How do you choose a favorite photo out of a large collection? I came across this photo of my grandfather, Edward Raymond Kelsey, on his horse, Pal, and decided it would be a perfect time to write about Grandpa Kelsey and his love for horses. I also wanted to experiment with using AI to help analyze a photo and learned its a great way to start researching a photo from your collection.

Ed and His Horses

 

Ed’s daughter, Anna, wrote his life history and had this to say about his love of horses.¹

From the time he was a young man he was always interested in horses. He spent many hours at a time in the saddle carrying out the operation, maintenance and development of his grassland and taking care of his livestock. He was a member of the Cassia County Sheriff’s Posse for many years. He had a black and white pinto pony named Jim. Jim could do many tricks such as kneeling on one or two legs, lying down, etc. He also had a horse named Pal and a palomino horse. He was deeply saddened at the death of Princess, his horse in the early 60s. After this, he purchased Rusty, a big boned bay to ride the range to look after the cattle. When Rusty began to shy so much, he purchased a strawberry roan. He said one time, he wanted to die on his horse.

Ed on Rusty, ca 1960s

Ed on Jim, 1940s

Ed rode his horses every day of his life, right up until he died in a car accident at the age of 86. In an article in The Sugarbeet, the editor spent the day with Ed and reported this fun part of the trip.²

Further over in another section of his range, we spotted a white mare, obviously
shy and running spooked. Close at her heels, a black foal was matching her run,
floating a white tail and stocking feet. The youngster was a mule colt. One hand
grabbing at my camera and the other poised at the dashboard as Ed slammed the
truck to a stop and vaulted out of the door, his hat waving. “She had her colt!
By damn, she had her colt!”

AI Photo Analysis

Analyzing a favorite photo with artificial intelligence can give us insight into details we might have missed at first glance – especially if it’s a photo that has been in our collection for some time. I decided to use a Custom GPT created by Mark Thompson to see what I could learn about this photo of my grandfather, Edward Raymond Kelsey.

The GPT is titled “Mark’s Historical Photo Analyzer” and is free to use. Sign into ChatGPT, click “Explore GPTs,” and search for Mark Thompson. He has already created guidelines for the AI to use, so all you need to do is add your photo to the chat and then proceed to chat with the AI.

Curious to see what AI could tell me about the photo, I uploaded the photo with a simple prompt.

AI’s first pass at the photo was fairly generic, describing the setting, clothing, etc. The analysis was decent and ended with the statement:

If you have additional family history, documentation, or other photographs, we could refine the interpretation further.

I gave the AI my grandfather’s name and additional information.

The ensuing analysis was nicely organized into a table based on the Custom GPT’s instructions.  Several points gave me ideas to research, such as the history of the posse and why the photo might have been taken.

 

 

Additional Research

I was curious to see what I could learn about Sherrod’s Studio of Burley, Idaho, the photographer. The Burley Herald mentioned Fred Sherrod of Sherrod’s Studio multiple times in the newspaper, both about his photography and in advertisements for his services.³

Next, I searched the newspaper for accounts of the sheriff’s posse and struck gold! In 1948, when Ed Kelsey posed on his horse for his photo, the Cassia County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse competed in several events. Ed won first place in the Pleasure Horse Class, and perhaps photos of all the winners were taken.⁴ The posse was popular in the local news, and a photo of the entire posee with Ed Kelsey fifth from the right in the first row was featured on the front page. Notice that the posse all had the same saddle blanket and uniform.⁵

Takeaways for Using AI with Photographs

Uploading a photo to a Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Claude can be a good way to give you new ideas for research and analysis. Using a Custom GPT like Mark’s Historical Photo Analyzer can speed up the process because it already has instructions and parameters set. A good way to learn about a custom GPT is to ask it!

Give it a try and let me know in the comments what you think!

Best of luck in all your genealogical research!

 

1. Anna Mae Kelsey Shults, compiler, “Edward Raymond Kelsey, ” memories, Edward Raymond Kelsey (1886-1972) KVG6-HWB, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/4172779 : accessed 18 January 2025).
2. The Sugarbeet, “Ed Kelsey,” 1968, contributed by TERRY60; memories, Edward Raymond Kelsey (1886-1972) KVG6-HWB, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KVG6-JWB : accessed 17 January 2025).
3. “City Officials and Business Men Meet in Electric Power Discussion,” The Burley Herald, Thursday, 9 December 1948, Burley, Idaho, p. 6, col. 2, para. 5; Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/567486053/ : accessed 18 January 2025). Also, “Local Notes,” The Burley Herald, Tuesday, 31 August 1948, page. 3, col. 2, para. 12; Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/566135176/ ; accessed 18 January 2025).
4. “Posse Adds Laurels at Ogden Show,” The Burley Herald, Tuesday, 17 August 1948, page. 1, col. 1, para. 12; Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/566135130/ : accessed 18 January 2025).:
5. Members of the Cassia County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse, photograph, The Burley Herald, Thursday, 8 July 1948, page. 1; Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/567485152/ : accessed 18 January 2025).