Ay yi yi, AI

Dear Readers, I apologize deeply for my lack of communication over the past weeks. But I was unwittingly sucked deep down into one of the biggest genealogy rabbit hole ever to exist.

While drinking coffee on morning, weeks ago, I was lured away from watching the morning news by a shiny object in the form of a YouTube tutorial. The video, posted 10 months ago by Aimee Cross on her "Genealogy Hints" channel, focused on a new beta search engine offered at FamilySearch.org.

I was mesmerized as I watched her explain the pros and cons, and hacks, in using the website's experimental "Full Text Search" tool, which she proclaimed to be a "game changer."

Of course, I had to try it. And a few days later, I did. And I've been wandering through an elaborate rabbit warren that leads from one "tunnel" to another and another and another, ad infinitum. The great news, though, is I have found some really amazing documents I may never have found otherwise.

Why? Because this new tool is based on artificial intelligence that has been taught to read CURSIVE handwriting. Yes. Handwriting. That thing that no one teaches in school anymore.

What does this mean? That's easy: it means that now, hundreds of thousands of digitized documents that have not yet been fully indexed to find by most search engines, can now be searched for and found in a way I never thought possible.  

Click on "View Experiments"

Though I have provided a link, above, to Aimee's YouTube video, I will give you a quick overview of how to access this amazing tool.

First, sign into your FamilySearch.org account. FamilySearch requires an account to use its database-laden website, but it is absolutely free to sign up. On the home page, look for the “FamilySearch Labs” link on the lower right. Click on “View Experiments.” You will find several options, but the one you want is the last one on the second row, “Full Text Search.”

Click on "Go to Experiment"

So, now click on “Go to Experiment,” and it will take you to this search page. I have already filled it out with the name Robert Jefferson in quotes, which is supposed to look specifically for this name. Now, like most search engines, this one is not entirely perfect. BUT, it’s the only one you’ll find that can find that name (or very similar names) in hand-written documents from the 1800s, as specified in the “Year (Range)” boxes I’ve filled out. I also directed the search to only look for documents related to Canton, Madison County, Mississippi, where Robert lived when he received his freedom papers in 1852.

Only one of the three results shown here from  my search was for the Robert Jefferson I am looking for. As I said, it’s not perfect. As you can see, the marriage record it brought up with that name was from the 1950s, which was not included in the time frame I had set in the search box. I also pulled up a document from Marion County, also outside of the time frame indicated, with the same name, but this man gives a middle name, and I know it isn’t my Robert Jefferson. 

This search would have been a disappointing waste of time, if not for this one document at the top, from the Madison County deed records. It fell into the right time frame, and this turned out to be my Robert Jefferson.

A Free Man of Color 'Owns' Property in the Antebellum Deep South?

I was astonished. It turns out Robert and his wife, Celia, who were living in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1866, when this document was made, had owned a lot in the City of Canton near the Public Square. And they were selling that lot to a man named Amos Drane for $1,200. 

I knew from earlier research that Robert owned two parcels in Hendricks County, Indiana, but I had no idea that he had owned property in Mississippi, of all places. One point that really stuck out for me was that it was known as the “Robert Dearing Lot,” which the document had listed as an alias for Robert Jefferson. This indicates that Robert had also gone by the surname of his previous enslavers, Asa Dearing and his nephew, John Thomas Dearing, the latter dying intestate in 1839. This tidbit may help expand my research down the road! Other research led me to the understanding that Robert became the "property" of Jesse Heard, Dearing's business partner who was tasked with administering the sale of John T. Dearing's estate, an undertaking that went on for more than a decade after Dearing's death.

I believe it was Heard who allowed Robert to purchase his freedom in 1852, which was fortunate timing; Heard died a year later, and from the documents I've found using this AI search tool, it appears the executor of his will, his brother, William S. Heard, was a defendant in numerous lawsuits stemming from allegations that he had defrauded Jesse's heirs and family by selling his brother's property and pocketing the proceeds for himself and his wife, Sarah Whitehead Heard, including an enslaved man named Grandison.

A Breakthrough for African American Genealogy Researchers

One thing we learn when searching databases is to use various strategies to tease out the documents we are seeking. Such strategies are needed for the "Full Text" search, as well, so don't give up after the first try. And don't be shy to use the "keywords" box in the search; I found that by typing in the word "negro" or "slave," I could find all kinds of documents, such as wills, that list the names of enslaved and to whom they are given or if the enslaver had freed them upon his death.

This creates a treasure trove for anyone researching African Americans prior to the 1870 U.S. census!

Another search led me to a document written in 1855, two years after Jesse Heard's death and three years after Robert obtained his freedom. What makes this document so special to me is that it shows how those with legal backgrounds can work around those laws that prohibited blacks, mulattos, and even women, from owning property outright.

In this case, George Ward, who earlier had purchased the lot from Jesse Heard, devised this Deed of Trust to Hugh A. H. Lawson for the sum of $100. Lawson, in turn, was designated the trustee of the lot, but the indenture gave Robert Jefferson/Dearing, described as a "man of color," the rights to use the property in any way he wished (with some unspecified restrictions) and to keep any profits made from the property, such as rent, for his own use. Lawson would also be in charge of selling the property and turning over the profits of the sale to Robert, should he choose to do so.

Clearly, this must mean that Ward and Lawson were friends of Robert's to devise such a legal work-around. I would bet good money that their names are two of the 150 people who signed a petition urging then-state Sen. O.R. Singleton to allow for Robert to purchase his freedom, along with freedom for Celia and their two daughters, Lucy and Georgiana.

I swear, someday, I will find a copy of those freedom papers.

This court document shows that Robert Jefferson, in 1853 a free man, was paid by W.S. Heard for his labor.

How did Robert have the money to give to Lawson to pay Ward for that lot? The “Full Text” search tool uncovered two documents that provided a clue. These showed Robert was hired, probably by Jesse Heard, to perform carpentry work on an unspecified dwelling house and kitchen in 1853. Probate documents show he was paid $50 per month for eight months of labor; a total of $400 paid to him by Jesse's executor and brother, William S. Heard, on June 9, 1854.

The Genie That Brings the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I will fully admit that, for the most part, Artificial Intelligence scares the bejesus out of me, mostly because it’s happening so head-spinningly fast. For as many great things it we will be able to do with this technology, we all must understand there will be an equal number of people using it for nefarious purposes.

However, there are millions of digitized documents that lack indexes. For me to have found these documents without AI likely would have been an insurmountable task. It would have required me to spend weeks, if not months, pouring through bound volumes of deeds and other court records at the Mississippi State Archives in Jackson, Mississippi, without even knowing if they even existed.

Beyond that? Even if these documents were indexed, only the names of the plaintiffs and defendants, or the grantors and grantees, would be included. With FamilySearch's new tool, AI will allow researchers to find the names of all of those involved in a case that would not appear in an index. And that's fabulous.

Sure, this tool is in its infancy, and the results are far from perfect or comprehensive. But any genealogist, I'm sure, will agree with Aimee's assessment that "Full Text Search" is, indeed, a game-changer.

I will be writing more posts about some of the other amazing discoveries I've made using this new tool. And I promise not to make you all wait so long for the next one. 

In the meantime, Happy Hunting!