52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: They Were Named Only Once — #16 Huldah, #17 Cyrus, and #18 Betsey

Among the children of Benjamin Reed and Huldah Pratt were three whose lives were brief enough that they left almost nothing behind. They did not marry, buy land, appear in many records, or leave descendants to remember them. Their names survive because a copy of the family Bible record was preserved in the family and later used, at least in part, by John Ludovicus Reed in The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, hereafter The Reed Genealogy.

Huldah, Cyrus, and Betsey were unknown to me until I found The Reed Genealogy. The strongest clue to Reed’s source appears in the entry for Mary E. Reed Roane, daughter of Luther and Jerusha Wilson Reed and granddaughter of Benjamin and Huldah. Reed wrote that Mrs. Roane had “a copy of the family Bible of Benjamin and Huldah (Pratt) Reed, with a list of their children.” That does not prove that the printed list was copied directly from that Bible copy, but it makes Mrs. Roane’s record the clearest known source behind the names of Benjamin and Huldah’s children.

The printed list also has the feel of information copied from an older family source. Several dates are uncertain or given as alternatives: Benjamin was born “Aug. 4, or 17”; John was born “July 20, or 21”; Huldah died “Dec. 13, 1813, or 1818”; Cyrus died “Oct. 14, or 19”; and Almira was born “Sept. 9, or 18.” Those uncertain readings suggest a difficult-to-read, possibly handwritten, record.

Huldah Reed

Huldah Reed, daughter of Benjamin Reed and Huldah Pratt, was said to have been born on 21 August 1783. She was the third child and first daughter. At that time, Benjamin and Huldah were living in Massachusetts, probably in Hampshire County. By the age of five, Huldah was living with her family in the rugged mountains of Bennington County, Vermont, in the sparsely populated town of Woodford.

The Reed family remained in Woodford until sometime between 1801 and 1807, when they moved to Wardsboro. By 1812, they were in Putney, where Benjamin and Huldah remained until their deaths. The Reed Genealogy gives the younger Huldah’s death as 13 December, either in 1813 or 1818. If she remained with her family, Putney is the most likely place of death, though I have not found a record that proves it. She would have been either thirty or thirty-five years old.

Cyrus Reed

Cyrus Reed was born on 24 October 1786, according to The Reed Genealogy. Based on the records I have found for Benjamin Reed, the family lived in Massachusetts until about 1788, placing Cyrus’s birth in Massachusetts.

Cyrus was seventeen years old when he died on either 14 or 19 October 1804. It is difficult to determine where his death may have occurred. Even if he was still with his family, they were moving from Woodford to nearby Wardsboro around that time, and I have not been able to pinpoint the exact date or even the year of the move.

Cyrus was probably still with his family in 1800. When I reconstructed Benjamin Reed’s household from the 1800 U.S. census, there was room for a son of Cyrus’s age. 

In the 1800 U.S. Census, Benjamin Reed’s household in Woodford included nine people. When I compared those age categories with the children listed in the Reed genealogy, the younger children lined up very neatly along with Benjamin and Huldah. The two oldest sons, Benjamin Jr. (age 20) and John (age 19) did not appear to be living with the family. 

Betsey Reed

Betsey Reed was born on 22 August 1791 and died on 9 March 1801. She was nine years old. If she remained with her family during those years, she was probably born in Woodford and died there before the family moved to Wardsboro.

For Huldah, Cyrus, and Betsey, this one published list is the only place I have found them named. They do not appear later as married adults, landowners, parents, or heads of households. Their lives have to be followed indirectly, through the movements of Benjamin and Huldah and through the few dates preserved beside their names.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post and other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

Bennington County, Vermont, land records, 192, Benjamin Reed to James Greenslet, deed, 5 November 1806; “Bennington, Bennington, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLR-N9XB-9 : accessed 26 February 2025), image 403 of 803. Shows residency in Wardsboro. 

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, vol. 1 (1901); digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reedgenealogydes01reed/page/n11/mode/2up : accessed 18 April 2026).

Putney, Windham County, Vermont, town records, p. 579, Benjamin Reed to James Clay, deed, 23 April 1811, acknowledged and recorded 2 March 1812; “Putney, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSCM-6SS2-H : accessed 22 February 2025), image 309 of 719.

“U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900,” database and images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/49769:1995 : accessed 25 June 2022), for Benjamin Reed, images 266 to 320; citing "Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files" (NARA microfilm publication M804, 2,670 rolls). Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

“United States, Census, 1800,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRQ-6XP : accessed 25 May 2026), entry for Benjamin Reed, 1800.

Friday's Photo: Tommie E. L. Bryan Nix - From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark

Robert Robertson and Tommie Etta Bryan Nix and 9 of their 12 children (clockwise) - Bertha (Back with flower on dress), Marshall, Alma, Clarence, Bobbie, Genie, Lula, Fannie, and Henry

Aunt Fannie W is penciled in at the 
top on the back. The photo was probably
hers at one time. Fannie was Tillman
Bryan's sister, Georgia Ann Frances
Bryan, who first married James S.
Pittman, and later married Ezekiel
Wimberly.

Tommie Etta Lizinia Bryan Nix had 105 living descendants when she died in Bienville Parish at age 91. She was the daughter of Tillman Capers Bryan and Mildred Manning Prothro Bryan. Tommie was born in Bienville Parish in 1869. She married Robert Robertson Nix on 25 December 1887, and they had 12 children. Nine of their children are pictured above. Ten of the 12 children were still living when Tommie died. The other two, Marshall and Fannie, lived to adulthood but died in the 1920s.

Both the photograph and the obituary were found in Marguerite Cook Clark’s files. Marguerite’s mother, Maggie, was Tommie’s first cousin.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post and other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25156547/tommie_etta-nix: accessed May 29, 2026), memorial page for Tommie Etta Bryan Nix (23 Dec 1869–9 Aug 1960), Find a Grave Memorial ID 25156547, citing Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by A Footstep In Time (contributor 47345816).

“Louisiana, Parish Marriages, 1787–1958,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLMH-YZFQ : accessed 31 December 2025), entry for Robbert R. Nix and T. E. Bryan, married 25 December 1887.

“Mrs. Tommie Nix Dies at Jamestown,” obituary clipping, no newspaper identified, no date; digital image, from the privately held files of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913–1989), Waynesville, North Carolina. Clipping accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark’s daughter in Alpine, Texas, 28 April 2014, 14 September 2014, and 9–11 November 2016. Used with permission.

Tommie E. L. Bryan Nix, family photograph, no date; digital images, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #15 Almira Reed, Daughter of Benjamin and Huldah

Almira Reed was the daughter of Benjamin Reed and Huldah Pratt, my fourth great-grandparents. Only three records have been found for her so far: her cemetery stone, a death record from the Putney, Vermont, town clerk’s office, and a brief entry in John Ludovicus Reed’s The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts from 1635 to 1902.

According to The Reed Genealogy, Almira was born on either 9 or 18 September 1801. That information reportedly came from family Bible information sent to John Ludovicus Reed by Mary E. Reed Roane, daughter of Luther Reed, Almira's brother. Almira died in Putney, Vermont, on 28 July 1835. If the 1801 birth year is correct, she would have been 33 years old at the time of her death. Her cemetery stone, however, gives her age as 32, suggesting a possible birth year of 1802.

Almira’s death came soon after the death of her father, Benjamin Reed, who died in January of 1835. Although Almira left few records of her own, one family memory places relatives nearby at the time of her death. Louisa Hill Evans, a cousin, remembered being at the Reed home when Almira died, suggesting that Almira was surrounded by family at the time of her passing. Almira was buried in East Putney Cemetery, along with her parents. Almira’s grave marker closes with these words:

"And her Redeemer lives

And ever from the skies 

Looks down & watches all her dust 

Till he shall bid it rise."

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share posts and other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27499359/almira-read: accessed 4 July 2022), memorial page for Almira Read, Find a Grave Memorial ID 27499357, citing East Putney Cemetery, East Putney, Windham County, Vermont; memorial maintained by Cynthia Kaley, contributor 51056978; gravestone photograph by Donna G. Dunham, contributor 46871624.

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, vol. 1 (1901); digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reedgenealogydes01reed/page/n11/mode/2up : accessed 18 April 2026).

Putney, Vermont, death record for Almira Reed, died 28 July 1835; “Montpelier, Washington, Vermont, United States records,” digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-YZ9R-B?view=index : accessed 24 May 2026), image 1995 of 4071; citing Vermont Secretary of State, Montpelier.

Friday's Photo: Frances Wimberly Tooke - From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark

Frances Wimberly Tooke was born on 24 March 1886, the second child of John Lawson Wimberly Jr. and Alice Martha Bryan Wimberly. She spent her life rooted in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

On 20 January 1907, Frances married James Howard Tooke in Bienville Parish. James was born on 11 October 1885 in Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, and was the son of Edwin Arthur Tooke and Susan Harriett Sledge. 

Frances and James had three known children: Karl B. Tooke, Henry Seward Tooke, and Susie Tooke.

Frances died on 17 July 1975 and is buried in Wimberly Cemetery in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, along with her husband, James, who died in 1979. 

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share posts and other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90292349/frances-tooke: accessed May 22, 2026), memorial page for Frances Wimberly Tooke (1886–1975), Find a Grave Memorial ID 90292349, citing Wimberly Cemetery, Bienville, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by A Footstep In Time (contributor 47345816).

Frances Wimberly Tooke, photographs, no date; digital images, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837 (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979), page 267-268.

My Amazing Week with AI and Big Projects

Last week, at my local genealogical society meeting, a member mentioned the possibility of taking inventory of everything in the library. I casually suggested, “Just take photos of the books and have AI put them in a table.” I suspect she may have thought I was being a bit unrealistic.

This morning, though, I decided the idea was worth testing before offering to help. I removed the handful of knick-knacks from my shelves and photographed five shelves of genealogy and history books.

My first prompt was as follows:

Inventory these books, I want to start at the top shelf that would be the number one shelf, the middle shelf number two, and the bottom shelf number three. If you can’t read the name of the book or it doesn’t have a title or author on the binding, just write "blank."

Note that this was done on my phone, and I used the mic to give the prompt. I had to retake one section as it needed a better photo. I followed up with shelves four and five, then requested that the inventory be listed by shelf in a table I could copy into a Word document. The result was a near-perfect inventory. Anything left blank did not have a title on the binding.

You can see a portion below. This is all a little surreal. What would have been a big, time-consuming project—not to mention the dust—is now a four-page Word document listing most of my genealogy books. I never had any intention of doing this.

Now I need to fill in a few blanks and get rid of the dust.

Amazing!

This wasn’t the only amazing project.

I serve as the Education Committee chairperson for the Virginia Beach Genealogical Society. Most months, we offer an in-person Lunch and Learn program. As we began planning for next year, we had eight possible topics and needed to decide who would teach each.

Instead of asking someone to create and teach an entire two-hour class from scratch, I thought there had to be a better way. We could use a short video, a selected video segment, or a podcast for the teaching portion, then spend most of the session on discussion and hands-on practice.

I entered the topics into ChatGPT, suggested a few places to look for videos and podcasts, and asked it to find two options for each topic, preferably around thirty minutes long. Without my asking, AI also suggested a simple format for each session:

10 minutes — introduce the skill and why it matters

20–30 minutes — video or selected excerpt

10 minutes — group discussion

45–60 minutes — hands-on practice with participants’ own research

10–15 minutes — share one takeaway or next step

Then I simply asked, “Can this be organized in a spreadsheet or Word document?” AI created both. I preferred the Word document. In addition to an easy-to-understand format, AI created practice activities for each topic. We are not completely done. We still need to evaluate the videos and review the practice activities, but we already have much less work to do. It looks very promising.

AI-generated (ChatGPT) garden concept based on a photo and instructions provided by DQuinn, May 2026.

My last project was not genealogical, but AI gave me more amazing results. I am trying to redo a garden bed in my backyard and turn it into something attractive but fairly easy to care for. I uploaded a photo of the current bed and explained which shrubs were being removed, which plants I wanted to keep, and what I hoped to add—much of which I already had elsewhere in my yard. The tall tree in the AI-generated image is not mine, and the birdhouse it suggested is too expensive, but the overall plan is almost exactly what I had pictured.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #14 Children, Grandchildren, and Other Descendants of Sarah Reed and Joel Hill

After posting last week about Sarah Reed Hill, I knew I needed to say more about her family. Sarah herself was the starting point, but the larger purpose was to serve as collateral research. In genealogy, collateral research means looking beyond a direct ancestor and studying related family lines — siblings, cousins, in-laws, nieces, nephews, and descendants of those families. Sometimes a record for one of those relatives provides the clue that our direct ancestor did not leave behind.

That is why Sarah mattered to this search. She was a descendant of Peter Reed and is thought to have been the sister of Benjamin Reed, the man I am trying to prove as Peter Reed’s son. I hoped that by tracing Sarah’s family forward, I might find a record, connection, or clue that would place Benjamin more clearly within Peter Reed’s family.

The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902 showed that Sarah and some of her descendants were in touch with Benjamin Reed's family. As I followed the family lines, the locations alone suggested that these families likely knew one another well.

One connection was especially interesting. Sarah’s son, David Hill, had a daughter, Ann Elizabeth “Lizzie” Hill, who married David S. Reed. David was the son of Benjamin Reed Jr., who was the son of Benjamin Reed—the same Benjamin who may have been Sarah Reed Hill’s brother and Peter Reed’s son. 

Unlike Sarah’s children, who stayed in Windham County, the grandchildren scattered. I found some in Windham County, but others in Illinois, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. There were some in prison, working in vaudeville, and two missing persons. Some were easy to follow. Others led me through tangled records, repeated names, mistaken family trees, and a few stories that were sad but still worth knowing.

The most surprising story in this search belongs to the Cherry Sisters. Their mother, Laura M. Rawson Cherry, was a granddaughter of Sarah Reed and Joel Hill through their daughter Electa Hill Rawson. Laura was living in Windham County, Vermont, in 1850, but by 1856, she had moved to Linn County, Iowa, with her husband, Thomas Cherry, and a young daughter. Laura and Thomas had at least seven children – only one was a son. By 1890, both parents were dead, their son Nathan had left home, and five daughters remained on the family farm. Addie, Effie, Ella, Lizzie, and Jessie went on to perform as the Cherry Sisters, a vaudeville act remembered as one of the most unusual and widely known of its day.

The sisters first performed locally in the early 1890s. Their act was called “Something Good, Something Sad,” and it included songs, recitations, skits, morality pieces, and a dramatic sketch titled “The Gypsy’s Warning.” Audiences did not respond gently. The sisters became famous less for talent than for the reaction they provoked. People came to laugh, heckle, and sometimes throw vegetables, shoes, and other objects at the stage. Still, the Cherry Sisters kept performing. In 1896, Oscar Hammerstein* brought them to his Olympia Music Hall in New York, where their reputation as a terrible act became part of the attraction. They sold tickets, drew crowds, and became a national curiosity.

Gradually, the act was reduced to three sisters, and late in life, only two. Addie and Effie Cherry were living in Cedar Rapids when Addie died in 1942 and Effie in 1944.

This was not the kind of discovery I expected while tracing the grandchildren of Sarah Reed and Joel Hill, and it did not answer my Benjamin Reed question, but it made this collateral line impossible to forget!

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

*Oscar Hammerstein opened the Olympia Theatre in New York City’s Longacre Square, later Times Square, in 1895. Although he went bankrupt three years later, he continued building theaters in the city. Today, the Hammerstein name is best remembered through his grandson, Oscar Hammerstein II, the Broadway lyricist and writer.

Sources 

1850 U.S. census, Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Wilmington, p. 415, dwelling 821, family 846, Luther Rawson household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8054/images/4206192_00459?pId=1309965  : accessed 8 May 2026); citing National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 929.

1850 U.S. census, Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Wilmington, p. 410, dwelling 470, family 493, Timothy Brown household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/records/1308129 : accessed 8 May 2026); citing National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 929.

Andrew Henshaw Ward, Family Register of the Inhabitants of the Town of Shrewsbury, Mass.: From Its Settlement in 1717 to 1829, and of Some of Them to a Later Period (Boston: S. G. Drake, 1847), 78, marriage entry for Elizabeth Goddard and David Hill; digital images, HathiTrust Digital Library (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009576951 : accessed 9 May 2026).

“Cherry Bomb,” Early LCD, WFMU (https://wfmu.org/lcd/Early/cherry.html : accessed 13 May 2026).

“Diana’s Bryan-Quinn Family,” family tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/45260559/family?cfpid=6334928766 : accessed 8 May 2026).

Diana Bryan Quinn, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #13: Sarah Reed Hill,” Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog, posted May 2026 (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2026/05/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-13-sarah-reed.html: accessed 8 May 2026). 

Ephraim H. Newton, The History of the Town of Marlborough, Windham County, Vermont, with introduction by John Clement (Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1930); digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofm00newt/page/n9/mode/2up : accessed 18 April 2026).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/164036557/laura-brown: accessed May 8, 2026), memorial page for Laura Brown (1801–21 Oct 1843), Find a Grave Memorial ID 164036557, citing Bennett Cemetery, East Dummerston, Windham County, Vermont, USA; Maintained by LadyGoshen (contributor 46951894).

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8999-VWT4?view=fullText : accessed 9 May 2025), image 281 of 568, page 517 marriage of Luther Rawson and Electra Reed; Image Group Number 005463989; citing Jamaica, Vermont, Town Clerk.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8999-V4MD?view=fullText : accessed 9 May 2025), image 287 of 568, page 526 marriage of Laura Hill and Timothy Brown; Image Group Number 005463989; citing Jamaica, Vermont, Town Clerk.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37V-T9V2-C?view=fullText : accessed 22 February 2025), image 295 of 546, deed involving Joel Hill, Louisa Hill, and Sally Hill, 1839.

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, vol. 1 (1901); digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reedgenealogydes01reed/page/n11/mode/2up : accessed 18 April 2026).

Linton Weeks, “The Cherry Sisters: Worst Act Ever?” NPR History Dept., NPR, 27 June 2015 (https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/06/27/417439984/the-cherry-sisters-worst-act-ever : accessed 13 May 2026).

“New Hampshire, U.S., Death Records, 1678–1974,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61834/records/218119  : accessed 18 April 2026), entry for Luther K. Rawson.

“The Celebrated Cherry Sisters,” photograph, undated, photo no. 20463; digital image, The History Center Online Collections Database, The History Center–Linn County Historical Society, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (https://historycenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/20463: accessed 13 May 2026), used with permission.

“Vermont, Births and Christenings, 1765–1908,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8LN-NM4 : accessed 8 May 2026), entry for Edson Hill, 1814. 

Vermont Chronicle, February 5, 1840, Page 3, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/vermont-chronicle-lucius-hill-death-in/172468925/ : accessed May 9, 2026), clip page for Lucius Hill - Death in Jamaica VT by user dewquinn.

“Vermont, U.S., Vital Records, 1720–1908,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4661/records/136434 : accessed 8 May 2026), death record for David Hill. 

“Vermont, Vital Records, 1760–1954,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFQ6-6KM : accessed 8 May 2026), entry for Daniel Hill and Samuel Hill, 1903.

AI Citations: Fast Drafts, Not Always the Finished Product

This AI-created citation got the place of death and the source completely wrong. I provided the screen clipping from Ancestry.com and URL, then asked for a citation in Evidence Explained style. This was the result:

“Vermont, U.S., Vital Records, 1909–2008,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61834/records/218119 : accessed 8 May 2026), death record for Luther K. Rawson; citing Vermont Department of Health.

One of the places where AI has saved me the most time is with citations.

That may sound like a small thing, but citations can take a tremendous amount of time. Sometimes my source list on a blog post is longer than my post. Between census records, probate files, deeds, newspapers, cemetery records, family papers, digital images, and archive collections, a short post can still require a long list of careful source citations.

A page from my OneNote citation database

Before using AI, I had already created what I thought was a pretty efficient system. I kept citation examples and formats in OneNote, copied the closest match, and edited the details to fit the record I was using. Compared with building each citation from scratch, that felt like a real time saver.

And it was.

But AI has made the process even faster.

Now, instead of starting cold or hunting through my saved examples, I can give AI the information I have and ask it to help shape the citation. Often, it gets me very close very quickly. 

But there is an important “but.”

AI-generated citations still need to be checked. Carefully.

Sometimes the issue is small. I may want to change a word, adjust the format, or add a missing detail. Sometimes AI leaves a blank because I did not give it enough information, and that is fair. It cannot cite what I did not provide.

Other times, though, I have found glaring mistakes. The example at the top of the post is exactly why I check. AI identified the wrong database and placed the death in Vermont, even though the record was for a death in New Hampshire.

That has not made me stop using AI. I still love it for citations. It saves me a tremendous amount of time. But I treat every AI citation as a draft, not a finished product. A helpful draft. A fast draft. Sometimes even a very good draft. But still a draft.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

ChatGPT, response to prompt requesting an Evidence Explained-style citation from a screen clipping and URL for Luther K. Rawson’s Ancestry death record, 8 May 2026; privately held by author.

“New Hampshire, U.S., Death Records, 1678–1974,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61834/records/218119 : accessed 8 May 2026), entry for Luther K. Rawson, died 8 January 1876, Croydon, Sullivan County, New Hampshire; citing New Hampshire Division of Archives & Records Management, Concord, New Hampshire, “New Hampshire Death Records, 1650–1969.”

Friday's Photo: Eliza Catherine Wimberly Davis - From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark

Maggie Martin Cook and Alice Mae Davis Regan

This photograph of Eliza Catherine Wimberly Davis was identified by Maggie Martin Cook as Eliza Davis on the back. Maggie’s handwriting was later identified by her granddaughter.

Eliza Catherine Wimberly was born 20 July 1856 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, the daughter of William Wimberly and Mary Angelina Pittman Wimberly. She was the fifth child of William and Mary, and the fourteenth child of William. Eliza died 29 February 1928 in Bienville Parish and was buried in Wimberly Cemetery, where her grave is marked.

On 23 April 1874, Eliza married Henry Jefferson Davis, son of William Martin Davis and Emily Smith or Smythe Davis. Henry was born on 22 June 1852 in Bienville Parish and died there on 20 December 1884. He is also buried in Wimberly Cemetery.

Eliza and Henry had five children: Mary Louella, Emily Alberta, Willie Jane, Henry “Bud” Martin, and Alice Mae. According to the Wimberly book, as shared by Chester Regan Cummings, great-grandson of Eliza, Henry died of pneumonia just six months after Alice Mae’s birth. Eliza was left to raise five children without their father.

Although Eliza was not a descendant of any of my
Bienville Parish ancestors, two of her daughters
 married into my family. H. J. Giddens was a
descendant of my third-great-grandfather’s brother,
Jacob Giddens. J. B. Regan was a descendant of my
second-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Regan Bryan.

The same account describes Eliza as a determined and courageous mother who kept her family strong and secure. She maintained her home and raised her children until her son, Henry Martin Davis, married. Eliza then lived with Henry and his wife, Jeffer McGraw, until her death.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

Eliza Davis, photograph, no date; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

Maggie Martin Cook and Alice Mae Davis Regan, photograph, no date; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

The Times, March 3, 1928, Page 22. via Newspapers.com  (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-eliza-c-wimberly-davis-obit/196748333/: accessed May 2, 2026), clip page for Eliza C. Wimberly Davis - obituary by user dewquinn

Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837, print (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979), pages 587-630.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #13 Sarah Reed Hill and Her Granddaughter’s Memory of Benjamin Reed

Sarah Reed was born in Abington, Massachusetts, in 1757, married Joel Hill in Cummington, and later spent her final years in Vermont. At first, her life seems to survive only in scattered facts—birth, marriage, children, and death. But family memories passed down through her granddaughter make Sarah a much more interesting person in my search to identify the parents of her probable brother and my fourth-great-grandfather, Benjamin Reed.

Sarah Reed's Birth Record - 26 August 1757

Sarah was the daughter of Peter Reed and Lucy Hugens Reed. She was born on 26 August 1757. When Sarah was twenty-two years old, her father was said to have died on 18 February 1780. Cyril Nash wrote in his manuscript, “At the death of Peter his widow removed to the westward probably to Cummington, and Samuel to the same place, where she died.” Samuel was Sarah’s youngest brother and would have been 19 years old in 1780.

Nash did not mention Peter and Lucy’s daughters, Sarah and Joanna, in that passage. Still, his writings are important because they tell much about the families of Peter Reed and Benjamin Reed. Nash's writings were included in The Reed Genealogy: descendants of William Reade, of Weymouth, Mass., from 1635-1902, by John Ludovicus Reed. In this book, Benjamin was named a son of Peter.

On 21 October 1782, Sarah Reed married Joel Hill in Cummington, Massachusetts. That location did not surprise me. Lucy Reed was said to have moved west after Peter’s death. Sarah’s sister Joanna also married in Cummington. Benjamin Reed had been in Cummington before 1775. Sarah’s marriage there fits the movement of the family.

Over the next fifteen years, Sarah and Joel had six children: Samuel, Lucius, David, Sarah Jane called Sally, Electa, and Laura. Land records indicate that Joel and Sarah Hill remained in Massachusetts from the time of their marriage until about 1808. Before moving to Vermont, they lived in Rowe, near the Massachusetts–Vermont line. Their first home in Vermont was Marlboro in Windham County, a short distance from Rowe.

Later records place Joel and members of the family in Marlboro, Jamaica, and Dummerston. Joel died in Dummerston in 1843 and is buried there. Sarah is said to have died earlier, on 29 December 1836.

Sarah’s children help trace the family’s Vermont story. They remained in Windham County and married into other Windham County families, including Church, Blake, Phillips, Rawson, and Brown families. But the most interesting part of Sarah’s story comes from her granddaughter's memories, preserved in The Reed Genealogy.

In The Reed Genealogy, John Ludovicus Reed wrote that Sarah’s granddaughter, Mrs. John V. Evans of West Dummerston, remembered Sarah well. She also remembered Sarah’s brother Benjamin. Mrs. Evans said that Sarah had lived for a time with Dr. Braddish’s family in Bridgewater and was in Bridgewater on the Dark Day, 19 May 1780. While living in Vermont, Sarah often spoke of Abington, Bridgewater, Plainfield, Cummington, and Milford. She must have spoken of those places often enough that her granddaughter carried the memories into old age.

That granddaughter was Louisa Emeline Hill, later Mrs. John V. Evans. Louisa was born in 1816 and is identified in The Reed Genealogy as Sarah’s granddaughter, not her daughter. Some family trees list Louisa as Sarah Reed Hill’s daughter, but the records found so far indicate she was probably Sarah’s granddaughter.*

Louisa’s memories are especially valuable because they connect Sarah Reed Hill’s family directly to Benjamin Reed’s household. In 1898, Mrs. Evans remembered visiting Benjamin Reed’s old house and said she knew Benjamin and Huldah well. She described them as "fine people, of good character, and well beloved by all who knew them."

Almira Reed
East Putney Cemetery

Mrs. Evans also remembered Benjamin and Huldah’s daughter Almira, who died in 1835, and said she was with Almira at the time of her death. That detail is worth noticing. Benjamin had died six months earlier. Deed records indicate that Sarah and her family were living in Jamaica, Vermont, a full day's journey by wagon or coach. Louisa’s presence with Almira suggests that the two families were still closely connected.

Sarah Reed Hill did not leave a record trail that tells her whole story. But through her granddaughter’s recollections, she becomes more than a name in the Reed family.

* Louisa Emeline Hill’s exact parentage needs further documentation. The Reed Genealogy identifies her as Sarah Reed Hill’s granddaughter. Lucius Hill named Louisa Emeline Hill as his niece in his will, and census and deed records show a continued association between Sally Hill and Louisa.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

“Abington, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L979-W74D?view=fullText

 : accessed 30 April 2025), image 7 of 152, birth entry for Sarah Reed; Image Group Number 007009636; citing Abington, Massachusetts, Town Clerk.

“Abington, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9979-W7G7?view=fullText

 : accessed 7 January 2025), image 11 of 152, birth entry for Samuel Reed; citing Abington, Massachusetts, Town Clerk.

C. McClellan & Co. and J. Chace, McClellan’s Map of Windham County, Vermont (Philadelphia: C. McClellan & Co.; lithographed by W. H. Rease, 1856), map, digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2012586226/ : accessed 18 April 2026).

Ephraim H. Newton, The History of the Town of Marlborough, Windham County, Vermont, with introduction by John Clement (Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1930); digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofm00newt/page/n9/mode/2up

 : accessed 18 April 2026).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27499359/almira-read: accessed 4 July 2022), memorial page for Almira Read, Find a Grave Memorial ID 27499357, citing East Putney Cemetery, East Putney, Windham County, Vermont; memorial maintained by Cynthia Kaley, contributor 51056978; gravestone photograph by Donna G. Dunham, contributor 46871624.

“Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVR-832H-W?view=fullText

 : accessed 14 March 2026), image 456 of 562; Image Group Number 008131623; citing Massachusetts, Court of Common Pleas, Hampshire County.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8999-VWT4?view=fullText : accessed 9 May 2025), image 281 of 568, page 517 marriage of Luther Rawson and Electra Reed; Image Group Number 005463989; citing Jamaica, Vermont, Town Clerk.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8999-V4MD?view=fullText

 : accessed 9 May 2025), image 287 of 568, page 526 marriage of Laura Hill and Timothy Brown; Image Group Number 005463989; citing Jamaica, Vermont, Town Clerk.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37V-T9V2-C?view=fullText

 : accessed 22 February 2025), image 295 of 546, deed involving Joel Hill, Louisa Hill, and Sally Hill, 1839; original source not identified in supplied FamilySearch citation.

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, vol. 1 ([no place]: [no publisher], 1901); digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reedgenealogydes01reed/page/n11/mode/2up

 : accessed 18 April 2026).

“Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626–2001,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH5P-Z7B

 : accessed 22 January 2025), entry for Joel Hill and Sarah Reed, marriage, 21 October 1782, Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, page 2.

“Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Z8-28QY?view=fullText

 : accessed 5 June 2024), image 178 of 715; citing Massachusetts, County Court, Hampshire County.

1860 U.S. census, Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Jamaica, page 15, John V. Evans family; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4297354_00151: accessed 18 April 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, Eighth Census of the United States, 1860.

1870 U.S. census, Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Jamaica, page 46, John V. Evans family; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/40457539: accessed 18 April 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870.

“Vermont, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1732–2005,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPQ5-L9ZX: accessed 8 March 2024), entry for Joel Hill, death, 2 March 1843, Dummerston, Windham County, Vermont.

“Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BH-G349-7?view=fullText

 : accessed 6 May 2025), image 599 of 643, will of Lucas Hill; Image Group Number 007714786; original source not identified in supplied FamilySearch citation.