ABC Biography with Endnotes

I recently shared a post about my Revolutionary War ancestor, Oliver Miles. Inspired by Randy Seaver’s ABC (Ancestral Biography Creation) method for using AI to tell our ancestors’ stories, I decided to take a fresh look at Oliver’s life and see if I could produce a more cohesive narrative.

After doing some additional research and creating event-based notes, I used RootsMagic to generate a narrative report for Oliver Miles, complete with sources. I then turned to ChatGPT with the following prompt:

The following is a report with sources about my Revolutionary ancestor, Oliver Miles. Can you turn it into a narrative with sources?

ChatGPT responded with a well-structured narrative that included numbered references resembling footnotes. At the end of the narrative, it offered a follow-up prompt:

Let me know if you’d like a formatted footnote or endnote version of this narrative for publication or blog use.

Since I wanted a set of properly formatted endnotes for my blog, I replied, “Yes, please provide the formatted endnotes.”
What followed was a clean and complete list of citations, which you’ll find below.

Narrative Biography of Oliver Miles (1738–1820)
Revolutionary War Patriot – Concord, Massachusetts

Oliver Miles was born on September 11, 1738, in Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, a town steeped in colonial and revolutionary history.¹ ²

At the age of 18, he experienced the brutality of war firsthand. On August 17, 1757, during the French and Indian War, Oliver took part in the defense of Fort William Henry. He was wounded in the conflict, taken prisoner, stripped of his clothing, and held captive for three months—an ordeal documented in local histories of Concord.³ ⁴

Around 1761, Oliver married Martha Stone, likely of Framingham, Massachusetts.¹⁸ Martha was the daughter of Joseph Stone and Lydia Parkhurst, and she was born in 1741.¹⁹ Together, Oliver and Martha raised a family in Concord. Among their children was a son, also named Oliver, born on September 27, 1772.⁵ ⁶ ⁷

During the Revolutionary War, Oliver Miles served as a private in a Concord company commanded by Lieutenant Ephraim Wheeler under Colonel Eleazer Brooks. On March 4, 1776, his company marched to Roxbury to reinforce the Continental Army positioned near Boston. His recorded service during this call-up lasted six days.⁸ ⁹ In addition to this known service, he also appears on a list titled “Hartwell Brook the first Everidge,” and was recorded in a detachment under Colonel Thatcher, although the date of this latter duty is not specified.⁸

That same year, in March 1776, Oliver was named as one of the town’s “Hogreaves” during a Concord town meeting. The position of Hogreave was a civic responsibility that involved rounding up free-roaming hogs and ensuring they did not enter the church—a necessary task during the spring and summer months when hogs were permitted to roam the town from April through August. Others appointed alongside Oliver included Simon Blood Jr., Abel Conant, Stephen Barrett, Stephen Jones, Jacob Walker, John Meriam, and Jesse Hosmer.¹⁰

Oliver continued to live in Concord after the Revolution. He is enumerated there in the 1790 U.S. Census, with a household consisting of two free white males over 16, one male under 16, and four free white females.¹¹ In 1800, his household included one male 45 or older, one male aged 10–15, one female aged 16–25, and one female 45 or older.¹² By 1810, the household was reduced to just two individuals—Oliver and an adult female, both over 45 years of age.¹³

Oliver Miles passed away on November 3, 1820, in Concord at the age of 82.¹ ¹⁴ ¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹⁷ He was laid to rest in the South Burying Place in Concord, where his headstone still marks his grave.¹

Martha Stone Miles predeceased him in 1813 at the age of 72.¹⁹

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Endnotes

1. Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed 24 April 2025), memorial for Oliver Miles (1738–1820), Memorial no. 24340714.
2. “Massachusetts, Town Birth Records, 1620–1850,” Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed 24 April 2025), Oliver Miles.
3. Lemuel Shattuck, History of the Town of Concord (Boston: Russell, Odiorne and Company, 1835), 72; digitized, Archive.org.
4. Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens, Massachusetts edition (Boston: Graves & Steinbarger, 1901), 341; digitized, Archive.org.
5. “Massachusetts, Town Birth Records, 1620–1850,” Ancestry.com (viewed November 2019), Oliver Miles.
6. Jonas Michael Miles, Miles Genealogy: John Miles of Concord, Massachusetts and His Descendants (Boston: C.E. Goodspeed & Co., 1920), 12.
7. Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626–2001. Film #004934223, FamilySearch.org (viewed 25 April 2025).
8. Massachusetts, Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, Oliver Miles, 1776; Ancestry.com (viewed 24 April 2025).
9. Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Soldiers and Sailors Whose Graves Have Been Designated by the Marker of the Society (Boston, 1901), 17.
10. Oliver Miles, 1776–1777, p. 10; Concord Massachusetts Public Library, Concord, Massachusetts.
11. 1790 U.S. Census, Middlesex County, MA, Concord, page 158; Ancestry.com (viewed 14 May 2025).
12. 1800 U.S. Census, Middlesex County, MA, Image 9 of 11; Ancestry.com (viewed 24 April 2025).
13. 1810 U.S. Census, Middlesex County, MA, Concord, page 144; Ancestry.com.
14. Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704–1930, Columbian Centinel, 22 Nov 1820; Ancestry.com (viewed 25 April 2025).
15. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988, Oliver Miles, 1820; Ancestry.com.
16. “Massachusetts, Town Death Records, 1620–1850,” Ancestry.com (viewed 24 April 2025), Oliver Miles.
17. Concord 250 History and Education Subcommittee, “Concord 2025 Executive Committee History & Education Subcommittee Report,” May 2024, Town of Concord, MA (https://www.minuteman.media/DocumentCenter/View/48561/2024-05-14-Hist-Ed-Webpage-Info : viewed 14 May 2025), p. 7.
18. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889–1970, Charles Hobert Kinsman through Oliver Miles, 1944; Ancestry.com.
19. Ancestry.com, “ThruLines,” Martha Stone – 5th great-grandparent potential (viewed 24 July 2020).

This experience reinforced just how powerful AI can be as a tool for enhancing genealogical storytelling—especially when combined with solid research and thoughtful prompts. By using RootsMagic to organize my findings and ChatGPT to craft the narrative, I was able to create a well-documented, engaging biography of Oliver Miles that I can proudly share with family and fellow researchers.

If you’re experimenting with AI in your own genealogy work, I encourage you to try out Randy Seaver’s ABC method or develop a process that works for you. Whether you’re writing ancestor sketches, creating timelines, or formatting citations, AI can be a helpful partner—when guided by good data and critical thinking.

Have you used AI in your genealogy research? Share your experiences in the comments—I’d love to hear how others are blending technology and family history!