Sunday, October 5, 2025

Best of the Genea-Blogs - Week of 28 September to 4 October 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: 

*  Timeline Storytelling for Genealogy: Three Ways ChatGPT-5 Structures an Ancestor’s Life by Diane Henriks on Know Who Wears the Genes In Your Family.

*  When Census Records Fail: 5 Community Records That Solve Genealogy Mysteries by Lisa Lisson on Lisa Lisson.

All Boxed In by Jeff Record on The Last Aha.

*  Different Ways We Write Names When Recording Genealogy by Deborah Carl on Mission: Genealogy.

*  How do we know what is real in Genealogy? by James Tanner on Genealogy's Star.

*  The AI Genealogy Revolution: Building an AI Genealogy Workflow and Transforming Genealogy: Crafting Authentic Ancestral Narratives by Carole McCulloch on Coach Carole Online.

 Using AI to Persuade Us by Marcia Crawford Philbrick on Heartland Genealogy.

*  Revisiting My Roots: Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit by Cari Taplin on Genealogy Pants.

*  Why most genealogy advice wastes your time and what to do instead by Denyse Allen on Chronicle Makers.

*  What we Find When We're Looking for Something Else by Jacqi Stevens on A Family Tapestry.

*  What Good is an Obituary, Anyway? by Anne Wendel on Anne's Substack.

*  Missing Branches on Ancestry (With Fix) by Doris Kenney on A Tree With No Name.

*  John Adams & the American Revolution: The Other Side of the Story by Linda Stufflebean on Linda Stufflebean.

Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

*  The Chiddicks Observer, Edition 29 [29 September 2025] by Paul Chiddicks on Paul Chiddicks.

*  Friday’s Family History Finds [3 October 2025] by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

*  This week’s crème de la crème -- October 4, 2025 by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte.

*  GenStack [4 October 2025] by Robin Stewart on Genealogy Matters.

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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Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County (GSSCC) Program on Tuesday, 7 October 2025 Features João Ventura

 I received this information from my friend and society colleague Gail Burk:

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Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County (GSSCC) Lecture Series 

 Co-hosted Online by GSSCC and the Santa Cruz Public Libraries (SCPL) 

View meeting on Zoom or View In-person at Downtown Library (224 Church Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060)
 
 To register for the Zoom meeting, please type in or click  

Tuesday, 7 October 2025 1:00 PM PDT 

Guest Speaker:  João Ventura


"Azores Naming Practices
"

João Ventura will present a program on naming practices in the Azores, Portugal. He will explore how given names are shaped by a variety of influences, including religious, political, and cultural factors. Family names, too, reflect the values and customs of the surrounding community. Questions such as why a child might not carry the father’s surname will be addressed. Mr. Ventura will highlight the variations in family names and explain the reasons behind changes that can occur over time.

João Manuel Diniz da Silva Ventura has been deeply involved in Azorean genealogy for over 25 years. A professional genealogist, he has worked with the Government of the Azores and currently serves as the archivist for the Secretary of Public Works on Terceira Island. João played a key role in scanning church records for Terceira, São Jorge, and Graciosa, and oversaw the digitization of records from Faial, Pico, Corvo, and Flores.

He studied at the University of Coimbra, earning a degree in English and German, as well as a postgraduate degree in Archiviology. His research has supported government agencies, fellow genealogists, and private individuals. João has also led genealogy workshops and delivered lectures in São Miguel, Terceira, and Faial, as well as in California and Salt Lake City.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2025/10/genealogical-society-of-santa-cruz.html

Copyright (c) 2025, 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 Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  All comments are moderated, and may not be posted immediately.

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"Sarah's Song" -- Family History Poem, Song, Audio Overview and Video Overview 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, podcast and video about my third great-grandmother, Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp (1802-ca1850) of Ontario, #61 on my Ahnentafel list.

I requested ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, and Claude (all FREE AI tools) to create poems and song lyrics, and Google NotebookLM to create an Audio Overview (a podcast) and a Video Overview (a presentation), to describe and celebrate the life of Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp (1802-ca1850).  I uploaded a PDF of my genealogical sketch which has all of the information I have about the life of Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 54: #61, Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp (1802- before 1850).

(AI ChatGPT5 image of Kemp  family in Ontario in 1845)

1)  The prompt I used for the poem and song lyrics was: "Please write a poem and song lyrics to describe and celebrate the life and legacy of Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp (1802-ca1850) using the attached document."

2)  I chose the poem created by Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 today:\

 SARAH'S SONG

Born in summer's warmth, eighteen hundred two,
A Fletcher daughter on Ontario's shore,
In Prince Edward County where the wild winds blew,
Sarah came to life—we know little more.

At fifteen springs, she wed young Abraham,
On April's sixteenth day in eighteen-eighteen,
A farmer's bride in Upper Canada's span,
Building home and hearth in Hillier's green.

Eleven times a mother, strong and true,
From Waity's birth to Wesley's final cry,
Through decades raising children, watching them grew,
Beneath the Methodist chapel's faithful sky.

Her daughters married, Catherine and Mary Ann,
Her sons spread wide across the growing land,
To Norfolk County, Indiana's plan,
To Michigan—they journeyed, proud and grand.

In Hillier's fields and Consecon's embrace,
She bore her children through the turning years,
With pioneer resolve upon her face,
Through seasons bright and those bedewed with tears.

Young Charles departed, only six years old,
A mother's sorrow in that tender loss,
Yet still she carried on, steadfast and bold,
Through trials that a frontier mother crossed.

By eighteen fifty-one her story ends,
No marker tells us where she came to rest,
But through her children's children, life extends—
A legacy of love, forever blessed.

The Family Bible holds her sacred name,
Born July seventh, married April's day,
Through generations passing like a flame,
Her memory lives on—it lights our way.

From Huntington Beach to libraries far and wide,
Her story typed on pages worn with care,
The descendants seeking roots with humble pride,
Find Sarah Fletcher waiting for them there.

She gave her life to build what we've become,
A mother, wife, a woman of her time,
Though history's record leaves her partially unsung,
Her strength endures—eternal, true, sublime.

So here's to Sarah, Fletcher turned to Kemp,
Who walked the earth when Canada was young,
Your quiet courage was no mere attempt—
Your song of life through eleven voices sung.

---

*In memory of Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp (1802-before 1850)*
*Mother of eleven, pioneer, ancestor*
*May her story continue to inspire generations to come*
3) Here are the AI song lyrics created by X Grok 3:
                              SARAH'S SONG 
(Verse 1)
Born on the shores of Lake Ontario's blue,
July seventh, eighteen-oh-two, a summer's delight,
In Prince Edward's fields where the wild winds blew,
Sarah Fletcher rose with the morning light.
Parents lost to time, but her heart was her guide,
Fifteen springs young, she said "I do" to Abe,
To a farmer's strong hands and a Methodist pride,
In Hillier's embrace, their new life they'd engrave.

(Verse 2)
Waity and Mary, baptized in winter's soft snow,
Stephen and William, chasing dreams far and wide,
James and John L., with roots running deep and slow,
Peter and Andrew, carrying faith as their guide.
Sarah Jane, her mirror, bloomed bright in the sun,
Charles, a whisper taken too soon by the night,
Wesley, the last flame, when the long days were done—
Eleven hearts beating, her love their guiding light.

(Chorus)
Oh, Sarah, pioneer with a fire in your soul,
Mother of eleven, turning earth into gold,
From the plow to the cradle, your hands never cold,
You built us a legacy, brave and bold.
Through the trials and the joys, your spirit won't fade,
In the Bible's old pages, your story's been made—
Sarah Kemp, eternal, in the family parade!

(Verse 3)
Churning the butter, sewing by candle's glow,
Birthing in the barn when the storms raged wild,
Losing little Charles to the fevers that flow,
Yet rising each dawn with a mother's fierce smile.
Wesleyan hymns rising o'er the ripening grain,
Homestead carved from frontier, with calloused grace,
Twenty-seven years weaving joy through the pain—
A life of quiet thunder, etched on time's face.

(Verse 4)
Before fifty's shadow, she slipped from our sight,
After 'forty-seven, ere the census could call,
Abraham wed again in the soft morning light,
But her echo lingers in Norfolk's green hall.
From Indiana's rivers to Michigan's shore,
Dozens of grandchildren, her blood runs so free,
In the Holman Bible, her ink forevermore—
A pioneer's whisper, calling kin home to thee.

(Bridge)
No stone marks her rest, no bell tolls her name,
But in every descendant's laugh and their stride,
She's the root of the tree, the unquenchable flame,
The unsung queen of the hearth's endless tide.
Oh, what strength in the silence, what power in the yield—
Sarah, your story's the song that we wield.

(Chorus)
Oh, Sarah, pioneer with a fire in your soul,
Mother of eleven, turning earth into gold,
From the plow to the cradle, your hands never cold,
You built us a legacy, brave and bold.
Through the trials and the joys, your spirit won't fade,
In the Bible's old pages, your story's been made—
Sarah Kemp, eternal, in the family parade!

(Outro)
Fade out on the lake, where the waves softly sing,
Of a woman who loved till her last breath took wing...
Sarah Kemp, oh Sarah, forever our spring.
(Oh Sarah... forever our spring...)
"Sarah's Song" (based on the song lyrics using Suno.com, using a melodic pop style in a moderate tempo) can be played below:


4) Here is the Audio Overview "podcast" file for Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp's life from Google NotebookLM (based on the referenced genealogical sketch).

The Google NotebookLM Video discussing Abraham Kemp's life is below: 


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, voice and video 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


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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