Using AI in Genealogy Research

 Now that artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage, one can imagine ways it might be useful for genealogy research. Lately I've been using it to help me transcribe original source documents since I have a major mental block when it comes to reading old script handwriting. 

Here's a fairly simple test case using my fourth great grandfather's (Elijah Willoughby Griffith) will. Overall it is easy to read and a good test case. Here I used ChatGPT with a prompt to use "diplomatic" transcription that preserves spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and the order of the text as closely as possible. The language was not modernized. 

 

"I Elijah Griffith, of the County of Fauquier, do hereby make

my last will and testament in manner and form following, that is

to say,

1st I hereby release and discharge my sons Evan Griffith

and John Griffith, and son in law Benjamin Lunceford from all,

and any charges for land rent, or other charge or accounts

whatsoever.

2d I give to my wife One hundred and fifty acres of

land, that on which we now live, also the following slaves that

is to say Sam, Charles, Townsend, Berkeley, Ellen and Jane; and

the household furniture and kitchen utensils, and one third part

of all the dead provisions and grain that may be on hand at

the time of my decease to her during her natural life, and

after her death to be equally divided between my daughters

Judith, and Hannah, but my wife may during her life, give

such portions of the foregoing property to either of my said daugh-

ters as may seem good to her, having regard to an

equal division in the end.

Item 3d — I give in trust for the benefit of my

daughter Sarah Brown and her children a portion of all

one seventh part of my slaves and chattels property to

them and their heirs forever.

4th — I give all my lands, except those

above disposed of, to be equally divided by valuation

among my following children, that is to say John Griffith,

Evan Griffith, Mary Lunceford and Patey Ball; the said John

Griffith, Evan Griffith and Mary Lunceford to hold in the said

division the places now occupied by them, them and their heirs

forever, and that part to Patey Ball I give in trust for

the benefit of my said daughter Patey and her children

forever.

5th I give the balance of my slaves to be equally

divided by valuation among my children John Griffith,

Evan Griffith, Mary Lunceford and Patey Ball, after

taking out the one seventh part mentioned in the third

item for the benefit of Sarah Brown, which seventh

part is to be of the slaves exclusive of those given to

my wife.

6th. Whereas my son Evan Griffith is bound

in bond as security for Peyton Ball to Leathem Owens

executors for sixty four dollars, with interest and

cost accruing thereon, I hereby give my son Evan

a lien upon the chattels portion devised my daughter

Patey Ball as shall indemnify him for any damage

he may sustain by said securityship.

My daughter Judith claims a bed and furniture and my daughter                                           Hannah claims two beds and furniture, which I hereby

acknowledge as theirs, and that no charge be set against

them for said beds.

7th I direct that my executors hereinafter named

sell as soon after my decease as the law directs all my

perishable property, not herein before disposed of on a

credit of twelve months and out of the proceeds thereof

first pay all just claims against my estate, and the

residue to be equally divided among five of my children,

that is to say Evan Griffith, John Griffith, Sarah Brown,

Mary Lunceford, and Patey Ball. all portions of my

estate herein devised to Sarah Brown and Patey

Ball, are in trust for their benefit and their children

forever.

And lastly, I do hereby constitute and appoint

my son Evan Griffith, and Benjamin Lunceford executors

of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking

all other or former wills or testaments by me made.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand

and affixed my seal this 26th day of August in the

year 1843.

Signed, Sealed and acknowl-

edged by Elijah Griffith as

his last will and testament who at

his request and in his presence

have subscribed our names as

witnesses

James Pickett

Daniel Adair

A. G. Pickett

At a Court held for Fauquier County on the 25th day of

September 1843.

This last will and Testament of Elijah

Griffith deceased was proven in open Court, by the oaths

of James C. Pickett, Daniel B. Adair and A. G. Pickett,

subscribing witnesses thereto, and ordered to be recorded.

Evan Griffith and Benjamin Lunceford

the executors therein named qualified and gave bond

and security according to law the security having

justified.

Teste,

A. Marshall, clk

Copy—Teste

A. Marshall, clk"

Keep in mind that AI is only as good as the language models it queries to generate output. You still need to be skeptical of the product, and for especially problematic documents, check it with another model such as Claude. And keep in mind that AI models can sometimes generate highly convincing but completely false or inaccurate information. These are known as AI "hallucinations". They also are subject to bias since they learn from existing data on the interwebs. Case in point, while this transcription looks accurate, ChatGPT insisted on using Orange county in place of Fauquier even though it clearly is Fauquier. I just substituted Fauquier as appropriate, but I still find this a bit odd.

Generative AI is a subset of AI. This is where it gets really interesting because new content can be generated by learning patterns from massive datasets. Although I haven't gotten to that point yet, I wonder if we could use it to build probable ancestry for our brick wall ancestors like Baldwin. It also may be useful for comparing photos for identification purposes.