12 for '26

 

There's one thing I've learned from the process of periodically revisiting brick wall ancestors, and most of that lesson has more to do with technology than with genealogy. As I enter my seventh year of that annual pursuit of my Twelve Most Wanted ancestors, it has become most evident that advances in the tools now available to search through records has been a major game changer, and among them, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is positioned to be the rising star in this constellation of tools.

For the next twelve days—traditionally, the Twelve Days of Christmas leading up to Epiphany—I'll be laying out my month-by-month plans for family history research in the upcoming year. Hence, the "12 for '26" forebears whom I intend to put through the paces with these latest research tools and updated online collections. Each day, I'll outline one ancestor for a full month of next year's family history efforts, and specify the research focus, my wish list for end runs around brick wall ancestors.

First on the list will be my research focus for January, 2026: my fifth great-grandfather John Carter. A Virginian with a lifetime spanning the American Revolution, John Carter's roots were still solidly on the North American continent before his parents' generation—if, that is, notes online can be verified by documentation.

This is the specific reason I'm counting on discovery assistance from the more recent tools now in the genealogical researcher's arsenal. Finding collateral lines would be helpful, as well, since I'm facing several unknown DNA matches whose genetic legacy is attributed to John Carter's line. Complicating matters is the issue of John Carter's wives: two? Or three? And which children descend from which spouse? There may be ways, now, to find such answers.