A Timeline of Your Life For Posterity

When one asks me where I am from, I always answer New England, Westport Connecticut to be exact. The town and state where we attend and graduate high school is generally where we consider our hometown. Recently, as I was signing up for a webinar, there was a question, “What is your hometown?” After forty years, I finally answered that question with North Logan, Utah.

The Importance of Timelines in Genealogy

As a genealogist, I want people to be exact in their answers about place & time. History properly recounted relies on accuracy. I timeline people’s lives constantly to see where the “holes” in their story are. It completely informs each question I then seek to answer. A timeline is especially critical when solving a complicated case, often referred to by genealogists as brick walls.

Creating a Detailed Timeline

I suggest that you create a timeline of the life for each of the main characters/relatives in your story/research. Include moves to other places, entry into a school or a war, deaths of very close family members, job changes, and much more. Understand their birth order in their family, what schools they attended, sports they played and which years. Include in the timeline anything that makes a shift in their world.

Analyze for Connections and Gaps

Now look at the timeline of the family members as a whole and find overlaps when they were together, or apart. Try to understand why an unmarried family member is not on a particular census – did they die, go to war, or simply be in their own household? The timeline will lead and guide your questions, informing your research.

The Value of Thorough Timelines

A full timeline may be a time-consuming task, but it is very well worth it. Often I have people mention, quite startled, that they had no idea their family member was involved in some sport or club, interest or cause. If you think that you may have some holes in the stories of your ancestors, then timeline their life. I like to work on paper, but go about it any way that is best for you. Interview family members, dig up documents, read journals, letters, diaries left behind for you to discover their stories. Then share what you learned with family members.

And most importantly, enjoy the ride.