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.