US Timelines - Creation and Use with Families

Introduction
A timeline is a chronological list of events for a person, family, or location. This is helpful for analyzing events in a family by showing gaps in knowledge about a family or events that probably did not or could not happen for this family. Matching a family timeline with a location timeline can help determine the likelihood of a family's involvement in the events of a locality, such as wars.

Before creating a timeline for a family
Gather family group records for the family in question. A family group record is a great source for the family events, even if the record if not complete. You can add additional information to the timeline as you find it, such as data from census records, land records, etc. Determining what was happening in the country or locality during an ancestors lifetime can also be helpful.

Internet Timelines
An Internet site that allows you to enter data about an ancestor, then shows what was happening in the world is:

OurTimelines.com

Some other Internet sites with U.S. history timelines are:

• State History Guide Resources Chronological History Timeline of the United States

• Wikipedia Timeline of United States history

• American Educational History Timeline

Tips
To fully analyze a family, add all the events in a family, including birth, deaths, marriages, divorces, census locations, military service, buying and selling land, etc.

What to do next

Terms