Old family photos are great for telling our ancestors’ stories. I’m writing about my great-great-grandparents, Daniel O’Connell Elder and Jessie Estelle (Ross) Elder, and wanted to use some early photos of their family. One of their sons is my great-grandfather Charlie. Charlie had many siblings, but I only have a few photos showing them together; and none of them show all the siblings at once. The main problem was that most people in these old...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana discuss several new genealogy tools and features. They cover the AncestryDNA “Matches by Cluster” feature, which is a visualization tool for Pro Tools users to identify related DNA matches. They also discuss the improved AncestryDNA feature that allows users to attach DNA matches’ lines to their family trees. Nicole explains the updates to the FamilySearch catalog, focusing on the site architecture and place standardization....
During the last in-person class I taught at RootsTech, on Saturday afternoon, I asked attendees which tech announcements they were most excited about. The answers included Ancestry’s upcoming clustering tool, FamilySearch’s new catalog, Ancestry Networks, and the FamilySearch Together app. These are just a few of the many exciting announcements made at RootsTech 2025! It’s fun to see so many companies announce new technology that will help us with our genealogy research. Here are a...
Exploring the use of artificial intelligence chatbots for creating written content is the new frontier – full of uncertainties and unknowns. Organizations that once prohibited the use of LLMs for research papers are now allowing them, as long as authors are fact-checking the output and attempting to cite potentially copyrighted materials included in the output. In 2023, the International Conference on Machine Learning prohibited the use of LLMs in their call for papers. In 2024,...
Online Repository Assistant (https://www.ora-extension.com), also known as ORA, is a browser extension and Windows application created by John Cardinal. It works with many common online “repositories” like FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindaGrave, FindMyPast, Fold3, and more, to extract data from records and make it easier to paste text into your genealogy software or research report. I wrote a little about it in my post, Automated Source Citation Builders. ORA allows you to create your own text templates...
Does the thought of making a source citation make you want to cry? Maybe you are more comfortable with citations but would like to make them more consistent within a written product. Try an automated source citation builder! I’ve been researching various types of automated citation tools and have found several great options that I’ll share in this series. In genealogical writing, we use two style guides: The Chicago Manual of Style and Evidence Explained by...
By Laura Clark Murray Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, this artificial intelligence “bot” has been wowing users by engaging in detailed conversations, answering questions, and even writing stories and essays. But at its core, ChatGPT lacks the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction. Since facts are critical to what we do as genealogists, it’s important to understand how to keep the tool in the realm of reality. If you do that,...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Richard Miller, developer of the Goldie May research assistant application. He shares a new feature with us called the subway map. This tool is a timeline graph showing locations on the y-axis and times on the x-axis. It helps you see migration over time, spot errors, compare migrations of family members and FAN club members, and more. Transcript Nicole (3s): This is Research Like...
At the National Genealogical Society Conference this year, I met Tina LaFreniere in the exhibit hall. She was sharing her website, Related Faces. I thought it was neat so I invited her to share more about it here at Family Locket. Enjoy! – Nicole Everyone who embarks on their genealogical journey quickly learns that the path into your family history is full of twists, turns and frustration, but it’s those moments of discovery that bring...
RootsTech is a world-wide, free, online family history conference that will be held this week. In addition to over 1500 class sessions, there is a fantastic feature called, “Relatives at RootsTech,” that can help you in your genetic genealogy research. If you’ve ever wanted to connect with like-minded family members who may share your interest in family history, as well as DNA, here is your opportunity! Do you ever wonder who the people in your...
