One of my favorite uses of the Perplexity Comet Browser Assistant is to create biographies from my Ancestry Member Tree profiles and add them to my RootsMagic file for persons for whom I have limited research notes. I described the Perplexity Comet Assistant to ancestor sketch process in Perplexity Comet Can Create AI Genealogical Sketches and Stories From an Ancestry Profile Page.
Another use of this process is to create relatively short biographies for a specific family line back to an ancestor. For example, I wanted to create an Infographic and a slide show for my 13 generation line from the Mayflower passenger William White to myself.
I went to my Ancestry Member Tree, found my 10th great-grandparent William White (1586-1621), clicked on the Perplexity Comet Assistant button on my Chrome Browser, and then asked the Comet Assistant to "Please write a short biography of this person with about 200 words." It works very quickly and I had a short biography for William White, the Mayflower passenger. I copied the resulting biography, and added it to a word processing document.
Then I did it for the 12 additional generations from William White to myself. Now I had a 13-generation list of ancestors with 200 word biographies for each generation. I had to edit some text for accuracy and consistency, and remove the Ancestry member tree links.
Here is the Perplexity Comet Assistant 13-generation report:
A Pilgrim’s Progress:
William White to Randall Seaver
England to New England to California
1) WILLIAM WHITE (1586-1621)
William White was an Englishman from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, who became one of the notable Mayflower passengers and early settlers of Plymouth Colony. Baptized at St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Wisbech on 25 January 1586/7, he was the son of Edward White and Thomasine Cross.
As a young man, William was associated with the English Separatist community and likely moved to Leiden in the Netherlands, where he married Susanna Jackson before 1614. Their first son, Resolved, was born there about 1615, reflecting the family’s temporary life in the Dutch refuge for religious dissenters.
In 1620 William sailed on the Mayflower to New England with Susanna and Resolved. During the voyage, Susanna gave birth to their second son, Peregrine White, in Cape Cod Bay on 7 December 1620, the first English child known to have been born to the Pilgrims in New England waters.
William endured the harsh first winter at Plymouth but died there on 21 February 1621, about two months after arrival. He was buried at Coles Hill Burying Ground in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Through his sons Resolved and Peregrine, William White became a foundational ancestor for many later New England families and Mayflower descendants.
2) PEREGRINE WHITE (1620-1704)
Peregrine White was the first English child born to the Mayflower Pilgrims in New England and became a long‑lived and respected inhabitant of Marshfield, Plymouth Colony. He was born aboard the Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay on 7 December 1620, the younger son of William White and Susanna Jackson. His father died in February 1621 during the colony’s first harsh winter, and his widowed mother later married Edward Winslow, making Peregrine a half‑brother of Governor Josiah Winslow.
Before 6 March 1649, Peregrine married Sarah Bassett, probably at Duxbury, and they settled in Marshfield, where he became a landholder and freeman. The couple had several children, including Daniel, Jonathan, another son named Peregrine, Sarah, Sylvanus, Mercy, and at least one additional child, all born in Marshfield between about 1649 and 1670. Over his long life he saw the deaths of close kin, including his mother Susanna by 1675, his half‑brother Josiah in 1680, his brother Resolved after 1687, and his son Sylvanus in 1688.
Peregrine White died at Marshfield on 22 July 1704, aged about 83, and was buried in Winslow Cemetery, where a stone commemorates his Mayflower birth and status. His estate was probated on 14 August 1704. Remembered as a colonial patriarch, he left numerous descendants and occupies a special place in Mayflower history.
3) SYLVANUS WHITE (1667-1688)
Sylvanus White was a second‑generation New England colonist, a grandson of Mayflower passenger William White and son of Peregrine White and Sarah Bassett. He was born before 1667 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony, where his early life unfolded within an established Pilgrim‑descended community.
By 1683, Sylvanus married a woman recorded simply as Deborah, probably somewhere in Plymouth Colony. Around 1683 they welcomed a son, William White, probably at Scituate in Plymouth Colony, continuing the prominent White family line in coastal Massachusetts.
Sylvanus’s life was short by modern standards. By 1688 he had moved, or firmly settled, in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, where he died before 29 June 1688, still a relatively young man. His death is noted in compiled Mayflower descendant research, and by that date his son William was a small child.
Though he died young, Sylvanus occupies an important place in the White family’s multi‑generational story: he links Mayflower‑born Peregrine White to later colonial and Revolutionary‑era descendants through his son William. As part of an early New England lineage, his brief life illustrates both the fragility and continuity of family in 17th‑century Plymouth Colony.
4) WILLIAM WHITE (1683-1780)
William White was a third‑generation New England colonist, a great-grandson of Mayflower passenger William White and son of Sylvanus White and his wife Deborah. He was born about 1683, probably at Scituate in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and was orphaned young when his father died before 29 June 1688 and his mother died shortly afterward in 1688.
Around 1707, William married Elizabeth Cadman, probably in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. They established their household there and had a large family, including sons William, George, Roger, Christopher, Oliver, Abner, and Thomas, and daughters Sarah, Hannah, Susanna, and Elizabeth, most of them born at or near Dartmouth between about 1708 and 1730. William appears in records connected with his father‑in‑law’s estate when the latter’s will was proved on 6 January 1718/9, confirming his standing in the Cadman–White kin network of Dartmouth.
William lived a long life, surviving into his nineties. He died at Dartmouth before 3 October 1780, when his 1768 will was proved, the same probate session that also noted the deaths of his wife Elizabeth and their son William Jr. As head of a large Dartmouth line, William White became an important ancestor for many later New England descendants of the Mayflower White family.
5). WILLIAM WHITE (1708-1780)
William White Jr. was a fourth‑generation New England colonist of Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, born about 1708, probably in Dartmouth. He was the eldest son of William White and Elizabeth Cadman, themselves descendants of Mayflower passenger William White.
On 2 October 1729, William married Abigail Thurston at Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island, linking the White family to the prominent Thurston line. They soon returned to the Dartmouth area, where their children were born, beginning with daughter Sarah about 1730 and followed by Hannah, Jonathan, Elizabeth, and Abigail between about 1731 and 1736.
In 1744 William purchased 92 acres of land in Dartmouth from James Tripp, a transaction recorded in Bristol County land records that confirms his status as a local landowner and farmer. Over the years he witnessed family milestones, including the deaths of his brothers George in 1764 and Thomas after 1768, and the death of his wife Abigail by 1770, probably in Dartmouth.
William died in Dartmouth before 3 October 1780, aged about 72. On that date his probate was recorded, the same period when his parents William and Elizabeth also died, marking the passing of an entire senior generation of the Dartmouth White family.
6) JONATHAN WHITE (1732-1804)
Jonathan White was an 18th‑century Massachusetts blacksmith, landowner, and household head of Dartmouth and later Westport, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Born about 1732 in Dartmouth, he was the son of William White Jr. and Abigail Thurston and a descendant of Mayflower passenger William White.
On 1 January 1756, Jonathan married Abigail Wing at Dartmouth, their intentions recorded there. They had several children, including Humphrey, Ruth, Rhoda, Hannah, Holder, and another son named Jonathan, born between about 1757 and 1778 in Dartmouth or nearby Westport. By mid‑life Jonathan was established near the new town of Westport, created from part of Dartmouth.
Jonathan combined skilled work with landholding. In 1785 he bought 10 acres of woodland in Dartmouth from Silvanus White, where he was described as a blacksmith. By 1788 he bought 74 additional acres in Westport from Joseph Tripp and was then styled a yeoman, reflecting his status as a working farmer and property owner. He appeared in the 1790 and 1800 federal censuses in Westport as head of household.
Jonathan White died in Westport before 4 December 1804, when his will was proved in Bristol County probate court. Remembered through land, probate, and census records, he stands as a representative patriarch of a substantial Westport White family descended from the Mayflower.
7) HUMPHREY WHITE (1757-1814)
Humphrey White was a late‑18th‑ and early‑19th‑century farmer and landowner whose life bridged coastal Massachusetts and rural Rhode Island. Born about 1757, probably in what became Westport, Bristol County, Massachusetts, he was the son of Jonathan White and Abigail Wing and part of a long Mayflower‑descended White line.
On 11 February 1786, Humphrey married Sybil (Sibel) Kirby at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and they began married life in nearby Westport. Their early children—Meribah, Benjamin, and David—were born there between about 1787 and 1793. In 1794 Humphrey received 103 acres in Westport from his parents, described in the deed as a yeoman, indicating his status as a working farmer and property holder. He soon sold that Westport land and, in April 1794, purchased 224 acres in Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island, marking a major relocation for the family.
In Glocester, Humphrey and Sybil completed their family with Elizabeth, Martha, Humphrey, Nancy, Rhoda, Jonathan, and William, born between 1795 and about 1807. Humphrey appeared as head of household in the 1800 and 1810 federal censuses for Glocester. He died there on 15 January 1814, aged about 57, and was buried in Acotes Hill Cemetery. Probate records from February 1814 document guardianship arrangements and an inventory of his estate, underscoring his role as a substantial householder and patriarch in Glocester.
8) JONATHAN WHITE (1804-1850)
Jonathan White was a 19th‑century farmer and landowner whose life connected rural Rhode Island with northeastern Connecticut. Born about 1803 in Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island, he was the son of Humphrey White and Sibel Kirby and grew up in a large Mayflower‑descended White family.
In 1814, after his father’s death, 11‑year‑old Jonathan was placed under guardianship in Glocester, reflecting the need to manage minor children and property. As a young adult he began acquiring land: in 1821 he bought property in Glocester from his brother Benjamin and from Peleg and Elizabeth Wood, and in 1824 he and Benjamin jointly purchased additional land from Erastus and Rhoda Clark.
Around 1823 Jonathan married Miranda Wade, probably in Foster, Rhode Island. They lived first in Glocester, where their sons Henry Arnold (born about 1824) and Albert Henry (born 1827) and daughter Harriet A. (born about 1836) were all recorded, and Jonathan appeared in the 1830 census there as head of household. In 1839 he sold his Glocester land and purchased property in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut, where he was enumerated in the 1840 census and continued to buy land through the 1840s.
Jonathan White died of “lung fever” at Killingly on 19 April 1850. His will was proved there on 27 April 1850, and he was buried back in Glocester’s White‑Chace Yard, underscoring his enduring ties to his Rhode Island origins despite his final residence in Connecticut.
9) HENRY ARNOLD WHITE (1824-1885)
Henry Arnold White was a 19th‑century New England mill worker, landowner, and family man whose life was centered in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut. Born about 1824 in Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island, he was the son of Jonathan White and Miranda Wade and moved as a child with his parents to Killingly, where both died in 1850.
On 30 June 1844, Henry married Amy Frances Oatley at Thompson, Connecticut. They settled in Killingly and had several children there, including Ellen Frances, Julia E., Emily Elizabeth, Henry J., an infant daughter who died in 1858, and Frederick J., born in 1860. In the 1850 census Henry appeared as a weaver, and later censuses recorded him working for a manufacturing company and in a cotton mill, reflecting Killingly’s textile‑mill economy. He was also active in the land market, buying and selling multiple parcels of acreage in the 1850s.
Amy died in 1864 in Norwich, Connecticut, and on 29 June 1866 Henry married Almira Elizabeth Taft in Glocester, Rhode Island. With Almira he had a son who died in infancy in 1873 and a daughter, Effie C. White, born in 1874. Henry died of locomotor ataxia on 1 August 1885 at East Killingly and was buried in Bartlett Cemetery #1 in Killingly, remembered on a family gravestone that marks his long connection to the town.
10) JULIA E. (WHITE) RICHMOND (1848-1913)
Julia E. “Juliet” White was a 19th‑ and early‑20th‑century New England wife, mother, and homemaker whose life was rooted in the mill towns of northeastern Connecticut and nearby Rhode Island. She was born on 8 September 1848 in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut, the daughter of Henry Arnold White and Amy Frances Oatley.
On 20 June 1868, Julia married Thomas Richmond in Killingly, who worked in the textile industry. Over the next 15 years they welcomed ten children in Stonington, Westerly, Putnam, and Killingly: Anne Frances, Frederic Jones, Everett G., Grace Louise, Emily White, Charles Percival, Alma Bessie, Edwin Thomas, and James Henry, with Frederic dying young in 1875. Julia appears with Thomas and their growing family in the 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 U.S. censuses, reflecting frequent moves within the same regional textile belt as Thomas pursued work.
Julia’s later years were spent in Putnam and Killingly, surrounded by adult children and grandchildren, while also enduring the deaths of her father in 1885, her half‑sister Effie in 1900, her son Charles in 1911, and her son James in 1913. She died of breast cancer on 1 October 1913 in Putnam, Connecticut, and was buried with Thomas in Grove Street Cemetery, Putnam, where their joint gravestone honors this central matriarch of the Richmond–White family.
11) ALMA BESSIE (RICHMOND) SEAVER (1882-1962)
Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver was a 20th‑century New England homemaker and matriarch whose life was centered in Leominster and Fitchburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts. She was born on 16 February 1882 in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut, the daughter of Thomas Richmond and Julia E. White, and moved with her parents to Leominster by 1895.
On 21 June 1900, Alma married Frederick Walton Seaver in Leominster. They lived in Fitchburg and Leominster, where Frederick worked in comb manufacturing, and Alma kept house and raised their children. Between 1901 and 1917 they welcomed eight children: Marion Frances, Evelyn, Stanley Richmond, Ruth Weston, Frederick Walton Jr., Edward Richmond, and Geraldine, with little Stanley dying in 1910. Census records from 1900 through 1950 show Alma at the heart of a busy household that frequently shifted addresses within Leominster’s growing industrial neighborhoods.
Across her long life Alma experienced many family losses, including the deaths of her parents (1913 and 1917), several brothers, her young son Stanley (1910), and her husband Frederick in 1942. She died of carcinoma of the gall bladder on 29 June 1962 in Leominster at age 80, and was buried on 2 July 1962 in Evergreen Cemetery, Section 13, Lot 272, alongside Frederick and their son Stanley. Remembered in obituaries and on her family gravestone, Alma stands as a central link between the Richmond, White, and Seaver families of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
12) FREDERICK WALTON SEAVER JR. (1911-1983)
Frederick Walton Seaver Jr. was a 20th‑century New England–born man, World War II naval veteran, and long‑time San Diego family man. He was born on 15 October 1911 in Fitchburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts, the eldest son of Frederick Walton Seaver and Alma Bessie Richmond, and was baptized at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Leominster on 7 April 1912.
Raised in Leominster, Frederick attended Leominster High School (1925–1927), then Worcester Academy, graduating in 1930, and completed a year at Dartmouth College. By 1940 he was enumerated both in Leominster and at the Newton YMCA, reflecting work and residence transitions during the Depression era. He registered for the World War II draft in October 1940 at Leominster.
On 12 July 1942, he married Betty Virginia Carringer at All Saints Episcopal Church in San Diego, California, and they had three sons: Randall Jeffrey (born 1943), Stanley Richmond (1946), and Scott Frederick (1955). Frederick served in the U.S. Navy from October 1944 to February 1946, including duty aboard the destroyer USS Halford, and was honorably discharged at Terminal Island, California. After the war he and Betty lived in San Diego, where he appeared in the 1950 census at 2119 30th Street and worked as an insurance agent while raising their family.
Frederick died on 26 May 1983 in San Diego of an acute cardiovascular accident with arteriosclerosis and was buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, where a joint gravestone honors his service and life.
13) RANDALL JEFFREY SEAVER (1943-living)
Randall Jeffrey “Randy” Seaver is a 20th‑ and 21st‑century San Diego–area aerospace engineer, family man, and genealogist whose life has been closely tied to Chula Vista and San Diego, California. He was born on 23 October 1943 in National City, San Diego County, the eldest son of Frederick Walton Seaver Jr. and Betty Virginia Carringer.
Randy grew up in San Diego, attending Brooklyn Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High, and San Diego High School, from which he graduated in June 1961. He then studied at San Diego State University, earning his degree in January 1966 while working summer and early‑career engineering jobs for Wagner and Sunrise Aircraft. From 1967 he built a long career as an aerodynamicist and aero‑thermo engineer with Rohr/Goodrich Aerostructures in Chula Vista, eventually serving as Chief of Aerodynamics and Chief of Aero/Thermo before retiring in 2002, then returning as a contract engineer until 2006.
On 21 March 1970 he married Linda Joan Leland in Chula Vista, and they made their home at 1154 Via Trieste from 1975 onward, raising two daughters, L*** and T****. Active at Chula Vista Presbyterian Church since 1970, Randy has pursued extensive genealogical research, DNA testing and matching, Artificial Intelligence uses to document his and his relatives’ family history. He continues to reside in Chula Vista, maintaining deep roots in the San Diego region.
That took about 20 minutes to complete.
Now the magic happens:
- Using Google NotebookLM to analyze this document, I created this Video Overview:
- Using Google NotebookLM to create an Infographic -- see it at the top of this blog post.
- Using Google NotebookLM to create a Slide Deck. I can turn that into a Slide Show using Google Slides and Google Vids, as shown below:
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