Comparison of a Handwritten Document Transcription With Two Artificial Intelligence Transcriptions

I transcribed a probate record last week in Amanuensis Monday -- 1775 Will of Hepsabeth Hammant (1699-1791) of Medfield, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. I used the Windows Snipping Tool to make the first page of the will into an image:

1)  My transcription (A) of this page of the will is:

In the Name of God Amen.  This Twenty fifth Day of October

one thousand seven Hundred and Seventy Five & Sixteenth Year of

our sovereign Lord George Third King &c I Hepsabeth Ham-

mant Widow of Timothy Hammattt Late of Medfield deceased

in the County of Suffolk and in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay

in New England being in health but having many Admonitions

of My Mortality and of a sound disposing mind and Memory

thanks be given to god Therefor, Do make and ordain this my

last Will and Testament in manner and form Following.

That is to say First and Principally, I commend my Spirit into

the Hands of God that gave it hoping and trust^ing in his Mercey thro'

The Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ, my only Saviour I

commend my Body to the dust to be interred in a decent manner

at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named in Hopes of the

Resurrection of the Just.  It is my Will and pleasure that all my

Just debts funeral Charges and Legacies be paid with all Convenient

speed after my decease then Imprimus I give and bequeath to the

Children of my beloved Son Seth Hammant deceased and to

their Heirs the Sum of Five Shillings.  Item I give and bequeath

to my beloved Son Timothy Hammant and to his heirs forever

The Sum of Five Shillings.  Item I give and bequeath to my beloved

Son Francis Hammant and to his Heirs forever The Sum of Five

shillings.  I give and bequeath to my Beloved daughter Mehitable

Hammant & to her heirs forever The one fourth part of all my Real &

Personal Estate.  Item I give and bequeath to my beloved Daughter Patience

Smith the one fourth part of all my Real and Personal Estate and to her

Heirs forever.  Item I give and bequeath to my daughter Bathsmah Walker

one fourth part of all my Real & Personal Estate & to her Heirs forever.  Item I give

and bequeath to my Daughter Dinah Chenery one Fourth part of all my Real

and Personal to her heirs forever.  I do constitute and appoint my Son Ephriam Chenery

to be the Sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking all others

and ratifying this and this only to be my last Will and Testement.  In Witness Whereof I have

hereunto 

2)  I attached the JPG image and used this prompt on Microsoft CoPilot (Free) and on Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Free):  "Please transcribe this handwritten will of Hepsabeth Hammant including line breaks."

3) The CoPilot transcription (B) was:

In the Name of God Amen. This Twenty fifth Day of October
One thousand seven Hundred and Seventy Five & Sixteenth Year.
Our Sovereign Lord George Third King. I, Hepsabeth Hammant,
Widow of Timothy Hammant, late of Needham, deceased,
in the County of Suffolk and in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay
in New England, being in health but having in mind the mortality
of my body and of sound disposing mind and memory,
thanks be given to God therefore, do make and ordain this my
last Will and Testament in manner and form following:
that is to say, First and Principally, I commend my Soul into
the Hands of God that gave it, hoping and trusting in His mercy through
the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, my only Savior.
I commend my Body to the dust to be interred in a decent manner
at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named, in hopes of the
Resurrection of the Just. It is my Will and desire that all my
just debts, funeral charges, and legacies be paid with all convenient
speed after my decease. Then, I give and bequeath to the
children of my beloved son Seth Hammant, deceased, and to
their heirs, the sum of Five Shillings. I give and bequeath
to my beloved son Timothy Hammant and his heirs forever
the sum of Five Shillings. I give and bequeath to my beloved
son Francis Hammant and his heirs forever the sum of Five
Shillings. I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter Elizabeth
Hammant and her heirs forever one fourth part of all my real and
personal estate. I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter Jane
Smith one fourth part of all my real and personal estate and to her
heirs forever. I give and bequeath to my daughter Bathsheba
one fourth part of all my real and personal estate and to her heirs forever. I give
and bequeath to my daughter Hannah Cheney one fourth part of all my real and personal estate and to her heirs forever. I do constitute and appoint my son-in-law John Cheney
to be the sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all other
wills and ratifying this and this only to be my last Will and Testament. In witness whereof, I have
hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written.

I then asked CoPilot to find the differences between my original transcription A and the CoPilot transcription B.  Here are the results:

Differences between Transcription A and Transcription B: 

Location of Timothy Hammant’s death:
Transcription A: Medfield
Transcription B: Needham 

Phrasing and wording:
Transcription A: “having many Admonitions of My Mortality”
Transcription B: “having in mind the mortality of my body” 

Commendation of the spirit/soul:
Transcription A: “commend my Spirit into the Hands of God”
Transcription B: “commend my Soul into the Hands of God” 

Executor:
Transcription A: Ephriam Chenery (son)
Transcription B: John Cheney (son-in-law) 

Names of daughters:
Transcription A: Mehitable Hammant, Patience Smith, Bathsmah Walker, Dinah Chenery
Transcription B: Elizabeth Hammant, Jane Smith, Bathsheba, Hannah Cheney 

Phrasing of bequests:
Transcription A: “It is my Will and pleasure that all my Just debts funeral Charges and Legacies be paid with all Convenient speed after my decease”
Transcription B: “It is my Will and desire that all my just debts, funeral charges, and legacies be paid with all convenient speed after my decease” 

Phrasing of the will’s conclusion:
Transcription A: “In Witness Whereof I have hereunto”
Transcription B: “In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written.”

4)  The Claude transcription (C) was:

In the Name of God Amen. This Twenty fifth Day of October one Thousand seven Hundred and Twenty four I Hepsebeth Hammant Widow of Timothy Hammant Late of Taunton deceased in the County of Bristol in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England being in health but having nothing more Certain than Mortality and of a sound disposing mind and Memory thanks be given to god Therefore Do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following that is to say First and Principally I Recommend my Spirit into the Hands of God that gave it hoping and trusting in his Mercy thro The Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ my only Saviour I Commend my Body to the dust to be interred in a decent manner at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named in hopes of the Resurrection of the Just - As to my Worldly Estate that it hath pleased God to bless me with in this Life I give and bequeath in the following manner - Imprimis I give and bequeath to the Children of my beloved Son Seth Hammond deceased and to their Heirs the sum of Three shillings - Item I give and bequeath to my beloved Son Timothy Hammond and to his heirs forever all that Farm or Tract of Land situate in Taunton formerly belonging to John Andrews Hammond and to his heirs  forever The sum of Three shillings - I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter Mehitable Hammond and to her heirs forever The one fourth part of all my Real & Personal Estate Item I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter Eliza-beth Hammond and to her heirs forever The one fourth part of all my Real & Personal Estate forever - Item I give and bequeath to my daughter Bathsheba Niles one fourth part of all my Real & Personal Estate To her heirs forever - Item I give and bequeath to my daughter Experience Niles The one fourth part of all my Real and Personal Estate To her heirs forever and that out of my Personal Estate there be a Suitable Gravestone for my self and my late husband Timothy Hammond at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named I hereby nominate Constitute and appoint my beloved Son Timothy Hammond To be my [..] last Will and Testament [..] In Testimony [  ] whereof I have

[The text appears to continue beyond the visible portion of the image]

I then asked CoPilot to find the differences between my original transcription A and the Claude transcription C.  Here are the results:

Differences between Transcription A and Transcription C:

Date of the Will:
Transcription A: October 25, 1775
Transcription C: October 25, 1724

Location of Timothy Hammant’s death:
Transcription A: Medfield, County of Suffolk
Transcription C: Taunton, County of Bristol

Phrasing and wording:
Transcription A: “having many Admonitions of My Mortality”
Transcription C: “having nothing more Certain than Mortality”

Commendation of the spirit/soul:
Transcription A: “commend my Spirit into the Hands of God”
Transcription C: “Recommend my Spirit into the Hands of God”

Bequests to children:
Transcription A: Five Shillings to each child
Transcription C: Three Shillings to each child

Names of children:
Transcription A: Seth Hammant, Timothy Hammant, Francis Hammant, Mehitable Hammant, Patience Smith, Bathsmah Walker, Dinah Chenery
Transcription C: Seth Hammond, Timothy Hammond, Mehitable Hammond, Elizabeth Hammond, Bathsheba Niles, Experience Niles

Executor:
Transcription A: Ephriam Chenery (son)
Transcription C: Timothy Hammond (son)

Additional bequest:
Transcription C: Mentions a suitable gravestone for herself and her late husband Timothy Hammond, which is not mentioned in Transcription A.

Phrasing of the will’s conclusion:
Transcription A: “In Witness Whereof I have hereunto”
Transcription C: “In Testimony whereof I have”

5)  Having CoPilot compare the three transcriptions was very helpful!  CoPilot did better than Claude, but both got the names of towns, counties and people wrong and changed some words or phrases.  CoPilot added text to the last line, and Claude added some text in several places.  

This also indicates that they aren't fully trained on relatively unique names of people and places, or they got lazy expecting a name.  

6)  I tried to upload the image file to ChatGPT-4o (Free) and it locked up after about 10 lines.  I tried it on Google Gemini (Free) and it said it was a text-based AI.  I tried it on Perplexity (free) and it said that image transcription was a Pro task. 

7)  This fortifies the maxim that we all know and increasingly understand, we have to verify everything that we receive from an AI tool and inspect the result for errors of omission and commission. 

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