One of the goals of my genealogy research is to move beyond names, dates, and places and find ways to tell the stories of my ancestors. While documents help establish the facts of a person’s life, they don’t always capture the emotions, sacrifices, and experiences that shaped that life.
Recently, I created a biography of my 2nd great-grandmother, Julia Harding Hutchinson (1840–1892). Julia was born in New Brunswick, Canada, married Albert Hutchinson in Iowa, raised a large family, endured the years when her husband served in the Civil War, and eventually moved with her family to Kansas.
After writing her biography, I wondered what her story might sound like if it were told through music.
Creating the Lyrics
Using information gathered from census records, family documents, and a RootsMagic narrative report, I asked ChatGPT to write lyrics that reflected Julia’s life journey.
The resulting lyrics focused on several themes:
- Her childhood in New Brunswick, Canada
- Her marriage to Albert Hutchinson in Iowa
- The challenges of raising children while Albert served in the Civil War
- Life on the Iowa frontier
- The westward move to Kansas
- The legacy she left through her descendants
Rather than emphasizing specific dates and events, the lyrics sought to capture the broader story of a woman whose life spanned a period of tremendous change in North America.
Creating the Music
Once the lyrics were complete, I used Suno.com to generate the music.
The style prompt used was:
Heartfelt ballad, gentle piano, fiddle, acoustic guitar, warm family-history storytelling style, emotional chorus, Americana folk-country, reflective and uplifting similar to music of the 1860s to 1880s.
The resulting song has the feel of a traditional American folk ballad. The gentle instrumentation and reflective tone seemed appropriate for Julia’s story and the era in which she lived.
From Song to Video
To make the song easier to share, I created a video in Canva using historical images and visuals that reflect the places and experiences associated with Julia’s life.
The video combines the music with imagery inspired by:
- New Brunswick, Canada
- Iowa frontier life
- Civil War-era America
- Prairie landscapes
- Family photographs and genealogical records
After creating the video, I uploaded it to YouTube so it could be easily shared with family members and other researchers.
Watch the Video
Why Create Songs About Ancestors?
Traditional genealogy focuses on collecting evidence and documenting relationships. Those tasks remain essential. However, tools such as ChatGPT, Suno, Canva, and YouTube offer new ways to share family history.
A song cannot replace historical research, but it can help bring an ancestor’s story to life in a way that engages family members who may never read a narrative report or study a pedigree chart.
For me, creating these songs has become another way of exploring family history—taking the facts discovered through research and transforming them into something that can be heard, shared, and remembered.
While we can never know exactly what Julia Harding Hutchinson sounded like or what music she enjoyed, I hope this ballad captures something of her journey from New Brunswick to Iowa and finally to Kansas, and honors the life she lived for her family.