Using AI to Give Names to the Tick Marks

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, page 115

When looking for family members before 1850, I often analyze earlier census records — the ones with only heads of household and tick marks. My goal is to determine who could have been living in the household during those years.

By giving names to the tick marks, I can track children over time, identify gaps, uncover possible missing family members, and estimate birth years.

This is not a new process for me.

In an earlier project, I compared the 1830 census for the Bryan family with birth information from the Bryan family Bible transcript. In that case, I was trying to see whether another child could fit into the household. The census did not name each person, but the age and gender categories gave me a way to test the family structure.

I have also used this approach with my John Giddens family in Wayne County, North Carolina. The 1800 census showed John Giddens with a wife, six sons, and two daughters. Comparing the census categories with the known or suspected children helped me see who fit, who did not, and where the gaps might matter.

Usually, I sort the household members into census categories by making a handwritten table, using a spreadsheet, or even writing notes on a printed copy of the census. But last week, I tried something different. I used AI to help me organize the comparisons. 

I was working with Benjamin Reed and his wife, Huldah Pratt, of Woodford, Bennington County, Vermont. One source that has been especially helpful is John Ludovicus Reed’s The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts from 1635 to 1902. The clipped entry at the top of the page lists ten children for Benjamin Reed and Huldah Pratt.

That list was important to me because, until I found The Reed Genealogy, I did not know about four of the ten children named in the book. 

Of course, a published genealogy is not the final answer. It needs to be tested against other records whenever possible. For Benjamin Reed’s family, the 1790 and 1800 census records gave me one way to see whether the children named in The Reed Genealogy fit the household Benjamin Reed headed in Woodford, Vermont.

For these comparisons, my process was simple: I asked AI to check the Ancestry.com census transcriptions against the original images, use information found in The Reed Genealogy as a working family list, match likely household members to the census categories, and point out where the records fit or raised questions. In other words, AI was helping me follow the same process I use when I do this work by hand.

The 1790 census gave me my first test. Benjamin Reed’s household in Woodford included one male aged sixteen and over, three males under sixteen, and two females.

Most of that household fits the family described in The Reed Genealogy. Benjamin fits the adult male. Huldah Pratt Reed and her daughter Huldah fit as the two females. Several of the sons fit the male-under-sixteen category.

But there was one problem. Based on the children listed in The Reed Genealogy, I expected four males under sixteen: Benjamin Jr., John, Cyrus, and David. The census only counted three.

Table created with assistance from ChatGPT by comparing the 1790 census entry for Benjamin Reed with the family list in The Reed Genealogy. The comparison and conclusions were reviewed by the author.

That mismatch does not disprove the Reed genealogy entry. Census records are not perfect. A child may have been missed, be living elsewhere, or be temporarily away, or the household may have been reported or recorded incorrectly.

The 1800 census gave me a much cleaner comparison. By 1800, 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.

Table created with assistance from ChatGPT by comparing the 1800 census entry for Benjamin Reed with the family list in The Reed Genealogy. The comparison and conclusions were reviewed by the author.

The two oldest sons, Benjamin Jr. and John, do not appear to be living in Benjamin Reed’s household in 1800, which makes sense, as they were about 19 or 20 years old.

The 1800 census does not prove the Reed genealogy entry on its own, but it fits the family group remarkably well. It also gives indirect support for family members who may not have left many records of their own. 

 AI did not prove that the published genealogy was correct. It did not replace the need to read the original census image. It did not solve the Reed family for me. However, it organized the information quickly. It helped calculate which children fit into each census category. It showed where the numbers matched and where they did not. What usually takes me well over an hour took only a few prompts. Both comparisons were useful, and AI saved me much time

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

1790 U.S. census, Bennington County, Vermont, population schedule, Woodford, p. 244, Benjn Reed household; digital image, Ancestry.com, “1790 United States Federal Census” (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058/ : accessed 2 June 2026); citing First Census of the United States, 1790, NARA microfilm publication M637, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

1800 U.S. census, Bennington County, Vermont, population schedule, Woodford, Benjamin Reed household; digital image, Ancestry.com, “1800 United States Federal Census” (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7590/ : accessed 2 June 2026); citing Second Census of the United States, 1800, NARA microfilm publication M32, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

1830 U.S. Census, Houston County, Georgia, population schedule, p.274, line 4, district or territory not named, Reddick Bryan; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/: accessed 8 March 2021); citing National Archives microfilm publication M19, roll 18.

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).

"United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRD-ZJR : accessed 15 January 2022), John Giddens, Wayne, North Carolina, United States; citing p. 856, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 32; FHL microfilm 337,908.