Time Lines

I have grown to respect and enjoy Timelines for genealogy. If you have never created one - you must!  At our last study group meeting our "homework" assignment was to create a timeline. We had discussed them at the previous meeting: how to put them together, what to include and how to use them. There are several ways you can do this depending on what you want to it to accomplish.

I have one that is about five pages long for my Hitchcock/Sears Brick Wall problem. It starts with Samuel Hitchcock's (#3) birth in 1731 in New Milford, Litchfield, CT. The last entry is for Samuel Bradley Hitchcock (Silas Hitchcock's son, b. 1822) dated 1881. It states that a land record indicates he is homesteading in Yuba, CA. Silas is Samuel's fourth child, third son, but his first - and only child - by his second wife, Betsey Sears Hitchcock. I think his first wife is Sarah Sears (Betsey's sister). For more details on this dilemma and what I know, or more apropro - what I don't know - about these two families, go to my webpage www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jbmbtrees. This particular timeline might be a little too detailed for some people and for certain situations, but for this problem it works for me.

The other important timeline I have done, is for Ezra and Sarah Chapman Lane. This one starts with their marriage in 1792 in New Marlborough, Berkshire, MA.  They are my 4xgreat-grandparents. The reason I started it with that date, was because I am mostly interested in Ezra and Sarah and their 11 children, where they lived and for how long. I have been searching for documentation on the events in their lives for several years. Ezra was the middle of three children born to Roswell and Sarah Dudley Lane in 1768, in Guilford or Killingworth, Middlesex, CT. I have baptism dates from the Church in Killingworth for his older sister, Sarah (b. 1767) and his younger brother, Luman (b. 1769), but alas! not for middle-child Ezra. Some people put a fourth child, Polly (b. abt. 1780) with Roswell and Sarah, but I can find no proof of this and they can not tell me what proof they have for this assertion. And really, more important to me, Polly is never mentioned in my greatgrandmother's genealogical notes. Mary Ella Hazelton Childs (1857-1941) did a lot of research and had many handwritten notes which I received from my mother's things after her death. Mary Ella never indicated a fourth child. I find with my research and documentation to verify her claims - she is usually right in her assertions, despite not necessarily having the documentation.

The timeline for the Lanes is two pages and continues through the 11 childrens' births, marriages and deaths and ends with Ezra's son, Roswell's (my 3x great grandfather) death in 1870. Ezra died in 1859 at the age of 91. They left New Marlborough fairly early in their marriage and moved to Norfolk, Litchfield, CT. They were there for about 12 years. The first seven children appear to have been born there, but no records for the births of the children exist!  Except for land records indicating that Ezra and his brother, Luman, bought and sold land in the area, Norfolk has nothing.  In 1806, they moved to NY. Ezra brought his father, Roswell, with him. I assume Roswell's wife, Sarah Dudley, died in Norfolk, but can not document the place or date for sure. There is some indication that they are both buried in NY. I can not find burial places for Roswell and Sarah, or Ezra and Sarah. They were in the Oswego County area of NY, mostly in the town of Oswego, for several years and the remaining children were probably all born there. They then settled in Hannibal in Oswego County. Sarah Chapman died before 1850 when she does not appear in the 1850 Federal Census with Ezra, who is living with his son, Jackson, in Ira, Cayuga, NY. We assume that Ezra died in Ira. Roswell, the son, lived and died in Hannibal. I have a record from a book ("Hannibal's Historical Highlights" by Gordon W. Sturge, Mayor and Town Historian) indicating that Ezra and sons bought pews in the Congregational Society (Church) in Hannibal in 1826. No other records are available for Ezra and/or Sarah. I could write much more on this couple, but I started this column on timelines.

What do you want your timeline to show?  A particular family followed through their lives? A particular person and his life? What about a locale and how it either was impacted by your family or your family was impacted by what happened there? Do you want to use the timeline as an outline to eventually write a story of your family? In that case, you could add historical data found on the internet or in books, add flavor to make the story "pop." Use pictures of the area of residence, as well as any pictures you have of the family members you are writing about.

If you are creating the timeline for a family or person, I think it is important to include as much detail as you can. Maybe using dates at the beginning of each entry. An example from my Lane timeline:

1792 - Mar 6: Ezra Lane and Sarah Chapman m. in New Marlborough, Berkshire, MA.
1794 - Almira Lane b. in Litchfield Co., CT.
1796 - Lovina Lane b. in Litchfield Co., CT.

... and so on.  I like starting with dates because I can get a picture of what years I have something happening and what years I don't. How detailed can I get their lives? Then, I can see where I need to fill in. Obviously, you can add and delete as required.  I like to put as complete a date as I can, full names and complete area information available. Keep it consistent in the way you list your entry.

So, give it a try and let me know what you learned. I had one member who found information she forgot she had when putting her timeline together. Another, discovered what she needed to do in order to get a more complete picture. Send me a comment about any additional "tricks of the trade" you have found when creating a timeline. I will be glad to share them.