Peanuts In My Pocket

Genealogy is a long-held hobby of mine. I maintain a large tree on Ancestry.com and spend a considerable amount of time doing research just to add a few facts or new people. It’s a tedious activity fraught with inaccuracies and mistakes. These mistakes tend to compound and result in a much larger waste of my time. I’ve spent months researching only to find that one early mistake sent me down the wrong path, and none of my findings actually relate to an ancestor. It’s frustrating.

One thing I spend a lot of time on is understanding wills. The older the will, the harder it is to decipher. In many cases, wills contain vital family information and are often the only place a child or sibling is mentioned. The process is painstaking, and I can spend hours on just a few paragraphs.

What follows is an excerpt from the will of my 5th great-grandfather, Drury Adams (1760–1825). I’ve left out the header and footer:

And as touching such estate wherewith that pleased God to bless me with in this life, I give and dispose of the same in the following manner and form, vis: First, I give and bequeath to Nancy, my beloved wife, the plantation I live on, with all the household furniture, farming utinsils, and all the stock of every description, to be enjoyed by her during her life, with the exception of so much money and property to be paid out of the stock, as I thereafter bequeath to my children at the decrease of my beloved wife. I give and bequeath the tract of land I live on to be equally divided, agreeably, to quantity and quality, between my sons, Wesley and Joshua, and also the farming utinsils, household furniture and movable effects, to be equally divided between them. And to my beloved son, Jesse, I give and bequeath the tract of land he now lives on, of 150 acres. Also, one-third of my books, and the other two-thirds of my books to Wesley and Joshua. To my beloved daughter, Nancy Young, I give and bequeath $10.00 (ten dollars), and to my loving daughter, Polly Hughes, I give and bequeath $100.00 and to my daughter, Betsy Faughn, I give and bequeath $100.00, amongst my daughters, to be paid out of the stocks and money on hand. Also, I nominate and appoint my son, Jesse Adams, and John W. Cougan to be the sole executors of this, my last Will and Testament, and I do hereby notify and confirm this to be my last Will and Testament.

I needed to know who was named and how they were related. Knowing what they received helps as well. All I knew when I started this process was that Drury’s daughter Betsy is my 4th great-grandmother, and that’s about it.

I decided to test whether ChatGPT could help summarize the will for me. Of course, I did my normal manual process first, then compared the results. It worked. Not only was the AI version a perfect summary, but I also found a mistake I had made in my summary, which confirmed what I had suspected all along. I’ve posted ChatGPT’s summary below:

Via ChatGPT: Here’s a breakdown of who benefits from your 5th great-grandfather Drury Adams’ will, their relationships, and what they received:

1. Nancy (wife):
   • Receives the entire plantation (land), all household furniture, farming utensils, and all the stock (livestock) to use for her lifetime. Upon her death, part of this estate will be divided and passed to the children.
2. Wesley and Joshua (sons):
   • After their mother’s passing, Wesley and Joshua will equally split the plantation (tract of land) based on quantity and quality.
   • They also inherit an equal share of the farming utensils, household furniture, and movable property.
   • They receive two-thirds of Drury’s books (split between them).
3. Jesse (son):
   • Inherits the land he is currently living on (150 acres).
   • Receives one-third of Drury’s books.
   • Appointed as one of the executors of the will.
4. Nancy Young (daughter):
   • Receives $10.
5. Polly Hughes (daughter):
   • Receives $100.
6. Betsy Faughn (daughter):
   • Receives $100.
7. John W. Cougan:
   • Named as an executor of the will alongside Jesse Adams.

With this information, I added three sons and two daughters to my tree, plus I captured the married names of both daughters. I will eventually be able to build out the trees for all of these people. Using AI like this will save me lots of time, and I’ll be able to double-check complex wills and other records from previous research. I call that a win.