23 April 2012

A to Z Blogging Challenge: T is for Timeline

A big part of genealogical research involves studying history as it relates to our ancestors. It can be fun to see where they fit into world history. A good way to be able to visualize our ancestors in history is with a timeline. You can create an interactive timeline by linking dates to historic events with the aid of sites like History.com's This Day in History. You can click "View Calendar" on that site and choose the date that you want to learn more about and get a listing of things that happened on that date over many years. You can create a link in your timeline to those events as well as links to any pictures or personal documents that you have for the ancestor that you're researching.

For example, I was interested in events in the life of my great-grandmother Carrie Williams Pressley when women were granted the right to vote. Grandma Pressley was born in June 1889. The 19th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States granted women the right to vote on 18 August 1920. Grandma Pressley was thirty-one years old at the time. I do not know if she ever exercised her right to vote.

Many important things happened over the course of her life. The Spanish-American War, her marriage, the births of her children, World Wars 1 and II, the right to vote for women, and many other things. All of these things can be viewed together in an interactive timeline.

Have you ever created a timeline for your family history, integrating it into world history?


  1. I like your timeline idea, and appreciate the useful information. To answer your question, I haven't done this. But I was thinking from reading your post about the timeline we are living through now. How we have lived to see technology change our lives to the point we can do this Blog Hop, remembering a time when personal computers did not even exist. :)

    1. I'm so glad that you like this idea, Wendy. I did a search after making this post to see if there were programs available to make interactive timelines. I found two free ones and they have really cool effects. The links to them are:

      Time Toast: http://www.timetoast.com
      Dipity: http://www.dipity.com

      I agree! I remember a time of no personal computers and people were actually able to walk around in public without a telephone stuck in their ear. :)

      So much has changed even just since the year 2000!




    1. Thank you for the follow. I appreciate that very much, as well as the visit and comments.

      I am enjoying the A to Z posts, too. I look forward to reading yours as well. Have a great week!


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