Why I still Use Spreadsheets — Part 1: Timelines

My tree on Ancestry provides a timeline for each person, so does my genealogy computer program. But when I’m trying to complete the life of an individual, especially if I plan to write a biography, I’ll often prepare a detailed timeline — in a spreadsheet.

I start by creating rows for every event I have documented. The obvious ones are birth, marriage, births of children, and death. But I also add a row for each census, voter registration list or directory the person appears in. Other rows might include immigration events or military activities.

The first column for each row is the year of the event. The next column shows the age of the person at the time, and then there’s a column for the type of event. Subsequent columns show location, occupation and other details gleaned from the record. Finally there’s a notes column where I’ll record any questions or suppositions I have related to the event or the time period.

In the spreadsheet, I can see where the holes are in the person’s life. I can see if there are several years in a row where I have no information. Why do I find a spreadsheet better for this that a tree profile? Because profiles only show what’s there — not what’s missing. If there is no information for a year, the year isn’t shown. Profiles skip over the time periods where there are no details about the person’s life. But in a spreadsheet with a row for every year, I can quickly see at a glance just what’s missing and when. I then set out to fill in those years using various databases and archives.

But timelines are not the only ways I use spreadsheets in my research. For another application, read the next post.