Cross-Referencing Timelines

 As I continue to update and document the sources in the timeline for myself and my immediate family, I'm also taking the time to add the relevant facts and information to my parents and other family members as well.

For instance, timeline facts about my birth and those of my siblings can also be added to my parents timeline to give them additional data points and avenues for research.

Technically, only the mother can be certain to be at the locality of a birth, but assuming the father is in the area as well will give another place to locate additional records for them.

Working through these timelines on my own life and those of my close immediate family members will give me the practice that will be needed when I'm dealing with the more distant ancestors.

Even Weak Evidence Can Teach

Earlier I posted that the only fact cited for my birth in my Rootsmagic database was from a published genealogy of nearly 50 years ago.  While this source wouldn't be one I would hang my hat on as definitive evidence of my birth, the fact is not without use in my research.

Rummel, Merle & Madelaine Olt, comp., "Three Sons of Steffan Petry, 1729-1977", Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD, 1977, p. 401.

Working with this citation in my timeline for the research question of , "The objective of this research project is to identify the parentage of Travis LeMaster, born [redacted] in [redacted], Indiana."  

There are a number of things I can extract from this source, even though it isn't the best.

The source gives an exact date of birth, though it does not list a place.

The source is not an original record, but an authored narrative.  It is unknown who was the source of the information, but my assumption is that my father was likely contacted by the compilers of the genealogy and provided the information about our family group.

Because I cannot determine who the source of the information presented was, this information is neither primary or secondary, but is of an undetermined nature.

Is the evidence direct or indirect?  It is direct because it answers the question of who my parents are.

So I've listed the date of birth fact in my timeline, without a place, and noted on my timeline that the source is Authored, of Undetermined Information, and provides Direct Evidence of answering the research question.

In the comments section of my timeline, I've indicated that the source is a compiled genealogy, my assumption that my purported father was the source of the information, and that I am listed as the oldest child of the family group.

Now I'm on to the next source, citing the information, and building evidence to answer my research question.

 

Documenting Myself

Building out a timeline for myself, I noticed that the fact of my birth only contains one source listed in my RootsMagic database, and it's not something that would hold up to any sort of scrutiny.

Rummel, Merle & Madelaine Olt, comp., "Three Sons of Steffan Petry, 1729-1977", Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD, 1977, p. 401.

While I have primary sources for my birth scattered among my digital genealogy files, apparently I'd never taken the time to actually examine those sources and update documentation in my database.

In today's era of no privacy, where there are enough public records out in cyberspace for someone who wanted to know my birthdate could find it out, I'm sure the young folks today would be surprised to know that there are also bound genealogies in libraries that have some of the same data printed less than 50 years ago.

[Side note: No documentated cases of identity theft have ever been proven to be caused by genealogical research - I'll recommend you read this excellent post from James Tanner.]

For the purpose of this project my research question is stated thusly, "The objective of this research project is to identify the parentage of Travis LeMaster, born [redacted] in [redacted], Indiana."

Because this phase of the research involves living people, I will not post the particulars.

Building the Timeline - Initial steps

Whether you utilize the built-in features of your genealogy software or use Excel or Google Sheets to build out a timeline - the bottom line is to "just do it."

There are many examples of how to build a timeline on the web or in Facebook groups for genealogy.  Please take the time to find one that seems to fit your needs and begin using it.  So many times I've forgotten that this no one 'right way' to do this, ie. 2+2=4 but so does 3+1.

Since my Rootsmagic software already has a built in timeline, it wasn't hard to take the information the software presented and add that to my working timeline for my research question

While my research question objective is defined at the top of the sheet, the timeline can include all relevant fact events as I document them.

For my identity question, I began with the Birth fact as the Event, then added the date, place and what the source for the fact.  This will eventually be done for every fact that I have in my database.  

Each source that is listed can then be examined and categorized as to the origin of the source, whether primary or secondary, and ultimately whether the source provided directly or indirectly answered the research question.

Beginnings : Building A Timeline

Begin with the beginning.  Work from what you know to what you don't know.  

How many times have I heard or read regarding the genealogical journey?

As I begin to re-examine my previous work to make sure that I'm leaving the best documentation behind for future generations, I'm discovering some anomolies.  Facts missing documentation or gaps in the timelines.

My family tree data is kept offline in Rootsmagic, and variations of my tree are shared online at Ancestry and other sites.  When I look at an example of a Rootsmagic timeline for an ancestor, I can quickly see not only items that have missing sources (green check marks), but also notice substantial gaps in years that might suggest further avenues of research.

Settling on a research question wasn't hard in this case, although there are so many I want to explore.  For now, it will start with a question of identity - myself.

Lineage Society - SUVCW

In what seems like an eon ago, back in January 2020 (before the pandemic), I posted about how I had attended my first meeting of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and postulated that perhaps 2020 would be the year that I finally get around to preserving my research and joining those lineage societies.

I can report that in 2020 I did join the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War through the service of my paternal 2nd-great grandfather, Pvt. Luman Walker Lemasters (1842-1931), who served with Company C of the 39th Indiana Infantry (later 8th Indiana Cavalry).  Luman is just one of six direct line ancestors who served during the Civil War.  Four are on the paternal side, and two on the maternal side.

The Civil War has always interested me, ever since I was a youngster and we visited the many battlefields in Tennessee and Georgia while on vacation.  Knowing that my ancestors fought in these places makes me want to get back there as an adult now that I'm studying the family history.

Not only have I enjoyed being a member of the organization, but I was named as Camp Commander for 2021 of the Orlando A Somers Camp # 1 which meets in Kokomo, Indiana.

It has been a challenge to meet and grow the local camp during the midst of a pandemic, but we are still able to meet in person.  In 2020 I attended the National Encampment virtually through Zoom, and the Department of Indiana's recent Mid-Winter Encampment was held via Zoom as well.  Technology is allowing the larger organization to meet, while fortunately our local meeting space has been open for business and allowed us to meet.

We are looking forward to a COVID-free spring and have plans to complete a Last Soldier project in Tipton County as well as other projects to keep the memory alive of the Boys in Blue.

File Naming Structure Addendum - Maiden Names, etc.

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been renaming my digital files (both photos and documents) in an effort to reorganize and make sense of my Genealogy Files in my Dropbox account.

At the base level, the file name is SURNAME First Name Middle Name Date of Birth Description Place.  So for example: WHATEVER Samuel b 1840 1870 Census Madison County Indiana.

How to file the documents left by our female ancestors and relatives has always presented a conundrum.  In many records, women get "lost" in the identities of their husbands and those with multiple marriages makes it difficult to keep track of what item goes with whom.

Regarding the file structures, for example, do I file the death record of my grandmother under her married name at the the time of death (Wright) or under her maiden name (Lambertson)?   While I will always know whose record it was, someone coming behind me might not make the immediate connection.

The consensus in the field is to file documents for women under their maiden names in order to maintain consistency, so that is what I'm trying to do.  In the file naming structure it looks like : WHATEVER Fanny b 1840 m_1 JOHNSON Death Certificate 1900 Cook County Illinois.  

I'm using the m_1 SURNAME of spouse to add to the identifiers.  Multiple marriages look like m_1 JOHNSON m_2 SMITH.   This can lead to some rather long file names.

However, by adding the surnames of the spouses and naming the file under the maiden name I can harness the power of the computer to search for the file and find it whether or not I'm searching for records under the maiden or married name.

While I'm trying to utilize full names including maiden names on all of the files, for those that end up being a bit long, I've dropped the middle name down to an initial for identification purposes.  Some of my families really enjoyed using the same naming patterns over and over again.

File Naming Structure

 Ask any two genealogists how they structure the file names of their digital files, and you'll probably get three different answers.  I imagine that determining a proper file naming convention is what trips up most researchers and keeps them from becoming better organized.  I know that I've struggled off and on with how to name my files.

All of my Genealogy files, whether documents, photographs or other images, are stored in Dropbox so they can be accessed across multiple devices.  As I begin to get organized with this new attitude of making sure that my research is up-to-date to pass on to the next generation, I've had to settle on a file naming convention.

My first pass has been in using this file structure to rename the files that are currently in my Genealogy files with names such as "DSC12395.jpg" or whatever the camera or iPhone decided to name them.  Once renamed with a meaningful name, each of these files will be filed under their own Surname file in Dropbox.

After much deliberation and reading about how others name their files, I think I've settled on the following:  Surname First Name birth date Description Place. 

For example - WHATEVER John b 1865 1910 Census Madison County Indiana. 

This way I can differentiate between multiple people who have the same first name and surname.  If I don't know the birthdate, I'll use an estimate or perhaps the death date.  The point is to get like images with like images.

Many of my files had already been named, so I won't go back and rename them just yet - my focus will be on getting the unidentified and unnamed files named and sorted first. Then, once I begin to work systematically up my family tree, I can update the naming conventions on any of the other files.

In going through images stored in my Genealogy folder, I've not only gone down memory lane - I've also found items that had nothing to do with genealogy that were just lumped into the digital pile.  Those items have been either deleted or filed accordingly in another Dropbox folder.