our spreadsheet with three columns, one for each of: the date, what happened, the source of information.
Then you can add more columns for notes about the source, who supplied the information, and where or when you found the source. Then when you find another life event, you can insert a new row where it belongs in the chronological order.
If you don’t have Microsoft Excel, shown below, download Open Office or use Google Sheets – both free.
Note keeping programs like Evernote can also work well for timeline work.
What should you include in your ancestor timeline?
Just about everything impactful from a person’s life – from birth until death – should be included in your ancestor’s timeline. This would usually include birth, marriage, birth of children, death of parents or children, a known occupation change, a major illness, a religious event, moving from one home or location to another, death, burial etc.
You may also want to make note of major historical events, such as wars, and add those since they may have influenced your ancestor’s life and could provide opportunities for new records.
Next to each entry you should be clear about what sources you used for each fact in your timeline. If you don’t have enough room, simply number each fact and write your sources below, or in another note. This will allow you to carefully examine each fact and its sources for gaps or new, missed information when you are done. For more help on how to reexamine existing data in your tree, read this article.
You may also like to make use of your family tree program for this. Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch all create timelines for your ancestors as you add sources and can help you quickly identify which sources you used for each fact.
FamilySearch.org recently changed their timeline format, and it’s fantastic. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, here’s an example of Leon Weber’s timeline using the new tab setup.
I guarantee that once you start using timelines in your family history research, you won’t know how you ever got by without them. Start by creating just one for a stubborn ancestor and then make some for that ancestor’s relations.
Once your timeline(s) is in place ask yourself these 10 questions:
- What facts am I missing?
- What details (dates, locations etc) are missing from specific facts?
- Are any facts missing sources, or are the sources week? Can I add new records?
- Are there inconsistencies?
- Is there more information on the sources I do have than I have recorded in my tree? Should I add them?
- Are there big gaps in my ancestor’s life? What records might fill them?
- Were there big external events that influenced his/her life that may have produced records?
- How do the timelines of his/her relations fit in?
- Did my ancestor always live in the same location? If not, where did they move to? Can I create a date-based map of their travels to help me find new records?
- What can I learn about the locations in each event?
You might be surprised how quickly your brick walls start crumbling.
For even more help with timelines for genealogy take the online Genealogy Research Course from Family History Daily. It includes in-depth help for using timelines to solve family mysteries.
As promised, here are some links that will help you get started on your ancestor’s timeline:
- Why You Should Stop Your Research and Reexamine Every Single Genealogy Record You Have
- Are You Making the Direct-Line Mistake in Your Family Tree?
Amanda Sullivan is a 2009 graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education. She has spent years doing family research for her own enjoyment and compiling family histories as gifts for her nieces, nephews, and her two beautiful daughters.
6 thoughts on “This Straightforward Technique Will Help You Uncover Missed Facts About Your Ancestors”
We get a lot of time line information from Family Tree Magazine, very helpful.