Denyse Allen - Chronicle Makers

Wood cut letters spelling out Featured Chronicle.

Chronicles

From Ore to Milk: The Life of Horace Wilmer Sr.

The chronicle of Horace Wilmer Sr., who turned a Pennsylvania iron-mining family's small dairy into Wilmer Dairies — and watched it end. By Denyse Allen.

AI for Genealogy

The 4R Model Test: How to Tell If a New AI Model Is Worth Your Time

The 4R Model Test is a Chronicle Makers framework for deciding whether a new AI model earns a place in your family history work. Read, Reason, Render, Rely.

Wood cut image of butterflies and moths coming out of an open book.

New AI Tools

Claude Fable 5: What Anthropic's New Model Means for Family Historians

Anthropic released Claude Fable 5, its most powerful AI model yet. Here's an honest look at what it does, who it's for, and whether family historians need it.

Wood cut image of a thermometer showing low, medium, high, extra, and max instead of numbers.

Claude

Claude's New Effort Setting, Explained (For People Who Aren't Coders)

Claude added an effort setting with five levels. Here's what Low, Medium, High, Extra, and Max actually do — and which one to pick — in plain language.

Wood cut images of a vintage book, a victorian man with a mustache, and a modern family of 4 gathering around reading a book together.

Chronicles

What a Chronicle Actually Is: The Same Ancestor, Three Versions

Chronicles are a new type of family history writing. The best way to understand them is the contrast between genealogy reports and typical family history.

Chronicles

The Weight of Coal Country: A Pennsylvania Miner's Life Beyond the Mines

The chronicle of Joseph Kordish, a Portage, Pennsylvania coal miner who lost an eye, taught himself electrical work, and survived the collapse of an industry. By Dawn King Carson.

Wood block letters spelling Featured Chronicle next to an ink well.

Chronicles

In the Shadows of the Headframes: An Irish Family in Butte, Montana

The chronicle of Joseph Kieran and Catherine "Kate" Myres, Irish immigrants who built a life in the copper-mining shadows of Butte, Montana. By Lark M. Dalin.

Wood cut image of a computer with a family tree on the screen, then an arrow, then a family history book on the right.

Writing Family History

The Finisher Framework: Why Most Family History Projects Stall (and How to Change That)

The Finisher Framework: the identity shift from genealogy researcher to someone who finishes family history stories. Built for people with years of research and nothing written.

AI for Genealogy

Claude for Genealogy: The Researcher's Guide to Anthropic's AI

Claude for genealogy: how to use Anthropic's AI for reading old records, building proof arguments, and writing family history stories.

Wood cut image of with a box of family records and a ever expanding research list rolling into the sunset.

Writing Family History

Why Most Family History Projects Never Get Finished

An estimated 98% of genealogists who want to write never finish. The problem is not discipline or time. It is three specific patterns you can fix.

Wood cut image of a robot filing cards in a box of family history information.

AI for Genealogy

How AI Can Help Organize Genealogy Research

How to use AI to organize genealogy research: build timelines, create inventories, find gaps, and get your files ready to write from.

AI for Genealogy

Perplexity for Genealogy: When to Use It (and When Not To)

Perplexity for genealogy: when to use it for sourced historical context and when another AI tool is the better choice.

See all