Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 13 to 19 August 2026

 Welcome to Genealogy Education Bytes, posted on Wednesday afternoon for the past week, where we try to highlight some of the most important genealogy and family history education items that came across my desktop since the last issue.




1) Upcoming Conferences and Institutes:

* Conference Keeper Calendar - has many links to register for and/or view seminars, conferences and institutes.

*  5th Annual East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference ($$, In-person + Recordings, Boston, Mass.) -- 21 to 23 August 2026.

*  2026 New York State Family History Conference ($$, In-person/Virtual, New York City) -- 18 to 19 September 2026.

*  2026 Heritage Books Genealogical Conference & Cruise with Angie Bush, Blaine Bettinger, and Craig Scott ($$, In-person, Cruise from Miami, Florida) -- 6 to 17 November 2026.

2 ) Upcoming Webinars and Online Classes (times are US Pacific):

* Conference Keeper Calendar - has many links to register for and/or view seminars, webinars and classes.

* FamilySearch MonthlyWebinars (Free)

* RootsTech 2019-2026 On-Demand Sessions (Free) 
 
*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Wednesday, 19 August, 11 a.m.:  DNA in Action 4 of 6: The DNA FAN Club by Karen Stanbary.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Friday, 21 August, 11 a.m.:  Migration Pathways Between Canada and the United States You Haven’t Considered by Kathryn Lake Hogan.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Tuesday, 25 August, 11 a.m.:  Exploring the Record Matches System at MyHeritage by Alina Khuda.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Wednesday, 26 August, 11 a.m.:   Women’s Suffrage: Their Rights, Roles, and Limitations by Michael L. Strauss.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Friday, 28 August, 11 a.m.:  10 Notable Migrations in the Black Diaspora by Diane Warmsley.

3) Recent Podcasts:

* Ancestors and Algorithms:   Ep. 51: The Jewish Shtetl No Map Remembers



*  Allen County Public Library:  Raízes Discovering Your Roots in the Iberian World







* Italian Roots and Genealogy:  How To Read Your Italian Last Name Like A Map

*  Marcia Philbrick:  Foster Abstract Overview

*  NC Ancestry for Genealogy:  NC Genealogy Guide - BEYOND Ancestry & FamilySearch







5) Did you miss the last post in this series -- Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 6 to 12 August 2026?

Read past Genealogy Education Bytes here.

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NOTE: If I missed an upcoming conference or webinar, or a useful podcast or video, in this time period, please let me know in a comment or an email.

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Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

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Life Memoir of Daniel Spangler (1781-1851) of Pennsylvania

I wrote an AI-assisted ABC biography for  my 3rd great-grandfather Daniel Spangler in ABC Biography of #50 Daniel Spangler (1781-1851) of Pennsylvania and Virginia  based on my genealogical research over 38 years. 

I wondered what Daniel Spangler might have told his grandchildren in a life memoir in 1851. I requested Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 to "Please write a life memoir for Daniel Spangler based on the attached biography, as he might tell his grandchildren in 1851."

(AI Google NotebookLM Infographic for Daniel Spangler's life memoir)

The AI Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 memoir (edited for accuracy and completeness) is:  


Grandfather's Fireside Tales

As Daniel Spangler Might Have Told His Grandchildren, Early 1851


Come closer, children, and sit by the fire. Your grandmother tells me my old bones creak louder than the rocking chair these days, but an old man of sixty-nine has earned the right to tell a few stories before the years run out. Pull up close now—Anna Maria's little ones, and you too, Sarah Elizabeth's brood, and don't let me forget Helen's baby by the door. There now. Let me tell you about the long road that brought your grandmother and me to this porch, in this house, on this land in Mercer County.

Where It All Began

I was born clear back in 1781, in York, Pennsylvania—October the ninth, to be exact, though the church wrote it down as "Daniel Spengler," the old German way, because that's how your great-grandfather Rudolf and great-grandmother Dorothea always said our name. I was the fourth son and the eighth of their eleven children, if you can believe managing that many young ones in one house. My father died when I was still a young man, back in 1811, and left us children as his heirs. It fell to my brothers and sisters and me to see to the family's affairs after that.

Most of us changed our name eventually from Spengler to Spangler—easier for American tongues, you see, and by the time you children came along, nobody remembered we'd ever spelled it any other way. That's how things go in this country. You bend a little here, hold firm there, and pretty soon you're something new without losing what came before.

Marrying Your Grandmother

Now, the finest decision I ever made was marrying your grandmother, Elizabeth Konig—King in English, some called her family, though the church records kept the old spelling. We wed on the twelfth of March, 1815, right there at Trinity Reformed Church in York, the very church where I'd been baptized as an infant. I was thirty-three years old by then—not a young man rushing into things, but a man who knew his own mind.

Your grandmother has been beside me for thirty-six years now. We've buried two babies together—little Anna Katrina, who left us as an infant back in 1816, and Henry, who went the same way in 1820. Those were hard years, and I won't pretend otherwise to you children. But the Lord also gave us eight who lived to grow strong, marry, and raise families of their own, scattered now in Pennsylvania.

The Virginia Years

Not long after we married, your grandmother and I packed up what little we owned and moved to Winchester, down in Frederick County, Virginia. That's where most of your mothers and aunts were born—Anna Maria first, in 1818, then Elizabeth, then Sarah Elizabeth, then Dorothea Matilda. Virginia was good land, but I always had my eye on Pennsylvania, on the place where my own father had once bought a tract up in Mercer County.

Coming Home to Pennsylvania

In 1828, my brothers and sisters—my father's other heirs—agreed to sell me that land, two hundred acres in Sandy Creek township, for just a single dollar, so long as I settled there within two years. That was a rare gift, children, the kind that only comes from family who trust you to make something of what your father built. We moved in 1829, and this very ground beneath this house is that same land.

It wasn't all smooth going. We even spent a spell in Youngstown, Ohio, around 1841, when your Aunt Margaret Jane was born—but Pennsylvania called us back, and back we came, for good this time.

Building a Life Here

I've farmed this land for over twenty years now. Two hundred acres, good soil, and enough sense to work it steady rather than chase every scheme that came along—that's how a man builds something lasting. We've raised our children here, married most of them to good families, many of them to the Carringers next door, who have been as close as blood kin for as long as I can remember.

Your grandmother has kept this house running through it all—the cooking, the preserving, the sewing, the raising of children, and now the raising of grandchildren too, it seems, whenever you all come visiting. I don't know a harder worker or a steadier soul in this township than Elizabeth Konig Spangler.

What I've Seen

I was born just five years after this country declared its independence, children. Think on that. I've watched America grow from a scrappy young nation, unsure of itself, into a country stretching clear to the far ocean. I fought through no wars myself, but I lived through them—the War of 1812 while your grandmother and I were newly married, and all the changes since.

And I've watched my own family spread out across that growing country. I daresay some of you children, or your children after you, will end up in places I couldn't even name today. That's the way of it now—America gives a family room to grow, if you're willing to work and willing to go where opportunity calls.

What I Want You to Remember

I'm an old man now, children, and I won't lie to you—my strength isn't what it once was. But before I go, I want you to carry a few things with you.

Remember that this family came from hardworking German stock, people who crossed an ocean with nothing but their two hands and their faith, and built something in this new country. Remember that your grandmother and I built this farm together, through good years and lean ones, through joy and through grief, and that a marriage built on partnership and respect will carry a family through anything.

Remember to work honestly, pay your debts, and treat your neighbors—especially the Carringers, bless them—as family, because a man's word and his good name are worth more than any amount of land or money. And remember that no matter how far you travel from Mercer County, no matter what new places you make your home, you carry the Spangler name and everything your great-grandparents and grandparents built into it.

Now then—that's enough of an old man's talking for one evening. Your grandmother will have my hide if I keep you up past your bedtime with these stories. But come back tomorrow, and I'll tell you about the time your grandfather nearly lost the whole wheat crop to an early frost, and what your grandmother did about it. That's a story worth hearing too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel Spangler died on July 19, 1851, in Georgetown, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and was laid to rest in Sheakleyville Cemetery in the township he had called home for over two decades.

===========================

The Video Overview of Daniel Spangler's life memoir, created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool, is below and on my YouTube channel:   

I edited the Claude memoir text to correct minor inconsistencies and errors. Every large language model (LLM) AI tool writes descriptive text much better than I can write. The AI tools are very perceptive, insightful and inspiring, creating engaging text in seconds, including local and national historical events and social history detail when requested.

This is historical fiction, based on my own genealogical research and family records. It is what Daniel Spangler might have told his grandchildren in early 1851.  

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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is: 

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Please note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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Frederick W, Seaver Honeymoon at Laguna Beach in 1942 -- (Not So) Wordless Wednesday #929

   This is a priceless (to me) image in my computer file folders from the Seaver family collection:


This photograph is of my father, Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983) lying on the sand in Laguna Beach, California on their honeymoon in July 1942. I'm pretty sure this photograph was taken by my mother.

The photograph probably should be rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise to be oriented correctly - the beach was not vertical!

This event is part of my family history!!

NOTE:  I used the MyHeritage photo tools to sharpen and colorize this image.

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Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.    I moderate all comments and they may not appear immediately - please write only one comment.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Genealogy News Bytes - Week of 12 to 18 August 2026

 Welcome to Genealogy News Bytes, posted on Tuesday afternoon for the past week, where we try to highlight the most important genealogy and family history news  items that came across our desktop since the last issue.    


1)  Genealogy and Family History News Articles:





2)  DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy

3)  Genealogy Book/Magazine Notices and Reviews:

*  Finding Women Ancestors [Genealogical]

*  Family Tree Magazine: September 2026 [Anglo-Celtic Connections]

4)  Genealogy Software/Mobile Apps


*  Three New History Mapping Tools [Jason Duncan - webjmd]

5)  New or Updated Genealogy Digital Record Collections:









6)  Did you miss the last post in this series?  See Genealogy News Bytes - Week of 5 to 11 August 2026.


                          =========================================


Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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The Making of an Artist and Teacher – Betty Carringer's Art Classes in High School

Thanks to my friend and genealogy colleague Yvette Porter Moore, I have information about my mother's (Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) high school activities at San Diego High School between 1933 and 1936.  Yvette has done a lot of work discovering, compiling and preserving the high school records at the school. 

Here is my mother's high school cumulative record:


It is pretty cryptic in places!  The first two semesters in 1932-1933 (9th grade) are from Roosevelt Junior High School.  1933-1934 (10th grade), 1934-1935 (11th grade) and 1935-1936 (12th grade) are at San Diego High School.  The "7 Semester" from 1935 (Typing and Shorthand classes) is probably a summer school session to get extra elective classes in. 

In addition to English, History, Math, French, Latin, and Gym, there were a number of Art-related classes -- at least one each semester.


(AI Google Notebook Infographic - 1930s High School Art Curriculum)

I asked the FREE OpenAI ChatGPT5 tool to review the list and describe the Art classes on the list. Here is what ChatGPT5 told me:

Betty Virginia Carringer's High-School Art Curriculum, 1932–1936

The art courses on Betty's San Diego High School cumulative report card form a surprisingly coherent four-year progression. Rather than being unrelated art electives, they appear to represent a traditional studio-art curriculum that progressed from basic drawing, through figure drawing and design, to illustration and commercial art.

The courses

Semester            Course                                Interpretation                 

3                        Freehnd Art                   Freehand Drawing
4                        Rep. Art.                        Representative Drawing
5                        Elem. Life Dr.                Elementary Life Drawing
6                        Art Design                      Art/Visual Design
8                        Adv. Life Dr.                  Advanced Life Drawing
8                        Com. Art                        Commercial Art
9                        Illust.                              Illustration

And that sequence tells us quite a bit about what Betty was being prepared to do.

1. Freehand Art — Semester 3

Freehand Art was essentially the foundation course.

Students learned to draw without mechanical aids, developing the ability to translate what the eye saw into a drawing.

Typical exercises would have included: lines and contours ; geometric forms; proportion; perspective; light and shade; three-dimensional forms; still-life objects; ordinary household objects; pencil and possibly charcoal techniques; observation and hand-eye coordination.

The emphasis was not necessarily on producing beautiful finished artwork. It was on learning how to see accurately and control the hand.

Why?

Drawing was considered the foundation of virtually every other kind of visual art. Before a student could successfully draw a person, illustrate a story, design a poster or produce commercial artwork, she had to learn how to represent simple forms accurately.

So Betty's first step was essentially: Learn to see → learn to draw what you see.

2. Representative Art — Semester 4

“Rep. Art” is very likely Representative Art.

The important word is representative: the student was expected to make a recognizable visual representation of something in the real world. This would have extended the skills learned in Freehand Drawing into more complicated subjects.

Possible assignments included: still lifes; plants and flowers; animals; household objects; buildings; landscapes; outdoor scenes; objects arranged in groups.

The student was learning to deal with proportion, perspective, shape, texture, light and shadow.

Why?

This was the transition from learning drawing techniques to learning how to observe and interpret real subjects. The distinction is subtle:

Freehand Drawing: How do I draw?

Representative Drawing: How do I accurately represent this particular thing?

3. Elementary Life Drawing — Semester 5

“Elem. Life Dr.” = Elementary Life Drawing.

This introduced Betty to one of the traditional foundations of serious art education: drawing the human figure from observation. Life drawing could involve models in various poses, and at the high-school level one should not automatically assume nude models. The term simply means drawing from a living human model rather than copying a photograph or statue.

She would have studied: human proportions; posture; gesture; movement; balance; basic anatomy; structure of the body; relationships between body parts; light and shadow; capturing a pose.

Why?

The human figure is an extraordinarily difficult subject to draw. It forces an artist to understand proportion, movement, balance and three-dimensional form. It also provided skills that would later become useful in portraiture, illustration, advertising and commercial art.

4. Art Design — Semester 6

“Art Design” moved Betty into a somewhat different area. Instead of merely asking: “Can you draw this?” design asks: “Can you arrange visual elements so that they communicate an idea and look good?”

The course probably dealt with principles such as: line; shape; form; pattern; balance; rhythm; repetition; proportion; harmony; contrast; unity; composition; color; decorative design.

This is an important transition because design is the foundation of applied art.

A student could take the principles learned in Art Design and apply them to: posters; clothing; textiles; book covers; advertisements; furniture; interior decoration; school publications; commercial illustrations.

Why?

This is where Betty's education began moving from fine-art drawing toward practical visual communication.

5. Advanced Life Drawing — Semester 8

“Adv. Life Dr.” = Advanced Life Drawing. In Semester 8, Betty returned to the human figure with Advanced Life Drawing. This was the natural progression from Elementary Life Drawing.

The emphasis could now move toward: more complicated poses; accurate anatomy; foreshortening; movement; gesture; balance and weight; three-dimensional form; more sophisticated shading; composition; possibly multiple figures.

The important thing is that Betty was no longer simply learning how to construct a human figure. She was learning how to use the figure artistically and expressively.

6. Commercial Art — Semester 8

"Com. Art" = Commercial Art. This Commercial Art. course changes the way I would interpret the entire latter part of Betty's high-school art education. Commercial art in the 1930s was essentially the use of artistic skills for business and public communication.

It could encompass things such as: advertisements; posters; newspaper illustrations; magazine illustrations; product illustrations; catalog illustrations; lettering; layouts; promotional materials; booklets and brochures; display materials; package designs; signs; possibly fashion and merchandising illustrations.

Commercial art required considerably more than the ability to draw.

The artist had to understand: Drawing + Design + Lettering + Composition + Communication

The goal wasn't simply to make something attractive. The goal was to make something communicate a message effectively to another person.

Why was this taught in high school?

Because commercial art was becoming an important occupation.

The 1930s were the era of newspapers, magazines, advertising, department stores, illustrated catalogs, posters, commercial printing and increasingly sophisticated corporate advertising.

A talented young person could potentially find employment as a: commercial artist; illustrator; advertising artist; layout artist; poster designer; newspaper artist; magazine illustrator; art teacher.

And that makes the next course especially logical.

7. Illustration — Semester 9

“Illust.” = Illustration.

Illustration was arguably the culmination of everything Betty had been learning. Illustration means using artwork to explain, interpret or enhance a story, subject or idea.

She could have been creating illustrations for: stories; poems; literature; historical subjects; school publications; advertisements; posters; magazines; newspapers; books.

And notice the progression:

Drawing → Representation → Figure → Design → Advanced Figure → Commercial Art → Illustration

That's not accidental.

Illustration requires the artist to combine drawing ability, observation, figure drawing, design, composition and communication.

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The Curriculum Makes Much More Sense as a Whole

I would describe Betty's art education as having three broad stages.

Stage 1 — Learning to Draw

  • Semester 3 — Freehand Drawing
  • Semester 4 — Representative Drawing

Betty learned observation, proportion, perspective, form and drawing technique.

Stage 2 — Learning Artistic Structure

  • Semester 5 — Elementary Life Drawing
  • Semester 6 — Art Design
  • Semester 8 — Advanced Life Drawing

She learned the human figure and the principles of visual composition.

Stage 3 — Learning to Apply Art

  • Semester 8 — Commercial Art
  • Semester 9 — Illustration

She learned how to use those artistic skills for communication and practical purposes.

And that final stage is particularly revealing.

Betty wasn't just being taught to "make art."

She was being taught to use art. That's an important distinction.

The curriculum was preparing students for both artistic appreciation and practical application. A girl who completed this sequence could potentially continue into art school, become an art teacher, work in commercial art, illustrate publications, or simply use the skills in her personal and domestic life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Betty's Grades Add Another Interesting Dimension

The report card also shows that Betty generally did very well in these courses.

The art grades visible on the card include several A's, with B's in the life-drawing courses. That's actually a rather interesting pattern.

Life drawing was probably among the most technically demanding parts of the curriculum. The B's don't suggest weakness so much as the fact that the school was evaluating her against increasingly sophisticated artistic standards.

By contrast, her strong performance in courses such as Art Design, Commercial Art and Illustration suggests that she may have had particular strengths in composition and applied visual communication, rather than simply being a technically accomplished figure artist.

That's admittedly an interpretation rather than something we can prove from the report card alone—but it is a fascinating possibility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And There's a Wonderful Connection to Betty's Later Life

This makes the report card considerably more significant in the context of Betty's biography. Her high-school education wasn't simply:

Betty took some art classes.

It was closer to:

Betty received a structured, progressive education in drawing, figure study, design, commercial art and illustration.

And, as you have noted in your family history, Betty later became an art teacher and an artist.

That makes the courses on this little 1930s report card particularly valuable evidence. They show that her interest in art wasn't something that suddenly appeared when she became an adult. The foundation of her artistic and teaching career was already being laid during her high-school years.

In one sentence:

Betty's San Diego High School art curriculum took her from learning to draw accurately, through learning the human figure and principles of design, and finally to applying those skills to commercial art and illustration—a remarkably practical preparation for her later work as an art teacher and artist.

And frankly, Randy, that little report card is a terrific genealogical artifact. It doesn't merely give us grades; it provides a glimpse into what Betty was learning, what interested her, what she was good at, and the educational path that helped shape her adult life.

==================================

There is another class on the cumulative report card in Semester 6 at the bottom of the list: "Cloth 1." I debated whether to include that class, and ChatGPT5 said it couldn't be sure that it was an art class. It may have been a general home economics class that would be useful for an artist.

This was a very interesting discussion with ChatGPT5. I, and ChatGPT5, were limited by the cryptic names of the classes in somebody's handwriting scrawl. I may have interpreted them wrong.

Note the commentary about my mother's later life -- ChatGPT5 knows enough about my family and my mother to provide that comment. 

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The AI Google NotebookLM Video Overview of this story is in (and on my YouTube channel): 

I am sure that my mother  loved every day of her high school years -- she was challenged by the classes, succeeded in her classes (except for physics in her senior year), and was well prepared for college.  A comment: she was almost 17 years old when she graduated from San Diego High School in June 1936. I think she was very intelligent (the other side of this report said an IQ of 131) and really motivated to be an Artist.  But I am biased!

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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page.  Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver


Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

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