National Genealogical Society Announces Awards at Annual Conference

 I received this information from a National Genealogical Society press release via email today:

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National Genealogical Society Announces Hall of Fame Inductee and NGS Fellows at Family History Conference Opening Plenary Session

28 MAY 2026—The National Genealogical Society (NGS) announced a new Hall of Fame inductee and its latest NGS Fellows, and presented the Stern Award, Awards of Merit, and the President's Citation during its 2026 Family History Conference, America at 250, at the Grand Wayne Convention Center, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Awards Committee Chair Judy Nimer Muhn presented the awards. National Genealogy Hall of Fame Since 1986, the National Genealogy Hall of Fame has honored outstanding genealogists whose achievements in American genealogy have had a great impact on the field and who have been deceased for at least five years. Their contributions to genealogy in this country need to be significant in a unique, pioneering, or exemplary way. A panel of genealogists from across the United States judges the entries. This year, Brig. General (Delaware Army National Guard, Retired) Donn Devine, CG Emeritus, FNGS, was elected. The Board for the Certification of Genealogists and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania submitted the nomination. Devine was born on 30 March 1929 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and died on 5 May 2019 in Wilmington, Delaware. During a genealogical career spanning more than thirty-five years, he demonstrated and promoted the highest standards through education and publications. Devine's research articles appear in National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ), New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, The American Genealogist, and other peer-reviewed journals. He penned articles on evidence analysis for NGS Magazine and OnBoard: Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Devine wrote two chapters in Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians (ProGen). His educational writings for general audiences include an Irish genealogy column in The Irish Edition (Philadelphia) and dozens of articles on methodology and analysis in Ancestry magazine. His columns won several awards. An Ancestry article (2000) and the 2005 NGSQ case study were among the earliest published discussions of DNA testing for genealogy. Devine contributed significantly to the creation and implementation of the Genealogical Proof Standard. His informal mentorship of individual genealogists over many decades has been highly valued by all with whom he has fostered these relationships. NGS Fellow The NGS Fellow (FNGS) recognizes outstanding work in service to NGS and in the field of genealogy. This year's recipients were Peter Broadbent Jr., JD; Carmen Finley, PhD, CG Emeritus (posthumously); and C. Ann Staley, CG, CGL. Peter Edwin Broadbent Jr., JD, has used his legal skills and knowledge to benefit NGS and the broader genealogical community through pro bono work over the past five decades. Broadbent has been interested in genealogy since he was a teenager. As a member of the NGS Board of Directors from 2003 to 2010, he advised NGS and the genealogy community on many issues, including changes to NGS's articles of incorporation and bylaws, the transfer of the NGS Library collection, the relocation of NGS headquarters, and the merger of NGS with the Federation of Genealogical Societies. He received NGS's President's Citation in 2010. Broadbent served as president of the Virginia Genealogical Society and, for decades, as a board member. He has also served as president and longtime board member of the Genealogical Research Institute of Virginia. Four Virginia governors have appointed him to the Library of Virginia Board, where he has served for nineteen years (twice as chair). Broadbent is the vice president of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation and a former governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in Virginia. He led the legislative effort in 2012 to shorten the closed period for Virginia marriage and death records and provide greater access to Virginia vital records online. Carmen Finley, PhD, CG Emeritus, joined NGS in 1984 and remained a member until 2022, at age 96. She died on 16 July 2025, so is receiving this Fellow award posthumously, near the anniversary of her hundredth birthday. Finley actively participated in the early years of RootsWeb to facilitate the worldwide exchange of genealogical information. In support of family history scholarship, she served on the NGSQ editorial board from 2003 to 2018; authored the NGS publication, Creating a Winning Family History (1988, revised 2010 and still in use); published articles in both NGSQ and NGS Magazine; and chaired the committee of judges for the NGS Family History Writing Competition (1990–2020). She rarely missed an NGS conference and received the NGS Distinguished Service Award in 1996. As president of the Sonoma County Genealogical Society, Finley directed its many compilation and transcription projects. She collaborated with the Library at Sonoma State University to create the Finley-McFarling Genealogy Collection to preserve her extensive research findings and make them available online, for which she and the library received a GENTECH Applied Technology award. She authored The Finleys of Early Sonoma County, California, in 1997 and published articles in several genealogical journals. Behind the scenes and in front of the camera, C. Ann Staley, CG, CGL, has demonstrated her commitment to NGS education. She contributed hundreds of hours to the NGS Conference Committee (2014–2023) and chaired the 2016 NGS Family History Conference in Fort Lauderdale. She served as NGS's 2020 virtual conference online host at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping the Society quickly pivot from its canceled in-person event. She helped develop the online programs for the 2022 and 2023 conferences, serving as the virtual emcee. She also conducted interviews with speakers in 2022. Staley coauthored the NGS Research in the States guidebook for Florida. She has written for NGS Magazine and, since 2019, has chaired the National Genealogy Hall of Fame Committee. She also served on the board of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. Since 2000, Staley has assisted with other local, regional, and national efforts. As education chair for a local society, she taught genealogy courses for over twenty years. She is the membership chair and former vice president of the Genealogical Speakers Guild and a faculty member of the International Institute for Genealogical Studies and the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research. Staley is the leader of the Florida State Genealogical Society's Poolside Chat program; she was its conference chair for eleven years; and has been a proofreader, indexer, and interim editor of its journal. Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern Lifetime Achievement Award This award recognizes someone whose positive influence and leadership have fostered unity and helped to make family history a vital force in the community. This year's recipient is Ron Chan of Hayward, California. His scholarship, leadership, and unwavering commitment to historical preservation have strengthened community ties, advanced public understanding of genealogical research, and exemplified a positive and unifying spirit. Between July 2023 and November 2025, Chan delivered sixty-two family history presentations to thousands of learners, including at a program simulcast from China to audiences in Shanghai, Beijing, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. He teaches at the Piedmont Adult School in Oakland, California. As founder and executive director of the Bay Area Chinese Genealogy Group, Chan has grown the organization to 300 members and established it as a leading resource for Chinese American family history. Under his direction, the group developed a robust slate of seminars, surname symposiums, ancestral lineage-book workshops, and guided research initiatives, including field visits to the National Archives and the Angel Island Immigration Station. He is a Chinese genealogy subject-matter expert for a FamilySearch Center. He Chan also is cofounder of the Chinese American GI Project, for which he co-curated the WWII Local Heroes exhibit for the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, on whose Advisory Board he serves. The Award of Merit is presented to an individual or nonprofit genealogical or historical organization to recognize exceptional contributions to the field of genealogy over a period of five or more years. Their work must have significantly aided research or increased interest in genealogy. This year, the NGS board of directors presented the award to the following distinguished leaders in our sector. Michael Andrews has incorporated genealogy into a semester-long (fifteen-week) elective English class at Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, as part of its Humanities Composition program. Over the past eight years, more than 1,000 students have selected this course, which by popular demand now includes a second section. The course emphasizes rigorous thinking, researching, and writing, and culminates in a creative video presentation. All aspects of research are introduced, including DNA and investigative genetic genealogy. These final presentations evidence the students' passion, depth of research, and its impact on their lives. Ray W. Crouse has authored a series of books that describe and document Native American ancestry of the Melungeons. Through exhaustive research, he has proven, that many Melungeons—particularly those in Southwest Virginia and Tennessee—had Native ancestry that was removed from official documents by the government. Crouse has documented who the mixed Native tribes of Virginia were and where they went. His research shows that tribes from Eastern Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, and South Carolina co-migrated and established numerous settlements, including Newman's Ridge in Tennessee and Copper Ridge in Russell County, Virginia. His work ties hundreds of families together via many heretofore unknown associations. Sylvia Tracy Doolos was recognized for her leadership and volunteerism in many organizations. She is president of the Welsh-Irish-Scottish-English Family History Society (Denver, Colorado); president of the Colorado Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists; past president and current membership chair of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History; and the library liaison between the Colorado Genealogical Society and the Denver Public Library. She also volunteers with the Special Collections and Archives subdivision of the Denver Public Library and the Carbon Valley (Colorado) Public Library. The Guild of One-Name Studies was recognized for preserving the work of its members and sharing it with the public since its founding in 1979. Since 2016, the Guild has preserved 478 of its members' sites. Of these, over 330 are created with common software, enabling single queries across all 330 sites; 60,000 surnames; and over five million individuals. A separate section for genealogies at FamilySearch.org covers over 300 member-submitted databases. It offers an electronic database of members' study details, having digitized all paper records (except retained certificates and photographs). The Guild offers several public databases, including its global marriage index, which contains more than 1.8 million marriages. Jeffrey G. Herbert is a presenter and the author of more than forty books of descriptive indexes to Hamilton County, Ohio, historical and genealogical records. He has served as both president and treasurer of the Hamilton County Genealogical Society and is a trustee of the Glendale, Ohio, Heritage Preservation Museum. He has been a longtime volunteer at a local FamilySearch Center and the Archives of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. His efforts were instrumental in adding the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's sacramental records to FindMyPast. Herbert was awarded the Griffin Yeatman Award in 1998 by the Hamilton County Recorder, which recognizes residents who have helped share and preserve county records. Eva Holmes, CG, AG, has contributed to many organizations as a volunteer, editor, writer, and lecturer. She wrote the Maine guidebook for the NGS Research in the States series and has published in National Genealogical Society Quarterly, among other publications. She is the editor for the Utah Genealogical Association's Crossroads magazine. She served on the Board for Certification of Genealogists Education Fund Committee and has served as a mentor for ProGen. She is currently the GenProof Administrator. Holmes mentors those aspiring to become certified or accredited, including as a mentor for the Certification Development Group. José Antonio "Toño" González Marrero was recognized for his prolific research and writings. He is a full professor of Medieval Latin Philology at the Universidad de La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands) where he also coordinates genealogy events. His efforts have provided tremendous support for Hispanic American and Canarian genealogy research and the broader Hispanic diaspora. He has written ten books on the people and ancestry of the Canary Islands; contributed to scientific journals and book chapters across the Hispanic world; and edited or compiled scholarly research. He has participated in research and instructional programs at international conferences, including RootsTech, as well as at events in the Canary Islands, Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Randy Seaver of Chula Vista, California, is the creator of one of the longest-running genealogy blogs, Genea-Musings. Launched in 2006, it includes topics ranging from the evolution of online genealogical research to his own family's broad histories. The blog also covers specific aspects of records preservation and genealogical education. Seaver serves thousands of readers in a friendly and informative style. A retired aerospace engineer, he is a staple in the genealogical community and respected by everyone. The Society of Sons and Daughters of WWII Veterans is part of the National Museum of the Pacific War. The Society has made sustained, substantial contributions in support of access to genealogical research materials; increased public interest in family history; and preserved WWII veterans' stories since its creation in 2011. The Society provides a structured avenue for documenting veteran ancestors with required proof of WWII service. Members can upload and organize documentation, photographs, and personal stories in an online portal. Such efforts curate a body of sourced material that supports future genealogical and historical research. President's Citation Awarded at the discretion of the NGS president, the President's Citation recognizes and acknowledges dedicated efforts on behalf of the National Genealogical Society. This year's citation from NGS President David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FUGA, FIGRS, FNGS, recognizes Rick Voight, founder and owner of Vivid-Pix. He is recognized for his significant work with NGS, the broader genealogical community, and the aging community. Drawing on research and scientific studies on aging, he has successfully promoted the importance of storytelling to help our seniors share what they know, strengthen family bonds, and enhance memory. Voight worked with NGS to organize the 2025 Symposium on Healthy Aging and the Role of the Family History Community, in Louisville, Kentucky. It brought together genealogists, business owners, senior community leaders, and genealogy companies and organizations to consider how genealogy and storytelling can strengthen senior adult programming and cognitive care. Certificates of Appreciation Every NGS Family History Conference relies on volunteer assistance to run smoothly. Indeed, the conference would not be possible without this dedicated team's work. Those recognized this year are: Curt Witcher, MLS, FUGA, IGSF, committee cochair and local host cochair; Matthew Blaine Berry, CG, program cochair; Allison DePrey, MLS, MA, local host cochair; Elizabeth Hodges, volunteer coordinator; Melissa Thatcher, volunteer coordinator; Carly Lane Morgan; and Lisa Fanning.

================================= Congratulations to all of the award recipients.   I am honored to receive one of the nine Award of Merit citations.  Unfortunately, I could not attend this Conference due to my health limitations, but they recently sent the Award of Merit citation in a wooden plaque (citation shown below, my CamScanner wouldn't do the wood frame for some reason!): The citation says: THE NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY 2026 AWARD OF MERIT Presented to Randall J. Seaver To recognize exceptional cntributions in the fields of genealogy which have significantly aided research or increased interest in genealogy /s/ David E. Rencher, President Thank you to the NGS Board of Directors, chaired by President David Rencher, and the NGS Awards Committee, chaired by Judy Nimer Muhn, for their kind consideration.                                                   ============================= Disclosure:  I am a current National Genealogical Society member and enjoy the benefits of membership in the society. The URL for this post is:  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.  All comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately after posting. Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1820 U.S. Census Record for Two Zacheus Hildreth Families In Townsend, Massachusetts

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1820 United States Census record for two Zacheus Hildreth households in Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

The two Hildreth households are the 8th and 9th entries on the image:

The extracted information for the Zacheus Hildreth (line 8) household (with my educated guess as to the names of the family members, assuming that they are all from the Zachaeus Hildreth (family):

*  Name of head of family:  Zacheus Hildreth 

*  Free white Males aged 10 to 15:  two (probably sons John born 1806 and Levi born 1808)

*  Free white Males aged 16 to 25:  one (probably son Joseph born 1800 or son Jonathan born 1803)

*  Free white Males aged 45 and over:  one (certainly Zacheus born 1754)

*  Free white Females aged 16 to 25: two (probably daughter Mary born 1801 and one unknown female)

*  Free white Females over age 45;  one ( certainly 2nd wife Abigail born 1769)

*  Number of persons engaged in agriculture:  two

The extracted information for the Zacheus Hildreth Jr. (line 9) household (with my educated guess as to the names of the family members, assuming that they are all from the Zachaeus Hildreth Jr. (family):

*  Name of head of family:  Zacheus Hildreth j'r

*  Free white Males under age 10:  two (probably sons Aaron born 1811 and James born 1817)

*  Free white Males aged 26 to 45:  one (certainly Zacheus Hildreth born 1783)

*  Free white Females under age 10:  one (probably daughter Clarissa born 1820)

*  Free white Females 26ed 26 to 45;  one ( certainly wife Hannah born 1789)

*  Number of persons engaged in agriculture:  one

The source citation for the Zacheus Hildreth Jr. entry (census date 1 June 1820) is:

 1820 United States Federal Census, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Townsend, Line 9, Zacheus Hildreth Jr. household; imaged, "1820 United States Federal Census," Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7734/records/632440 : accessed 7 July 2021); Massachusetts > Middlesex > Townsend, page 569 (penned) image 4 of 7; original record on National Archives Microfilm M33, Roll 51.

Note that this census record is listed by first letter of the surnames.  It is possible that Zacheus and Zacheus Jr. resided next to each other. Note also that the men were formerly known as "Zachariah" in birth, marriage, death, land and probate records.

Zachariah Hildreth (1754-1829) (in line 8)  is my 4th great-grandfather, who married (1) Elizabth Keyes (1759-1793) in 1777, and had nine children.  He married (2) Abigail Hart (1769-1846) in 1794 and had eight children.  Zachariah Hildreth Jr. (1783-1857) (in line 9) is my 3rd great-grandfather, who married Hannah Sawtell (1789-1857) in 1810, and they had nine children, including my 2nd great-grandfather Edward Hildreth (1831-1899). 

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

Disclosure:  I have a paid All-Access subscription to Ancestry.com now.  Ancestry.com has provided a complimentary subscription and material considerations for travel expenses to meetings, and has hosted events and meals that I have attended in Salt Lake City, in past years.

The URL for this post is: 

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.  All comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately after posting.

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Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 21 to 27 May 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.

* National Genealogical Society 2026 Family History Conference ($$, In-person and virtual, in Fort Wayne, Indiana) - 27 to 30 May 2026.

*  Palatines To America National Conference ($$, In-person, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) -- 18 to 19 June 2026.

*  FEEFHS Annual Conference ($$, In-person, in Salt Lake City) -- 5 to 7 August 2026.

*  Pennsylvania's Genealogy Event "PaGE" 2026 Conference ($$, Virtual) -- 6 to 8 August 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 --  Tuesday, 2 June, 7 p.m.:  Your Family Tree, Everywhere: Mac and iOS Genealogy Solutions by Linda Yip.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Wednesday, 3 June, 8:30 a.m.:  10 Ways German Research Is Different from U.S. Research by Ernest Thode.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Wednesday, 3 June, 9:45 a.m.:  German Surnames Unlocked: Meanings, Origins, and Clues by Andrea Bentschneider.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Wednesday, 3 June, 11 a.m.:  Cracking the Case with German Records You’ve Never Used Before by Ursula C. Krause.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Friday, 5 June, 11 a.m.:  Essential Skills for New Genealogists 3 of 12: U.S. Census Records from 1790-1950 and Beyond by Dave McDonald.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Tuesday, 9 June, 11 a.m.:  ScribeAI: It Was There All Along…You Just Didn’t See It by Janna Helshtein.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Wednesday, 3 June, 11 a.m.:   Massachusetts Land Records: Tracing Property and Ancestors by Seema-Jayne Kenney.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Friday, 12 June, 8 a.m.:  Land Records of Upper Canada 1 of 3: Crown Land Petitions by Janice Nickerson.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Friday, 12 June, 9:30 a.m.:  Land Records of Upper Canada 2 of 3: Heir & Devisee Commission Files by Janice Nickerson.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar --  Friday, 12 June, 11 a.m.:  Land Records of Upper Canada 3 of 3: Land Registry Office Records by Janice Nickerson.

3) Recent Podcasts:

* Ancestors and Algorithms:  Ep. 39: Norwegian Genealogy - AI Solves the Patronymic Mystery

*  Ancestral Findings:  AF-1270: Immigration and Naturalization Records | Ancestral Findings Podcast

* Family Tree Talk: Nathan's (rather good) note system to the rescue!

*  Hittin' the Bricks With Kathleen:  Mailbag Mania: Three Genealogy Records That Break Brick Walls

*  Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems:  Genealogist's Complete Guide to Military Research

* Research Like a Pro:  RLP 411: 23andMe Clustering and Chromosome Browser

4) Recent YouTube Videos:

*  Ancestry:  Before The Journey With Lizzy Caplan And More | Finding Your Roots | Ancestry

*  Ancestry: How to Use Fold3 to Find Your Ancestors' Military Records | Tips & Tricks Virtual Event | Ancestry

*  Ancestry Aimee:  The FamilySearch Catalog: Where the REAL Wealth is Hidden

*  BYU Library Family History Center:  Favorite Productivity Tips for FamilySearch Family Tree - Kathryn Grant (20 May 2026)

*  BYU Library Family History Center: Updated FamilySearch Place Research Tool - Ann Tanner (26 May 2026)

*  Carole McCulloch Geneablogger:  Reconstructing Ancestral Lives with NotebookLM

*  Carole McCulloch Geneablogger:  Uncovering the Secrets of My Victorian Ancestors

*  Carole McCulloch Geneablogger:  From Paper to People:

* Crista Cowan | The Barefoot Genealogist: Maryland: A New Kind of Identity | Stories That Live In Us | Episode 112

*  Data Mining Genealogy:  How to Build a Census Tracker Spreadsheet for Your Family Tree

*  DearMYRTLE's Archive:  Mondays with Myrt - 25 May 2026

*  Ellen Thompson-Jennings - Family History Hound:   Does Your DNA Measure Up For The Relationship You Think You Have?

*  Family History Fanatics:  Can One Ancestor Define Your Entire Heritage? (DNA Explained)

*  Family History Fanatics:  Why Two DNA Matches Don’t Match Each Other (Even on the SAME Segment)

*  Family History Fanatics:  3/4 Siblings vs. Double First Cousins: How to Tell the Difference

*  Family Locket:  Can AI Help Determine the Copyright Status of an Image?

*  Family Tree Magazine:  Making Use of DNA Painter – An Interview with Jonny Perl | Episode 207

* Family Tree Support:  The 4 Most Useful AI Tools for Genealogy in 2026 | Smarter Research, Faster Discoveries

* Family Tree Support:  The FamilySearch Catalog: The Hidden Goldmine Most Genealogists Ignore

* Family Tree Support:  AI Is Changing Genealogy Forever | Smart Ways Family Historians Are Using AI in 2026

* Family Tree Support:  How to Plan a Genealogy Research Trip | Not Waste Your Time or Money #genealogy

* Family Tree Support:  The Genealogy Mistake That Erases Family History | Why You MUST Label Old Photos

* Family Tree Support: How to Restore a Backup in Family Tree Maker for Mac (FTM 2017–2024)

*  FamilySearch: Your Ancestors' Stories Can Boost Your Mental Health

*  FamilySearch: Beyond the Prompt: Take Your AI To The Next Level

*  Finding Family DNA:  Maria Leonard Olsen's Shocking DNA Discovery | Finding Family DNA | Ep. 43

* Findmypast:  A Family History Of... The General Strike | Part 5 - The Battle for Public Opinion

*  Genealogy by Aryn:  From Research to Novel: Using Genealogical Research to Write Creatively

*  Genealogy Quick Start:  Death & Community w/ Gina Jarvi

*  Genealogy TV: Ancestry Preserve - Save Your Docs-Images-Videos-Film

* GeneaVlogger:  Talking Genealogy, DNA Testing, & History | Answering Questions Live

*  Int'l Institute of Genealogical Studies: Blue Blood in Black Ink--German Nobility Books

*  Int'l Institute of Genealogical Studies:  Canadian British Home Children

*  Int'l Institute of Genealogical Studies:  Meet the Mohawk Loyalist-Joseph Brant-United Empire Loyalists

*  Int'l Institute of Genealogical Studies:  Scottish School Records-Genealogy Treasure Trove

* Italian Roots and Genealogy:  Is Capracotta the last authentic village in Italy?

* Italian Roots and Genealogy:  Uncovering Royal DNA: Are You Related to the Bourbons?

*  Jennifer Holik  - Ancestral Souls Wisdom School:  Stop Calling Every Military Record a Service Record

*  Journey Through the Generations:  Turning Old Family Memories Digital | Our Memory Lab Visit

*  ProjectKin:  Emma Explores… All the Twos: Celebrating 2 years of “Emma Explores” on Projectkin

*  ProjectKin:  Projectkin Live: The View from Kathy's Corner

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  A Poem: "The Genealogist's Quest"

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  Life of the Nicholas Brocke Family in 1905 in Kendrick, Idaho - Part 1

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  Courtship and Marriage of James and Hannah (Rich) Richman in the 1840s in Wiltshire

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  Alexander and Rachel Whittle's Courting and Marriage Story in the 1830s in Lancashire

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  Biography of the Rudolf and Dorothea (Dinkel) Spangler Family of Pennsylvania (1738-1835)

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic: Emily and Lyle's Story Letters From Boot Camp (Weeks 7 and 8) - June-July 1917

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  Google Vids Slide Presentation: Life Story of the Rudolf and Dorothea (Dinkel) Spangler Family

*  Randy Seaver, Geneaholic:  Life Memoir of Rudolf Spangler (1738-1811), a Revolutionary War Soldier from York PA, in 1810

*  The Diehl on Genealogy:  Your Genealogy Research is Probably Wrong | Here's Why

*  The Formidable Genealogist: Episode 12: Stop Ignoring Tax Lists | The Formidable Genealogist Studio

*  The Formidable Genealogist:  Foundations of Online Genealogy | The Formidable Genealogist Webinars

*  The Formidable Genealogist: Level Up Your Genealogy 1 | The Formidable Genealogist Webinars

*  The Photo Managers:  Your Photos Have a Story—Are You Telling It?

* WikiTree:  2026 WikiTree Challenge 5 Kick-off feat ‪@ndgoodwin‬

* WikiTree:  Member Q & A via Zoom (May 2026) 1 of 2

* WikiTree:  Member Q & A via Zoom (May 2026) 2 of 2

* WikiTree:  WikiTree #SaturdayRoundup (23 May 2026) #Adoption

5) Did you miss the last post in this series -- Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 14 to 20 May 2026?

Read past Genealogy Education Bytes here.

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

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.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/05/genealogy-education-bytes-week-of-21-to.html

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 your comment 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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Life Memoir of Rudolf Spangler (1738-1811) of York, Pennsylvania in 1810

 I wrote an AI-assisted ABC biography for the family of my 4th great-grandfather Rudolf Spangler, a Revolutionhary War soldier,  in ABC Biography of the Rudolf and Dorothea (Dinkel) Spangler Family of York, Pennsylvania (1738-1835), based on my genealogical research over 38 years. 

I wondered what Rudolf Spangler might have told his grandchildren in a life memoir in 1810. 

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

1)  I requested Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 to   "Please write a life memoir for Rudolf Spangler  based on the attached biography, as he might tell his grandchildren in 1819."

2)  The AI Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 memoir (edited for accuracy and completeness) is: 

As I Remember It

The Life and Times of Rudolf Spangler

Silversmith • Clockmaker • Captain of Militia • Senator

Come closer to the fire, all of you. Yes, you too, little ones — pull your stools in. Your grandmother says I have been promising this evening for two winters past, and she is right, as she is right about most things. I am seventy-two years old, my hands are slower than they were, and the cold finds me now in ways it never did when I was chasing deer through Baumgardner’s Woods before sunrise. So tonight I will tell you what I can, while the telling is still in me.

I am Rudolf Spangler — your grandfather, your Grossvater — and I have lived in York, Pennsylvania, for every one of my seventy-two years. I have made silver and I have made clocks. I have served as a soldier, as a treasurer, as a senator of this commonwealth. I have buried friends and watched children grow. I have seen this land go from a British colony to a free republic. It has been a full life, and it is not finished yet — though I confess some evenings it feels closer to its end than its beginning.

What I tell you tonight is true, as best an old man’s memory can make it. I will not flatter myself, and I will not shame my family. I will tell you about my father and mother, who came from Germany with nothing but their faith and their hands. I will tell you about your grandmother — the finest woman God ever set down in Pennsylvania — and how we married on the first day of January in the year 1767. I will tell you about the war, and about the clocks, and about the deer.

Now. Are you ready? Good. Then here is the story.

My Father’s People, and How We Came to York

My father — your great-grandfather — was a man named Baltzer Spangler, and he came from Baden-Württemberg in Germany, which is a green and hilly country along the Rhine. My father spoke of the old country sometimes, in the way men speak of a place they loved but cannot return to — with a kind of ache in the voice that has no English word for it, only the German: Heimweh.

Baltzer married a woman named Maria Magdalena Ritter in 1732, and together they crossed the ocean to Pennsylvania. Can you imagine it? Think of the longest journey you have ever made — perhaps to Philadelphia, perhaps to the Susquehanna — and now make it ten times worse, on a wooden ship, for eight or ten weeks, with the Atlantic Ocean trying its best to swallow you whole. Many did not survive such crossings. Whole families were lost to fever below decks. That Baltzer and Magdalena arrived safely, and arrived in Pennsylvania of all places, was in my estimation a kind of miracle, or at the very least a very considerable piece of good fortune.

They settled in York — this very borough where we sit tonight — and they raised eight children here, of which I, Rudolf, was the fifth. My brothers were George, Baltzer, Michael, Daniel, and John. My sisters were Maria Juliana and Elizabeth. We were a loud and busy household, I can tell you that. When I was a boy this house smelled of bread and sawdust and whatever my mother had on the fire, and there was never a moment of quiet except on Sunday morning before the service, when my father would sit at the table with his Bible and none of us dared speak.

My father — your great-grandfather Baltzer — died in 1770 when I was already a grown man of thirty-two and well established in my trade. My mother Magdalena lived until 1784. They are buried here in York, not far from where we shall all be buried in our time. I think of them often. They crossed an ocean so that I might be born a free man in a free land, and in the end that freedom cost something more than an ocean crossing. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Now, I must tell you something curious about our family, because you will want to know it. My brother Michael — God rest him, he died in 1793 — married a woman named Margaret Dinkel. And your grandmother Dorothea, as you know, was also a Dinkel. She was Margaret’s aunt. My great-uncle, Philip Spangler, also married a Margaret Dinkel, a sister of your grandmother. So the Spanglers and the Dinkels have been tangled up together since before your grandmother and I were even married. Some families are like that — they circle each other for a generation or two until finally someone has the good sense to make it official.

The Craft of the Clockmaker and Silversmith

When I was old enough to be apprenticed, my father sent me to learn the silversmith’s trade. I will not tell you it was easy, because it was not. You work in heat, with tiny tools, on pieces so small a sneeze can ruin an hour’s labor. Silver is an unforgiving metal. It shows every mistake. But it also shows every triumph, and when you hold up a finished piece — a buckle, a spoon, a brooch — and the light catches it just so, there is a satisfaction in that which I have never found equaled in any office or chamber of government.

I learned clockmaking as well, because the two trades were often practiced together. A clockmaker works with gears and springs and escapements — those are the little mechanisms that make the tick-tock — and it requires the same steady hand and patient temperament as silversmithing. I made many clocks in my working years. Long clocks — what some call grandfather’s clocks — that stand tall in a hall and mark the hours with a deep and serious voice. On every dial I inscribed my name: Rudy Spengler, York town. That was my mark. That was how anyone who owned one of my clocks would know who made it.

I have been told that three of my clocks are still ticking in homes around this county. I confess that gives me more pleasure than I can easily express. A law I wrote may be forgotten. A road I argued for in the Senate will be worn away in time. But a clock, properly made, will keep on counting the hours long after the man who made it is silent. There is something in that I find very comforting.

By 1773 I had expanded my business and was reckoned a merchant of York — that is how the tax assessors listed me, and I did not complain about it. A merchant was a respectable thing to be. I had a shop, I had customers, I had a reputation for honest work. Your grandmother used to say that I was better at making silver than I was at selling it, because I would rather give a good price to a neighbor than argue over a fair one. She was not wrong about that either.

I want each of you — every grandchild here tonight — to remember this about honest work: it does not merely feed you. It makes you. A man who does poor work knows it, even if his customer does not find out for a year. That knowledge sits in him like a stone. But a man who does fine work carries himself differently. He can look any man in the eye. That is worth more than the coin difference between good work and shoddy work, though the coin difference is nothing to be sneezed at either.

Your Grandmother Dorothea, and Our Wedding Day

Now I come to the part of the story your grandmother has forbidden me to tell, and so naturally it is the part I most enjoy telling.

Dorothea Dinkel came from Strasbourg, which is a city in Alsace — that is a border country between France and Germany, and the people there speak both tongues and sometimes neither very cleanly. She was born in 1748, ten years after me, and her family had come to York sometime in her early childhood. Her father, Daniel Dinkel, had died when she was only seven, so it was her mother Ursula who raised the family here. Ursula Hornuss Dinkel was a formidable woman. She lived to be eighty. That is where your grandmother gets it from, I think.

I first knew Dorothea as a young woman of perhaps sixteen or seventeen, and I knew immediately that I intended to marry her, though I had the good sense not to say so aloud to anyone for some time. She was quick-minded and warm and had a way of laughing that made whatever room she was in feel larger and more alive. She is sixty-two years old now and she still has that laugh. I have heard it nearly every day for forty-three years and it has never once grown tiresome.

We were married on the first day of January, in the year 1767, at Trinity Reformed Church. Now. Here is the part your grandmother does not wish me to tell. On the morning of my own wedding day, I rose before sunrise, took my gun and my deer hounds, and went out to Baumgardner’s Woods, which lies about a mile southeast of York. And there I shot a deer.

Why? Because we needed meat for the wedding dinner, and I had promised the table would not lack for it, and I was not a man who broke promises — not even on his own wedding morning. Your grandmother has pretended for forty-three years that she found this outrageous. But I noticed she ate the venison without complaint.

She was eighteen years old when we married and I was twenty-eight. We had nothing much but our two pairs of hands, a small house, and the kind of confidence in the future that only the young possess without effort. We have had eleven children together. We have buried none of them, which is more than most families can say, and for that I thank God on my knees every night. Jacob, Catherine, Elizabeth, Margaret, Jesse, Johannes, Anna Maria, Daniel, Mary Margaret, Peter, and little Helen Dorothea — named for her mother — who was born the year I turned fifty-one. Eleven souls, all living. Your grandmother carried and bore and raised every one of them, and I will tell you plainly that whatever good thing has been said of me in this borough, I have done nothing so remarkable as that.

The War, and the Flying Camp

I need to tell you about the war, because you will ask, and because it matters.

In April of 1775, British soldiers fired on American militiamen at Lexington and Concord, in Massachusetts. I was thirty-seven years old. I had a wife, several young children, a trade, and a house. I had, in other words, a great deal to lose. And I did not hesitate for a single day.

I joined Captain George Eichelberger’s Company of the York County Militia in 1775. My neighbors and fellow citizens then elected me Captain of the Sixth Company of the York County Militia — which was, I confess, one of the proudest moments of my life, because a man does not choose his own rank among free men; they choose it for him, and that choice means something. It means they trust you with their lives, and with their sons’ lives. I did not take that lightly.

In 1776 our five York County battalions marched east to New Jersey to join what the Congress had called the Flying Camp. You may not know this name, so let me explain it. When General Washington needed a mobile reserve force — troops that could move quickly to wherever the British threatened — Congress assembled some ten thousand men from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. We were that force. We were meant to be fast, and flexible, and ready.

What we actually were, in the summer and autumn of 1776, was frightened. I say that not to dishonor those men — many of whom were the finest I have ever known — but because I want you to understand the truth of war, which is nothing like the stories. The British army in New York was enormous and professional and equipped in ways we could barely imagine. We had muskets and courage and not much else. Washington’s army was retreating across New Jersey that autumn, and there were days when it seemed the whole enterprise of American independence might simply collapse before winter.

I will not pretend I was not afraid. Any man who says he was not afraid in that time is either a liar or a fool, and I hope I am neither. But fear and courage are not opposites — courage is what you do despite the fear, and I saw more courage in those York County farm boys and tradesmen than in any speech I ever heard in the Senate. We held. We did our part. We came home.

Your grandmother received me back without a word of reproach for having left, though I had been gone for months and she had managed the household, the children, and the shop entirely alone. She simply looked at me when I walked through the door and said, in German, ‘Good. Now wash your hands and come to supper.’ That is the woman I married.

After the war, men began calling me Captain, and they have never stopped. That title will be on my gravestone — your grandmother told me she has arranged it — and I do not mind it. Captain of the Sixth Company, York County Militia, 1775. There are worse things to be remembered as.

Public Life, and What I Think of It

After the war, York grew and I grew with it. The borough had been incorporated, the new nation was finding its feet, and men of some standing were expected to contribute to its governance. I served as County Treasurer from 1801 to 1805 — four years of adding up other men’s money, which I found less satisfying than making clocks, but someone had to do it, and I flatter myself that the accounts were honest when I left them.

I was a Burgess of York and a State Senator in 1803, and this past year — 1810 — I have sat as a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. I will be honest with you, grandchildren: politics is a strange trade for a clockmaker. In my shop, if a gear was wrong, you knew it immediately — the clock stopped, or ran fast, or ran slow, and the fault was plain to see. In the legislature, a man can argue all day and never come to a conclusion, and everyone goes home satisfied with his own opinion while nothing whatever has been accomplished. I have sometimes wished I could open up the General Assembly like a clock case and find the piece that is preventing it from keeping proper time.

But I do not regret the public service. A free country requires men who will stand up and govern it, and if good men stay home, lesser men fill the gap. My father came from Germany, where ordinary men had no voice in how they were governed and no recourse when the powerful abused them. I have lived in a republic, and I have had a voice, and I have used it. That is not nothing. That is, in fact, everything.

I have owned property in this borough for thirty years and more — lots on West Market Street, East Market Street, South Queen, King Street, High Street. Some of it I built up myself, some came to me through my father. In my will I have left all of it to your grandmother Dorothea for her lifetime, to do with as she sees fit. She has earned it. After her, it will be divided among your fathers and mothers equally, every child the same share. I have never believed that the eldest son should inherit everything while the others get nothing. That is the old way, the German way, the way that made younger sons desperate and resentful. We are Americans now. We divide fairly.

What I Know Now, That I Did Not Know Then

You are very young, all of you. Even the oldest among you — I am looking at you, Jacob’s boy — has barely begun. I am seventy-two, and I still feel, some mornings, that I have barely begun myself, which I suppose is either encouraging or alarming, depending on how you look at it.

Here is what I know that I did not know at your age.

Time is the only thing you cannot make more of. I have made silver and I have made clocks — I have, you might say, made time, or at least measured it. But I have not been able to add a single hour to the supply. Spend it on things that matter. Spend it on your craft, on your family, on your community. Do not spend it on spite or grievance. I have seen men waste years nursing a wound that could have healed in a month, if they had let it.

Your hands are your honor. Whatever work you do — silversmithing or farming or keeping accounts or teaching children — do it as well as you possibly can. People in York will remember the quality of your work long after they have forgotten your name. Three of my clocks are still ticking in this borough. That is my truest monument.

Marry someone whose company you genuinely enjoy, because you will have a great deal of it. I have spent forty-three years in close quarters with Dorothea Dinkel Spangler, and I have not yet wished myself elsewhere. That is rarer than people suppose, and it is worth more than any amount of money or property.

Serve your country when it asks. It may ask a great deal. It may ask your comfort and your safety and your years. Give what it asks. A republic is not a gift; it is a bargain. Freedom in exchange for the willingness to defend it.

Finally: remember where you came from. Your great-grandfather crossed an ocean. Your grandmother’s family crossed an ocean. They gave up everything familiar so that you could be born here, on this ground, as free people. Do not take that for granted. Not for a single day.

Well. Your grandmother is giving me the look that means the fire is getting low and the young ones should be in bed. She has been giving me that look for forty-three years, and I have learned to obey it faster than any order I ever received in the militia.

I am Rudolf Spangler of York, Pennsylvania. Silversmith. Clockmaker. Captain of the Sixth Company of the York County Militia, 1775. County Treasurer. Senator. Burgess. Husband of Dorothea. Father of eleven. Grandfather, apparently, of a very considerable number of you, over twenty at least so far.

It has been a good life. An honest one, I think. I hope you will say the same of yours, when your time comes to sit by a fire and tell it.

Now go to bed. All of you. And tell your grandmother the deer story was my own idea.

— Rudolf Spangler, York, Pennsylvania, Autumn 1810

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3)  The Video Overview of Rudolf Spangler's life memoir, created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool, is:      

4)  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.

5)  This is historical fiction, based on my own genealogical research and family records. It is what Rudolf Spangler might have told his grandchildren in 1810.  

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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.

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