Family historian exports ancestors by county from Ancestry and has ChatGPT merge the lists to plan a research trip

What they did

In their Ancestry tree they opened the list of all people and filtered by event place for each county (about 60 people in one, about 57 in the other), copying each list into a document. They pasted both into ChatGPT and asked it to merge the list of ancestors, which marked people who appear in both counties. They also asked AI what resources exist locally, and it pointed to the two county libraries, a history museum and the Register of Deeds office. They then went through the merged list to highlight direct-line ancestors to dig into before the trip.

How it went

A single merged list of ancestors tied to the area, flagged where someone appears in both counties, plus a starting list of places to visit. They say this is the kind of job they love using AI for because it makes the work faster.

Worth knowing

• They note the place filter on the people list may be part of Ancestry's paid Pro Tools. Picking out direct-line ancestors was still done by hand against the tree, and AI-suggested archives and offices should be checked before you travel.
• Price check: ChatGPT: free plan; Go: US$8/month (checked Nov 1, 2026).

Paying for ChatGPT? See cheaper ChatGPT alternatives.

Try it yourself

Paste this into a chatbot, then add your own details underneath.

Here are two lists of people from my family tree, one for [place A] and one for [place B]: [paste lists]. Merge them into one alphabetical list with birth and death years, remove duplicates, and add a column saying [A], [B] or Both. Then list the archives, libraries, museums and deeds or court offices in those places that are useful for family history research, with what each one is likely to hold, so I can check them before my trip.

Original post

See Genealogy TV 2's original post on YouTube → (Oct 18, 2026)