Research Family's Past Through ChatGPT

For steps to solve the mystery of relatives' life experiences

B24, I believe my father flew in in WWII. Matthew Bamberg Family Photo Collection

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Have you ever learned little about your ancestors from your parents, relatives, and others familiar with your family? Have you ever found a picture in your family photos that you had no idea how it got there?

The process of discovering my father’s WWII past happened to me over decades. I never knew him even though I lived in his home. The more I have researched and learned about his past, the better I’ve understood myself.

My first attempt at learning about his past occurred when I was in my teens and twenties when he was around to ask him as much as I could handle back then about his experiences as a young person; then, at about forty-five, I found some old family photos. Finally, I sought more information last year in 2023 when I perused through Ancestry.com.

And this year, 2024, I’ve been able to think carefully about approaching ChatGPT to create a story of my father’s days as a sergeant in the War when I had little information about his service.

And this year, 2024, I’ve been able to think carefully about approaching ChatGPT to create a story of my father’s days as a sergeant in the War when I had little information about his service.

Through self-discovery, I’ve understood how past generations of my family have shaped my character traits. This insight helps me to comprehend what drives me and why I react to challenges the way I do. Much of how I interact with others stems from how I engage with my parents, based on what I know about them.

The more I have learned about my father’s toughness, the more I realize I can be more challenging than ever. In the past, I have always thought of myself as being weak and inferior to others, especially compared to family and extended family members’ generation, such as siblings and cousins.

To be sure, going through these steps took me a long time. Today, you can create estimates of past experiences that occurred to your ancestors more quickly than in the past because Artificial Intelligence is integrated into the Internet.

Through my self-exploration and decades of teaching experience, I’ve discovered a four-step process in which you can engage to discover how a better understanding of generations before you can improve your knowledge of yourself.

Through my self-exploration and decades of teaching experience, I’ve discovered a four-step process in which you can engage to discover how a better understanding of generations before you can improve your knowledge of yourself.

A similar study about inter-generational knowledge partially substantiates my claim that intergenerational understanding gives an individual an improved self-identity. “Multiple regression analyses indicated a significant positive relationship between commitment and family history knowledge and relatedness and family history knowledge, a negative relationship between autonomy and family history knowledge, and a weak correlation between exploration and family history knowledge. Findings indicated that family history knowledge may influence components of identity development” (Haydon et al., 2023).

By exploring your ancestor's experiences, you can develop a better self-identity. While it took me forever to undergo the process, it can happen quicker than I experienced.

However, after having undergone it, I’m in a position to model how you can improve your self-identity through a four-step process.

Explore the four-step process:

1. Interview/write about an ancestor;

2. Locate and study family photos;

3. Use Ancestry.com; and

4. Ask ChatGPT.