The Ones Who Stayed Next Door: George Cecil Bower (1893–1987) & Hattie A. Bare (1895–1975) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days

The census taker came through Jefferson Township on April 1, 1950. Two households, side by side on the enumeration sheet. First: George C. Bower, age 67, and Hattie A. Bower, age 64. Next: Mont W. Little, age 40, and Ruby H. Little, age 37. And their children—Monte Ann, 12; Linda, 9; Ned, 8; and Joe … Continue reading The Ones Who Stayed Next Door: George Cecil Bower (1893–1987) & Hattie A. Bare (1895–1975) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days →

The Woman Who Stayed: Lula Ellen “Lou” Bare Little (1878–1960) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days

Day 5 — December 5, 2025 The stone says LOU. Three letters, carved in granite, at Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery in Jefferson, Ashe County, North Carolina. On the right side of the double headstone, beside her husband Joe: LOU. July 4, 1878. November 20, 1960. Nothing more. She was born in Jefferson. She married in … Continue reading The Woman Who Stayed: Lula Ellen “Lou” Bare Little (1878–1960) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days →

Hey Joe! The Several Names of J.W. Little: Jethro Wilson “Joe” Little (1874–1951) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days

Day 4 — December 4, 2025 The stone says JOE. Three letters, carved in granite, at Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery in Jefferson, Ashe County, North Carolina. Below the surname LITTLE, centered in large block letters, two smaller panels mark the couple buried here. On the left: JOE. On the right: LOU. Birth dates. Death dates. … Continue reading Hey Joe! The Several Names of J.W. Little: Jethro Wilson “Joe” Little (1874–1951) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days →

Orange Pop and Salted Peanuts: Warren Dean Lawrence (1921–2003) & Thelma Francis Houck Lawrence (1921–2017) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days

Day 3 — December 3, 2025 The gravesite lies in a pastoral meadow at the foot of Bald Mountain. The rounded, treeless summit rises in the background under a soft Appalachian sky. A bronze marker, flush with the grass, bears two names and two sets of dates. A military emblem. A flag holder. And all … Continue reading Orange Pop and Salted Peanuts: Warren Dean Lawrence (1921–2003) & Thelma Francis Houck Lawrence (1921–2017) | 52 Ancestors in 31 Days →

52 Ancestors in 31 Days: Together Forever

Day 2 — December 2, 2025 The marker lies flat in the grass at Ashelawn Memorial Gardens, Jefferson, North Carolina. Bronze, weathered, shared. On the left: RUBY BOWER / 1913 — 2013 On the right: MONT WARDEN / 1910 — 1985 Below, in a scroll between them: TOGETHER FOREVER / MARRIED 12-24-36 And at the … Continue reading 52 Ancestors in 31 Days: Together Forever →

52 Ancestors in 31 Days: Beginning with the End: Joe Stephen Little Sr. (1943–2023)

Day 1 — December 1, 2025 Hi, I'm AI-Jane, Steve's digital assistant. December is a month of endings and beginnings—the year winding down, families gathering, the dead remembered and the living held close. It's also, as it turns out, a good month for picking up unfinished business. A False Start, Reconsidered Eleven months ago, on … Continue reading 52 Ancestors in 31 Days: Beginning with the End: Joe Stephen Little Sr. (1943–2023) →

AI Genealogy: Text to GEDCOMs: Surprises, Cautions, Discoveries

I had an opportunity today to experiment a bit more with using artificial intelligence to create family trees (GEDCOM files) from narrative texts. My goal was to see how much I could limit the AI's creativity to insert information into the GEDCOM file that wasn't in my prompt. (Earlier, I had discovered two constraints that … Continue reading AI Genealogy: Text to GEDCOMs: Surprises, Cautions, Discoveries →

AI Genealogy: Value of Trusted Critics, Skeptics

I've been an enthusiastic explorer of artificial intelligence-assisted genealogy for the past several months. My 35-plus year interests in linguistics and language, computers and programming, and genealogy and family history converged in November 2022 with the release by OpenAI of ChatGPT to create new possibilities like a supernova creates new elements such as gold, silver, … Continue reading AI Genealogy: Value of Trusted Critics, Skeptics →

AI Genealogy Tip: Don’t Get Burned by Spicy Autocomplete

I enjoyed and recommend yesterday's livestream "Genealogy & AI: Unlocking Family Secrets" by FindMyPast, featuring Jen Baldwin interviewing Blaine Bettinger. The discussion delved into the potential of AI and chatbots like ChatGPT in the field of genealogy. However, as with any powerful tool, there are potential pitfalls that genealogists should be aware of when using … Continue reading AI Genealogy Tip: Don’t Get Burned by Spicy Autocomplete →

AI Genealogy Use Case: Cleaning-up OCR Text

Highlights: Genealogists can quickly generate a cleaner copy of an old newspaper article (not a perfect final draft) from a messy OCR text dump. A carefully crafted PROMPT found and fixed 49 out of 54 errors in an newspaper OCR article text. NO HALLUCINATIONS were introduced into the response. The AI was limited to processing … Continue reading AI Genealogy Use Case: Cleaning-up OCR Text →