Welcome 2024! I was thinking about new year’s resolutions over the New Year’s holiday and about what I want to post on this site. One of my hopes for the last few years has been to write genealogical narratives. For me, I focus on genealogical facts and the narrative and story fall to the way-side. I want to challenge myself for 2024 – I’m going to write 24 short narratives about Galician immigrants to the United States.
Another interest of mine, besides genealogy, is technology. How can I combine this with writing a narrative? Use AI! AI is the new technology on the block, although it’s been around for at least 60 years. I’ll use pre-written narratives by ChatGPT and combine it with genealogical facts and sources. I’ll use AI created images to visually show the story, in addition to historical photos.
I’ve selected 24 Galicians who were born in today’s northern Podkarpackie area and at some point in their life, they chose to immigrate to the United States. The narratives will be focused around their immigration journey, with 2 posts per month.
The first immigrant will be one of my own ancestors: Matthew Wasik (Maciej Wąsik). He was the first in my family to settle in Minneapolis and eventually his home became a hub for others. One of my brick walls is “why Minneapolis?” but I don’t know that I’ll ever get an answer. You’ll see how he started in West Virginia and then within a year, was in Minneapolis. This upcoming week you’ll see Matthew’s story published. Thank you for following along.
