Linda Stufflebean used Artificial Intelligence LLM tools to analyze her Empty Branches On the Family Tree blog posts for 2025 and asked Anthropic Claude to formulate a Research Plan for 2026 in Asking AI for a 2026 Genealogy Research Plan, Part 1 and Part 2.
1) I thought this was a worthy endeavor and I would try it also. I used Linda's prompt from her first blog post but substituted my Genea-Musings URL. The prompt is: "Please review my blog posts on www.geneamusings.com for 2025. Create a reasonable genealogy research plan for me for 2026, based on families who have been featured last year. Where do I need to add more details, check new resources, or just beef up my knowledge about them?"
2) I ran this prompt on Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT 5, X Grok, Google Gemini 3, and Perplexity.
3) My judgment is that the Anthropic Claude result is the best. Here is the response:
I'll fetch your blog to review your 2025 posts and create a research plan for you.
Let me search for more specific content about the families you've been researching in 2025.
Let me search for more family names you've been researching.
Let me search for more families you've researched.
Based on my review of your Genea-Musings blog for 2025, I can see you've had an incredibly productive year! You've focused heavily on using AI tools to create biographies, memoirs, poems, songs, and family stories.
Here's a comprehensive research plan for 2026:
2026 GENEALOGY RESEARCH PLAN FOR RANDY SEAVER
PRIMARY FAMILY LINES FEATURED IN 2025
Seaver Family (New England)
Robert Seaver (1608-1683) & Elizabeth Ballard - your immigrant ancestors
Shubael Seaver (1640-1730) & Hannah Wilson
Joseph Seaver (1672-1754)
Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816)
Norman Seaver (1734-1787)
Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) & Lucretia Smith
Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) & Alma Bessie Richmond
Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
Carringer Family (Pennsylvania to California)
Martin Carringer (1758-1835) & Maria Magdalena "Molly" Houx
D.J. Carringer (1828-1902) & Rebecca Spangler
Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) & Della Smith
Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976) & Emily Auble
Leland/McKnew Families (Wife's lines)
Severt Oliver Leland (1878-1940) & Amelia Brocke
Herman Schaffner (1851-1921) & Mary Ann Paul
Paul Frederick Schaffner (1879-1934) & Edna Catherine McKnew
Elijah McKnew & Jane Whittle
Supporting Lines
Richmond Family
Auble Family (Anna Row Auble featured)
Leland/Norwegian connections
RESEARCH PRIORITIES FOR 2026
1. FILL GAPS IN SEAVER LINE (High Priority)
Robert Seaver's English Origins
You note his birthplace, parents, and English origins are unknown
Action: Research Seaver families in Berkshire, Kent, Yorkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire
Check Northern Ireland Seaver connections
Search for 1633-1634 ship passenger lists and port records
Look for Robert Seaver in English parish registers 1600-1633
Elizabeth Ballard's Background
Birth date, place, parents, and passage details unknown
Action: Research Ballard families in England pre-1633
Search for her arrival record (came 1633 as maid servant)
2. CARRINGER LINE EXPANSION (High Priority)
Martin Carringer's Parents
You have him born 1758 in Lancaster County, PA to "a German's estate"
Action: Identify his father's name and origins
Research German immigration to Lancaster County 1750s
Check church records, land records in Lancaster County
Early Pennsylvania Carringer Generations
Build out collateral lines
Research Martin's siblings
Document Revolutionary War service more thoroughly
3. LELAND/NORWEGIAN CONNECTIONS (Medium Priority)
Severt Leland's Family
You've written about him but connections may need strengthening
Action: Research Norwegian parish records
Explore emigration records from Norway
Connect with Norwegian genealogy resources
4. McKNEW FAMILY RESEARCH (Medium Priority)
Elijah McKnew & Jane Whittle
Featured in 2025 but may need more depth
Action: Research Whittle family origins
Build out McKnew collateral lines in San Francisco area
5. SCHAFFNER/PAUL FAMILIES (New for 2026)
Herman Schaffner's Mother
Susanna Hoffman (1830-about 1854) - death date/place uncertain
Action: Find death record or what happened to her
Friedrich Nicholas Schaffner
German origins need research
Action: German emigration records, New York arrival records
Mary Ann Paul Family
Build out the Paul family line
THEMATIC RESEARCH PROJECTS
1. Complete Early Seaver Generations
Write genealogical sketches for all children of each generation
Create AI-assisted biographies for siblings you haven't featured
This creates fuller family context
2. Women's Stories
You've focused on couple biographies - excellent!
Consider standalone features on women whose stories deserve highlighting
Sarah (Read) Seaver, Hannah (Wilson) Seaver, Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer
3. Migration Patterns
Seaver: England → Roxbury → Sudbury → Shrewsbury → Westminster
Carringer: Lancaster Co PA → Mercer Co PA → Iowa → Colorado → San Diego
Create detailed migration maps and timelines
4. Military Service Documentation
Norman Seaver - Revolutionary War (you've covered)
Benjamin Seaver - Revolutionary War
Martin Carringer - Revolutionary War pension details
Expand and document all military ancestors
NEW RESOURCES TO EXPLORE
Based on your 2025 activity, check these resources you may not have fully utilized:
1. FamilySearch Full-Text Search
You mentioned this was a 2025 highlight
Systematically search for all your Seaver/Carringer lines
Focus on deed records, probate records
2. Newspapers
You have access to multiple newspaper databases
Search systematically for each ancestor in their location/time period
Create a tracking spreadsheet
3. Land Records
You've transcribed some deeds
Action: Pull ALL land records for each ancestor
Map their land holdings
This often reveals relationships and movements
4. DNA Analysis Deepening
You have tests at multiple companies
Action: Focus on breaking through brick walls with DNA
Target: Robert Seaver's English origins
Martin Carringer's parentage
Use Leeds Method for unknown parents
WRITING GOALS FOR 2026
You've mastered AI-assisted content creation in 2025. For 2026:
1. Complete Genealogical Sketches
Finish sketches for ALL direct ancestors back to 9 generations
You've done many - complete the set
2. Create AI Biographies
One per month minimum
Focus on ancestors you haven't covered yet
3. Organized Life Memoirs
Continue these - they're wonderful!
Target uncovered ancestors
4. Quarterly Family Stories
Christmas stories (you did several)
Consider: Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, birthdays
Create traditions for different branches
COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES
1. Seaver Family Association
Share your Robert Seaver research
Collaborate on English origins
2. Carringer Family Researchers
There must be others researching Martin
Share Pennsylvania research
3. DNA Matches
Systematically contact your top 20 matches on each platform
Build collaborative trees
DOCUMENTATION IMPROVEMENTS
1. Source Analysis
Review all "about" dates and uncertain information
Can you find actual records to replace estimates?
2. Conflicting Information
Document where sources disagree
Research to resolve conflicts
3. Future-Proofing
Ensure all your sketches have complete source citations
Your AI biographies rely on sketches - make sketches bulletproof
PRIORITY BRICK WALLS TO ATTACK
Robert Seaver's parents and English origins (HIGHEST)
Elizabeth Ballard's family and passage
Martin Carringer's father
Susanna Hoffman Schaffner's fate
Any Seaver line deaths without burial locations
MONTHLY RESEARCH SCHEDULE SUGGESTION
Months 1-3: Focus on Seaver English origins research
Months 4-6: Pennsylvania Carringer research
Months 7-9: Fill in collateral lines and complete biographies
Months 10-12: Norwegian/Leland research, year-end wrap-up
This gives you focused quarters while maintaining your excellent blog writing pace. Your use of AI tools has been innovative and productive - keep that going while deepening your primary source research!
4) How Do I Think It Did?
- Unfortunately, with over 1,120 blog posts in 2025, I fear it was overwhelmed with too much information. Perhaps the LLM did not read every blog post and cherry-picked the lines it discussed in the blog summary and plan. It did not summarized the 2025 posts in any detail - perhaps another query would produce a summary.
- The response assumes that I started my genealogy research from scratch in 2025, while I've been doing research since 1988 and blogging about my research since 2006 (almost 19,000 posts at this time). For example, my genealogical sketches on the 52 Ancestors page have source citations (albeit imperfect) so the AI Biographies and Stories, which are based on the sketches, are based on sources and were written before 2025.
- Many of the research suggestions have already been completed in past years. I've reached the end of many ancestral lines or hit brick walls for some lines that I have not broken through yet.
- I'm already using the resources listed in "New Resources To Explore." I think I'm fully utilizing Full-Text Search, Newspapers, land records, probate records, DNA matches/clusters, ThruLines, etc.
- The suggestions in the "Writing Goals for 2026" section are helpful, although I've already done sketches back through 9 generations (I don't know some of those ancestors! - 9 generations is back into the 1600s). I'm trying to do one couple biography every two weeks at this time, either for my Revolutionary War ancestors or my wife's ancestors. I'm trying to do a "Life Memoir" for at least one of the peersons in a family, and a social history story for at least one person in a family. This section totally ignored my curation posts, the Amanuensis Monday, Treasure Chest Thursday and Wordless Wednesday posts, etc.
- My "Research Plan for 2026" is somewhat similar to Linda's plan, but I did not ask for a "Research Log" that she received in Part 2 of her request.
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) 2026, Randall J. Seaver
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