Heartland Genealogy

 Rachel’s Story in Song After writing about the life of my ancestor Rachel Elmeda Christy Ricketts (1845–1927) , I decided to tell her story in a different way—through music. Using information from Rachel’s biography, I worked with AI to create lyrics tracing her journey from her Christy family in Ohio and Indiana to her life with James Marshall Ricketts and their family in Woodson County, Kansas. I then gave the lyrics to Suno , asking it to create a ballad appropriate to the period from the 1860s through the 1920s. The resulting song, “From Indiana to Kansas,” became the soundtrack for a video that I created and shared on YouTube. It’s another experiment in turning genealogical records—names, dates, census entries, and family relationships—into a story that can be experienced in a different way. I hope you enjoy Rachel’s story in song.

28 April 1845 – 27 January 1927 Early Life and Parents Rachel Elmeda Christy was born on 28 April 1845. Her family group sheet gives her birthplace as Clinton County, Indiana. However, there is conflicting evidence about where she was born. The 1850 and 1860 censuses identify Ohio as her birthplace, as do numerous later census records and her obituary. Thus, although the family information gives Clinton County, Indiana, the records created during Rachel's lifetime generally point toward Ohio.  Rachel was the daughter of Samuel Henry St. George Christy and Lyda Gallimore. Samuel was born 11 September 1819 in Indiana, the son of Ebenezer Christy and Rachel Elizabeth Dawson. Lyda was born 25 March 1824 in Ohio, the daughter of Isom Gallimore and Judith Bentley. Samuel and Lyda married on 3 March 1842 in Fayette County, Ohio.  Rachel's childhood appears to have included moves between Indiana and Ohio. In 1850, five-year-old "Elmedia Cristy" was living in the household of ...

NotebookLM Creates a Video What happens when you give an AI tool a genealogical narrative report and ask it to turn that information into a video? After creating my From Indiana to Kansas song and video about James Marshall Ricketts, I decided to try another experiment. This time, I uploaded James's narrative report to Google NotebookLM and asked its Studio to create a video. I actually created two versions. Explainer or Cinematic? For the first video, I selected the Explainer style. For the second, I tried Cinematic . I really liked the look and feel of the cinematic version. Unfortunately, it included an image of a nineteenth-century couple. Since those people were not James Ricketts and his wife, Rachel , I don't feel comfortable sharing that version as part of their family history. That's one of the challenges of using AI to tell our ancestors' stories. An image may look historically appropriate and make a beautiful video, but viewers could easily assume they are ...

Turning an Ancestor’s Story into Song Have you ever thought about turning an ancestor's life story into a song? I've been experimenting with using artificial intelligence to tell family stories in different ways. My latest experiment took the story of my relative, James Marshall Ricketts, from a collection of genealogical records to a song—and eventually to a YouTube video! It Started with a Biography My first step was to provide ChatGPT with a RootsMagic narrative report for James Marshall Ricketts and ask it to write a biography. James was born on November 28, 1847, in Clinton County, Indiana. As a teenager, he enlisted in Company K of the 7th Indiana Cavalry during the Civil War. After his discharge in 1865, he returned to Indiana and married Rachel Elmeda Christy on July 12, 1866. James and Rachel began raising their family in Indiana before moving to Woodson County, Kansas, where James purchased land in 1879. He spent much of the remainder of his life farming in Kansas. Ja...

  From Indiana Farm Boy to Kansas Pioneer James Marshall Ricketts lived through a remarkable period of American history. Born in Indiana in 1847, he grew up on the eve of the Civil War, enlisted in the Union cavalry while still a teenager, married shortly after returning home, and eventually moved his growing family west to Kansas. There he spent much of the remainder of his life farming in Woodson County. Over the course of his seventy-three years, James experienced the Civil War, westward migration, the development of rural Kansas, and enormous changes in transportation, agriculture, and everyday life. Yet the surviving records also tell a much more personal story—of family, land, military service, visits from relatives, and more than fifty years of marriage. Birth and Parents James Marshall Ricketts was born on 28 November 1847 in Clinton County, Indiana .[3–14] The census records place him in the household of John Ricketts during his childhood. In 1850, three-year-old James wa...

  Have you ever tried telling an ancestor's story through music? After researching the Civil War military and pension records of James Marshall Ricketts , I decided his story would lend itself particularly well to a song. James served in Company K of the 7th Indiana Cavalry , enlisting in August 1863. His military record says he was 18 years old. However, census records and his later pension records consistently point to a birth in 1847 or 1848. That means James was probably only 15 years old when he enlisted . A Fifteen-Year-Old Cavalryman James's young age was only part of his Civil War story. Within months of enlisting, James later said, his horse fell on him near Germantown, Tennessee, crushing and bruising his right leg. His pension records state that he was sent to Overton General Hospital in Memphis . His military records help corroborate that part of the story. Muster rolls record him as sick in a Memphis hospital, while hospital muster rolls actually place him at Overt...

  Have you ever started researching one question only to find yourself investigating something entirely different? Genealogy research often works that way. We find one record, which raises a question, which sends us looking for another record. Before long, we're following a research trail we hadn't anticipated. I've discovered that my conversations with ChatGPT can evolve in much the same way. A recent conversation about James Marshall Ricketts is a good example. I started with a fairly simple request: Create a timeline from the transcription of James Marshall Ricketts's Civil War pension file. I wasn't asking ChatGPT to solve a mystery. I simply wanted help organizing the information I already had. But that timeline led us somewhere I hadn't expected. Starting with a Pension File James Marshall Ricketts served in Company K of the 7th Indiana Cavalry during the Civil War. His pension file contains documents created over many years, making it difficult to see h...

Have you ever discovered that a military record doesn't tell quite the whole story? While researching the Civil War service of James Marshall Ricketts , I initially had a fairly straightforward account of his service. James enlisted in the 7th Indiana Cavalry, was hospitalized in Memphis, returned to his regiment, was promoted to corporal, and eventually mustered out in Texas. Then I looked more closely at his age. Enlisting in the 7th Indiana Cavalry According to his military records, James M. Ricketts enrolled on 18 August 1863 at Indianapolis, Indiana , for a term of three years. He was mustered into service on 11 September 1863 as a private in Company K, 7th Indiana Cavalry. His Company Descriptive Book provides additional information about the young soldier. It describes James as about 5 feet 4½ inches tall, with a light complexion, gray eyes and light hair. He was born in Clinton County, Indiana, and had been working as a farmer. Most importantly, the military record gives h...

Were any of your ancestors in the colonies prior to the American Revolution? If so, have you tried to identify ancestors who may have fought in the Revolutionary War? Since I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), I already knew that one of my ancestors provided patriotic service during the war: Nathaniel Hammond of Connecticut. I had also started collecting documentation to prove William Buckles on my mother's side of my tree.  Beyond that, I didn't know which of my ancestors might have served. Thus, I needed to create a list of ancestors who might have served so that I could research them in Fold3 and the DAR databases.  To create a list of potential people, I needed to know who was of the appropriate age to serve. I found a wiki on FamilySearch that lists various wars and suggests ' Ages of Servicemen in Wars .'  Using that information, I was able to create a marked group of those whose      Birth date is af...

Last week's '52 Ancestors' prompt was '12' Based on that prompt, I decided to try and figure out what 12th generation ancestors I had identified. I have 7 generations identified on all lines. However, do I have any 12 generation ancestors.

Do you enjoy some of the online genealogy prompts to look at your data from a different viewpoint? I know I do. Two of my currents sources for blogging prompts are Amy Johnson Crowe's #52ancestors and Randy Seaver's #SaturdayNightGenealogyFun. As I was working on a blog post about love, I found I have several of my ancestors who celebrated 50 years of marriage. Thus, I thought it would be fun to suggest a 'Saturday Night Genealogy Fun' challenge: 1) How many of your ancestors were married for FIFTY years? 2) What is the longest marriage in your tree? I'm approaching my 45th wedding anniversary and my parents were married for over fifty years. Grandparents: Leon Crawford and Winnie Currey -- married Dec 1919; They were married 56 years before Leon passed away in Oct. 1976. Edward Osmond Briles and Pauline Mentzer were married Oct 1915. They were married 40 years when Edward passed away. Pauline never remarried.

  Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music): 1)  Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation?  That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor."  When was that second ancestor born? My first thought was that I knew my great-grandmother, Josie Crawford. Christmas 1953: Marcia, Winnie, Josie

     Frances Artlissa 'Artie' Ricketts was born on 7 Apr 1868 in Clinton, Indiana, United States. 1 – 13 She lived in Sugar Creek Township, Clinton, Indiana, United States on 1 Jul 1870. 14 Artlissa Rickets was listed on the 1870 census in the household of James Rickets. According to the census, she was two years old. She lived in Everett Township, Woodson, Kansas, United States on 1 Jul 1880. 15 Frances A Ricketts was listed on the 1880 census as the daughter of James M Ricketts. According to the census, she was twelve years old. Frances lived in Everett Township, Woodson, Kansas, United States on 1 Mar 1885. 16 Artlissa Ricketts was listed in the household of James M Ricketts on the 1885 Kansas census. According to the census, Artlissa was 16 years old.     Edward Grant Briles and Frances Artlissa 'Artie' Ricketts were married on 19 Feb 1890 in Woodson, Kansas, United States. 2 , 17 – 23 She was also known as Frances Artlissa 'Artie' Briles.