How Creating A Timeline For Your Family's History Assists Your Search
December 1st, 2008

Successfully filling in a family tree and uncovering the details of your family history can be an incredibly complex and overwhelming process. Charts and other organizational timelines, either on paper or in computer programs, can help you gather all of the genealogical material you have discovered in a comprehensive and presentable manner. Timelines come in a variety of forms. For example, genealogy charts focus on either the descendants or ascendants of a particular family member; family group sheets focus on specific individuals in a family, their spouses, and their children; and chronological profiles plot the life of a single individual. Each form basically builds on the other forms, and they are often used in conjunction with one another.

The most basic type of timeline is an ascendant chart, also known as pedigree chart. It typically begins with you, on the left of the timeline, and branches out to the right, going backwards in time through your parents, your parent's parents, and onwards. It can include between four and fifteen generations of ancestors, with four generations being the easiest to work with visually. Earlier ancestors can each receive charts of their own. Pedigree charts often includes birth, marriage, and death dates and places, as well as maiden names and nicknames, but they do not include citations of the sources where you received your information. Take special care to include as much information as possible on the pedigree chart, however, including full names, complete locations, and complete dates so that you know what, if any, information you are missing. You can refer back to the charts later and add more information or change incorrect information.

Each individual in a pedigree chart typically receives two family group sheets, one for his role as the child of two of your ancestors and one for his later role as the spouse and parent of two of your ancestors. Each sheet contains vital data on a married couple, such as the dates and locations for their births, christenings, marriages, deaths, burials, employment, military service, and their parents' and children's names. Their children's birth and death dates and locations and the names of their spouses are also included. The sources where you found the information for a family group sheet must also be included so that facts can be both double-checked by you and referenced by others.

Descendant charts are the most difficult of the multi-individual charts to complete. They are typically derived from completed ascendant charts and family group sheets. They begin with the earliest proven person in your paternal or maternal line, also known as your progenitor, and move forward in time through his or her descendants. On a descendant chart, you can include all of your progenitor's descendants or only the descendants which lead directly to you.

Sometimes you may want to delve into one of your ancestor's lives in greater detail, or you may want to record your life or your parents' lives in greater detail for future generations. In this case, you can create a chronological profile that will help you move beyond simple birth, marriage, and death dates in order to better see gaps or discrepancies in your information. A profile often serves as a road map, of sorts, pointing you in the direction you need to take your genealogical research. A chronological profile should be set up with separate vertical columns for the date on which an event occurred; the age at which the event occurred; a description of the event itself; and the sources containing the information you provided about the event. Events that should be recorded include the birth, death and marriage dates of all of your ancestor's immediate descendants; the location of his residence and place of employment in different census years; the details of his education, employment, and involvement in the armed forces; the details of any religious events, such as christenings or conversions; information from tax records and court records; and the death dates of immediate relatives. Plotting the small details of your ancestor's life may allow you to catch problems with your data, both big and small, that you might have otherwise missed. Marriages at birth or at very tender ages, impossible reproductive feats, or military service at odd ages could indicate either that you should double-check your sources for errors in your note-taking or that the source itself is incorrect. Chronological profiles also highlight missing pieces of information. Perhaps you had to leave large chunks of your ancestor's life blank, or maybe large gaps between his marriage and the birth of his children could indicate missing descendents. Locating the gaps in your knowledge will help guide your research

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