestor, all from the same page! What's Included in the MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page
MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Ancestor Details MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Details- Facts & Immediate Family
MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Ancestor Matches MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Matches
MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Ancestor Biography MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Biography- AI Biographer, Ancestor Life Story, Ancestor Notes
MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Ancestor Photos MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Photos
MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Ancestor Sources MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page: Sources- Source Citations
How to Get to MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page How to Get to MyHeritage Ancestor Profile Page I absolutely love the new MyHeritage profile pages! So easy to work from and so aesthetic! More MyHeritage and Other Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more MyHeritage and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 RootsTech 2024: World’s Largest Family History Event Wrap-up RootsTech 2024: World’s Largest Family History Event Wrap-up If you don’t know what RootsTech is, it’s the largest family history and genealogy event, around the world, of the year, celebrating family! RootsTech has certainly done it again! That was a fantastic, fun-filled 3 days! They seem to top themselves each year! The RootsTech 2024 event, hosted by FamilySearch, has finally come to an end, but the learning has not. Did you know that you can still access RootsTech? Not only can you access almost everything in your playlist for 3 years, the sessions/classes, keynotes, and Expo Hall, but they are keeping your chats available (to copy down your info), and you can still access RootsTech Relatives for the rest of the month! So, if you want to view any of the more than 1,500+ RootsTech Sessions (most of the 414 in-person and online sessions for 2024 and most of the other sessions from the past 3 years), Keynote Speakers or the Expo Hall, they are all still available, and will continue to be available! RootsTech: The Event of the Year, Once AgainRootsTech began in 2011, in-person, in Salt Lake City, and for their 10th anniversary, had to get creative, due to Covid. RootsTech 2021 was such a hit going virtual and FREE three years ago, due to Covid, that they went from about 30,000 attendees the year before to over 1,000,000! It was so amazing that they decided to do it again for 2022, and once again broke their record to 3,000,000! Then, they really outdid themselves by going hybrid last year, keeping the virtual platform, they designed just to use with the 2021 pandemic event that reached the entire world, and combining it smoothly with an in-person event for those missing the in-person experience, in which they had over 4,000,000 attendees worldwide from 240 countries and territories! This year, hybrid as well, was no exception and was once again the most fantastic global, family discovery event of the year, genealogy or otherwise! My RootsTech 2024 FavesAlthough I joined virtually and missed out on some in-person only sessions and aspects Like MyHeritage's featured session and joing up with groups that I'm a part of), I had a great time! I absolutely loved everything about RootsTech, from ALL of the keynote speakers, the sessions, the new RootsTech theme song, “Out of Time”, the featured videos, the Relatives at RootsTech, the Expo Hall, to the chat and more, all of it was fantastic! All the keynote speakers were amazing, but my absolute faves were Kirbey Heyborne’s “Welcome to RootsTech 2024” opening, the CEO, Steve Rockwood's keynote speech, which is always so powerful and thought provoking; and Sony Ambassador, Nancy Borowick’s powerful and moving documented story through images and speech! My other absolute faves at RootsTech were the powerful theme video, “Your Story Is Worth Remembering” ; the relaxed vibe of “Brick Wall Ancestors Need a Search Party”, even though it was for beginners, it was quite informative and fun; along with featured talks from Microsoft’s, Jared Spataro, Ancestry’s, Crista Cowan and MyHeritage! RootsTech 2024 at a GlanceAttendees:
Main Stage:
Expo Hall:
Relatives at RootsTech 2024: Out of over 300, 000 participants of Relatives at RootsTech...  I had 11,011 relatives at RootsTech this year! I had less than half of what I had last year, but that is most likely because I disconnected a lot of branches that others carelessly connected to the wrong people.😉 New 2024 Innovations and Tech I Got to Learn About
I saw as much of the main stage as possible and joined quite a few classes, and I’m so glad that I can save the rest to my playlist for later, in which you can now create playlist groups, as there is no way to get in everything in just 3 short days! 😉 It was such a big hit once again, that they’ll being going hybrid again next year! See you on March 6th of 2024! Don't forget to remember your past and those that came before, by including family, friends, strangers, communities, and the world! Remember to reflect on your life and those that have made the biggest impact on you, your stories, memories, traditions, and more, and preserve those memories for future generations so they can learn from our experiences! Remember to share your family history discoveries, knowledge, and resources to help others remember those that came before and who had the greatest impact on their lives! Remember, EVERYONE has a story worth remembering! If you missed the RootsTech 2024 event, you can still sign up for FREE online and view all the classes for FREE, at RootsTech! Don’t have an account? You can create your FREE FamilySearch account at FamilySearch! QuestionsI'd love to hear your experience at RootsTech 2024 below in the comments! How many RootsTech Relatives did you have attend? Have you saved your sessions for later yet? Did you take the time to chat and do any of the activities? Did you get to visit the exhibit hall? What were your faves? More on RootsTech and other Genealogy Events and ResourcesFollow more on the RootsTech Genealogy Conference in the Genealogy Events category, along with the Genealogy Resources category and my dedicated Genealogy Resources page! You can also find other fantastic events and resources there!
2/18/2024 Celebrating My African American Genealogy Connections with the BYU Relative FinderRead Now Celebrating My African American Genealogy Connections with the BYU Relative Finder In honor of Black History Month, I thought I’d check out my African American genealogy connections in the BYU Relative Finder. I have a list of 47 connections, which you can see below. Take in mind that BYU uses your FamilySearch World/Collaborative Tree to generate the connections, in which most of us know that the results would then be only as accurate as what others have connected to the World Tree. 😉
I quickly reviewed a lot of the connections, in which the majority connect us by distant ancestors that I have yet to confirm. There were many, where dates just didn’t add up, like women having children in their 50s back in the 16th and 17th centuries. 😉 I have included a closer look at 2 of my connections, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. My Genealogical Connection to Martin Luther King Jr.According to the BYU Relative Finder and the FamilySearch World Tree, I am connected to Martin Luther King Jr. I have not confirmed anything past James West, born 1745.  My Genealogical Connection to Martin Luther King Jr. My Genealogical Connection to Rosa ParksAccording to the BYU Relative Finder and the FamilySearch World Tree, I am connected to Rosa Parks. I have not confirmed anything past John Robinson, born 1790 on the chart, in which I have 1788.  My Genealogical Connection to Rosa Parks These are still quite fun to look at, and when I have time, one day, in the far future, I may work on these connections to see how valid they really are, but with the collaborative tree, I won't hold my breath. If I find that I am connected to them in my family tree, then I am quite honored, indeed! 😊 You can check out your own African American connections, along with others, at the BYU Relative Finder on the BYU Family History Technology Lab Website. More African American Genealogy and Genealogy Resources Learn about more African American genealogy tips and resources, along with other family history and genealogy resources under the African American Genealogy and Genealogy Resources categories and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 Identifying Family History Photos: A Case of Mistaken Identity While working on my own genealogy for a bit, I came across an exciting find! While adding photos to my family tree, I realized that my 3rd great grandfather looked different than in his other photos, which I guess I never paid much attention to before. This particular photo came to me from my father, who had received it, along with many others, from my great grandmother and her 2nd husband, who also was her cousin. He had told me who everyone was in all the images he had sent me, and he had said this particular photo was that of my 3rd great grandparents, George W. Taylor and Rachel Ann Robinson. I was not so certain this was them, and my father had been wrong on a few others, so I had decided to take a deep dive into dating old photos so that I could learn more. In doing so, I had deduced that this photo was actually of my 4th great grandfather, Samuel Taylor and his 2nd wife, Frankie Gholson, in which we thought there was no known picture of, but we had one all along!  My 4th Great Grandfather, Samuel Taylor and Wife, Frankie Gholson, ca. 1864-1869 A Short Description of the Ancestral Couples My 3rd great grandfather, George W. Taylor was born 7 Jun 1834 and died 13 Feb 1917. My 3rd great grandmother, Rachel Ann Robinson was born 23 Mar 1843 and died 15 Apr 1919. As you can see, according to the dates, he was 8 years older than she. My 4th great grandfather, Samuel Taylor (George’s father) was born 21 Aug 1804 and died 4 Oct 1893. His wife, Frankie Gholson was born 9 Mar 1819 and died 9 Aug 1894. On the other hand, there was a significant age gap of almost 15 years between the two. As you can see in the photo, the man appears to be much older than the woman. Also, the photo seems to be older than other photos taken during the time period of my 3rd great grandfather being the age of the man in the photo. Dating CDV Photos (Carte de Visite Photos) After deep diving into research on dating old photos, I was able to compile all the info together, and had deduced that this photo was that of my 4th great grandfather, Samuel Taylor and his wife, Frankie, taken most likely between 1864-1869.
CDV: 1854 (1859 Europe-1860 U.S.) -~beginning 1900s, but most popular during Civil War)
 Harnessing the Power of AI to Help You Write about Your Ancestors The Combined Power of AI and Timelines in Ancestor WritingJust a few days before MyHeritage announced their newest feature, AI Biographer, which you can read about in my post, “New MyHeritage Feature: AI Biographer, Creates Instant Biographies for Your Ancestors!”, I was literally working on a couple of projects that was doing just that, using AI for my biography, as well as for my ancestors’ biographies! I was taking all my own historical facts from my timeline and copying and pasting them in an AI paraphraser tool to create something just like this! At the same time, I was telling myself that it would be cool if either Ancestry or MyHeritage came out with a feature that did exactly what I was doing manually, take everything from your timeline/ancestor’s timeline and create a story or biographical sketch using AI. Who knew that MyHeritage was working on just that behind the curtains, right at the time I was envisioning it! I quickly found that if I create one myself from ancestors in my family tree, using their timeline events, I can create a fairly descent ancestor story/biography. Of course, it wasn’t that quick, and I had to manually tweak the paragraphs then run them through a paraphraser again. Then today, I decided to add some historical context throughout to make it a bit more interesting, taking cues from Ancestry’s new AncestryAI and My Heritage’s new AI Biographer, by using some of the events in my timelines and running them through an AI chat program. I also tweaked those as well. Altogether, I used quite a few different programs to accomplish my final test product. Check out the result below! 😊 My Ancestor Biography, with the Help of AI*This example is all based on my OWN research and taken from my own ancestor timeline, which is filled with facts and events based on my research. I then used AI to help me paraphrase my facts and events.
More AI and Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more AI in Genealogy and other family history and genealogy resources under the AI in Genealogy and Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
12/30/2023 New MyHeritage Feature, AI Biographer, Creates Instant Biographies for Your Ancestors!Read Now New MyHeritage Feature, AI Biographer MyHeritage, the leader in innovative family history tools, has just surprised us with 2 new, groundbreaking features! The first day after Christmas MyHeritage gave to me…AI Record Finder and AI Biographer to enhance my genealogy! MyHeritage AI BiographerMyHeritage is constantly churning out the best state-of-the-art tools and features to enhance, preserve, and share your family history! The all new MyHeritage AI Biographer, a genealogists and/or family historian dream come true, automatically creates a “Wikipedia-style” biography of your ancestor’s life, utilizing details from matching historical records and family tree profiles, using AI technology! Enhance your family history and genealogy experience by Instantly creating beautiful biographies with historical context to pass down through the generations! This came at the perfect time for me! What had I literally been doing the few days before this was announced to me? I was taking all my own historical facts from my timeline and copying and pasting them in an AI rephraser tool to create something just like this! At the same time, I was telling myself that it would be cool if either Ancestry or MyHeritage came out with a feature that did exactly what I was doing manually, take everything from your timeline/ancestor’s timeline and create a story or biographical sketch using AI. Who knew that MyHeritage was working on just that behind the curtains, right at the time I was envisioning it! What’s Included in the AI Biography
AI Biographer Uses
How to Get to AI Biographer
 How to Get to MyHeritage AI Biographer Current Limitations
As you can see from the images below, it also pulled info from another family tree (the FamilySearch Collaborative World Tree of all things 😉), showing some incorrect info. My 2nd great grandfather did not have a child named Everett Waldo; my great grandfather, Edmond Cole (already listed) had changed his name, in his later years, to this. Right after I saw this, I went in and removed the Everett Waldo from the FamilySearch Collaboative World Tree, but who knows when someone else will add it again.😉 I HOPE MyHeritage creates an option to just pull from your own tree, while also pulling info from the web for historical context, then it would be a true dream come true. 😉
Try It for FREEThere is currently an unspecified number of free biographies for anyone who wants to try out this new groundbreaking feature! So, give it a try at: MyHeritage (currently they do not have a try button as with other new features in the past, so not sure how you try for free). More MyHeritage, AI, and Other Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more MyHeritage, AI in Genealogy, and other family history and genealogy resources under the MyHeritage, AI in Genealogy, Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 Ancestry's New Pro Tools for Your Family Tree Ancestry has just come out with some new features to enhance your genealogy research and family history experience, Ancestry Pro Tools. These are an assortment of tools that are intended to work with your family tree that you have on Ancestry. Ancestry Pro Tools
Tree Checker Find duplicates or errors in your tree, such as dates, locations, and relationships. Charts and Reports Create, print, download, and share detailed family histories, where you can choose anywhere from 2 to 7 generations, a birch or pine layout, and your focus person. Advanced Filters Search, group, and sort people in your tree with advanced filters by family line (direct line, paternal line, maternal line, and end of line), events and places (birth, marriage, death, lived in, and any event you choose the time or place for), Possible Errors (possible duplicates, other possible issues), and Hints. Map Views See where everyone in your family tree lived in respect to one another. The Catch
How to Order Ancestry Pro Tools
Is It worth it?Is it worth it? Up to you. As of now, these features don’t seem very useful to me; although, if there were a way to include sources and citations, along with who created the report, I would consider this. Some have said they love it, and some have said it is definitely not worth it. It’s ultimately up to you to try it out for yourself. You do have the option to just purchase it 1 month at a time and cancel it whenever you’d like (at least 2 days before), so it may be worth it to try it out for at least a month. To be honest, I DO NOT AGREE WITH SOME OF THESE BEING behind a pay wall/EXTRA, like the Fact Checker or Advanced Filters. These are a necessity for any tree and should already be included in the already high price of Ancestry. Let me know what you think, in the comments below. More Ancestry and Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more Ancestry updates, tips, tools, and features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
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BlogI hope my family history and genealogy blog on genealogy research tips, resources, events, and more, along with my own genealogy journeys, will help you in your research and in building your family tree to learn more about your ancestors and family history to preserve for future generations to come! 
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