Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 8 to 14 October 2026

 Welcome to Genealogy Education Bytes, posted on Wednesday afternoon for the past week, where we try to highlight some of the most important genealogy and family history education items that came across my desktop since the last issue.




1) Upcoming Conferences and Institutes:

* Conference Keeper Calendar - has many links to register for and/or view seminars, conferences and institutes.

*  APG 2026 Virtual Professional Management Conference (members only) ($$, Virtual) -- 14 to 17 October 2026.


*  2026 Heritage Books Genealogical Conference & Cruise with Angie Bush, Blaine Bettinger, and Craig Scott ($$, In-person, Cruise from Miami, Florida) -- 6 to 17 November 2026.

*  RootsTech 2027 ($$ in-person, Free virtual) -- 4 to 6 March 2027.

*  National Genealogical Society 2027 Family History Conference ($$, In-person, Madison, Wisconsin) -- 19 to 22 May 2027.

2) Upcoming Webinars and Online Classes (times are US Pacific):

* Conference Keeper Calendar - has many links to register for and/or view seminars, webinars and classes.

* FamilySearch MonthlyWebinars (Free)

* RootsTech 2019-2026 On-Demand Sessions (Free) 

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Wednesday, 14 October, 11 a.m.: Scottish Genealogy: Finding and Understanding Civil Registration Records by Alison Spring.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Wednesday, 14 October, 5 p.m.:  From Data to Dialogue with AI 1 of 5: Turning Data into Stories by Andrew Redfern.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Friday, 16 October, 11 a.m.:  Fleet Marriages: Tracing Clandestine Weddings in the UK by Sarah Pettyfer.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Wednesday, 21 October, 11 a.m.:  DNA in Action 5 of 6: Ruling Out Competing Hypotheses by Karen Stanbary.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Wednesday, 21 October, 5 p.m.:  From Data to Dialogue with AI 2 of 5: Writing with AI—Biographies, Blogs, and Case Studies by Andrew Redfern and Fiona Brooker.

*  Legacy Family Tree Webinar -- Friday, 23 October, 11 a.m.:  Essential Skills for New Genealogists 5 of 12: Let Your Fingers Do the Walking—Local Directories of All Sorts  by Dave Mc Donald.

3) Recent Podcasts:

* Ancestors and Algorithms:  Ep. 59: Find Your German Ancestor's Village - Research Questions & AI


*  Family Tree Talk:  Memories as ‘medicine’



4) Recent YouTube Videos:

*  Allen County Public Library:  What Gravestones Can Tell You About Your Ancestors
*  Allen County Public Library:  Getting Started With FamilySearch

*  American Ancestors:  Applying to Colonial Lineage Societies







*  DearMYRTLE's Archive:  Mondays with Myrt - 12 Oct 2026





*  Genealogy Quick Start:  Help and DNA w/ Paula Williams



*  Int'l Institute of Genealogical Studies:  Colonial Ancestral Signatures

*  Italian  Roots and Genealogy:  How I Found My Lost Italian Relatives






*  Society of Genealogists:  Birtles Vicarage: More Than Tea and Theology

*  Talking Family History:  Ancestry Unpacked News 2026 10 09

5) Did you miss the last post in this series -- Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 1 to 7 October 2026?

Read past Genealogy Education Bytes here.

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NOTE: If I missed an upcoming conference or webinar, or a useful podcast or video, in this time period, please let me know in a comment or an email.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/10/genealogy-education-bytes-week-of-8-to.html

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share your comment on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Note that all comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.

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Life Memoir of Zachariah Hildreth (1728-1784) of Westford, Massachusetts

I wrote an AI-assisted ABC biography for my 5th great-grandfather Zachariah Hildreth (1728-1784) in ABC Biography of the Zachariah Hildreth (1728-1784) and Elizabeth Prescott (1734-1812) Family of Massachusetts based on my genealogical research over 38 years. 

I wondered what Zachariah Hildreth might have told his children and grandchildren in a life memoir in 1784. I requested Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 to "Please write a life memoir for Zachariah Hildreth based on the attached biography, as he might tell his children and grandchildren in early 1784." 

(AI Gemini Notebook Infographic for Zachariah Hildreth's life memoir)

The AI Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 life memoir (edited for accuracy and completeness) is:  



Grandfather’s Telling
The Life of Lieutenant Zachariah Hildreth of Westford
As told to his children and grandchildren in the winter of 1784


Come closer, my dear children and your little ones, closer to the fire. Your mother has put another stick on, and I mean to keep you from your beds a while. I am not so strong as I was. You can see that for yourselves, and I will not pretend otherwise. This has been a hard winter, with the snow deep and the cold hanging on, and a man who is sick and weak in body has a good deal of time to sit and think. So I have been thinking, and what I think about most is you, and what you ought to know of where you came from.

Born in Chelmsford

I was born on the twenty-eighth of December, 1728, in the town of Chelmsford, to James Hildreth and Dorothy, who was a Prescott before she married. They had been married seven years when I came along. The town clerk wrote it in the book, plain as can be: Zachariah Hildreth, the son of James Hildreth and Dorothy his wife. I have never seen that page myself, but I am told it is there, and it is a comfort to a man to know he was written down.

The part of Chelmsford where we lived was set off as its own town of Westford not long after, and so I tell people I was born in Chelmsford and raised in Westford, and both are true. Westford is the only home I have ever really known.

A House Full of Brothers and Sisters

I was the third child, and in time there were nine of us. Oliver was the eldest, born in 1723, and he married Anna Blaisdell and went off to Townsend, where he is still. Then came Rebecca in 1726, who married James Dutton and lives over in Littleton. After me was Anna, born about the year 1730. Then little Dorothy, born in 1733, who died when she was two years old. I was only six then, but I remember the house being very quiet.

Three years later the name was given again to another girl, Dorothy, born in 1736. She grew up and married Pelatiah Fletcher. Then Amos, born in 1738, who married Priscilla and has stayed here in Westford all his life. Then Lucy, born in 1742. And last Samuel, born in 1745, who was lost at the age of three.

I will tell you one more sad thing about my sisters, because it taught me something. Lucy married Aaron Parker in July of 1763, and she was buried in October of that same year. A bride for three months. That is how fast things can change, children, and it is why I have never taken a single quiet evening with my family for granted.

Your great-grandfather James died in 1761, and your great-grandmother Dorothy lived on until 1774. My sister Dorothy Fletcher has gone now too. She died two winters ago, in 1782. When you are old, you will find that you carry the whole house of your childhood in your head, and that most of its rooms are empty. But it is good to carry them.

Wood for Mr. Craft

As a young man I did the work that was in front of me. In the winter before I was married, the selectmen paid me one pound and two shillings for eleven loads of wood that I carried to Mr. Craft, for his support and comfort, as they put it. I was proud of that. It was honest work, and it showed that the town knew my name and trusted me to deliver what I said I would.

I kept at it for years. The selectmen paid me for wood, for corn, and for what they wrote down as sundry other articles. Once it was eleven and a half cords of wood in one delivery. And year after year they paid me for work on the highway, which meant mending the roads we all depended on. These were not grand jobs. But a town is made of roads and woodpiles and men who show up, and I was glad to be one of them.

Your Mother and Grandmother

On the twelfth of April, 1753, I married Elizabeth Prescott, both of us of Westford. She was born the fifteenth of September, 1734, and her own father, Jonas Prescott, was town clerk and wrote down her birth himself. So I married a girl whose very first line in the town book was written in her father’s hand. I was twenty-four and she was eighteen, and I will tell you plainly that it was the best thing I ever did.

She had lost her mother when she was small, and she had lost little brothers too, and I think that is why she held her own children so close. That December we went before the church together, and the entry was made: Zechariah Hildreth and Elizabeth his wife. We began our life with God and with our neighbors looking on, and I have never wished it otherwise.

Twelve Children

The Lord was generous with us. Between the January of 1754 and the September of 1775, your mother and grandmother brought twelve children into the world, and every one of them lived. Do you know how rare that is? I have stood at the graves of too many neighbors’ babies to take it lightly. Here they are, in order, and you may know them for your fathers and mothers, your aunts and your uncles:
Zachariah, born the thirteenth of January, 1754, our first. He married Elizabeth Keyes in September of 1777.

Elizabeth, born the eighteenth of October, 1755.

Hannah, born the thirty-first of January, 1758. She married Timothy Hildreth in March of 1777.

Timothy and Esther, twins, born the tenth of April, 1760. Two at once! Your mother says she hardly slept for a year.

James, born the seventh of March, 1762.

Lucy, born the eighteenth of January, 1764.

Jonas, born the twenty-fifth of June, 1766.

Ruth, born the eighth of May, 1768.

Edy, born the third of November, 1771.

Jesse, born the twenty-second of September, 1773.

Hitty, properly Mehitable, born the twenty-fourth of September, 1775, our last, and still a little girl.

Zachariah and Hannah, you were the first two to marry, and you are the reason this room has so many small faces in it. Watching you start your own households has been one of the great joys of my later years. And I will say to all of you who are grown and all of you who are growing: be good to one another. Your mother and I filled this house with children so that you would never be alone in the world.

Constable and Lieutenant

In the year 1773 the town chose me to be constable. That is a position of trust, for the constable handles the town’s money, and the town received sixty-one pounds, fifteen shillings, and sixpence through me that year, in five payments. I made sure every penny was accounted for. A man’s good name is the only thing he can leave to his children that no one can take away.

Then came the war. You have heard of the nineteenth of April, 1775, when the alarm went out and the men of Westford turned out with their muskets. Within the year the Council was putting new officers in the militia companies. In April of 1776 I was commissioned a second lieutenant in Captain Zachariah Wright’s company, the second Westford company, in Colonel Reed’s regiment. I was forty-seven years old, with a full house at home and our youngest, Hitty, not yet a year old.

I will not tell you tales of glory, children. I was a militia officer, a farmer who had been handed a commission by men I trusted. We were called out when we were needed, and when the alarm came in the autumn of 1777 and the regiment marched to join General Gates in the north, I went with my neighbors. What I remember best is not any battle. It is the walk home, and the sight of this house at the end of the road, and your mother and grandmother standing in the door.

I came back to my farm and my family. Many did not. When you hear the Revolution spoken of in great words, remember that it was made of ordinary men like these, who left their fields and came home to them.

This Place, and What We Made of It

We have been blessed with land and the means to work it. There is the dwelling house and the barn, and the well, and the grass ground behind the barn. There is the piece we call the Causeway, and the pasture on Clay Pit Hill, and a bit of wood near what we call Blodget’s place. There is plough land on the pine plain, and the pond lot. I have a share in a liquor mill. And there is land up in Townsend, which I mean for the younger boys. In the town books they call me a gentleman, which makes me smile, for I have always felt more like a man with a good many chores.

In the corner there is the clock, and the case of drawers. When it is quiet you can hear the clock, and I have lain awake listening to it a good many nights this winter. I think about how many hours it has counted out for this family.

What I Have Done About My Affairs

Three years ago, in May of 1781, when I was sick and weak in body but, thank God, of sound mind, I set my will down in writing. You are too young to need the details, but I want you to know that I took care. Your mother and grandmother is to have the use of half the house and half the barn and a third of what I leave, along with her cows and her beds and the oxen and tools to work the land. Timothy, James, Jonas, and Jesse will have the Townsend land. The rest will be shared among all the younger children, the sons a little more and the daughters a share each, and the little ones looked after until they are grown.

Zachariah and Hannah, you already had your portions from me, and that is why your names in the will carry smaller sums. It was no unkindness. I had already given you what I could.

And I have commended my soul to God, which is the most important part of any will. I have hoped all my life, through my Saviour, for full and free pardon of my sins and for everlasting life. That hope is a good thing to have by you when the fire burns low.

The Peace

Here is the good news I have saved for last. The war is over, children. The peace treaty was signed in Paris last September, and this very winter Congress has put its seal to it. We are no longer subjects of a king across the water. We are citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and of these United States. I did not know, when I was a boy in Chelmsford, that I would live to see such a thing. I am glad I did.

What I Would Have You Remember

Work honestly. Carry the wood you promise to carry and mend the road that everyone walks on. Keep your word, because a name is worth more than land. Love your family while they are at the table, and not only after they are gone. Honor your church and your neighbors. And remember the people who came before you, because you stand on their roads.

Now, your mother and grandmother is looking at me the way she does when I have talked too long, and she is right as usual. Off to your beds, all of you. I am glad you came to visit. I am glad of you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note: Zachariah Hildreth died on 18 April 1784, only weeks after the time of this imagined telling. This memoir is fiction built on the documented record: the Chelmsford and Westford town records, church membership, the selectmen’s payments, his 1776 militia commission, his will of 9 May 1781, and the family’s vital dates. His feelings, his words, and the family scene are imagined. The details of his own military service beyond the commission are not recorded, and the story follows the 6th Middlesex Regiment’s known 1777 campaign as an assumption. The Westford death record gives his age as 58th year, but his recorded birth date of 28 December 1728 makes him 55 at death, and the memoir uses the age computed from the birth date.

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The Video Overview of Zachariah Hildreth's life memoir, created by the Google Gemini Notebook AI tool, is on my YouTube channel, and below:   


This is historical fiction, based on my own genealogical research and family records, along with social history and context for the time and place. It is what Zachariah Hildreth might have told his children and grandchildren in 1784.  

I edited the Claude memoir text to correct minor inconsistencies and errors. Every large language model (LLM) AI tool writes descriptive text much better than I can write. The AI tools are very perceptive, insightful and inspiring, creating engaging text in seconds, including local and national historical events and social history detail when requested.

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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/10/life-memoir-of-zachariah-hildreth-1728.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Please note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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Daughter Lori and Grandpa in About 1976 -- (Not So) Wordless Wednesday #937

This is a priceless (to me) image in my computer file folders from the Seaver family collection:


This photograph was taken in about 1976 in our family room in our home in Chula Vista, California.

In this photograph, my father Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) is reading a children's book to my daughter, Lori (age about 2), while sitting in a recliner.  It is probably bedtime and Lori seems to be sleepy.  I have no memory of this, and Lori probably doesn't either. 

NOTE:  I used the MyHeritage photo tools to sharpen and enhance this image.

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Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.    I moderate all comments and they may not appear immediately - please write only one comment.

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Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Genealogy News Bytes -- Week of 7 to 13 October 2026

 Welcome to Genealogy News Bytes, posted on Tuesday afternoon for the past week, where we try to highlight the most important genealogy and family history news  items that came across our desktop since the last issue.    


1)  Genealogy Research and Family History News Articles:














2)  DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy

3)  Genealogy Book/Magazine Notices and Reviews:


*  WDYTYA Magazine: November 2026 [Anglo-Celtic Connections]

4)  Genealogy Software/Apps


*  Out Now: RootsMagic 12 UK Edition [The Nosey Genealogist]

5)  New or Updated Genealogy Digital Record Collections:







6)  Did you miss the last post in this series?  See Genealogy News Bytes - Week of 30 September to 6 October 2026.


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Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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Seavers In the News - Marriage of Edward R. Seaver and Janet A. Roukes in 1940 in Leominster, Mass.

Here is this week's edition of "Seavers in the News" - a weekly feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Seaver that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from the Worcester Evening Gazette newspaper dated Saturday, 10 August 1940, page 7, column 5:  


The transcription of the article is:

Janet A. Roukes Becomes Bride   

LEOMINSTER, Aug. 10.—Miss Janet A. Roukes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Roukes of 5 Academy road, and Edward R. Seaver, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Seaver of 90 Main street, were married today at the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church by Rev. Earle R. Steeves. The soloist was Miss Geraldine Seaver, accompanied by Mrs. Harold Wilkinson, organist.   

Miss Ethel Birtwhistle of New Bedford was maid of honor. Frederick W. Seaver, Jr., was best man. The ushers were Richard Clark of Beverly, Allen Freeman of Taunton, Winthrop Roukes of Melrose and Harry Spinney, Jr., of Littleton. The flower girl was Judith Fischer.   

The bride wore white lace and net with a long train, full length illusion of veil with coronet of lilies of the valley. She carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley and white roses. The maid of honor wore Margaret rose net over taffeta and carried a shower bouquet of garden roses.   

A reception was held at Twin Oaks, Sterling. Following a motor trip through Maine the couple will reside in Lowell. The bride was graduated from Skidmore College and was assistant to the director of admissions at Dartmouth College. The bridegroom was graduated from Worcester Academy and Columbia College and is affiliated with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Co., Boston.   

The source citation is:

"Janet A. Roukes Becomes Bride," Worcester [Mass.] Evening Gazette newspaper, Saturday, 10 August 1940, page 7, column 5, Edward R. Seaver and Janet A. Roukes marriage announcement; imaged,  GenealogyBank  (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 12 October 2026).

This announcement provides the names of the bride and groom, their parents, the minister, soloist and the organist, the wedding party; also the bride's dress, their education, their employment, their honeymoon plans, their future residence, the marriage place and date (implied as 10 August 1940.

Edward Richmond Seaver (1913-2004) was born 28 August 1913 in Leominster, Massachusetts, the son of Frederak Walton and Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver. Janet Arlene Roukes was born 7 February 1913 in Leominster, the daughter of George Henry and Charlotte W. (Reed) Roukes.  They married on 10 August 1940 in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Edward Richmond Seaver (1913-2004) is my uncle, the brother of my father Frederick Walton Seaver, Jr. 

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The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/10/seavers-in-news-marriage-of-edward-r.html

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.    Share it on Twitter, Facebook,  or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Please note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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