AI for Genealogy: Claude AI for Genealogy - Complete Guide to Research Plans, Artifacts & Writing Ancestor Stories (Free & Pro Plans Explained)

Discover how to use Claude by Anthropic for genealogy research in this comprehensive 40-minute tutorial. Learn to create living research plans with Artifacts, write compelling ancestor biographies, analyze complex documents, and choose the right Claude model (Sonnet 4.5, Sonnet 4, Opus) for your family history needs—90% available on the FREE plan!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

Master Claude AI from beginner to advanced genealogist. This step-by-step guide covers account creation, the game-changing Artifacts feature, model selection (Free vs Pro vs Max plans), and three complete case studies demonstrating real genealogy research scenarios.

KEY TOPICS COVERED:

✓ Setting Up Claude for Genealogy Success: Create your free account and configure Claude as your genealogy research assistant using proven prompts that establish proper AI collaboration from day one

✓ Artifacts Feature Deep Dive: Discover how to create "living" research plans that update as you make discoveries—eliminating copy-paste chaos and keeping your genealogy research organized in one evolving document

✓ Writing Ancestor Life Stories: Learn the exact process for transforming dry genealogy facts into compelling biographical narratives that make family members emotional, using Claude to craft stories while maintaining historical accuracy

✓ Understanding Claude's Models: Clear breakdown of Sonnet 4.5 (released September 2025), Sonnet 4, Sonnet 3.7, Opus 4.1, Opus 4, Opus 3, and Haiku 3.5—with specific guidance on when genealogists need each model

✓ Free vs Pro vs Max Plans Explained: Honest assessment of which subscription tier genealogists actually need (spoiler: most thrive on FREE, active researchers benefit from Pro at $20/month, and few need Max)

THREE COMPLETE CASE STUDIES:

• Beginner Level: Creating an evolving research plan for an ancestor with basic information, demonstrating how to update your Artifact as discoveries are made
• Intermediate Level: Analyzing conflicting birth information across census records, draft cards, death certificates, and tombstones—learning to weigh source reliability and determine most likely facts
• Advanced Level: Breaking through brick walls by analyzing a 47-page probate file, extracting geographic clues, identifying potential relatives, and creating strategic research plans for complex genealogy challenges

WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS NOW:

Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released September 29, 2025—just last week—making it the most powerful AI model for complex research tasks. This episode provides completely current information about the latest Claude capabilities specifically applied to genealogy and family history research.

PERFECT FOR:

Family historians wanting to leverage AI ethically and effectively, genealogists struggling with research organization, anyone interested in writing ancestor biographies, researchers facing brick walls, and beginners wanting to understand AI tools without technical overwhelm.

Connect with Ancestors and Algorithms:

📧 Email: ancestorsandai@gmail.com
🌐 Website: https://ancestorsandai.com/
📘 Facebook Group: Ancestors and Algorithms: AI for Genealogy - www.facebook.com/groups/ancestorsandalgorithms/

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Transcript

Last week, literally just seven days ago, something happened in the AI world that changes everything for genealogists. Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 4.5, and it's being called the best AI model in the world for complex research tasks. But here's what nobody's telling you. You don't need to understand all the technical stuff to use Claude brilliantly for your family history research. 

Whether you're just starting your genealogy journey or you've been stuck on that same brick wall for years, Claude might be the research partner you've been waiting for. And today, I'm going to show you exactly how to use it, from your very first conversations to tackling research problems that have stumped you for months. 

Welcome to Ancestors and Algorithms, where family history meets artificial intelligence. 

I'm your host, Brian, and this is episode 11, Claude, your AI research partner for every stage of genealogy. If you've been following along with this podcast, you know we've explored ChatGPT, Gemini, and perplexity. Each of these AI tools has its strengths, but Claude? Claude is different. It's the tool I find myself turning to when I need to really think through a research problem, when I'm organizing complex information, or when I'm ready to write the story of an ancestor's life. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. Another AI tool? I'm still trying to figure out the first one. And I get it. But here's why this episode matters. Claude excels at the kinds of tasks genealogists do every single day. We're not just talking about asking quick questions. We're talking about building comprehensive research plans, organizing years of data, writing compelling ancestor biographies, and, yes, analyzing those frustrating documents we can't quite decipher. Today's episode is structured to take you from absolute beginner to confident Claude user. We'll start with creating your account and having your first conversation. Then, I'll introduce you to two game-changing features called artifacts and projects. Trust me. Once you understand these, they'll transform how you organize your research. After that, we'll talk about Claude's different models and when to use each one. And, finally, we'll work through real genealogy scenarios from beginner level all the way up to advanced research challenges. Most of what we're covering today is available on Claude's free plan, so you can follow along without spending a dime. When we get to the features that require a paid plan, I'll let you know exactly what you're looking at cost-wise. Ready to meet Claude? Let's get started. 

All right, first things first. Let's get you set up with a Claude account. Open up your web browser. Doesn't matter if you're using Chrome, Safari, Firefox, whatever you've got. And type this into your address bar. Claude. ai

That's C-L-A-U-D-E dot A-I When the page loads, you should see a clean, minimalistic interface. Claude's design philosophy is simple and powerful. Claude's design philosophy, and you'll notice that you'll notice immediately. 

So if you want to sign up or get started, click on that. Claude gives you two options for signing up. You can use your email address, you can sign up with a Google account. If you've got a Gmail account you use regularly, I recommend the Google option. It's faster and you won't need to remember another password. 

Claude will send you a verification code to that email. Then, go check your inbox. It should arrive within a minute or two. If you don't see it, check your spam folder. Copy that verification code, head back to Claude, and paste it in. Next, you'll create a password. Claude requires a strong password, so make sure it's at least eight characters with a mix of letters and numbers. Once you've done that, you might be asked a few quick questions about how you plan to use Claude. Just select "Personal Use" and keep moving forward. And just like that, you're in! No credit card required, no phone verification needed. You now have a free Claude account that gives you access to some seriously powerful AI capabilities. Now, you should be looking at Claude's main interface. you'll see a chat window with a text box at the bottom. Above You might see some example prompts or conversation starters, but we're going to craft our own first message. Here's something important to understand about Claude from the start. Claude works best when you give it context and a role. Instead of just asking a random question, we're going to introduce ourselves and explain what we need help with. This is true for any AI tool, but Claude particularly shines when it understands its job. Type exactly this, and yes, I'm giving you the exact words because this creates a strong foundation for all your future genealogy work with Claude. Quote, Hi Claude, I'm a genealogist researching my family history and I'd like you to act as my genealogy research assistant. I'll be asking you to help me analyze documents, organize my research, create research plans, and write ancestor stories. I understand that AI is my research assistant, not my researcher, meaning you'll help me think through problems and possibilities, but I'll always verify findings with primary sources. Can you confirm you understand this role? End quote. Now press enter and watch what happens. Claude will respond acknowledging its role as your research assistant. It will likely mention that it understands the importance of source verification and genealogical standards. This initial exchange sets the tone for all your future work together. And did you catch what we did there? We included our golden rule right in that first message. AI is your research assistant, not your researcher. We're establishing from day one that Claude helps us think, analyze, and organize, but we're the ones doing the actual genealogical research and verification. Now, let's test Claude with a simple genealogy question. Try asking something like, quote, What types of records might I search for a person who lived in rural Kentucky in the 1850s? End quote. Claude will give you a thoughtful, organized response listing various record types, census records, property deeds, county court records, church records, and more. Notice how Claude structures its answer. It doesn't just list things randomly. It organizes information in a way that's easy to understand and use. Before we move on, let me walk you through what you're seeing on your screen because understanding the interface will help you use Claude more effectively. On the left side of your screen, you should see a sidebar. This is where all your conversation history lives. Every chat you have with Claude gets saved automatically with a title Claude creates based on your conversation. You can click on any previous conversation to return to it. And you can also rename conversations by clicking on the three dots next to the title. At the top of that sidebar, you'll see a button that says Start New Chat. This is important. Unlike some AI tools where you might want to continue in one long conversation, with Claude, it's often better to start fresh chats for different research questions or different ancestors. Each new chat gives Claude a clean slate, which can be helpful when you're switching between different research problems. In the main chat area where you're typing, you'll notice a few icons near the text box. There's a plus sign icon. That's for uploading files, and we'll talk about that extensively today. There might also be icons for other features, depending on your plan. Now, here's something that's going to become important as we move forward. See that button on the bottom right that might say Claude Sonnet 4? That's your model selector. On the free plan, you're using Claude Sonnet 4, which is fantastic for genealogy work. If you upgrade to a paid plan, you'll be able to switch between different models, and we'll talk about when and why you'd want to do that later in this episode. One more thing about the interface. Claude automatically saves everything. Every conversation, every upload, every iteration of your work, it's all stored. You never have to worry about losing your research sessions. This is huge for genealogists because we often work on research problems over days, weeks, or even months. You can come back to a conversation weeks later and pick up exactly where you left off. All right, you've created your account, had your first conversation, and understand the basic interface. Now, let's talk about the two features that make Claude absolutely invaluable for genealogy research. Artifacts and projects. Now, we're getting to the good stuff. Artifacts are one of Claude's most powerful features, and here's the beautiful part. They're available on every plan, including free. But despite being available to everyone, I find that many people don't fully understand what artifacts are or when to use them. So what exactly is an artifact? Think of it as a dedicated workspace that appears alongside your conversation with Claude. When you ask Claude to create something substantial, like a research plan, a written biography, a timeline, or any kind of structured document, Claude can put that content into an artifact window that appears on the right side of your screen. Here's why this matters for genealogy. Imagine you're working on a research plan for finding your great-great-grandfather's parents. You start a conversation with Claude, describing what you know and what you're trying to find. Claude creates a comprehensive research plan in an artifact. Now, as you do your research over the next several weeks, you can come back to that same conversation and say, Quote, I found him in the 1880 census. Update the research plan to reflect this finding and suggest next steps, end quote. Claude will update that research plan right there in the artifact window. It doesn't create a whole new document. It doesn't make you copy and paste things. It updates the existing plan, tracking your progress, and adjusting recommendations based on what you've found. This is game-changing for genealogy research because our research is iterative. We find one piece, which leads us to the next piece, which changes our understanding, which redirects our search. Artifacts automatically trigger when you ask for substantial content. Claude's smart enough to know when something should become an artifact rather than just appearing in the chat. But, you can also explicitly request one by saying something like, quote, Create this in an artifact so I can continue updating it, end quote. Let me give you a concrete example of how to use this. Start a new chat with Claude and type this, quote, 

Watch

what happens. Claude will create a detailed research plan in an artifact window on the right side of your screen. That research plan might include sections like, Known facts, research questions, recommended records to search, timeline of Martha's life, and next steps. Now, here's the magic. Let's say a week goes by and you find Martha in the 1870 census. You come back to this same conversation and write, quote, Update I found Martha in the 1870 census in Ross County, Ohio. She's living with her husband, William, and their two children. Her parents are listed as James and Elizabeth Johnson, both born in Virginia. Update the research plan to reflect these findings and suggest next steps for confirming this information, end quote. Claude will update your artifact right there, incorporating what you found, marking that census search as complete, and suggesting next steps like looking for James and Elizabeth Johnson in Virginia records or searching for marriage records to confirm relationships. Now, research plans are just one way to use artifacts. Let's talk about another huge genealogy use case, writing ancestor biographies and life stories. Claude is an exceptional writing assistant, and I mean exceptional. I've personally used Claude to write complete life stories of ancestors, and the results have made family members emotional because the stories feel so real and personal. But here's the key. We're not asking Claude to write the story out of thin air. We're giving Claude the facts we've researched and asking it to help us craft those facts into compelling narrative. Here's how you might use an artifact for this. Start a new chat and say something like, Quote, I want to write a biographical narrative about my ancestor William Henderson. I'm going to share the facts I've gathered from my research, and I'd like you to help me craft a 1,500 word narrative about his life. Please create this as an artifact so we can refine it together, end quote. Then you'd share your research facts, dates, places, occupations, family members, interesting details you've found. Claude will create a draft narrative in an artifact. Now here's where it gets powerful. You can ask Claude to revise specific sections. Quote, Can you expand the paragraph about his military service? End quote. Or, Quote, the tone feels too formal, can you make it warmer, more personal, end quote. Or, quote, can you add more historical context about what life was like in rural Tennessee during the 1870s, end quote. Each time you make a request, Claude updates the artifact. You're iterating on the story, refining it, making it exactly what you want it to be. And at any point, you can click on the artifact and copy the entire text to paste into your family history document or book. This is so much more efficient than the old way of working with AI. Where you'd ask for something, get a response in the chat, copy it to a Word document, ask for changes, get new text, try to figure out how to integrate the changes. Artifacts eliminate all of that friction. Everything stays in one place, updating cleanly with full version history if you want to go back to an earlier iteration. Now, let's talk about projects, a feature available on pro and hire plans. If artifacts are your workspace for individual documents, projects are your filing cabinet for entire research topics. A project in Claude is like a dedicated research folder with its own memory and context. When you create a project, you can upload documents, add custom instructions, and have multiple conversations, all organized around a specific ancestor or research question. Here's a practical example. Let's say you're researching your Thompson family line. You create a project called Thompson Family Research. In that project, you can upload census records, death certificates, photos of headstones, transcriptions of wheels, whatever documents you've gathered. You can also write custom instructions like, 

Now, every conversation you have within that project has access to all those documents and instructions. You don't have to re-upload files or re-explain your research situation every time. The project remembers everything. And here's what's really powerful. You can combine projects with artifacts. In your Thompson family project, you might have an artifact that's your master research plan. You might have another artifact that's a comprehensive family timeline. Maybe another artifact with biographical sketches of each family member. All of these live within your Thompson family project, staying organized and interconnected. Now, I mentioned that projects require a pro plan. That's currently $20 per month or $17 per month if you pay annually. For serious genealogists who are actively researching multiple family lines, this can absolutely be worth it. But if you're just starting out or working casually on your family history, the free plan with artifacts is incredibly powerful on its own. Before we move on, let me give you one more practical tip about using artifacts effectively. Don't be afraid to experiment. If you're not sure whether something should be an artifact, just ask Claude, quote, Can you create this as an artifact, end quote? The worst that happens is Claude explains why it might work better as a regular conversation response. But, more often than not, you'll discover new ways to use artifacts that make your genealogy work more organized and efficient. Alright, we've covered how to get started with Claude and how to use artifacts and projects. Now, let's talk about something that might seem technical, but is actually quite simple once you understand it. Claude's different models and when to use each one. Here's something that confuses people when they first start using Claude. There are multiple versions or models of Claude, each optimized for different types of tasks. But, here's what you need to know right up front. On the free plan, you get Claude Sonnet 4, and honestly, that's probably all you'll ever need for genealogy work. But, let's talk about all the models so you understand what you're working with and what becomes available if you ever upgrade to a paid plan. Think of Claude's models like tools in a toolbox. You've got your everyday hammer that works great for most jobs, and then you've got specialized tools for specific situations. Claude Sonnet 4 is your everyday hammer. Reliable, powerful, and perfect for 90% of what genealogists need to do. Then, there's Claude Sonnet 4.5, which was just released last week. This is the newest, most advanced model, and it's being called the best AI model in the world for complex, long-running tasks. Sonnet 4.5 can work autonomously for 30 hours or more on a single complex problem. For genealogists, this means it's extraordinary at things like analyzing massive court working through complicated inheritance cases, or building a comprehensive multi-generational research strategy. Sonnet 4.5 is available on the Pro-Plan and higher. Moving up in power, we have the Claude Opus models. Think of Opus as your specialist tool. More expensive to use, but capable of even deeper reasoning and analysis. There's Opus 4, released in May, and Opus 4.1, released in August. These models are exceptional for the most complex research challenges, like when you have contradictory evidence across multiple sources and need help reasoning through what's most likely true, or when you're tackling a brick wall that involves understanding complex legal documents or piecing together fragmentary evidence. Opus models are available on the Pro- and Max-Plan. The Max-Plan starts out at $200 per month. Now, most genealogists don't need the Max-Plan. I want to be clear about that. But, if you're a professional genealogist or if you're working on particularly challenging research that requires the absolute best AI reasoning, Opus models can be worth it. There's Claude Haiku 3.5, which is optimized for speed and efficiency with simpler tasks. For genealogy, you probably won't use Haiku much, but it exists for situations where you need quick and straightforward answers to simple questions. Now, you might be wondering: how do I know which model to use for my genealogy work? Let me break it down in practical terms. 

For most genealogists, most of the time, Claude Sonnet 4 on the free plan is perfect. Let me give you specific scenarios. use Claude Sonnet 4 for: Having conversations about your research strategy Getting ideas for where to search next Asking questions about historical context. What was life like in rural Ohio in 1880s? Organizing your research notes into timelines Creating research plans and to-do lists Writing ancestor biographies based on your findings Transcription help with readable documents Basic analysis of census records, death certificates, or other standard genealogy documents Getting help understanding genealogical terms or relationship calculations

Honestly, that covers about 90% of what most family historians need The free plan is incredibly capable for regular genealogy work. Upgrade to Pro, $20 a month and use Claude Sonnet 4.5 for: When you're working on research that spans multiple sessions and want to use projects to stay organized Complex document analysis where you need to upload multiple files and cross-reference them When you hit the usage limits on the free plan and need more capacity Pro gives you about five times more usage

Long, detailed writing projects like full family history books Research problems that require extended, focused reasoning Like analyzing conflicting evidence across many sources

The project feature alone makes Pro worth it for active genealogists Being able to organize all your research for a specific family line in one place With Claude remembering all your documents and context is huge

Now consider the max plan which is $200 a month if: You're a professional genealogist who uses AI daily for client work You're working on extremely complex research that requires the absolute highest level of reasoning You're analyzing massive documents like 200 plus page probate files or court cases Or you regularly hit usage limits even on the Pro plan For most family historians, even serious dedicated genealogists, Pro is the highest plan you'd ever need And many people thrive on the free plan Here's my recommendation: Start with the free plan Use it for a month or two Really explore what Sonnet 4 can do If you find yourself hitting usage limits or wishing you could organize multiple research projects more effectively Upgrade to Pro You can always upgrade or downgrade monthly based on your needs And remember, we're not talking about Claude being smarter or dumber based on the We're talking about capacity and specialized features The free plan's Sonnet 4 is genuinely smart and capable You're not getting a lesser AI experience You're just working with usage limits and fewer organizational features

Alright, enough about plans and models Let's put this into practice I'm going to walk you through three real genealogy scenarios Beginner, intermediate, and advanced And show you exactly how to use Claude for each one

Let's start with a scenario that many genealogists face You know, the basics about an ancestor But need to build out their story and find more information

The Scenario. You've found your great-great-grandmother, Sarah Mitchell, in a few basic records. You know she was born around 1875 in Indiana, married Robert Davis in 1895, and died in 1942 in Illinois. You know she had at least four children, but that's about it. You want to learn more about Sarah's life and find her parents. Here's how you'd use Claude for this step-by-step. Start a new conversation and write, quote, I'm searching my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Mitchell, born around 1875 in Indiana. She married Robert Davis in 1895, and they had at least four children. Sarah died in 1942 in Illinois. I want to learn more about her life and find her parents. Can you help me create a research plan? Please create it as an artifact so I can update it as I make progress. End quote. Claude will create a comprehensive research plan in an artifact. It will suggest records to search, census records from 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940. Sarah's marriage records, death certificate, cemetery records, newspaper obituaries. It will also suggest searching for Sarah in her parents' household in the 1880 census to find her maiden name origins. But here's where Claude goes beyond just listing records. It will organize the plan by priority. What to search first based on what's most likely to yield results. will explain why each record is valuable. For example, Claude might note, The 1900 census is particularly valuable because it's the first census that asks how many children a woman has born and how many are living. This can help you identify children you haven't found yet. Now, let's say you search and find Sarah in the 1900 census. You discover she's living in Henderson County, Illinois, with her husband, Robert, and five children. The census says she's been married five years, has had five children, and all five are living. It also says she was born in April 1876, slightly different from your estimate of 1875. You come back to your Claude conversation and update, I found Sarah in the 1900 census in Henderson County, Illinois, born April 1876 in Indiana, been married five years, has had five children, all living. Children's names are Mary, born 1896, John, born 1897, William, born 1899, Anna, born 1900, and George, born 1901. Update the research plan based on this finding. Claude will update the artifact, marking off the 1900 census as searched, adding the new information about children and birth timing, and suggesting next steps. Maybe it recommends searching for Sarah in the 1880 census in Indiana to find her in her parents' household, or looking for the 1895 marriage record to confirm her maiden name, or searching for birth records for the children to gather more family information. This is AI as your research assistant, not your researcher. Claude didn't find the census record, you did. But Claude helps you think through what the finding means and what to do next. It's like having a knowledgeable friend who helps you stay organized and think strategically about your research. Over time, your research plan artifact becomes a living document that tracks your progress. You can look back and see exactly what you've searched, what you've found, and what you still need to do. This is so much better than trying to remember everything or maintain complicated spreadsheets. Let's move on to an intermediate challenge. Something that happens all the time in genealogy research. You've found conflicting information across multiple sources, and you need to figure out what's most likely correct. The scenario. You're researching your great-grandfather, James Wilson. You've found him in several records, but the information doesn't match up perfectly. The 1920 census says he was born in 1892 in Kentucky. His 1945 death certificate says he was born in 1890 in Tennessee. His World War I draft registration card from 1918 says he was born September 15, 1891 in Kentucky. His tombstone says 1892 to 1945, which is correct. This is where Claude's reasoning abilities really shine. Start a new conversation and lay out all the conflicting information. Quote, I'm trying to determine the correct birth year and birthplace for my great-grandfather, James Wilson. Here's what I've found. 1920 census, born 1892 in Kentucky, age 28. 1918 World War I draft registration, born September 15, 1891 in Kentucky. 1945 Death Certificate, Born 1890 in Tennessee, Age 55 at Death. Tombstone 1892-1945. Can you help me analyze this conflicting information and determine what's most likely correct? Please explain your reasoning. End quote. Claude will do something really valuable here. It will walk you through the evidence systematically, weighing the reliability of each source. It might note that the World War I draft registration is likely the most reliable because it was filled out by James himself at age 27 when he would have known his own birth date. The Death Certificate, while official, was likely filled out by a family member who might not have known the exact year, explaining the discrepancy. Claude might point out that three out of four sources say Kentucky, making that the more likely birthplace. With the Tennessee notation on the Death Certificate potentially being an error. And Claude might note that the tombstone showing 1892 could be based on family memory rather than verified records, making it less reliable than the draft registration. But here's what's important, and this is where our golden rule comes in. Claude will explain that while September 15, 1891, in Kentucky seems most likely based on the evidence, you should still try to find additional information. Claude might suggest searching for James in the 1900 census to see what age he was reported as or looking for a birth certificate if Kentucky vital records are available for that time period. Claude helps you think through the evidence logically, but it's reminding you to seek verification. And that's exactly what good genealogy practice looks like. Now, let's take this a step further. 

Claude will create a formal research note in an artifact, laying out the sources, 

Claude will create a formal research note, and my conclusion about his most likely birth date and place. Create this as an artifact so I can refine it, end quote. Claude will create a formal research note in an artifact, laying out the sources, explaining the discrepancies, and presenting your conclusion with proper genealogical reasoning. You can then refine this note asking Claude to adjust the tone, add more detail about specific sources, or reorganize the structure. When you're satisfied, you can copy it into your genealogy software or research log. This intermediate case study shows how Claude can be your thinking partner when you're working through evidence. 

Now, let's tackle an advanced scenario, the kind of research problem that requires deep analysis and strategic thinking. The scenario, you're researching your great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Anderson, who died in 1873 in Missouri. You've hit a brick wall trying to find where he came from before arriving in Missouri in the 1850s. You have his probate file, which is 47 pages long, and includes his will, inventory of his estate, various court documents, and testimony from neighbors. want to analyze this entire file for clues about Thomas' origins, relationships, and potential leads from breaking through your brick wall. This is where Claude's document analysis capabilities really shine. If you have the probate plan, this is perfect for a project. But, you can also do this on the free plan. You'll just need to work within the usage limits and upload documents as you go, rather than having everything in one project. Here's how you'd approach this. Start by uploading the probate file to Claude. You can upload PDFs, images of scanned documents, or even photos you've taken of documents at a repository. Then write, quote, I've uploaded the complete probate file for Thomas Anderson, who died in 1873 in Saline County, Missouri. I'm trying to find where Thomas came from before arriving in Missouri around 1850, but I've hit a brick wall. Please analyze this entire probate file and identify, 1. Any mentions of places he lived before Missouri. 2. Names of people mentioned who might be relatives. 3. Property descriptions that might give clues to origin. 4. Any other details that might help me trace Thomas backward in time. Please create your analysis as an artifact with specific page references so I can verify each finding. 

Claude will carefully read through all 47 pages, something that would take you hours to do thoroughly, and create a detailed analysis. It might find that on page 12, a witness testified that Thomas On page 23, the property inventory might list a family bible with Kentucky inscriptions. On page 31, there might be mention of correspondence with someone in Madison County, Kentucky. Claude will organize these findings into clear categories. Geographic clues, relationship clues, personal details, and flag the page number so you can verify each finding in the original document. This is crucial. Claude isn't making up information, it's highlighting details you might have missed in your own reading. But Claude goes further than just extracting information. You can then ask, 

Claude will create a strategic plan that might say, 

Testimony specifically mentioned Kentucky, and the letter correspondence with Madison County is a concrete geographic lead. Priority 2, search for Thomas Anderson in the 1850 census in Kentucky. If you find him, the household will show family members and neighbors who might connect to people mentioned in the probate. Priority 3, search for William Anderson in Missouri and Kentucky records to see if his trail is easier to follow back to origins. End quote. This kind of strategic thinking, taking complex evidence and creating a clear action plan, is where AI really becomes a powerful research partner. You provided the documents, but Claude helps you see the patterns and connections you might have missed. It helps you prioritize your next steps based on the strength of evidence. If you are using this on the pro plan with projects, you could keep all of this work organized in one place. As you search each of those recommended records, you come back and update your research plan artifact within your Thomas Anderson project. Over time, you build a comprehensive research file that tracks everything you've learned and everything you still need to do. This advanced case study shows Claude at its most powerful for genealogy, analyzing complex documents, extracting meaningful information, and helping you think strategically about brick wall problems. But remember, you're still the genealogist. Claude can't go search those Kentucky records for you. It can't determine with certainty that the Thomas Anderson in Madison County, Kentucky is definitely your Thomas. But it can help you think through the problem, spot connections, and create a solid research strategy. In all three of these case studies, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, Claude is helping you think, organize, and plan. But you're the one doing the actual genealogy work. Searching records, verifying findings, making judgment calls about evidence. That's exactly how AI should fit into genealogy research. As a powerful thinking partner that makes your work more efficient and effective, not as a replacement for the skills and judgment that make you a good genealogist. Before we wrap up, I want to say thank you, truly thank you, for listening to this episode. Creating this podcast is a labor of love, and knowing that you're out there using these AI tools to discover and preserve your family history makes all the work worthwhile. If you found this episode helpful, I'd be incredibly grateful if you'd just take a moment to do three things. First, follow this show on whatever podcast platform you're using. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen. Following this show ensures you never miss an episode and helps other genealogists discover these resources. Second, if you're willing to leave a rating or review, that would mean the world to me. Reviews help the podcast reach more people who are trying to figure out how to use AI for their family history research. Share what you learned or what was most helpful. Your words help other genealogists decide if this show is right for them. Third, think about one person in your life who would benefit from this episode. Maybe a cousin who's also interested in family history. Maybe someone from your genealogy society. Maybe a friend who's been asking how you use AI in your research. Share this episode with them. Better yet, share your favorite episode from the entire series. Word of mouth is how this podcast grows and reaches more people who can benefit from it. Now, I'd love to hear from you directly. Have you tried Claude? Are you using it in your genealogy research? Hit any snags? Discover something amazing? I want to hear about it. You can email me at ancestorsandai at gmail.com. That's ancestorsandai at gmail.com. I read every email and often feature listener stories and questions in future episodes. And here's something I'm really excited about. We have a growing community of genealogists who are learning to use AI together. Join our Facebook group. It's called Ancestors and Algorithms AI for Genealogy. Just search for it on Facebook or find the link on the website. The group is a supportive space where people ask questions, share successes, help each other troubleshoot problems, and celebrate genealogy breakthroughs. It's become such a wonderful community and I'd love to see you there. All right, what's coming up next on the podcast? Next week, we're diving deep into Perplexity, the AI research tool that's completely different from Claude and ChatGPT. While those tools help you think and create, Perplexity is like having a research librarian who searches the entire internet for you and brings back answers with citations. We'll explore how to use Perplexity for genealogy research, when it's the best tool to reach for, and how to combine it with the other AI tools in your toolkit. If you've ever wished you had someone to do all the web searching and fact checking for you while you focus on analysis, next week's episode is going to change your research game. 

Until then, happy researching. Remember, your ancestor stories are waiting to be discovered, and AI is here to help you find them.