Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It’s Saturday Night again – 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  What was your favorite genealogy learning experience this past month?  In-person program? Online webinar? YouTube video? Blog post?  Social media item?  Family history story?

This was a tough question! As someone who learns best through the written word, I try to scan my Feedly and Facebook feeds daily for new blog posts, articles, and genealogy insights. While I can’t point to a specific post from the past month that directly impacted my personal research, one earlier post continues to inspire and shape my work in exciting ways.

Randy Seaver’s April 5th blog post, Using Artificial Intelligence in the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process, has had a significant and lasting impact—not only on my genealogy work but also on the projects I support for our local historical society.

Following Randy’s approach, I’ve been creating ancestor biographies enhanced with AI tools—and I’ve even branched into audio summaries and songs. These overviews, created using Google NotebookLM, allow me to distill research into short, conversational audio files that are easy to share and deeply engaging.

When I shared the overview I made for my Revolutionary War ancestor Oliver Miles with my husband, his immediate reaction was, “We need to do this for the Nemaha County military personnel we’re researching.” That encouragement pushed me to think beyond individual family history and toward broader community storytelling.

I recently presented another AI-generated overview about Dorothy Swart Tatum, a World War II WAC, to our historical society board. Inspired by that example, a fellow board member used an old audio interview about Seneca’s hand-dug well to generate an overview. Now, we’re hoping to involve students in adding images and video to bring the story to life as a dynamic short film for visitors.

Thanks to this single blog post, I’ve begun transforming static historical facts into compelling narratives—something that resonates far beyond genealogy charts. It’s been one of the most energizing learning experiences I’ve had in months.