I'm asking questions of the available Artificial Intelligence tools about genealogy and family history research in order to see if I've missed something in my unending pursuit of providing information about my ancestral families.
1) Today, my Prompt is: "How can I make my genealogy books/reports more engaging for family members?"
This is a follow-up question to the publishing question in Ask AI: "How Should a Genealogist Publish Digital Reports and Books?" I thought the response deserved its own blog post.
I submitted the above Prompt to the free AI tools on OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o, Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft's CoPilot, Google's Gemini, Meta's AI, and Perplexity.
2) In my opinion, by far the best and most complete answer I received was from OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o:
To make your genealogy books and reports more engaging for family members, focus on personalizing the content, blending facts with storytelling, and presenting the material in visually appealing and interactive ways. Here’s how you can achieve that:
1. Tell Stories, Not Just Facts
- Narrative Style: Instead of just listing names and dates, weave your ancestors’ lives into stories that highlight their personalities, challenges, and accomplishments. For example:
- “In 1850, after a long and exhausting journey by wagon, Henry and Sarah Carringer settled in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, where they built a small homestead and raised their ten children.”
- Family Anecdotes: Include family stories or legends passed down through generations. Even small memories, such as favorite foods, hobbies, or sayings, help bring your ancestors to life.
- Historical Context: Place your ancestors’ lives in historical context. For instance, explain how events like wars, economic depressions, or migrations influenced their lives and decisions.
2. Use Visuals Effectively
- Photos and Documents: Include photos of ancestors, gravestones, homes, and important documents (such as marriage certificates or wills). Label each one with dates and explanations to make them more meaningful.
- Interactive Elements (for Online Reports): Use tools like Google Maps or interactive timelines to trace your ancestors' movements, show historical events, or compare how their neighborhoods changed over time.
- Family Tree Diagrams: Present clear, visually appealing family trees that can help family members understand relationships at a glance. Make it interactive if online (clickable names, hover-over information).
3. Highlight Relatable Details
- Everyday Life: Write about what your ancestors did in their daily lives. Were they farmers, bakers, or soldiers? Include details about occupations, household roles, and hobbies that give a fuller picture of their lives.
- Local Traditions and Customs: Discuss traditions, religions, or cultural practices that were part of their community or family. If your family is of immigrant descent, include stories about how they preserved or adapted cultural practices.
- Quirks and Personalities: Share quirky or unique traits. For example, if an ancestor was known for their gardening skills, share that with photos of their garden or awards they might have won.
4. Include Family Memories and Voices
- Oral Histories: If you have interviewed family members, include quotes or stories from those interviews. This adds personal warmth and a modern-day connection.
- Family Perspectives: Invite family members to share their reflections, memories, or interpretations of certain ancestors. This could be particularly meaningful when discussing grandparents or great-grandparents that they knew.
5. Create Emotional Connections
- Show Struggles and Triumphs: Highlight how your ancestors overcame challenges like poverty, wars, or illness, or celebrate their achievements (e.g., buying land, starting a business, or making significant community contributions).
- Letters and Diaries: If you have access to letters, diaries, or journal entries, use excerpts to provide insight into their thoughts and emotions.
- First-Person Viewpoint: Occasionally switch to a first-person narrative by imagining what an ancestor might have felt or thought during pivotal moments in their life (with clear disclaimers that it’s imaginative but based on historical fact).
6. Interactive Activities for Family
- Family Challenges or Quizzes: Create fun family quizzes or challenges, such as “Which ancestor was a blacksmith?” or “Guess where our great-grandparents were married.” Include answers in the report or share them at family gatherings.
- Interactive Family Trees (Online): Allow family members to add their own stories, photos, or corrections in an online family tree format. This can help the project evolve with family contributions.
- Family History Scrapbook: Offer a section where family members can add recent photos or stories, creating a bridge between past and present.
7. Highlight Connections with Living Family
- Compare Generations: Draw parallels between living family members and their ancestors. For instance, if you share an ancestor’s love for gardening, music, or travel, point that out.
- Shared Surnames or Traits: Identify ancestors with shared surnames or other similarities to present family members, helping them see how they fit into the family’s history.
8. Create Themed Sections or Stories
- Migration and Travels: Dedicate a section to family migration stories with maps and photos of places your ancestors lived or traveled through.
- Military Service or Other Specific Themes: Highlight family members who were involved in military service, community leadership, or particular professions (teachers, doctors, farmers, etc.).
- Family Heirlooms and Traditions: Discuss family heirlooms, such as jewelry, furniture, or photographs, and tie them to the ancestors who originally owned them. Include stories about how they’ve been passed down.
9. Incorporate Technology and Multimedia (For Online Reports)
- Videos: Create and link to short videos with family members discussing the family’s history, or even video “tours” of ancestral homes or gravesites.
- Audio Clips: Share audio clips of oral histories, family interviews, or narrated stories.
- Virtual Family Reunions: Host virtual family meetings where you can present your genealogy findings and engage with family members in real-time.
10. Make It Personal and Fun
- Personal Messages: Write a brief personal message or letter to your family at the beginning of the report explaining why you undertook this project and how you hope it can bring the family closer.
- Fun Facts and Surprising Discoveries: Include a “Did you know?” section with fun or surprising facts about ancestors—such as unusual occupations, famous distant relatives, or unexpected DNA results.
By blending storytelling, visual elements, and personal connections, your genealogy reports will become more than just a list of dates and names. They’ll engage your family emotionally and intellectually, making them proud and excited to be part of your family history.
The other AI tools were not as detailed, but did offer several thoughts that ChatGPT-4o did not.
Perplexity.ai is the only AI tool that provided resources in their response:
- We Are Cousins: https://www.wearecousins.info/2015/01/creating-genealogy-reports-and-or-books/
- Family Tree Magazine: https://familytreemagazine.com/storytelling/tips-getting-started-writing-family-history/
- FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Involve_Children_and_Youth_in_Family_History
- The Writers For hire: https://www.thewritersforhire.com/tips-and-strategies-for-researching-family-history/
- Reddit Genealogy: https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1e57s32/what_if_youre_the_only_family_member_interested/
- National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/education/family-history
- Reddit Genealogy: https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/bmmtqz/how_to_put_it_all_into_a_nice_book/
- GeneaMusings: https://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/have-you-posted-your-genealogy-research.html
4) In general, I think the ChatGPT-4o answers to the prompt are reasonable. I like that it provided examples of historical context, family stories, etc. [Note that it used names of some ancestors for one example! What does it know already?]. The answer relates to more than just a book or report, it also includes family activities and technology.
The problem I have is that the information I have for many of my ancestral families (especially those since 1800) is voluminous - vital, church, census, immigration, military, occupation, residence, land, probate, cemetery, etc. Adding historical context, family stories, photos, maps, charts, videos, and more would be great, but might turn a 5 to 10 page narrative into a 10 to 20 page (or more!) narrative for each family.
Where is the balance? Is it a summary of "just the facts" plus some historical context, personal photographs, a migration or residence map, a poem, and perhaps a family group sheet?
The challenge isn't as great for many of my pre-1800 ancestors - I don't have as many life events, stories or photographs, and the biography could have historical context.
Perhaps a book for each ancestral family back through the 2nd great-grandparents with longer biographies in one book is the answer, and then a book with shorter biographies for each 2nd great-grandparent's ancestry back to colonial times is the answer (i.e., 16 additional books).
One good reason to ask these questions of Artificial Intelligence agents is that it stmulates my thinking about the best way to solve my challenges.
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.
