First step in AI for transcribing old documents

 

The new Scribe AI from My Heritage - first look

I have been resisting  using AI tools for genealogy (and everything else) but talk about them is everywhere. I have been warned about their "hallucinations" and so on.

My palaeographic skills are fair but not expert back to Tudor times. 

I have tried Transkribus a couple of times without much success, getting quite mangled results on documents which were in English although not with a particularly good hand.

I received an email about the new feature at My Heritage a couple of days ago which describes itself as "a powerful new feature that transcribes, translates, and interprets historical documents and photos" , so it seemed worth giving it a go.  It has a drag and drop interface to upload a file which is easy.

I uploaded the will of Roger Allis of Glentworth, Lincolnshire (Lincolnshire archives ref. Stow wills 1563/47). It is a single page in an untidy secretary hand which I had previously transcribed with a handful of words missing that I couldn't interpret. Maybe not a fair test but I was interested to see what would happen, and I was pleasantly surprised.

 ScribeAI gave a summary of the document telling me it was in secretary hand and what a husbandman was, and discussed some of the items bequeathed. It also noted that the date (which was in January 1562) was in old style dating and corrected it to give the modern year.

It also gave a summary of the people mentioned in the will and their relationship to Roger and the bequests made.

Then the actual transcription. The first part of Glentworth was missing due to the edge of the page being torn, so it transcribed this as Panton (another parish in Lincolnshire) which was probaly fair given the writing. The problem was that later when the word Glentworth was complete it still carried on with Panton and did not correct itself. It did insert some words that weren't there and had some trouble with money, e.g ij s (2 shillings) was given as 2 sheep.

It did fill in some of my gaps which was excellent, but got one name wrong, and corrected one of my transcriptions.

Overall it was impressive. I would say that it could be of great use but used as a guide and not to take the given transcription as gospel. I gave it a pretty difficult document and it gave back a pretty good result.

Original documents

 It really pays to view the original documents if you can.

At Lincoln archives in the Nettleham bishops transcripts a marriage was found in 1599 for Edward Allys that hasn't been seen anywhere else or in the transcripts of the BTs (I hope I'm not wrong there!). 

That helped with a mystery but as usual prompts some more questions.

Audrey Allis and cyclist magazine

 Back in 2022 I wondered about an Audrey Allis who had been a contact in a cyclists magazine around the WW2 years.

After doing a little research it seems the mystery is solved and this was found to be a pen name for the person concerned. She was indeed a niece of "ragged staff" through his marriage to Ann Palmer, and used her first two Christian names of Audrey Alice to become Audrey Allis.

It really seems to be that simple. 

The Allis family; or, scenes of Western life

 A thin book was found with the title "The Allis family; or, scenes of Western life" published by the American Sunday School Union in 1858. The author was believed to be Velda Allis Eddy. (New edition 2009)

I've had trouble finding the author in any records. Was it about a real Allis family out on the prairies or is it just a made-up childrens story? Anyone know?

It's not really of any consequence but the book is out there...

 

Local histories

 Local histories are almost always useful for family research and getting a better understanding of a place. Local historians do a great job which is sometimes under appreciated. 

In looking at an 18c American Allis family in Connecticut this one was a dream:

"David Allis and the birth of Vernon"

David was born in Bolton, Connecticut in 1720 and later moved to the adjacent town of Vernon. The book is very readable and gives a feel for the area at the time. It's also a fair bit more general in scope than it sounds.

In describing the family of David Allis it does give some interesting detail such as finding David's gravestone broken up in a garden and the society raising money for it's replica replacement in the town cemetery. 

The book is useful for anyone researching that part of the world but very unusual to find a history centred around an Allis family, so a big thanks. 

 

The author is John Roe and it is published by the Vernon Historical Society and a physical as well as an on-line copy may be obtained from them here

https://www.tankerhoosen.info/news/upcoming_2024_1_allis_book.htm

follow the links for the on-line (free) version 

Family History Societies

 On a recent visit to Lincolnshire archives and spotting some volunteers transcribing records it reminded me of the unsung work carried out by family history societies.  These records are carefully transcribed and checked and are much more reliable than some other transcriptions. Buying the resultant CDs or on-line downloads is well worth the money, not only to support the FHS financially, but can generate links or ideas on the home computer which may not be seen with on-line sites.

It's great work you are doing and much appreciated. In this case to the Lincolnshire Family History Society, but to others also.

 

Here's another really useful resource for Lincolnshire marriages (post 1837)

https://mi.lincolnshiremarriages.org.uk/

 

 

Ethel Allis and Paul Page

 Found a nice photograph of Ethel Allis with her new husband Paul Page from around 1930 on ebay. This was a publicity picture for Paul presumably since he worked for Fox studios as an actor at that time. They look happy.

Given the age of the picture would copyright still apply to it? It would be good to put it on the web-site.