Every Sunday morning I look forward to receiving a Letter from Ireland, i.e., an email from Mike Collins and the Green Room. The letters are free, and you can sign up to receive them here.

This week's letter featured advice from Pam Holland, a genealogist based in Boston and coincidentally, one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Celtic Connections Conference (July 31-August 1, 2020, Westin Chicago North Shore).

What follows is a snippet from the letter: 

We recently asked Pam Holland about how she helps members to approach a brick wall they have for a particular Irish ancestor. Her answer? Well, the simplicity of her response surprised us: "Almost every time I create a simple timeline - and then start to notice what we know and what we don't know. Then, the questions start...."

We asked Pam to tell us a little more so she developed the article below... We do hope you find it useful:

Creating a Timeline for one of your Ancestors

Why Create a Timeline?

To show what you know and what you don't know! Timelines can be a great way to see the information already found for an ancestor - but are an even better way to see what information you may be missing. They can be created by simply jotting down information on a sheet of paper or you can record them in a word processing program or spreadsheet. 

How to Create A Timeline:

I like to start with an ancestor's birth, marriage and death. Then I add any other events in between that I know about. These could include appearance on a census, buying land, being listed as a sponsor or witness in a church record. Then I add other information that may be important such as estimated dates for moving from one location to another.

The complete letter includes a reader's example in which Pam showed how a timeline can pinpoint areas for further research. Very interesting!

Selected Letters from Ireland can be read here.