Best of the Genea-Blogs - Week of 20 to 26 July 2025

 Scores of genealogy and family history bloggers write hundreds of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for most daily blog prompts or meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week: 

*  Why Aren't Family Histories Being Preserved? A Genealogist's Perspective by Devon Noel Lee on Family History Fanatics.

*  Why websites and webinars don’t work for learning genealogy by Denyse Allen on Chronicle Makers.

*  Top 5 Libraries for Genealogy Research: Unlocking the Past by Diane Henriks on Know Who Wears the Genes In Your Family.

*  The State of Genealogy Education by Jennfer Holik on Soul Traveler.

*  Faith and Fact: Discover the Hidden History in Religious Records by Mercedes Brons on Who Are You Made O f?

*  Genealogy’s a Team Sport: Let SEO Help You Find Cousins and Collaborators and SEO, a Swiss Story & the Rolling Ball of Hay by Barbara Tien on Mission: Genealogy.

*  Finding Red House Farm in Steubenville Township, Jefferson County, Ohio + What You May Find on a Historic County Map by Nancy Messier on My Ancestors and Me.

*  High-Quality Handwritten Text Recognition with Gemini 2.5 Pro in Google AI Studio by Nicole Dyer on Family Locket.

*  Have Your Genealogy Plan B Ready to Go by DiAnn Iamarino Ohama on Fortify Your Family Tree. 

*  MyHeritage's DeepStory: A Genealogist's Reflection on a ByGone Tool by Lady Claire on Timeless Genealogies: Guildes and Information.

*  FAN Club Analysis by Marcia Philbrick on Heartland Genealogy.

*  Back Then vs Now: How Your Ancestors Lived by Chlo0e Brewer on Family Wise.

*  The Ultimate 2025 AI Guide for Genealogy Research by Denyse Allen on Chronicle Makers.

*  9 Essential Strategies for Writing and Telling Great Family History Stories by Lisa Louise Cooke on Lisa Louise Cooke.

*  ChatGPT's Impression of me as a Genealogist by Jennifer Jones on Tracking Down the Family.

*  What happens when you give your ancestor a voice? and Adam Lymburner's Memoir by Jenny MacKay on Jenny's Scrapbook of Family History Stories.

*  20+ Tools to Empower Your Family History Research by Dan Maloney on Genealogy Assistant.

Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

*  Friday’s Family History Finds [25 July 2025] by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

*  This week’s crème de la crème -- July 26, 2025 by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte.

*  GenStack [26 July 2025] by Robin Stewart on Genealogy Matters.

*  The Chiddicks Observer Edition 21 (20 July 2025] by Paul Chiddicks on Paul Chiddicks.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add the blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another RSS feed, or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I currently am reading posts from over 900 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

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Copyright (c) 2025, Randall J. Seaver

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Chula Vista Genealogical Society Meeting on Wednesday, 30 July Features Lisa Medina

 Wednesday, 30 July 2025, 12 noon PDT 

Chula Vista Genealogical Society 

General Meeting (in a Zoom Video Conference) 

"Introduction to Mexican Genealogy Research"

by Lisa Medina

 This lecture offers an introduction into important foundational concepts in Mexican genealogy research (names, jurisdictions and governmental entities, language resources, etc.), as well as an overview of the abundant church and civil records available online. 

Lisa Medina is a professional genealogist specializing in Mexican genealogy, with over a decade of experience uncovering family histories. She has completed advanced genealogical training through institutes such as the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. In addition to her research expertise, Lisa serves as the Director of Admissions & University Registrar at California State University San Marcos.

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PLEASE REGISTER for this event on the CVGS website (https://chulavistagenealogysociety.wildapricot.org/event-6100851). An event email and reminders will be sent to all CVGS members the week before the event.  A confirmation email will be sent to all those who register with the Zoom link and the last email reminder will be sent on Wednesday morning of the event.

Attendance is free but only 100 Zoom seats are available, so please register soon.

This program will be held online using the Zoom video conferencing platform for Meetings.  It will be hosted by CVGS President Terri Seat. Contact presidentofcvgs@gmail.com if you have problems or register too late for the email.    

Please note that the meeting starts at 12 noon Pacific Time (3 p.m. Eastern time, 2 p.m. Central time, 1 p.m. Mountain time). The Zoom Meeting room will be open by 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time for visiting and helping attendees connect.

NOTE: The Chula Vista Genealogical Society offers an annual membership of $30. Besides the monthly General Meeting with a program speaker on the last Wednesday of each month, there is a monthly Research Group meeting on second Wednesdays on Zoom, an in-person Education meeting on third Tuesdays, and a DNA Interest Group meeting on third Wednesdays on Zoom, all at 12 noon Pacific time.  The speaker handout and the program recording are available to CVGS members for one month after the event.  There is also a monthly 8 page email newsletter chock full of program announcements, research tips, research articles, and program reviews.

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Disclosure:  I am a lifetime member of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, a former Treasurer (2003-2004), Vice-President Programs (2005-2006), President (2007-8), and am currently the Research and Queries chairman (since 2003) and Newsletter Editor (since 2009).

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) 2025, Randall J. Seaver

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"Sarah's Song"-- A Family History Poem, Song and Podcast Created by Artificial Intelligence

 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 and podcast about my third great-grandmother, Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848) of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I requested ChatGPT4, Grok, Gemini, and Claude (all FREE AI LLM tools) to create a poem and song lyrics, and Google NotebookLM a podcast, about Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848).

I uploaded a PDF of my genealogical sketch which has all of the information I have about the life of Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848)  -- 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 42: Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848)   --  to the AI tools.

(AI ChatGPT4 image of Carringer family in Pennsylvania in 1848)

1)  The prompt I used for the poem and song lyrics was: "Please write a poem and song lyrics to celebrate the life and legacy of Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848) using the attached document."

2)  I chose the poem created by X.ai Grok 3 today:

                        SARAH'S SONG

In Mercer’s hills where wildflowers sway,
Sarah Feather bloomed in her youthful day.
Born to the earth in eighteen hundred and four,
Her heart held dreams that would forever soar.

At twenty-one, she joined her hand in love,
To Henry Carringer, blessed by skies above.
In twenty-five, their vows were softly said,
A life of love and toil their hearts would wed.

Ten children came, from Eliza to Harvey’s light,
Each cradle rocked beneath her gentle sight.
Through fields of green, in Pennsylvania’s embrace,
She built a home, a warm and sacred space.

The soil they tilled, one hundred fifty acres wide,
With Henry’s strength and Sarah by his side.
She wove their days with care, through joy and pain,
Her love a thread in sunshine and in rain.

When forty-four brought shadows to her door,
Her spirit left, yet lingered evermore.
In eighteen forty-eight, her journey stilled,
Yet in her children’s hearts, her dreams fulfilled.

From Pennsylvania’s loam to Iowa’s plain,
Her legacy stretched, a boundless, living chain.
To Colorado’s peaks and California’s shore,
Her love’s bright echo thrives forevermore.

Oh, Sarah Feather, mother, steadfast guide,
Your quiet strength in every heart resides.
Through generations, your story softly sings,
Of love and life, and all the gifts they bring.

 3) Here are the AI song lyrics created by Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 (used as custom lyrics on Suno.com), using a traditional American folk ballad style in an upbeat tempo - the link to the song is here: "Sarah's Song."

                            “SARAH'S SONG"

(Verse 1)
Born in eighteen-oh-four under Ohio skies so wide
Sarah Feather came to earth with hope as her guide
From Warren's fields to Mercer County, Pennsylvania bound
She'd marry Henry Carringer where true love could be found

(Verse 2)
Ten babies blessed their humble home in Sandy Creek's embrace
From Eliza first to Harvey last, each child knew mother's grace
Through birthing pains and sleepless nights, she never lost her way
Her hands were strong, her heart was true, through every passing day

(Chorus)
Oh Sarah, Sarah, mother of ten
Pioneer woman with heart and pen
Writing her story in children's lives
Through joy and sorrow, she still survives
In every blessing, in every prayer
Sweet Sarah's love is always there

(Verse 3)
From Pennsylvania farmland to the great wide open west
Her children carried Sarah's strength, her love within their chest
To Colorado mountains high, to California's shore
Her legacy kept traveling like never seen before

(Chorus)
Oh Sarah, Sarah, mother of ten
Pioneer woman with heart and pen
Writing her story in children's lives
Through joy and sorrow, she still survives
In every blessing, in every prayer
Sweet Sarah's love is always there

(Verse 4)
April took her from this world when she was forty-three
But all ten children lived to see what mothers hope to see
In Kelso Farm Cemetery, her earthly body rests
But her spirit keeps on living in the hearts she blessed

(Bridge)
No fancy clothes or jewels bright
Just calloused hands and heart so light
She built a nation one child at a time
Her simple life, a paradigm
Of sacrifice and endless love
Blessed by angels from above

(Chorus)
Oh Sarah, Sarah, mother of ten
Pioneer woman with heart and pen
Writing her story in children's lives
Through joy and sorrow, she still survives
In every blessing, in every prayer
Sweet Sarah's love is always there

(Outro)
So when the wind blows through the trees
And carries whispers on the breeze
Remember Sarah, brave and true
Her pioneer heart lives on in you
In you, in you, her love lives on
Sarah's song will carry on
Sarah's song will carry on

4)  Here is the Audio Overview "podcast" file for Sarah (Feather) Carringer from Google NotebookLM (based on the referenced genealogical sketch):  https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/372e1a69-a49b-4f4d-9ca7-711dd23cd619/audio.

5)  The AI tools do this so much better than I could, and weaves 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!

6)  These stories, told in verse, song, and podcast 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 and to my YouTube channel and 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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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 Twitter, 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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