From Family History to Children's Story
How AI Helped Me Bring My Ancestors to Life
There’s something really special about family stories that get passed down through the years. My husband’s Uncle Jock told us how he and his brother Donald, left Scotland in the winter of 1924 for an epic adventure. I wanted to make sure my 8-year-old grandson could really connect with this part of his family history, so I thought it would be cool to turn their journey into a children's storybook using AI.
The Journey Begins with Research
Like many genealogists, I started with bits and pieces. Ship manifests gave me their departure dates, and census records showed their ages and jobs. An aunty we met in Scotland in 1998 shared stories of heavy snow and emotional farewells, even giving Jock her tiny school bible that we still have. But how do you make these stories come alive for today’s audience, especially for kids?
The big moment came when I figured out that AI could help me connect the dots between historical facts and fun storytelling. I had the basic outline of their story—now I just needed to add some heart.
Uploading Family History to Create Magic
My process began with gathering every piece of evidence I could find about Donald and Jock's departure from Scotland. All this information was added to my Legacy Family Tree software. I uploaded an ancestor book exported from Legacy, removing all dates, of living people to Claude.ai:
Immigration documents showing their departure date and destination
Family photographs from the 1920s showing their Highland home
Personal story describing the harsh winter conditions
Census records showing their ages and occupations and family connections
Historical context about Scottish emigration during this period
What fascinated me was how AI could bring these disconnected pieces into a coherent narrative.
Crafting the Perfect Visual Prompt
The real magic happened when I asked Claude to help me create illustration prompts for Microsoft Copilot, which I have a subscription to with MS 365. I did use ChatGPT for the above image, but there was a limit on the amount I could do in one session. I knew I wanted a specific cartoon style for the children's book—warm, approachable, and historically accurate without being intimidating.
Here's how the conversation unfolded:
Me: "What is a prompt I could ask for an image on this page (pasted this text from the book) - Leaving Scotland meant saying goodbye forever. The winter of 1924 was bitterly cold, with snow piled so deep it reached the top of their boots. On departure morning, the entire MacKay family walked through the deep snow to see the boys off...."
Claude's response was incredibly detailed, capturing not just the visual elements but the emotional tone I was seeking.
Prompt I copied into MS Copilot - Create an image of a cheerful cartoon-style illustration of a steam train at a small Highland station in winter 1924. Two friendly-looking men in period clothing (coats and caps) sit by a frosted train window, waving goodbye with gentle smiles. Outside, the Scottish Highlands are covered in bright white snow that reaches their boot-tops, with rolling blue mountains in the background under a soft blue sky with puffy white clouds. A cozy stone cottage sits in the snowy landscape. The art style should be colorful and warm with bold outlines, simple shapes, and a friendly cartoon aesthetic suitable for children's books. The scene conveys adventure and hope rather than sadness, with bright, inviting colors and a storybook charm."
Another prompt Claude offered was when I asked it to create a prompt for an image that would show how the they had to make a decision which way to go, Canada or Australia.
Claude’s response: Create an adventure-style map showing a young Scottish man's choice between two destinations. From Scotland, show two paths - one to Canada (with snow and pine trees) and one to Australia (with sunshine and kangaroos). Make it look exciting and adventurous, like a treasure map for kids.
When Claude.ai first gave me the outline for the story, it shared a text version of this tree from the ancestor book I uploaded. I asked if it could do images, but nope, it couldn’t. It could create an image in HTML instead. So, it did that, and this is what I got back. I added the elements on the page using Artisan by Forever, my scrapbooking software.
The Intersection of Technology and Tradition
What struck me most about this process was how AI enhanced rather than replaced the human elements of storytelling. The technology helped me:
Organise scattered historical facts into a compelling narrative
Translate complex genealogical research into child-friendly language
Create detailed visual prompts that honoured both historical accuracy and artistic vision
Bridge generational gaps by making ancestor stories accessible to young readers
The AI didn't invent the story—Donald and Jock's courage, the harsh Scottish winter, their leap into the unknown—those elements were already there in the historical record. What AI did was help me see the story's potential and give me the tools to bring it to life visually.
Lessons for Fellow Family Historians
This experience taught me that AI can be a powerful ally in genealogical storytelling.
Here's what I learned:
Be specific with your prompts. The more historical detail and emotional context you provide, the better AI can help you craft your narrative. (Ask AI to help you create a prompt.)
Use visual references. Showing Claude the illustration style I wanted made all the difference in creating consistent, appropriate prompts for the image generation.
Remember the human element. Technology enhanced my storytelling, but the heart of the story—the family's courage and sacrifice—remained uniquely human.
The Story Continues
The tools available to us as genealogists and family historians continue to evolve. AI has opened up possibilities I never imagined when I first started tracing my family tree decades ago. But at its core, our work remains the same: taking the scattered pieces of our ancestors' lives and weaving them into stories that honour their memory and inspire the next generation.
As I age, I also realise my time is running out, so if AI can help me gather these historical facts and craft stories the younger generation will relate to, then that has to be a good thing.
Donald and Jock's journey from Scotland to London in 1924 has become more than just a family story—it's become a bridge connecting my grandchildren to their heritage, one beautifully illustrated page at a time.
A special thanks to
for inspiring me to give AI a try back in February 2023.What family stories are waiting to be told in your genealogical research? How might AI help you bring your ancestors' voices to life for future generations?
This is such a wonderfully creative use of AI and a great way to introduce family history to the next generation
Wowsa! That is fantastic, thank you for sharing your process, I love the results.