I've used FREE Artificial Intelligence tools to create biographies, poems, songs and podcasts about my ancestors lives, plus my genealogy research and family history in the recent past.
Every ancestor lives a unique life with unique relationships and life stories. Today, I want to share a poem, song, podcast and video about my wife Linda's maternal great-grandparents, Elijah Pickrell McKnew (1836-1912) and Jane (Whittle) McKnew (1847-1921), #10 and #11 on Linda's Ahnentafel list.
I requested ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, and Claude (all FREE AI tools) to create poems and song lyrics to describe and celebrate the lives of Elijah and Jane (Whittle) McKnew. I uploaded a PDF of my genealogical sketch which has all of the information I have about the lives of Elijah and Jane in Genealogical Sketch of the Elijah Pickrell McKnew and Jane (Whittle) McKnew Family of San Francisco, California.
(Elijah and Jane (Whittle) McKnew family in 1881 in San Francisco)
1) The prompt I used for the poem and song lyrics was: "Please create a poem and song lyrics to describe and celebrate the lives of Elijah and Jane (Whittle) McKnew using the attached document."
2) I chose the poem created by Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 today:
The Ballad of Elijah and Jane
From Maryland's rolling hills he came,
Young Elijah Pickrell was his name,
While Jane was born where gum trees grew,
In Sydney town beneath skies blue.
Two orphans marked by early loss,
Two continents they'd have to cross,
To find each other in the gold,
Where California dreams were told.
He mined the earth in Tuolumne's land,
She came as child, held mother's hand,
Across the Pacific, wild and wide,
To seek their fortune, side by side.
In eighteen sixty-five they wed,
Built a life, broke daily bread,
From mining camps to city streets,
Where Castro met the Nineteenth's beats.
Eleven children blessed their home,
Through shifting work, they'd never roam—
Teamster, driver, merchant, more,
Elijah kept them from want's door.
Jane bore them all with strength untold,
Watched them grow from young to old,
From Australia's distant shore,
She built a dynasty and more.
When earth did shake in ought-six's dawn,
When fires raged and hope seemed gone,
They stood together, stove in street,
The McKnews would not accept defeat.
Forty-seven years as one,
Under California's golden sun,
From goldfields rough to city grand,
They held the future in their hand.
Now they rest in Cypress Lawn,
Their earthly journey finally drawn,
But eleven children carry on,
The legacy of Jane and John—
No, Elijah—strong and true,
And Jane, who crossed the ocean blue,
Two lives that bridged the world so wide,
Two hearts that beat there, side by side.
From Maryland and Sydney's shore,
They built a family to endure,
Through earthquake, fire, loss, and strife,
They lived a full and faithful life.
So raise a glass to those who came,
To Elijah and to Jane by name,
Who dared to dream and dared to be,
The roots of our family tree.
3) Here are the AI song lyrics created by Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 today:
The Ballad of Elijah and Jane(Verse 1)He left Maryland with a restless heart,A soldier's uniform, a brand new start,But the Army life wasn't meant to be,So he headed west to be finally free,In Tuolumne County he worked the mine,With dreams of gold and a better time.(Verse 2)She was born in Sydney, so far away,Lost her father before she turned seven,Her mother brought her across the sea,To California, eighteen fifty-two.A little girl with Australian eyes,Growing up beneath the Golden State skies.(Chorus)Two worlds colliding in the mining town,Two hearts that found what they were looking for,Elijah and Jane, they settled down,Built a love that would forever endure,Forty-seven years, through joy and pain,The legacy of Elijah and Jane.(Verse 3)November 1865, they said "I do,"Started a family, just those two,Eleven children came along,Each one a verse in their family song,From the goldfields to the city streets,Where the Castro met with Nineteenth's beats.(Verse 4)He drove the teams, he sold the fruit,Working every job from his head to his boots,She raised them all with tender care,Through loss and love and answered prayer,From mining camps to San Francisco's glow,They watched their family grow and grow.(Chorus)Two worlds colliding in the mining town,Two hearts that found what they were looking for,Elijah and Jane, they settled down,Built a love that would forever endure,Forty-seven years, through joy and pain,The legacy of Elijah and Jane.(Bridge)When the earth shook hard in '06,And the fires burned through the city's mix,They stood together on the street,With their stove and their hopes and their will to beat,The odds that tried to take them down,They rebuilt their life in that broken town.(Final Chorus)Two worlds united, hand in hand,Two souls who dared to take a stand,From Maryland and Sydney's distant shore,They created something worth fighting for,Their children carry on the flame,The beautiful legacy of Elijah and Jane.(Outro)Now they rest in Cypress Lawn,But their story carries on and on,Through every child and every name,Lives the spirit of Elijah and Jane,Lives the spirit of Elijah and Jane,Forever lives Elijah and Jane.
"The Ballad of Elijah and Jane" (based on the song lyrics using Suno.com, with a melodic pop style in an upbeat tempo) can be played below:
4) The AI tools do this so much better and faster than I can, and weave the poem and song along a story theme that is true and heartfelt. Each tool provides a different poem and song from the same prompt --I love fishing in all of the AI streams!! Frankly, doing the poems and song are the most genealogy fun I have every week!
5) These stories, told in verse and song are part of my genealogy and family research. My hope is that they will be passed down to my grandchildren and their descendants to highlight the importance of sharing stories, memories, admiration, and love of our ancestors. I will add them to my Google Drive, to my YouTube channel, and to my FOREVER account.
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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) 2025, Randall J. Seaver
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