Whether you’re doing your own history, or research on an ancestor, a timeline is amazingly helpful. The way a timeline works is this; you start at the beginning (birth), and start adding information like christening, baptism, injuries, moved to ________, started school, got married, trips taken, death, etc. Place these either on a line drawn horizontally on a page with dots next to about where they would be, or you could make a list vertically with the dates lined up on the left side. An example is found here. The reason why this is so helpful, is because as you put the information down, you have a visual of what information needs to be added or what research needs to be done. You can also use this information to write your personal history or a history of the person you are researching. As you write down events, they sometimes jog your memory of more things. Another example of things to put on a timeline is: world wars, events in the history of the world, natural disasters, who was president, what athletic teams won, how much things cost, etc. A fun thing might be to do a timeline of an average week for, say, your mom when she was young. One thing my mom always did as a past time is she went to the matinee on Saturday’s. I think she said it cost 25 cents for the movie. A nickel for popcorn and a nickel for a candy bar. I love that story. Start with you, make a timeline this weekend. It’s a fun activity to do with you family. Happy Family History! Love, Joy