The Shenandoah Valley provides the breakthrough moment: in a minister’s record, John and Davar discover that Johann Schmidt married Catherine Kessler, confirming the family’s German origins. In this episode, CK appears as a Voice AI persona powered by Amazon Polly, speaking in the voice of Catherine herself. Through CK, listeners hear echoes of German-speaking settlers who built Rockingham County through farming, pacifist faith traditions, and commitments to education and civic life. 

You can engage with CK, the AI companion to this podcast on ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-68c1b698d690819186f512e0100547ae-ck

• Kinship Family Resource Center
• Rocktown History, VA
• VAGenWeb Project
• Frieden’s Church
• Germans in America
• German Immigrants and American Politics
• US Census German American
• Jackson Center, Ohio
• John Smith Remembering the Moon Landing
• Juanita Smith 70th Class Reunion

Executive Producer: Davar Ardalan
Host: John Oliver Smith
Genealogist & Curator: Jean Conte, Abigail Koontz
Historian/Researcher: Dale MacAllister & Margaret Hotchner
Sound Design: Javier Perez
Podcast Art: ChatGPT
AI Marketing Assistant: CK, custom GPT for Smith family genealogy