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Sunday, April 12, 2026

Using Artificial Intelligence In the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process - Updated

This is a one-year update to my initial blog post defining the ABC Biography Creation Process.  The intent has stayed the same, but the process has changed a bit as the Artificial Intlligence tools have improved and expanded.

I have been experimenting for over two years now with Artificial Intelligence tools to determine how I can best use them for my genealogy research and family history work.  After 38 years of research, and blogging about genealogy since April 2006 on Genea-Musings, I have a wealth of material to work with.  It is all imperfect and can be improved!

A)  The Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Goal

My present life goal is to create eBooks and videos to document the lives of my ancestors for my relatives and descendants, and anyone else interested, about my own ancestry and my wife's ancestry.  I have lots of genealogy records about all of my ancestors back many generations, but very few family stories about my close family, plus any information that I have found in books, periodicals, blog posts, etc. while doing family history research.  How best can I do this with consistency and better wordsmithing than I can create myself?

I also want to create audio and video files about the lives of my ancestors, and about my own life, for my descendants, and try to tell their and my stories in my own voice.

Here is my current process (in April 2026) to create consistent ancestor and relative biographies and stories, along with audio and video presentations, that may interest my relatives and descendants.

B)  Using Artificial Intelligence to Create An Ancestral Biography and Stories

NOTE: I will use my 5th great-grandfather Norman Seaver (1734-1787) for examples.

1)  Ancestor/Relative Research Notes:  Using the RootsMagic family tree program, I create ancestor and family research notes in Person Notes with references to sources for all of the events in each ancestor or relative profile.  I put everything I know about the person or family into the Notes -- "The Kitchen Sink" approach.  The Person Notes often include a summary or transcription of each record found to document the life of the person, and are essentially chronological.

NOTE:  If a user does not have Person Notes, they could use a Narrative report or a Timeline report to create a summary of their research. 

2)  Ancestor/Relative Genealogical Sketches:  Using the RootsMagic Person Notes, and some of the record images, I write a blog post on Genea-Musings for each ancestor, ancestral couple, or relative of interest.  A compendium of the Genealogical Sketch blog posts can be found on the 52 Ancestors/Relatives Biographies page on Genea-Musings.  I create a PDF document of the selected ancestor genealogical sketch. 

My Genezlogical Sketch for Norman Seaver (1734-1787) is 52 Ancestors - Week 105: #128 Norman Seaver (1734-1787).

NOTE: If a user has not created a sketch to date, but has an Ancestry or  MyHeritage family tree, they can create a sketch using the techniques in In Search of the Perfect Genealogical Sketch - Updated!  

NOTE:  Consider doing an Ancestor Couple Sketch to include the early life of husband and wife, including their parents and siblings, and then cover their children, life events, sources, etc.

3)  Ancestor/Relative Biography:  I attach the PDF document  of the genealogical sketch to the free Anthropic Claude (now usually Sonnet 4.6) AI tool to write the biography, using the prompt:  "You are an expert genealogist. Please create an engaging biography from the attached file, including parents, siblings, spouses and children (with birth and death dates and places), summarize life events, and add historical events as appropriate, but do not add or embellish any extra genealogical details. Use section headings. Expand the information in each section to add more details. The tone should be casual and suitable for family members."

The result of this is copied to a word processing file and saved as a PDF, and stored in my computer "AI Biographies" file folder for the person or couple.

My ABC Biography for Norman Seaver is ABC Biography of Norman Seaver (1734-1787) of Massachusetts.

4) Ancestor/Family Stories: Once you have the Biography, the user can request the AI Tool to write stories about the person in a time and in a place adding social history and dialogue. These should be labeled as "historical fiction" if the stories are not based on factual information with a source.

You can ask the AI Tools to create suggestions for interesting “Family Stories” or “Turning Points” based on the Genealogical Sketch or Biography. Select specific suggestions and ask the AI Tool to tell a "Historical Fiction" Story ("the way it might have been") based on what it knows based on the Genealogical Sketch or biography with historical events and social history. Or use your own “Family Story” or “Turning Points” ideas as prompts of the AI Tool. 

Typical Family Stories might be:
  • Tell a life memoir to grandchildren
  • Describe their life at age [10, 15 or 20] – family, education, work, entertainment, fun
  • What was their family life like at age [40 or 50]?
  • What advice did their mother/father provide before marriage?
  • Describe how they performed their occupation in the year [1900].
  • Describe their migration trip.
  • Describe their military service.
  • Create a family discussion about an important decision.
  • Provide additional known information to tell a longer multi-chapter story.

Download and save the Story Idea AI outputs to your computer as a Word document. Review, edit and verify the details, and save it as a PDF. Use this Story as input to Google NotebookLM in a separate request for an Infographic and Video Overview.

Some of my Norman Seaver family stories are in:

5) Ancestor/Relative Poem and Song Lyrics Text and Video: I use one or more of the free ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini and Perplexity AI tools to write a poem and song lyrics based on the uploaded genealogical sketch PDF. My prompt is usually "Please create a poem and song lyrics to commemorate this person's life."  I copy the resulting poems and song lyrics in a word processing document and save it in my computer file folder for "AI Poems and Songs." I choose one poem and one song lyrics to use in a blog post.

The song lyrics are used to create a 3-5 minute song on www.Suno.com for the subject person, which I save as an MP3 file in an "AI Songs" computer file folder. The poems and songs could be collected into an audio book or video for a family library, a YouTube channel, or even bedtime stories. <G>

The Poem and/or Song audio from Suno can be added to a one-page graphic (or more) in Canva.com (free to use) to create an MP4 video of the poem and song, which could be put on a YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media account.

My Norman Seaver Poem and Song are in "The Ballad of Norman Seaver" - A Family History Poem and Song.

NOTE:  Suno.com requires a paid account now to download an MP4 video of the song. This changed in late 2025. 

6) Ancestor/Relative Briefing Document, Infographic, Audio Overview, Video Overview and Slide Deck: I use the free AI Google NotebookLM to upload the Ancestor Genealogical Sketch (or Biography or Story) PDF to create:

  • a Briefing Document -- a text summary of the Sketch/Biography/Story
  • an Infographic -- a large image highlighting important features in the Sketch/Biography/Story in a JPG file
  • an Audio Overview -- essentially a podcast in an 8 to 20 minutes .MP3 file,
  • a Video Overview -- a 6 to 8 minutes MP4 file with narration
  • a Slide Deck -- a 10 to 15 page set of slide images telling the biography/story in a PDF file or PPT file

NOTE:  A user can create a limited number of Infographics, Audio, Video, and Slide Decks per day with a free account. 

I save the Audio Overview in an "AI Podcasts" computer file folder, the Video Overview in an "AI Videos" computer file folder, the Infographics in an "AI Infographics" file folder, and the Slide Deck in an "AI Slide Deck" computer file folder after renaming them appropriately to identify the subject and AI tool.

The Infographic for Norman Seaver's biography is: 

The Video Overview YouTube video for Norman Seaver's biography is: Captain Norman Seaver (1734-1787) Biography.

7) Ancestor/Relative Podcast Transcription and Video: I use the Audio Overview MP3 files from NotebookLM to create a text transcription of the Audio Overview podcast using TurboScribe.com. I save each podcast transcription in a word processing file and save it in the "AI Audio to Text" computer file folder for the person.

The Podcast audio from NotebookLM can be added to a one-page graphic (or more with family photographs, document images, etc.) in Canva.com (free to use) to create an MP4 video of the podcast, which could be put on a YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media account.

The Norman Seaver Canva Video for the Podcast is: Norman Seaver 1734 1787 Biography Born 1734 in Sudbury, Massachusetts

NOTE:  Turboscribe limits a free user to three transcriptions (30 minutes each maximum) a day.

8) Ancestor Slide Presentation and Narrated Video: I use Google Slides to create a Slide Show using a Title slide, the NotebookLM Infographic, the NotebookLM Slide Deck (usually 10 to 15 slides), and a Credits slide to create a Presentation. In Google Slides, the File menu has a "Convert to Video" link that can create a free Google Vids narrated video of the slide show as an MP4 file.

I save the Slide Show to my Google Drive account, and the Google Vids presentation to an "AI Slide Presentation" computer file folder. The narrated Google Vids presentation could be put on a YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media account.

My Norman Seaver Slide Presentation on YouTube is: Video Presentation of the Life of Norman Seaver (1734-1787), a Revolutionary War Soldier

NOTE: The number of free Google Vids that can be created each day is limited.

C) What I've Done to Date:

1) I have completed all of the above for my two parents, my four grandparents, my 8 great-grandparents, my 16 2nd great-grandparents, and 32 3rd great-grandparents as individuals. In additon, I have done biographies for some of my wife Linda's ancestors basck through her 2nd great-grandparents, and also for some of my Revolutionary War veterans.

Then there are historical fiction stories for many of my ancestors.

2) All of my Artificial Intelligence work on Genea-Musings and YouTube are listed on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page.

3) All of my AI created videos are on my Randy Seaver, Geneaholic YouTube Channel.

4) I gave a one-hour presentation about this subject on 7 April 2026 to the Genealogical Socieiy of Santa Cruz County. It is in a YouTube video -- GSSCC: Randy Seaver, "From Census to Story: Bringing Ancestors to Life with Evidence, Context and AI."

5) I can usually perform all of the AI tasks after creating the PDF of the ancestor genealogical sketch in about 4 hours. Creating and listening to the song, and waiting for the Audio and Video Overview to complete, take the longest time. My creation process from start to finish usually spans several days or weeks for any particular ancestor subject.

NOTE: There is a learning curve for every step of this process with each AI tool. A person with competent research, writing and technology capabilities should be able to master each task in a number of hours (10 to 20?) using each tool.

D) The Future?

Dedicated Genea-Musings readers will recognize the elements in this Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process as what I roughly outlined in words in my blog post on 1 April 2025 titled "Announcing YOUR GENEA-GENIE."  See, there was method to my madness!! And it's expanded in the year since then.

I foresee a dedicated Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) AI Agent tool that can do this ancestor biography creation in one prompt, along with the PDF (or other) input to provide the information for the ancestor in image, audio and video presentations.  The researcher will have to do the research work, but this process should turn out a decent set of outputs that can be used or modified to the user's wishes. 

Unfortunately, I am not a good programmer or promptmeister to create this type of AI Agent tool.  I would be happy to work with someone on it, though!

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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) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is:  

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Betty and Fred's Story: Baby Randy Is Born

 The AI-assisted ABC Biography of my mother, Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver, is in ABC Biography of #3 Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver (1919-2002) of San Diego, California. I also  wrote Betty's Story: The First-Year Art Teacher about the start of her teaching career.

The AI-assisted ABC Biography of my father, Frederick Walton Seaver, is in ABC Biography of #2 Frederick Walton Seaver Jr. (1911-1983) of Massachusetts and San Diego, California.  I also wrote Fred's Story: The Three-Day Cross-Country Escape  and Fred's Story: "I Need A Girl" about him coming to San Diego, and wanting for a girlfriend.

Then I wrote 22 more chapters of their life together (listed at the end of this post).

And now we are up to late October 1943 and the momentous event happens: 


                  (AI NotebookLM Infographic - Betty and Fred's Story - late October 1943)

1)  Based on the biographies and the earlier stories, I asked Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 to tell another story - what happened next (I offered some suggestions!)?  Here is the next story (edited for more detail and accuracy):


Building a Life Together: Baby Randy Is Born

October 21, 1943 - Final Name Discussion

Betty sat in the nursery, rocking slowly in the chair Fred had made, one hand on her enormous belly. She was two days past her due date, uncomfortable and anxious, wondering if this baby would ever arrive.

Fred came in and sat on the floor beside the rocking chair. "We need to finalize the name. The baby could come any time now."

"I know. Ranslow if it's a boy, Alma if it's a girl. We decided that."

"Ranslow is your great-grandfather, and an older name. I think Randall would be a better first name. But the middle name. I've been thinking about it, and I'm not sure about Frederick as a middle name anymore."

Betty stopped rocking, surprised. "Really? I thought honoring your father was important to you."

"It is. But I've been thinking about what you said—about the baby having his own identity. And I realized... I want our son to be his own person, not just a continuation of me and my father. Randall Frederick feels like too much weight to put on a baby."

"What are you suggesting?"

"What about Jeffrey? Randall Jeffrey Seaver. It flows well, and Jeffrey doesn't have any family baggage attached to it."

Betty tested the name silently. Randall Jeffrey. Randy Seaver. R.J. Seaver.

"I like it," she said finally. "Randall Jeffrey Seaver. It's strong but not too formal. And you're right—it lets him be his own person."

"So we're decided? Randall Jeffrey if it's a boy, Alma Emily if it's a girl?"

"We're decided."

Fred leaned up and kissed her. "Now we just need the baby to actually arrive."

"Don't remind me. I feel like I've been pregnant forever."

October 23, 1943 - 1:00 a.m. - Labor Begins

Betty woke suddenly, feeling wetness spreading beneath her. For a confused moment, she thought she'd wet the bed—embarrassing at twenty-four years old, but pregnancy did strange things to bladder control.

Then she realized: her water had broken.

"Fred." She shook his shoulder. "Fred, wake up."

He bolted awake instantly, the wartime habit of light sleeping. "What's wrong?"

"My water broke. The baby's coming."

Fred was out of bed immediately, turning on the light, looking at Betty with wide eyes. "Are you having contractions?"

"I don't... wait." Betty felt a tightening across her belly, different from the Braxton Hicks practice contractions she'd been having for days. Stronger. More purposeful. "Yes. I think so."

"We need to go to the hospital. Now. Where's your suitcase?"

"In the closet. But Fred, we should time the contractions first. Dr. McCausland said not to go until they're five minutes apart."

"Your water broke, Betty. We're going now."

Fred moved with efficient speed, getting Betty's pre-packed suitcase, helping her into a maternity dress, calling the hospital to let them know they were coming. His hands shook slightly as he dialed, but his voice was steady.

Betty had another contraction as they walked to the car—stronger this time, making her stop and breathe through it.

"How far apart?" Fred asked.

"I don't know. Ten minutes, maybe?"

The drive to Paradise Valley Sanitarium in National City took fifteen minutes at 1:30 in the morning with no traffic. Fred drove carefully but quickly, one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding Betty's.

"You're doing great," he kept saying. "Just breathe. We're almost there."

Paradise Valley Sanitarium was a sprawling mission-style building, well-lit even at this hour. Fred pulled up to the emergency entrance and ran inside for a wheelchair while Betty had another contraction, gripping the car door handle.

A nurse appeared with Fred and the wheelchair. "Let's get you inside, Mrs. Seaver. How far apart are the contractions?"

"Maybe eight or ten minutes. My water broke about half an hour ago."

"You did right coming in. First baby?"

"Yes."

"Well, you've got a long night ahead of you, but we'll take good care of you."

They wheeled Betty to the maternity ward, a clean, bright area with several delivery rooms. A nurse helped Betty into a hospital gown while Fred waited outside, pacing.

Dr. Harrison arrived at 2:15 AM—not Dr. McCausland as Betty had expected, but his colleague who was on call that night. He was an older man with kind eyes and steady hands.

"Mrs. Seaver, I'm Dr. Harrison. Dr. McCausland and I work together. He's delivered hundreds of babies, and so have I. You're in good hands."

He examined Betty and nodded. "You're about three centimeters dilated. You've got a ways to go—first babies usually take twelve to twenty hours from start to finish. We'll keep you comfortable and monitor your progress."

Fred was allowed to stay with Betty between examinations, holding her hand, talking to her, helping her breathe through contractions that grew steadily stronger and closer together.

October 23, 1943 - The Long Day

Labor progressed slowly. By 6 a.m., Betty was only four centimeters dilated, exhausted and discouraged.

"I can't do this for twelve more hours," she said, crying after a particularly strong contraction. "It hurts too much."

"You can do this," Fred said, wiping her face with a cool cloth. "You're the strongest person I know."

"I'm not strong. I want to go home. I want this to stop."

The nurses were kind but firm, helping Betty walk the halls to encourage labor, checking her progress every few hours, offering ice chips and encouragement.

Fred called the Carringers at 8 a.m. to let them know Betty was in labor. Emily wanted to come immediately, but Fred explained that only husbands were allowed in the labor room.

"Call us as soon as the baby arrives," Emily said. "We'll be waiting."

By noon, Betty was six centimeters dilated. The contractions were intense now, coming every three to four minutes, lasting a full minute each. Betty couldn't talk through them anymore, could only breathe and grip Fred's hand until her knuckles turned white.

"You're doing so well," the nurse said during a check. "The baby's in perfect position. Everything is progressing normally."

"Normally?" Betty gasped. "This is normal?"came and

"Completely normal for a first baby. I know it's hard, but you're doing exactly what you need to do."

At 2 p.m., Dr. McCausland came and examined Betty again. "Eight centimeters. We're getting close now. Another couple of hours, probably."

But labor stalled at eight centimeters. Two hours passed with no progress, the contractions continuing relentlessly but Betty's cervix refusing to dilate further.

"This is normal too," Dr. McCausland assured them. "Sometimes labor plateaus. We'll keep monitoring. If necessary, we can give you some medication to help things along."

At 4 p.m., something shifted. Betty felt an overwhelming urge to push.

"I need to push," she told the nurse. "Something's different."

Dr. McCausland examined her and smiled. "Ten centimeters. You're ready. Let's move to the delivery room."

Fred was ushered out as they wheeled Betty to delivery. "You did great," he told her. "Just a little longer and we'll meet our baby."

"Don't leave," Betty said, suddenly terrified.

"I'm right outside. I'm not going anywhere."

October 23, 1943 - 4:58 p.m. - The Birth

The delivery room was bright and clinical, very different from the labor room where Betty had spent the past sixteen hours. Nurses positioned her, coaching her breathing, preparing for delivery.

"On the next contraction, I want you to push," Dr. McCausland instructed. "Bear down like you're having a bowel movement. Push as hard as you can."

Betty pushed, screaming with the effort. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Good! I can see the baby's head. Again on the next contraction."

Push after push, each one agonizing, each one exhausting. Betty lost track of time, lost track of everything except the overwhelming need to push, to get this baby out, to end this ordeal.

"One more big push," Dr. McCausland said. "Give me everything you've got."

Betty pushed with every ounce of strength she had left, feeling a burning, tearing sensation, and then suddenly—relief. Pressure released. Emptiness where fullness had been.

And then—a cry. Small, angry, perfect.

"It's a boy!" Dr. McCausland announced. "A healthy baby boy!"

Betty collapsed back on the delivery table, crying, laughing, exhausted beyond measure. A nurse was cleaning the baby, and then—miraculously—placing him on Betty's chest.

He was tiny and red and wrinkled, covered in vernix, his little face scrunched up in outrage at being thrust into the bright, cold world. But he was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

"Hello, Randy," Betty whispered, touching his tiny hand. His fingers wrapped around hers instinctively. "Hello, my sweet boy. I'm your mama."

"Seven pounds, fourteen ounces," the nurse announced. "Twenty inches long. Born at 4:58 PM. What's his name?"

"Randall Jeffrey Seaver," Betty said, never taking her eyes off her son. "Randy."

They let her hold him for a few minutes while Dr. McCausland delivered the placenta and stitched the tears from delivery. Then they took Randy to clean him properly, weigh and measure him, perform all the necessary checks.

"He's perfect," the pediatric nurse reported. "All ten fingers, all ten toes, strong lungs, good color. A beautiful healthy boy."

Betty was moved to a recovery room, cleaned up, given a fresh gown. And then—finally—Fred was allowed in.

He looked terrified and awestruck all at once, holding a small blue bundle that the nurse had placed in his arms.

"Betty," Fred whispered, tears streaming down his face. "Look at him. Look at our son."

He sat carefully in the chair beside her bed, and together they looked at Randall Jeffrey Seaver—Randy—their son, born after sixteen hours of labor on October 23, 1943.

"He's perfect," Betty said, reaching out to touch Randy's tiny face.

"He looks like you," Fred said. "Same nose. Same chin."

"He has your hands. Look at his fingers—long and elegant."

They sat together in wonder, examining every detail of their son—the wisps of dark hair, the tiny fingernails, the way his mouth moved in his sleep as if nursing from a dream.

"We're parents," Fred said. "We actually did it. We made this perfect little person."

"We did. And now we have to keep him alive. That's the scary part."

Fred laughed, then leaned over to kiss Betty. "You were amazing. Sixteen hours of labor, and you did it. I'm so proud of you."

"I couldn't have done it without you here. Knowing you were close, even when they made you leave for delivery—that helped."

Randy stirred in Fred's arms, making small mewling sounds. His eyes opened briefly—dark blue, unfocused—then closed again.

"Hello, son," Fred said softly. "I'm your daddy. I've been waiting to meet you for nine months. Welcome to the world."

When Fred returned home at 8 p.m., he called his mother in Leominster, Massachusetts and woke her up. “You have another grandson, mother -- Randall Jeffrey Seaver, 7 pounds 14 ounces, 20 inches long. He’s beautiful. Please tell my brother and sisters tomorrow.”

And then he called Lyle and Emily to let them know too. Of course, they wanted to come visit, and Fred said "We will probably come home from the hospital early next week."

…. to be continued

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2) Here is the Google NotebookLM Video Overview about Fred and Betty's life in the last week of October:

3)  This story is historical fiction based on real people -- my parents and me -- and a real event in a real place.  I don't know the full story of these events -- but this is how it might have been. I hope that it was at least this good! Claude is such a good story writer!  I added some details and corrected some errors in Claude's initial version.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in this family story.

Here are the previous chapters:

                           ==============================================

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

The URL for this post is: 

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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