Explore how AI tools like Gemini can assist genealogy research—uncovering new clues, OCR fixes, and the risks of hallucinated records.

Continue reading Genealogy with AI: How Gemini Helped (and Misled) My Birch Family Research at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

RootsMagic 11 was officially released in mid-September 2025. The What’s New page highlighted the expected improvements—navigation, editing, searching, and enhanced Apple support—but what truly caught my attention, and prompted an immediate upgrade, was a brand-new feature called AI Prompt Builder".

Continue reading Using the AI Prompt Builder in RootsMagic 11 for Genealogy Research at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

Introduction to Using AI in Genealogy and Family History Research

Spell Check. Google Search. Siri. Google Assistant. Alexa.

We’ve been unknowingly using artificial intelligence for the last couple of decades. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was publicly released in November 2022. Since then, purpose-built, general AI tools have been popping up everywhere. Companies are using AI models to power chatbots to help users with frequently asked questions. Interior designers are easily visualizing their ideas using image generation.

Continue reading Using AI in Genealogy: New Tools for Traditional Family History Research at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

The author is writing a creative non-fiction book about their great-grandmother, Jessie Williams, focusing on the period between 1891 and 1893. After extensive genealogical research, they seek to overcome a pivotal writing block by utilizing ChatGPT for research assistance, including sourcing historical context, local records, and genealogical databases to enhance the narrative.

Continue reading Unlocking Family History with ChatGPT: AI Tools for Genealogy Research at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

In my first post, I defined the problem. In this post I will go through my database and construct a simple timeline for the Harris family.

Create a Simple Timeline

• 1779: Approximate birthdate for Martha, my 4th Great-grandmother
• 1779: Estimated birthdate for John Harris, my 4th Great-grandfather
• 1795 to 1805: Estimated marriage of John and Martha Harris, my 3rd Great-grandparents
• 1807: Birth of Jane Harris on 1 January 1807, daughter of John and Martha Harris
• 1811: Birth of Ann Harris on 15 August 1811, daughter of John and Martha Harris
• 1811: Christening of Jane and Ann Harris on 1 September 1811, daughters of John and Martha Harris at the Sheffield Parish Church
• 1812: Birth of Ellis Rhoadhouse, future husband of Ann Harris
• 1814: Birth of John Harris on 17 February 1814, son of John and Martha Harris and my 3rd Great-grandfather
• 1816: Christening of John Harris on 15 September 1816, son of John and Martha Harris and my 3rd Great-grandfather
• 1819: Burial of Martha Harris on 7 February 1819 at the Sheffield Cathedral at age of 40
• 1835: Marriage of John Harris and Elizabeth Byrn on 5 October 1835 in Rotherham, my 3rd Great-grandparents
• 1835: Birth of John Harris, 15 December 1835
• 1836: Marriage of Ellis Rhoadhouse and Ann Harris on 22 May 1836
• 1837: Christening of John Harris on 28 Jun 1837
• 1837: Occupation of John Harris, my 3rd Great-grandfather was filesmith
• 1837: Birth of William Harris, 22 October 1837, son of John Harris and Elizabeth Byrn
• 1839: Birth of Frederick Harris, 4 November 1839, son of John Harris and Elizabeth Byrn
• 1841: Census of 1841 taken 6 June 1841 for my 3rd Great-grandparents.

Continue reading Timeline at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

This brick wall centres on the family of John and Martha Harris of Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. While I know quite a bit about the Harris family one generation earlier, I know very little about John Harris senior and his wife Martha. Since much of their lives and their parentage is a total unknown, I’m stuck behind a brickwall.

Martha Harris died in 1819 and was buried in the graveyard of the Cathedral Church in Sheffield on 7 February 1819.

Continue reading Define the Problem at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

Who, what, when, where, why.

Of these, ‘Why?’ is the hardest question to answer in genealogy.

Questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving. They are often mentioned in journalism, research and police investigations.

Wikipedia

In our genealogy research, we are used to answering the who, the what, the when, and the where.

Consider the facts I know about my grandfather’s birth.

Continue reading Why? The Hardest Question to Answer in Genealogy at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

Effective July 2018, Google’s Chrome browser version 68 and above will mark non-HTTPS websites as ‘Not secure’. For anyone with a self-hosted WordPress blog who has not already made their website secure by implementing SSL, consider this a call to action!

What does that mean exactly?

Prior to the version 68 update, the Chrome browser showed a small i with a circle around it to indicate that a website was not secure but now, with the release of Chrome v68, the words ‘Not secure’ are also displayed, perhaps making your visitors think there is a problem with your blog.

Continue reading HTTPS – Implementing SSL on your WordPress Blog at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

Going on a road trip? Why not take your ancestors with you with RootsMagic To-Go?

Why Do I Use RootsMagic To-Go?

1. When I travel specifically to do genealogy research, I almost always take my laptop, but I have to admit that there are sometimes when it is a pain to carry it around. The Family HIstory Library is a perfect example. Each time I get up from where I’m working to get another film or another book, I have to grab my laptop and take it with me or risk leaving it out of my sight for a period of time.

Continue reading RootsMagic To-Go  at Out of My Tree Genealogy.

For those interested in Social History, the Old Bailey Online website provides a wealth of research tools. Check out all these awesome tools and resources to help you with research into life, crime and punishment in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries!

Court Records

From the Old Bailey Website:

The Old Bailey Proceedings Online makes available a fully searchable, digitised collection of all surviving editions of the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1913, and of the Ordinary of Newgate’s Accounts between 1676 and 1772.

Continue reading The Old Bailey Online: A Research Tool at Out of My Tree Genealogy.