Creating a timeline for your ancestors is one of the tools I have been hearing about more recently. I confess when I first heard of timelines, I felt is was just one more thing on the long list of things to do with my research. I was slow to embrace them until ...
I started to hit brick walls in my research. When I encounter brick walls - big or small - I have learned to look back at what I know. (This works well in other areas of life as well!) "Back to what I know" has become a much used technique for me. Even doing this, I still had difficulty gaining new insights and directions for my research. I decided to give the timeline technique a try. I gained a whole new perspective on my ancestor(s). Many of the genealogy software programs have an option to create a timeline for an ancestor. I played around with that feature, but still could not quite get the perspective I was seeking. I then got out my paper, pencil and ruler to create my own. Something about putting an ancestor's life in order myself made his life "click". I could see where age discrepancies existed. I discovered where I thought an ancestor spent most of his life was only a small part of his life. I saw where the gaps in my research existed. While the timeline itself did not break down a brick wall, it created new ideas for avenues of research. Isn't that what scaling our genealogy brick walls is all about?
No comments:
Post a Comment