June 12, 2016 - Henry Andrew Smith & Timelines

We finished the story of Henry Andrew Smith, my 2x great grandfather.  He was born in Ohio, went to Pennsylvania at age 17 to learn to be a blacksmith, joined the army in Ohio, went to Kentucky for training, was discharged 3 weeks later, got married in Ohio, moved to Wisconsin, went to northeast Iowa to homestead, returned to Wisconsin, joined the army during Civil War, homesteaded in northwest Iowa when discharged, and lived there the rest of his life.  Oops, so why is there a death certificate from Oregon? 

In a local history book that was published in 1981 for the centennial of the town of Burt, it indicates that Henry is buried with his wife in a small township cemetery in Burt, Kossuth, Iowa.  But, the death certificate says he is buried in Oregon.  This really emphasizes the point that we need to look closely at all sources we find to determine if they are accurate.  In this case, the story would have been as told by one of the descendants and, at best, a distant secondary source.  The death certificate, on the other hand, is a primary record for his death, as it was created at the time the event occurred by the doctor who was present.  There were a lot of things to look at on that certificate.  The informant (the person giving the information to the clerk) was his daughter, with whom he was living at the time of his death.   Her information about his birth and parents was second-hand, but was reliable, because of her close connection to Henry.  In fact, all her information matches what had previously been found on other records.  The death certificate also indicates that he was buried in Oregon.  A little more digging produced a picture of the gravestone on Find-A-Grave, including the plaque about his Civil War service. 

The conclusion was pretty obvious - he was buried in Oregon, where he had died while living with his daughter.  Following up some of the other records, we discovered that he was living in Iowa with his daughter as late as 1910 census.  He appears in the Iowa census in 1915.  He died in Oregon in 1918, at age 89.  Some further research is needed to determine when the daughter moved to Oregon.  Is she in the 1915 Iowa census?  Did she move and then bring him out to live with her?  Did he go with her at the time she moved? 

Using a timeline, it is much easier to see all the pieces of the information and to evaluate them relative to each other.  I like using Excel to create my timelines.  The columns were: age, event, date, location, source, notes.  Every event was then listed in chronological order.  Questions or problems were added in red on the next line.  Excel makes it easy to add and/or delete lines and columns and to move things around, as needed.  I print it out and then work with it.  I can then go back in and make the changes that I have found. 

The results:
1 - All the information was organized.
2 - Events were put into a graphic that were easier to evaluate.
3 - Errors were found.
4 - Missing pieces were noted.
5 - Conflicting information was obvious.
6 - The next steps in research became apparent.
7 -  With everything organized and completed, the story is ready to be written.

Timelines are one of many ways to help organize and evaluate the information that you have found.